Here are our top ten things to be thinking about before you set out on your own business, these are focused on recruitment but many work for any business:
- Money – work out how much you need to cover all your monthly out goings and then add 20% to that figure for emergencies and then multiply by 6 months. You should have access to that amount of money so that you’re not stressing about the basics.
- Market – do you know who you will be selling to and what? Do you know that market inside and out? This needs to be part of your plan you need to be sure you’ve got your market down.
- Are you able to focus 100% – starting out on your own will be tough, it will take all of your skills and experience to make it work. You need to be able to focus 100% on the task in hand. If you have other pulls on your work time you need to remove them.
- You will only have you to motivate you – this may sound obvious but in most cases those who set up a new company have been working in a company before and therefore have had bosses/peers etc to help motivate them be it by fear or competition. Starting out alone those are all gone so it’s all on you… This may be easy in good times, but you still need to motivate yourself when things are hard.
- You’ll be doing it all – No matter what your current skills are from day one of the new company you will need to be able to do all the jobs in a company. So, if you’re in sales now you’ll need to be able to turn your hand to finance, credit control, IT, commercial/compliance and every other area of your current “employer”. Sure, you can pay people to do some of these tasks e.g. IT but a) that costs money and b) you still need to task them correctly… Be prepared to do it all and then if you can “outsource” in due course you’ll still be able to review their work and/or take it back in house if needed.
- Cash is king – it’s a old adage but it’s a very apt one for any company, most suppliers will want you to pay in advance as your company will have no credit level and clients will pay late. You need to be on top of your company’s cash, this is key to your business success.
- It will be with you every hour of every day – This may have been the case when you work for someone else but it is definitely the case when it’s your own company. There won’t be a minute of the day you aren’t thinking about your business. You need to make peace with that before you set out and make those you care for know too so that they can help and so that they’re aware.
- It’s an amazing feeling – When it works being your own boss is the best feeling in the world.
- Short of winning the lottery it’s about the only way to get to financial freedom – done well and with the right ethos your company could offer you long term financial freedom. The sacrifices and effort you put in will pay you back in the long term far better than working for someone else ever will.
- You can earn more and work more flexibly – take a look at the work you do now, how much income did you make for your employer last year? How much were you paid? If you’re not taking home 70% of what you brought in, then working for yourself will pay more over time… Plus you get to choose where you work from; Meet a client on the golf course? Work from a beach bar in Barbados? These are things you can do without issue if you are your own boss…