Starting your own business can be one of the most daunting things you can do. It takes courage and vision, bucket loads of hard work, cart loads of determination and a pinch of good luck, all of that and you’re still only half way there. No one prepares you for what it’s really going to take and I’m not going to try to either.
In the beginning….
In early 2005 I decided to leave university and launch my own company Inthepaper.co.uk. I didn’t find it a hugely difficult decision because I’d always wanted to do my own thing, run my own business and be my own boss. I guess up until that point I’d assumed it was something that everyone wanted but that some people just did and others didn’t. I’d never taken the time to understand that some people genuinely don’t want to run their own business and that it is something that touches only a few.
First Steps
I had my ‘idea’ as it was at the time, basically a concept for a product that no one seemed to be offering at the time and that was it. That was all I had. The first few steps are the hardest because you don’t really know where or how to start. It’s so easy to give up before you even start at this point. I so often hear people say ‘I just wouldn’t know where to start’ and this is the first hurdle to overcome. I got round this in a few ways; firstly I talked. I talked to everyone who would listen about my idea and my plans for a business, some people just offered encouragement but the odd one had some gems to offer and even the odd contact to share. One thing I garnered from one such conversation was that there was a lot of free advice and help out there for business start ups. Call me naïve but this hadn’t occurred to me. So I immediately began contacting organisations such as Businesslink, Access for Business, the local council etc and found out what was out there in terms of advice and funding.
Funding
This brings me to my next hurdle; funding. Yes, it’s a biggie and one I get asked about all the time. The fact is that if you are going to start your own business you are going to have to put a lot of money into it both at start up and once its up and running. I was lucky to have the support of family and friends and my own savings to get me started, add this to the grant I was hugely pleased to get from Businesslink and I was set. Many are not so lucky in terms of start up funding. A lot of people I have spoken to over the years have had to beg and borrow to get the business going – the basic message in all the success stories has been determination. You can make things happen, you just have to keep trying.
If you are going to approach banks make sure you are completely prepared before hand. This is a bit like Dragons Den in as much as – you need to know your figures. Be careful not to book an appointment with your bank manager and go along asking for £20,000 without a precise plan and idea of where it’s going. Particularly in this economic climate you need to show you will succeed and that you have some security to offer just in case.
Something that worked well for me was taking advantage of the free help and advice made available through government programs. At first these meetings can feel like a waste of time, talking about business plans and projections when all you want to do is go out and make things happen. I was patient and it paid off. Several business advisors that I met during these embryonic stages are still working with me today. Significantly these advisors are very up to date with what government funding is available and many will walk you through application. Whenever I am considering a new project I always consult my business advisor – I had no idea how well spent this time would actually be.
Premises
Having talked to many colleagues and friends who have started their own businesses, we all seem to enjoy looking back at our hunt for premises. This is such a big thing in your mind when you are starting a business, you have a vision of exactly what you want but finding it and affording it are completely different things.
Obviously the nature of your business may well dictate the sort of premises you’re looking for. Mine didn’t. I knew early on that Inthepaper was going to be an online business which I could basically run from anywhere. Having a relative in the property market helped here and he was kind enough to show me a few local offices. I took a small office in a rural village about 30 minutes from my home. Looking back there were a lot of things I didn’t consider when taking this office that later became problems.
Firstly, space. I took a small office because it was all that was available and all I could afford but it wasn’t long before I didn’t have enough space for stock.
Secondly, I didn’t consider expansion at all. While I dreamed of running a successful business with a dozen or more staff I didn’t hold this in my head when I was looking for premises. I took the ‘I’ll be chuffed to have that problem to deal with’ attitude – guess what, I wasn’t! When I’d expanded to 4 staff and no space to produce orders I realised I should have thought about it a bit more. At this point I got so lucky and a company moved from a large office on the floor below me. I was more thoughtful this time and considered further expansion. The landlord informed me that there were 2 offices adjoining mine that I could expand into in the future and that the side of my new office had a plaster board wall which could be removed for stock storage in the future if I needed it. A few weeks later I had too much space and only had to move down a flight of stairs.
One thing to consider before taking on premises (and this really stung me!) – check out grants and funding before you sign! I applied for a grant and was approved only to be turned down after they found out I had an office. I didn’t realise that this was one of the criteria but there are a lot of grants available towards premises so it’s well worth looking into that before you start looking into buildings.
Location was something I didn’t have to massively consider. Because Inthepaper was going to be an online company I didn’t need a high street presence nor a city location. Being in such a rural village did (and does!) have its downsides but nothing major. You choice of premises depends so much on the type of business you are starting but do consider practical things like: proximity to a bank, broadband connections, neighbours, parking, mail collections etc.
Next
That concludes the first of my Business Start Up series. Still to come: problems, suppliers, customer care, recruiting, staff issues, expansion, credit crunch.
