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If you are bored of being stuck in the same nine-to-five career that isn’t going anywhere, why not change it up? You may be apprehensive, but sometimes the best option is for you to start your own business and be your own boss. Having your own company has many advantages, such as not having to answer to anyone and having more freedom. However, there are also many disadvantages to having your own business. It is well-known that as many as 90% of new businesses won’t make it through their first year of trading. This is down to many factors, the main one being running out of money or not sitting well with the general public. Look at the article below to learn more about starting a successful business that will stand the test of time.
Budget
One of the first things you need when you want to get out into the big wide world of business is having the funds to do so. Knowing how much of a budget you need is crucial, as you don’t want to run out halfway through setting your business up. When working out your budget, you will need to decide how much you need to borrow if you are borrowing. Your budget needs to include everything from employee salaries to purchasing the equipment you need.
There are a few options for having the money you need to open your business. First, you could have it all in a lump sum, ready to put down. Alternatively, you could borrow it from your bank. Be aware that if you are applying for a business loan, you will need to have all your affairs in order and have a high credit score. This is so the bank knows you are a safe lending option.
Employees
Something else to consider is who will be helping to run your business. You can run it as a solo operation. However, this is hard work and takes much of your time away from yourself and your personal life. Hiring employees will take the pressure off you doing it all yourself. Knowing who to hire is the tricky part. You want to get it right the first time; otherwise, you may end up with a high turnover of employees. Something like a huge employee churn rate can take any business and completely wipe it out. So, where do you get great employees? Niche websites and recruitment agencies can help you with this. Make sure your advertisement is solid and states exactly what you want from your employees. It can include things like years of experience in the field, level of qualification, and overall how they are as a person. If you don’t want to look for employees, then a recruitment agency will do this for you.
Premises
Another key aspect of running your own business is having somewhere to run it from. This could be in the form of buying a place or renting it. You need to think when looking around office spaces about what it is you want. There needs to be space for your employees to work comfortably, a kitchen, bathrooms, and places for your customers and clients. If you are serving the general public then you will need to think about location as well. You don’t want to be somewhere far away that can never be seen or found. This means you will struggle to get foot traffic and need to fork out for signs along the way.
An alternative to having premises is to take your business remote. If you and your employees can do everything from the comfort of your own homes, then why not? Thanks to Covid-19, many companies have now realised that working from home isn’t so bad and saves them a bit of money.
Paperwork
Finally, you want to ensure that you have everything in order before opening your doors to the public. This means purchasing things like insurance to make sure you are covered in the event of an accident. If you are in the building trade, then you may need to look into builders tool insurance. It is a common occurrence for worker vans to get broken into, so this insurance may be necessary. Other paperwork you need to consider is building and contents insurance to protect your buildings and everything inside it. If you are working with members of the public, then you will almost definitely need public liability insurance.
We hope you found this article helpful and that it gave you some useful insight and information into opening and running your very own business.
You may also like: Guidance for Starting up a Small Company
