Running your own business is hard. It’s a whole new lifestyle you’re going to have to move into; one with all the responsibilities your own current boss has. And those are a lot more than you might think! You’re going to need to run payroll, schedule shifts in the best way with people who all rub together, and never be afraid to get stuck into networking events or hounding after those connections you’ve needed since day one. And that’s a lot to handle on the fly, and the act of joining the business world means you need to move faster than you think!
When it comes to being a business owner, there’s a lot you’re going to have to account for, and that’s even before you submit any official paperwork or your business name. At the moment, all you have is an idea, and then a vague plan of where to go from there, and hopefully the rest will be history. So now’s the time to make sure you’re making it as easy as possible for your business to have a good start; read on for some tips and tricks that will hopefully soothe the way into your very own start-up.
One day you’ll be in this position, and you’ll be on top of the world!
Do You Think You Could Make a Profit?
Turning a profit is the number one ability your business model needs to be able to do well. And if you immediately doubt your ability to bring in a constant revenue from your business, now might not be the right time to get started. You need to have a product that’s strong enough to sell when you’re a small start-up, looking to get bigger and bigger every day. All of that is going to take a lot of hard work and a lot of determination on your part — that means never giving up despite the hurdles you’re absolutely going to face when it comes to other small businesses and bigger companies in the area.
But making a profit is not impossible to do. You just need to know what you’re doing from the get go, and have the contingencies in place to account for any mistakes that can be made. They’re not all as bad as each other after all, and when you’ve got the smarts to get around these mistakes, you’re going to be balancing your bank account for a long time to come. Oh, and balancing the books is another part of turning over the right profit; you need to know where your expenses are coming from and how much they’re taking out of your livelihood.
Are You Ready for the Responsibility?
Being responsible is often a lot harder than people believe, and you’re going to need to keep up with everything a company can throw at you from day one. You’ve got a responsibility to yourself, to your employees, and mostly to your customers as well. These are three huge groups of people to account for, don’t forget that! Even if there’s only one or two of you, you have the responsibility to service these people, use them and their connections to bring more people in, and then have the right amount of money in the till at the end of the day.
Not to mention you’re going to have a responsibility to the market you’re trying to fit into. There’s a gap you’re trying to fulfil after all, and that’s never easy for a start-up to continue doing — that is, if you manage this in the first place. It sounds bad, but there are often more fails than there are successes. The customers bring in the revenue for you, so make sure you hand out to them the product they deserve.
Do You Know Your Insurance?
Insurance is one of the most important elements to go into a business. It keeps you running safely in the day-to- day operations of your work environment, and it safeguards you against any outside attempts to hamper your ability to make a livelihood. Liability insurance, property insurance, vehicle insurance … the list goes on and on. It’s already confusing for anyone who isn’t intimately equated with the policy world, and that’s about 95 per cent of us.
After all, if you’re finding yourself constantly thinking do I need this policy for my business, you’re going to need to put a little more research in. It’s not something you can take lightly, and it’s not going to be something you’ll want to deal with the consequences of.
Can You Run a Team of Employees?
This is something you definitely need to know you can do! Sure, you’ve been part of a team before, and maybe you’re a manager in a store and you know how to do the daily. But when you’re the manager of the managers, you’ve got all their worries to think about as well! It’s not something to take lightly, and you’re probably going to have to stay an extra hour on top of the 3 to 4 hours you’ve already been having to cut down on recently.
At the same time, you’re going to have to take all of your employees’ wellbeing and motivation into account. Can you honestly convince 10 people all in that day that they have some good work to do? Can you convince them to want to come back to work the next day? Sure they’re there for the money, but they should be there because they want to be as well. So you’re going to need to know who works well together, and who does the best work in the morning or in the afternoon, and be able to schedule the right breaks to make sure people’s feet are never too bad for them to walk on. And then there’s the Unions to think about on top of that!
Remember, being able to start a business isn’t something everyone can do, so know how capable you are when you decide now’s the time for you to do the ‘impossible’!
