Starting Business

What are the qualities needed to be successful in Starting a Business?
Vision is not your goal, it is more long term. Vision is being able to see beyond your business plan. Business planning and determination are important but it will be your vision that makes it all work.

When starting small business the best way to stay ahead of your competition is to innovate. Your business should strive for constant and never-ending innovation.

Determination gives a quality of leadership that employees will follow. You need the ability to swim against the stream, to be the underdog and know that you are going to win. You need to not only accept risk but to embrace it.

Everybody has the potential and qualities to be a successful entrepreneur inside him or her. The only thing that will activate this potential is a passion for your idea. You must plan your starting small business from the outset. Plan to succeed. It sounds really boring but it's true - 'If you fail to plan, you plan to fail!

There are many different ways of starting your own business. Starting business from scratch is often the most rewarding route, but can also be the most demanding. Importantly you must choose the route that is best suited to your skills and that you feel most comfortable with. There are typically three routes into becoming your own boss:

Ultimately the most rewarding route into self-employment. You will be your own boss, have to answer to no one, make all the important decisions and see your business grow into something profitable from nothing.

To buy an existing business you will obviously need an amount of capital to begin with. The benefits compared to starting from scratch are that the company infrastructure, clients and reputation (good not bad!) already exist. It is possible to mould the business with your own personality and ideas, which can be rewarding. However be wary of injecting time, money and effort into a business with deep rooted, hidden problems i.e. poor customer service levels and/or low staff morale. Both of which are extremely difficult to correct.

An area of starting small business that has grown considerably over the last 25 years. Franchising has a proven track record in the UK particularly in service industries. Franchising is a joint venture between the person or business (Franchisee) and an existing business looking to expand (franchisor).

Whichever route you decide is the most suitable for you and your business there are a series of issues that need to be addressed as part of your ongoing business start-up and planning:

• Planning and research.
• Select a legal entity for your business - Sole trader, Partnership, Limited Company.
• Protecting your intellectual property - Copyright, Domain name etc
• Draft a formal business plan (Don't think about it - do it!).
• Business financing.
• Cash planning and forecasting.
• The business model 'traditional' 'e-business' or both?
• Accounting and record keeping.
• Staffing your business.
• Taxation and VAT.
• Business Insurance.
• Health and Safety requirements.
• Business Stationery
• Inland Revenue business start-up advice and support - it's out there so use it!

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