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10 top tips for start up businesses

Tuesday, March 20th, 2012
Thank you to WiRE member: Pavlenka Small

So you know you have a great idea for a business and it has been a long -term dream to run your own business but you are in danger of your dream never becoming  a reality if you don’t take positive action and actually make it happen.

Many others like you will have procrastinated and stayed in a safe yet unfulfilling role, only to regret later on in life to have not ‘made it happen.’

Almost every new start-up business will pontificate and worry about lack of funds and security but if you do your planning and research first and work towards your start-up business in a realistic and organised way, the only thing stopping you will be fear of the unknown. Remember: ‘The only thing that is certain in life, is that life is uncertain!

  1. Firstly, find out if you have what it takes to be your own boss. How will your skills and personality traits help or hinder your business?
  2. Use your existing contacts-family, friends, friends of friends and work colleagues-and ask them about their start-up business experiences. Such information is invaluable and allows you to learn from other peoples’ experiences first hand.
  3. Write a business plan. Even if you do not need funding to set up your business, writing a business plan allows you to focus on all aspects of your business in a rational and thorough way.
  4. Set yourself short, medium and long-term goals. Write them down and keep them visible. You can evaluate and alter your goals as circumstances dictate and keeping your goals in mind makes you more accountable to take action and lets you move your business forward.
  5. Identify who your ideal customers are. Their age, gender and background and why they might buy from you and not from someone else. This will help you decide on your niche market and USP. (Unique sales proposition).
  6. Develop a network of like-minded people. Working for yourself can be isolating at times so it is really worthwhile connecting with others in a similar situation and sharing ideas and experiences.
  7. Outsource some of the business activities you have little or no experience in or struggle with and concentrate on those aspects that you do best. There are plenty of  reasonably priced web designers, accountants, IT and marketing experts about. This need not cost a fortune as you may be able to trade your skills and expertise with theirs!
  8. Setting up a business for the first time can be a huge learning curve so remind yourself that any mistakes made can be valuable lessons and move on.
  9. Ensure you work in a logical and organised fashion. Break larger activities down into more manageable tasks and avoid flitting about from one activity to another. Prioritise tasks in order of importance and work through your daily, weekly, monthly, list.
  10. Finally, when the going gets tough, remind yourself of WHY you wanted to set up your business in the first place and think about all the positive rather than negative aspects. As I sit writing this at my desk overlooking my lovely garden with the sun shining down and the birds singing, I absolutely know setting up my coaching practice is the best thing I could have ever done!”

If you have found this useful, my book: ‘ From Dream To Reality-7 steps to setting up a small business’ was written with YOU in mind! Click on my websites publications page for full details.

The Business Records Check for SMEs – Are you ready?

Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011

By WiRE member Carole Phillips – Financial Management Ltd

There are many benefits to having a bookkeeper/management accountant, not least of all making sure that you are reducing your yearly tax bill to HMRC by claiming back all legitimate expenses, and removing the worry of filing your return at the end of a tax year.

But even more importantly than that, is the fact that beginning in the second half of 2011, the focus of HMRC for tax purposes is going to be the small business.

HMRC believe that SMEs fail to keep significant records or appropriate analysis of accounts, and that a new scheme to investigate 50,000 small and medium sized businesses in 2011 is now called for.

Further investigation will take place in 2012-2013, equating to a total investigation of some 40% of the total business sector (circa 5 million).

The checks intend to focus on a businesses records for the previous 6 years, are expected to take around half a day and will include thorough examination of items such as bank statements, cheque stubs, paying in books etc, leading to fines of up to £3,000 for unpaid tax.

So is now the time to think about employing a bookkeeper/management accountant and making sure that your records are up to date and in order?

Remember, there are many other benefits to consider including;

  • You will know every month what your total profit/loss looks like
  • You will get a written report explaining what all the numbers mean, analysed to suit your particular business
  • You will have a better awareness of financial management (i.e. debtor and creditor analysis)
  • You will understand at all times what your tax liability is
  • You will be sure that only legitimate allowable expenses are offset against the business for tax purposes every month
  • You will not have the huge cost of an accountant at the end of the year – whose costs per hour to sort out a years invoices and receipts are high
  • You will pay on a monthly basis to have your accounts kept in order, thus spreading the cost
  • You can see which parts of the business are doing particularly well and which need more focus from the analysis – leading to improved chances of business success
  • As stated above – HMRC are focusing on small businesses over the next few years, and having a good bookkeeper is becoming a must!!

Tailoring Your Business To Seasonal Change

Tuesday, December 7th, 2010

Sliding wildly down the long snow covered drive towards Shugborough Hall, I was hoping to discover the magic of Christmas and neither Catherine nor I were disappointed. Festivity was drifting from every corner of this beautiful stately home; from the smell of the roasting chestnuts to the glorious harmonies of the carol singers and the crisp snow covered ground. Placed neatly in front of the house was the thriving Christmas market with businesses tucked in every corner and hoards of shoppers ready to purchase those all important Christmas presents.

Having wandered round the vast diversity of different businesses, it struck me that many hadn’t tailored their stands to the festive season. In an ever evolving marketplace products and services must be tailored to changing consumer needs. This couldn’t ring more true at Christmas time, so why had many businesses not picked up on this? A simple festive hat or sprig of holly to tailor to the Christmas market

As I pondered on this, I couldn’t help but notice the stall next to me. The owners of Bow Wow Baking were drawing crowds of people to their stall. Neatly decorated with bowls of homemade dog treats and mini dog cupcakes, the stall was sprinkled with red Christmas bows and festive cheer. A well considered strategic implementation to add value by cashing in on the festive season.

With a batch of Christmas star dog treats neatly wrapped in paw decorated bags and festive red ribbon attached, these biscuits catered for both festive shopper and fussy hound alike. To me, this is an excellent example of market awareness. They knew who their target market was, made a line of products, adding value by using festive Christmas stars and packaging and priced their products effectively for their target market. Knowing that people were there to do their Christmas shopping with a little cash to spend, Bow Wow Baking did a promotion of buy two and get one free to appeal to those with less ready cash and even the men bored by shopping were hooked in.

In my opinion, this small market adaptation and product diversification was an innovative approach to embracing the seasonal change. In my mind successful businesses are those that get it right for their customers, it’s about flexibility, quality, convenience and tailoring your products directly to customer needs. Perhaps this is why Bow Wow ‘really took the biscuit!’