There are countless careers out there to take into consideration. You could do anything from office work to teaching, medical roles, animal care, social worker positions, recruitment roles and so much more. But what about if you want to take your career by the horns and hold complete control over what you do?
Sure, being an employee comes hand in hand with plenty of perks – contracted pay, contracted hours, annual leave, sick leave, parental leave, and more – but if you’re looking to completely manage what you do and reap the full profits of your hard work, running a business could be better suited to you. Now, if you’re reading this, chances are, you’re already considering going it alone and creating a start-up.
Whether that’s because you lost an employed role during the pandemic, had sufficient time to realize the position working simply didn’t suit you or you’re just looking for a major career change. Whatever your reason, it is possible to become a successful business owner off your own back. You just need to know what it takes to experience success. Here’s some information that will provide you with some key considerations to get started on the right track.
Why Do You Want to Run Your Own Business?
Start out by considering why you want to run your own business. You need to make sure that you’re doing this for the right reasons for it to work. Good reasons to pursue this path could be that you have an idea for a product or service that you’re genuinely invested in and feel has potential. You may want to help others through your business, donating profits to charity, or raising awareness of conditions or situations.
You might feel that you can run a business better than those you’ve worked for previously, feeling confidence in your leadership and direction. You might be sick of building someone else’s fortune on their behalf when you know you’re capable of running a business and generating your profits yourself. These are all positive and good reasons.
You don’t want to set up a business simply because you’re tired of working and think that this will be an easy path. Sure, business owners do tend to get to step back from their business and retire earlier, selling their company for huge profits or allowing others to run and manage it for them. But this is a reward for the long and hard work it takes to get to this point.
Be aware that running a business isn’t an easy option. It’s going to take commitment and investment of your time, effort, and money. If you do everything right then you could end up being the next Mark Zuckerberg. Believe it or not, he started his own ‘business’ from his dorm room in 2004. Mark Zuckerberg’s net worth is now around $70 billion, imagine running a business and making this much money. It is all about having the right idea and an idea that your customers and clients are interested in. You could even go into business with someone else to make the transition easier.
What Kind of Business Do You Want to Run?
Next, consider what kind of business you want to run. Do you already have an idea for a product or service you want to sell? If so, great. But you still need to take time to make sure that it’s likely to sell. Something that’s a good idea in your mind, or that you’d personally buy, might not appeal to as many people as you may think.
You need mass appeal and a sufficient target demographic to generate ongoing, long term sales if you want to experience success. Make sure to carry out plenty of market research to ensure that your product has the type of appeal you’ve hoped it will have.
You also need to consider pricing, ensuring that your target demographic can afford to pay for what you’re proposing while leaving enough profit margin for your business to continue operations and to be a success. You also need to ask yourself where you see your business going. It won’t always be a startup. Soon enough, you will experience demand and growth, which means you’ll take on employees and have to create an office culture that is positive.
How Will You Get Started?
You can have great ideas, but you do need money and support to get a business up and running. Every business will need an initial investment, which will be spent in countless different areas. Whether that’s to conduct research, manufacture products or develop services, invest in commercial premises or set up a website, brand the company, market the goods, or anything else.
Make sure to save sufficient funds before getting started to support yourself for the first year of operations. Alternatively, toys may want to look into business grants, loans, and other financing options.
Then you need to consider bringing in help and support. You can’t do everything yourself. You’re going to need to at least outsource a bunch of projects to get them done and your company started. To make things as easy as possible for yourself, you may want to look at a quick guide to company formation packages. This will get the ball rolling for you. Look for reliable contractors, freelancers, and agencies who can help with everything from manufacturing to copywriting, graphic design, product photography, branding and so much more.
Managing Your Finances
Money matters in business operations. You need to ensure that everything is running in a profitable manner, as well as document and monitor your spending and earnings to ensure you can file an accurate assessment in your tax return at the end of each fiscal year. Most startups tend to use the services of an accountant to help with this.
While you might not want to commit to hiring an in-house accountant, there are plenty of professionals out there who will undertake the work on a freelance basis. Make sure that they have the relevant qualifications and certification to operate in the area you operate. They will also know the ins and outs of the tax system to ensure that you are filing the right expenses and that you don’t end up overpaying tax either.
There are plenty of areas of consideration when starting a business, and those outlined above are just a few starting points. Hopefully, some of the information will help to guide you in the right direction, ensuring you make the right decisions and focus on the right areas along the way.
