Buiness Basics

Thousands of people decide to run their own businesses each year. The steps that you need to take to start and grow in the years to come will depend on the kind of business, but here are some points to consider. Also read Barbara Cox, entrepreneur of the year 2009, top tips for success.

Visit www.staplesforbusiness.co.uk to see how our products and services can help to make the lives of businesses easier. Plus enter our competition to win business essentials to kit out your office.

If your business is new…

Mike Pywell and Bill Hilton, authors of Working for Yourself offer some advice if your business is new.

Visit www.staplesforbusiness.co.uk for a Start-Up pack produced in association with the British Chambers of Commerce.

1. Focus on marketing and money. Think who you’re going to sell your product to; how you’re going to sell it to them; how you’re going to pay for yourself and your business in the first few months and how you’re going to manage your money. A business plan is essential. Got business cards? Find out how you can have business cards in minutes.
2. Identify your market. Define your market as closely as possible and think about the needs and wants of the people in it.
3. Do some research. Is there any secondary product or service that the market needs and which you can offer as an add-on to your main offering?
4. Decide how you’ll trade. Go it alone as a sole trader and enjoy the freedom and flexibility, but be responsible for anything that goes wrong? Or take on a partner and form a partnership to share the costs and responsibilities? If you go down this route, you must draw up a partnership agreement with the help of a solicitor. Pick a suitable name for the business. If you choose to be a limited company (with directors and shareholders), you will need to register the name with Company’s House.
5. Find premises. If you can work from your spare room, then great. If you need offices, look for a cost-effective location that will balance convenience for customers and suppliers with the rent that you can afford to pay.
6. Focus on sales. If you’re planning to sell online, think about classy graphic design for your marketing materials and search engine optimisation for your website. Try proven specialists such as Orangutan Creative (design) and Tin Soldier (SEO).
7. Get finance. Find the best finance deals. Look at the different banks’ offerings and get your head around things like 0% credit card deals. You may qualify for help from schemes run by Government or charities. For personal finance, check out Moneysavingexpert.com - essential, impartial advice that could save you thousands.
8. Manage your money. A good accountant will always save you money – but you might also benefit from sorting out your own books and can get help with a free HMRC tax courses when you become self-employed. Registering with HMRC as self-employed is easy. Once you’re up and running, consider an online DIY accounting package like KashFlow. It only costs a few pounds a month, and will take a lot of the out of managing your books.

You should congratulated yourself if you’ve reached this milestone. Here are key pointers to continued success:

1. Focus on marketing. Think about stepping up a gear. Does your website look right? Do you have a system for dealing with customer feedback? Are you building a list of existing customers? The best money is usually in repeat business so contact satisfied customers.
2. Diversify. Over the past three years you will have come across other, related business opportunities in your field. Think strategically about how you can take advantage of them in your business.
3. Expansion. There’s no reason why you can’t operate nationally or internationally in most instances. If you offer services such as design, accounting or application development, consider using a site like Elance.com to sell to overseas customers. If you make goods, check out the Government’s Passport to Export scheme.
4. Get good advice. Are you still talking to your local Chamber of Commerce and checking out other opportunities from your Regional Development Agency? Enterprise Nation is another great business support and offers free advice to growing businesses.
5. Develop contacts. The heart of your business is your address book. Keep a detailed database of customers, inquirers, suppliers, potential suppliers, contacts in related businesses and organisations and anyone who might be useful. Networking is tremendously useful – check out events organised by Networking4business.com and others.

Read Staples Business Gurus top tips and find out how you could be Staples next entrepreneur of the year.

You should now be seeing decent returns on your business. The fact that you’ve survived this long shows that your model and your cash flow are sound, but if you’re still just ticking along or breaking even, you need to ask yourself a few questions:

1. Have you got your costs under control? As you get settled into running a business it’s easy to let systems look after themselves without asking yourself whether you’re getting the best possible value. Go through all your fixed costs – electricity bills, broadband, mobile contracts, supplier contracts – to check that you’re getting the best deals. Most suppliers should start to offer your better terms and discounts.
2. Are you a bottleneck? Some businesses fail to fulfil their potential because the founder is a block in the system. If everything has to go through you before it can happen, you need to take another look at your management systems or hire staff or contractors to spread the workload.
3. How’s your marketing? You should still be hungry for new customers, and if you’re not making as much money as you should it could be a sign that you’re not hunting for them hard enough. Hire staff to manage the day-to-day running of your operation and focus on winning new customers.
4. What’s the competition up to? They’ll be watching you and benefiting from your ideas – so make sure you return the favour. Make sure you’re staying ahead of the game!

Read entrepreneur of the year 2009, Barbara Cox’s success in business tips.

Lifelong Kenyan-born friends Parit Shah and Amit Shah started eco-friendly bag firm JuteBag four years ago from the boot of a car. "Amit was visiting India and spotted jute wine bags at a trade show. We realised there was nothing like it in the UK and thought that it would be a great business opportunity," says Parit.

Parit and Amit’s ordered 3,000 wine bags from India. "At the time we both had full-time jobs and used to drive round London after work selling these bags to independent wine shops. We sold our stock in less than three months and received 1,000 orders at a trade show, so knew we were on to a winner."

Luton-based JuteBag now provides branded jute and organic cotton bags to high street retailers including Budgens MacDonalds, and Spar, schools and businesses including Marriott Hotels, VW and HSBC. Jutebag has also recently started producing eco-friendly compost bags and vegetable sacks for garden centres. They plan to expand JuteBag to foreign markets.

5 things I learnt that I didn’t know before

1. The rules and regulations surrounding importing goods.
2. The tax, VAT and legal aspects of running a limited company.
3. Employment law.
4. How to deal with large retailers with tight deadlines.
5. All aspects of copyright.

5 things that’re great about being self-employed

1. Job satisfaction.
2. Knowing that effort can create wealth.
3. Seeing how many people you can give jobs to, not just in the UK but also in India.
4. Being own boss.
5. Learning new things and experiencing new cultures.

Former publisher Jane Barnes,61, set up a marketing and multimedia firm Yakkety-Yak five years ago.

Yakkety-Yak offers audio and video recording for business, TV, radio, film, theatre, advertising and computer games. The Stevenage-based firm also offers training facilities to people wanting to enter the film, games and theatrical professions, particularly disabled people and disadvantaged people.

These areas are of particular interest to Jane: "I became disabled following an accident nine years ago which affected my hip. I was originally told that I wouldn’t walk again after my accident but now walk unaided." She employs a support worker through the Department for Work and Pension’s Access to Work so she can continue her business. "As a disabled person you have to find out what help is available. Without the DWP’s help I wouldn’t have been able to do any of this."

5 things I learnt that I didn’t know before

1. You have to research your market.
2. You have to constantly review your research to keep up with business trends.
3. A business plan is vital.
4. Always consider your funding needs.
5. You have to be prepared to change.

5 things I wish I had known

1. How much time HM Revenue demands of you.
2. How to utilise a business plan at the start of your business to gain funds.
3. How much legislation there is.
4. How much paperwork is involved.
5. That you should never underestimate the importance of networking.

5 things that're great about being self-employed

1. Making a difference to people’s lives.
2. Seeing people move forward after our training.
3. Seeing the business progressing.
4. Working with a brilliant team of people.
5. Meeting so many people.