Taking the leap into self employment or directorship can seem like an incredibly daunting possibility, but it also incredibly rewarding to see the result so fall of your hard work coming together and being able to set your own working days and hours. There are a number of things for you to consider when you start down this route:
- Funding – how are you going to initially fund your business. This may be from a redundancy payout or savings or you may look into crowdfunding or investors. It is always a good idea to ensure that you have some savings behind you during the early months so that you can still afford to live and pay your personal bills whilst waiting for your business to take off.
- Location – are you going to work from home initially and if so where will you move to once you have outgrown this space. It is worth looking into options such as Office Space Reading that can be found at https://www.arlingtonbusinesspark.co.uk/ to naturally migrate into when your business needs grow.
- Branding – this involves much more than just your company logo – although this is incredibly important and you should ensure that your logo reflects your business. Your branding will also include the font text that you use on your headed paper and other business documents and website as well as the tone of voice that you use. You need to ensure that your branding is consistent across all platforms that you use.
- Finance software – amongst the top reasons that businesses fail in the first few years in lack of cash flow. This is why using financial software such as Xero or Quickbooks is incredibly important. These cloud based systems allow you to create and send invoices, allocate your expenses to the necessary cost codes, file your tax and VAT and share you accounts directly with your chosen accounting company.
- Networking – this is one of the most popular marketing activities there is. It involves attending groups, breakfasts or lunches that allow you to talk about your business in a room full of other business owners or employees who over time will begin to act as your outsourced marketing team. They will refer you and your business to clients and suppliers that they know who may be in need of your services. You can find many local, regional and even national networking organisations that will be more than happy for you to attend one of their meetings as a visitor.