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For a successful business, you need a viable business idea, the skills to make it work and the funding. Discover whether your idea has what it takes.
Forming your business correctly is essential to ensure you are protected and you comply with the rules. Learn how to set up your business.
Advice on protecting your wellbeing, self-confidence and mental health from the pressures of starting and running a business.
Learn why business planning is an essential exercise if your business is to start and grow successfully, attract funding or target new markets.
It is likely you will need funding to start your business unless you have your own money. Discover some of the main sources of start up funding.
Businesses and individuals must account for and pay various taxes. Understand your tax obligations and how to file, account and pay any taxes you owe.
Businesses are required to comply with a wide range of business laws. We introduce the main rules and regulations you must comply with.
Marketing matters. It drives sales and helps promote your brand and products. Discover how to market your business and reach your target customers.
Some businesses need a high street location whilst others can be run from home. Understand the key factors from cost to location, size to security.
Your employees can your biggest asset. They can also be your biggest challenge. We explain how to recruitment and manage staff successfully.
It is likely your business could not function without some form of IT. Learn how to specify, buy, maintain and secure your business IT.
Few businesses manage the leap from start up to high-growth business. Learn what it takes to scale up and take your business to the next level.
It is difficult to know if a new business is going to succeed. But one can often work out that a business is likely to fail.
By working out a marketing strategy, then writing it down as a detailed plan and building a realistic sales forecast based on it, you can establish whether a business idea is viable.
What do your customer profiles look like? Where do these people ‘hang out’? How can you get your message in front of them? How can you coax them to take action and find out about what you offer? Then, how can you persuade them to actually try out your product or service? What will your ‘conversion rate’ be at each stage – one in ten, or one in 10,000?
You may have built a better mousetrap, but how will you sell your first one – and your 10,000th one? Will you be selling face-to-face, of through a distribution channel of some kind (eg shops), or perhaps via a single website?
Will the sales process cost more than the margin that you make, so you end up making a loss instead of a profit? And what does the cashflow look like? Is your marketing plan based on the need to get at least some of the payment up front, to fund the work that you do?
Perhaps most importantly, how can you test the market, before committing to any major expenditure? Be prepared to keep changing your plan as you discover what works and what doesn’t.