With New Year's resolutions still fresh in people’s minds, it’s a great time to launch your new business. For most people new to the business world the path can be a steep learning curve. The whole thing is something completely new, and it doesn’t come without its risks. You would be giving up a steady job with a steady income to throw everything you have into a new idea that will, hopefully, take off. So give yourself the best chance for success by making sure that your foundation is secure and you have done everything you can to create a solid base from which to launch your business.
Legal stuff
The first thing that any business has to do is become legal. You need to register your business as a sole trader or limited trader to receive your unique tax code and official documents. Often you have a certain amount of time from launching your business to declare it. The benefits of doing this, apart from avoiding a hefty fine, is that you can claim business expenses on many things, including stationery, bills, travel and coffee when you have work meetings. By getting the legal stuff right you will be added to Companies House Search service which is the official registrar of companies in the UK. So when people do a company search of your business they're able to see that everything is legitimate.
Office
You need to have a base for your business. You might decide to work from home or you might want to rent an office or workshop. You also need to make sure that you set up your work place with the right equipment. Make sure you have the right things for your company - create a checklist of things, and get it all in place before you launch your business. And don’t limit yourself to big things like office furniture, think about a membrane keyboard maker, branded merchandise and security systems for your computer.
Business plan
Think about where your business is going. You might have a great idea, but what is your plan to get things off the ground? You don’t have to plan out the next ten years, but have a loose idea for the first two years. Business growth doesn’t just happen over night, so have a plan, but know that life happens, and you might need to adjust things as time goes on.
Marketing Campaign
A good marketing campaign covers your advertising, branding, social media and customer relations. It can be a big task for you to do on your own in the beginning stages, so why not look into using a digital marketing agency to take care of most, if not all, of your marketing ideas.
Budget
With whatever money you have started with you need to create a budget for going forward. There is no guarantee of any revenue coming in as soon as your business kicks off, so you need to have a detailed plan for whatever savings you have, and how long those funds would last in a worst-case scenario. If you do get some income quickly, then you can expand your plan. And when money starts coming in smoothly and at a predictable rate, then you can start planning financial investments and growth.
