Things To Prepare For When Starting A New Business

*This is a collaborative post on how to prepare for starting a new business

With the pandemic affecting people’s work and forcing people to think outside of the box. And starting a new business seemed to be a good choice for some. Nearly half a million new businesses were registered in the UK in 2020, according to data from Companies House. The most popular venture was the retail sales sector, including online and mail-order retail. Totally unsurprisingly considering shops have been shut a lot and many people have opted to shop online for safety.

It’s been great to see so many new businesses thriving and being able to fulfill a passion project they’ve had for a while but have been too scared to start. For some, the pandemic forced them into giving their new business a try. A lot of companies have really taken off as a result of the pandemic – especially those who sell products online. For example, businesses like those who supply supplements and other items to improve health from home have become more popular in recent times, such as supplement manufacturers utah way, or wherever the company is based. All of these businesses started from somewhere, and now so many of them are excelling in their ventures.

Starting a new business can seem like a daunting thing to do, but if you’ve done your business plans and sorted your finances then here are some things to prepare for when you start out.

Set yourself up as self-employed

The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics reveal that approximately 5 million people in the UK are self-employed. For some, it may be self-employed for a side hustle alongside an employed role (like me). It might be fully working for yourself, or anything in between. But when you’re starting a new business you don’t want to be caught out with the taxman etc so you need to register yourself as self-employed/ a company.

You can head over to the Gov site to register yourself as self-employed. This means that each tax year you’ll need to submit your own taxes and pay whatever you’re due. It sounds complicated and the first time you do it you may need help. But it’s much easier the more years you do it. And you’ll get used to it!

Sole trader vs limited company

When you register you’ll want to think about whether you set up as a sole trader where you run your business as an individual. Or as a limited company where you’re the owner and an employee of the company. If you want to set up as a sole trader then you can follow the self-employed link above. Although sign up within three months of starting your business to avoid paying a £100 fine.

One thing to consider if you’re a sole trader if someone took your business to court and won your own personal savings/ assets could be included in the settlement. But if you’re a limited company your personal and business finances are separate. The downside to this is that there is a lot more paperwork to deal with and company directors have legal and statutory obligations.

Starting a new business: Create a website

Whatever business you’re setting up whether it’s a retail store, a copywriting business, or a construction company you’ll need a website so that people can find you. To seem professional you’ll want to buy your own domain from somewhere like 123reg so that your URL won’t end with .blogspot or .wordpress etc. This will show that you’re serious about your business and give off a good first impression. You can usually get a domain for around £10 a year unless you want something highly competitive.

Once you have your domain there are loads of places out there where you can build a website for free. I started this blog originally on Blogger and it did the job, to begin with. And then I moved over to WordPress. Your website doesn’t need to be overly complicated but it’s got to showcase what your business does, a bit about you, some examples of your work (whatever that is), testimonials (even if it’s friends and family, to begin with) and a way of contacting you.

If you’re a writer there are numerous online portfolio sites such as Contently that I use.

Update your social media presence

Much like your website, social media can be a huge way to promote and talk about your business and almost all businesses have them. Especially if you’re a retail business as you need to show off new products and share customer images. Set up accounts under your business name across the channels you want to use, Instagram and Facebook are good ones to begin with. And make sure you’re actively posting with the aim to gain customers.

When starting a new business prepare for the unexpected

The last year has taught us that you never know what’s up ahead. And businesses both large and small have been on a tricky journey this past year. So trying to prepare for the unexpected is so important. You’ll want to ensure you’re not living on income month to month and have a pot as a backup in case you need to buy something unexpectedly for your business. Or if something happens and you can’t trade for a month. Meanwhile, preparing for the regular tasks that can overwhelm your business can be made easier by outsourcing time-consuming functions like scheduling, billing, or administrative work. For instance, if you run a medical practice, then a company like My Mountain Mover can handle front-office support, appointment management, and record coordination, helping your practice stay organized and efficient. This allows the core staff to focus on providing quality services while ensuring essential operations run smoothly.

With your finances, you should already know the minimum you need to make to survive. Working out your living and fixed costs means you can prepare for the unexpected with an emergency fund. Just like you’d have an emergency fund in case you were out of work for 3-6 months, you should do this for your business. But you’ll want to save not only how much you need personally to survive. But how much your business needs. Perhaps you have material costs, staffing costs, location space to pay for. Having a bank of money aside just in case will really help in the long run.

Have you started your own business?

Pin It