Image by betsyweber
You’ve had a great idea bubbling away in the back of your brain for a few months, maybe even a few years, and you think that now is the time to act on it and start your own business. Whoa there!
Before you hand in your resignation to your boring boss and head home to start working on logo designs for all that important stationery you’ll need, read this post first!
Running your own business is hard graft and it’s important that you take the time to consider what the implications of being your own boss will entail.
The Business Plan
Let’s get down the the nitty gritty shall we? Is your business idea profitable? Does your idea fill a gap in the market? Do you need investors to cover the start-up costs and if so, what are they? All of these questions and more need to be answered in a comprehensive business plan. Not only will the document have a clear outline of what your business is and what it could achieve, it’s also essential if you’re approaching investors or asking the bank for a business loan.
Time Management
To run your own business you need to be exceptionally organised. This skill can be learnt, and of course, once your business becomes successful, you might be able to afford the luxury of a PA or a manager, but while you’re starting out it’s down to you to plan your time effectively.
Hold Off On Holidays
One of the best things about running your own business is that you’re the boss. One of the worst things is that as the boss, it can be difficult to switch off. The things we take for granted when working for others, such as holidays, sick pay and perhaps even having our birthdays off, are all nonexistent when you’re running the show. As your own boss it can be hard to know when to switch off and it’s unlikely that you’ll have the same structure of holiday allowance as you would when working for a large, established company.
Objectives and Obligations
Having a clear set of smart objectives will help you to set your plan for world domination (or designer babygrows) into action. In a nutshell, SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time, or Timely. Objectives are often used to demonstrate to employees what the company expects of them, but these are equally useful for a small start-up.
Online Presence
Having seo for your business will lead to an enormous amount of extra traffic which may not have come to you before without it. An increase in conversion rates on your site can only be a good thing!
Once you’ve worked through all of these points you can then think about awesome logos and business cards! Are there any points I’ve missed? And are there any business owners out there who have additional advice? Let me know in the comments.
James Duval is a business and technology writer who works in IT. In his spare time he blogs for Strategy Internet Marketing and relaxes by playing Bob Dylan riffs on his guitar.
