You want to start your own business? Fantastic!
It’s very rewarding and fulfilling to start your own business. Perhaps you’ve grown tired of the bureaucracy of the corporate world and fancy being the one who makes the decisions? Or, you hate the 9-5 rat race and lengthy commute and would prefer to work from home? You’ve had a brilliant idea and want to bring it to life? Go for it!
But, before you start your own business, there are a few things you should consider. Building a business from scratch can be risky, hard work and challenging. It requires a lot of resilience.
I run my own digital marketing consultancy from home and absolutely love working for myself. With two clients already signed up before I started, I was fortunate to be in a good position when I decided to register my business with Companies House. But, the process of running a business is far from simple – and I continue to learn and face new challenges all the time. Is it worthwhile? Hell, yes!
I’d like to share a few things I’ve learned that will hopefully give you food for thought if you’re keen to start your own business too.
1. Begin at the end
It sounds defeatist to think about failure before you’ve even begun. But, before you start your own business, it’s critical to consider what will happen if things don’t work out.
Consider the physical impact of your business being unsuccessful – would your capital be at risk? Would you have a backup job to go to, good contacts within your field and opportunities to do something else? Also, think about this from an emotional perspective. Are you tough enough to shrug it off if you have to admit to family, friends and ex-colleagues that your grand plans haven’t quite panned out?
Running a business doesn’t come with any guarantees, so it’s important to make sure you’re prepared to attain success, but equipped to handle failure.
2. Plan what success looks like
The term ‘success‘ can refer to a wide range of factors when it comes to starting your own business. For some people, ‘success’ is only measured financially. If that sounds like you, it’s worth putting together some financial milestones for the first six to twelve months. Do you expect to make money from day one? Or is yours a business that will grow slowly and become profitable once it reaches a certain point? Make sure you’re clear on your success measures so you can track your performance as you go. It could prevent any nasty surprises further down the line if you suddenly realise you’re not where you expected to be revenue-wise. Your financial milestones can be a great incentive to encourage you to focus on business development if you are falling behind and need to add more clients to your payroll.
Success can also be measured in other ways. Expanding your skillset, making new connections, building confidence…these can all be great success measures to consider when starting your own business. But, if your business is your livelihood then I’d suggest you focus on financial success measures and see anything else as a ‘nice-to-have’…
3. Think about the core focus of your business
In the working world, there are usually two types of people; specialists and generalists.
If you’re a specialist, with expert knowledge and experience in a particular area, then you’re in a brilliant position to start your own business. You’re no doubt confident in your specialist area, highly skilled, and you’d be comfortable selling your service to anyone.
If you tend to dip your finger in multiple pies within your current role, but don’t necessarily have a specialist skill, it can be trickier to define your core value proposition. Having said that, if the nature of your business is to provide a wealth of services to clients and you’re competent in all areas of your field, then being a generalist can actually prove a big advantage!
It’s worth thinking about what you’re particularly great at and making that the core focus for your business. Then, you can add supporting services to provide a well-rounded value proposition to market to prospective clients.
4. Build bridges
In the world of small business, there is great value in networking. This goes beyond simply attending networking events that promise sales opportunities and free canapes! If you want to start your own business, it’s worth building a community of like-minded professionals who are open to learning and sharing thoughts, advice and personal experiences.
There are many social networking sites out there that have groups, forums and meetups for people who want to start their own business. You can learn a lot from others about what to consider and how to avoid common pitfalls. Plus, you can test your business ideas on those who are in a similar boat.
Also, don’t be afraid to call on ex-colleagues or contacts from previous roles who may be able to give you advice or help you attract new clients.
5. Know your worth
One of the trickiest aspects of starting your own business is knowing what to charge clients. In my experience, customers tend to have different needs and budgets, so I don’t have a one size fits all approach when it comes to pricing.
Have a set idea of the lowest you can afford to charge in order to stay profitable. Present a fair fee to clients, clearly explaining what is (and isn’t) included within that fee. But do expect them to negotiate on the price.
Sometimes, you might need to turn down business if it simply isn’t worth your while financially. Similarly, don’t feel you have to accept every job that comes your way, even if it seems well-paid. If the client seems difficult, you’re not knowledgeable enough about the subject matter or you simply don’t have the capacity to do it – walk away. It can be difficult to turn down a potential project when you’re uncertain about when the next opportunity will arise. But if it feels wrong, it probably is.
I hope these few tips have helped you determine whether or not you’re ready to start your own business! If you’d like to connect and have a chat about any of these points, or if you’ve had a peek at my profile and would like a quote for any marketing, copywriting or blogging services, do get in touch! You can connect with me on Linkedin or send me an in-message.
Till next time, all the best!
Jaclyn
