What do I need to start a Business?

Is it hard to start a business?

Hooorayyyy, Your starting a business, sounds amazing to think about being the ‘Director’ of a company with all the dreams and desires to own a successful multinational company one day. Think of the big money, the success, the good life. But very soon you will be on a rollercoaster ride of emotions. Been there already? So have we.

Getting to the point of believing you can run a business was the beginning just like for us.

Our story was the same and Market forever was a by product of marketing. We had an amazing business product but whilst going through the all too famous business model canvas we got stuck on marketing.

It wasn’t our cup of tea 5 years ago. Is it yours?

So we decided to help us and everyone around us, after countless courses, classes and marketing positions. We compiled the 10 questions we would ask you to keep in mind.

Each question should help you understand the Business model and the runnings of your business as well as costing. But before you look at this the first and most important question would be

‘Have you thought of a product or service to make into a business?’

If the answer was yes, great but if the answer is no, then we have some more work to do.

1.What’s your idea? Does it solve any problem you had on a day to day life or is it a unique solution.

A great business idea would be one that solves the problem of a customer or consumer, something that makes life easier for them. For example, Amazon used to start as just a online bookstore but in recent years it had developed to host a quick delivery service for most things. Now its all about cost effectiveness. If you want it cheap, double check on amazon before buying it in high street retail shops.

2.Do you know who will be likely to buy this? In other words who is your target market?

Your Target market are the people who are going to buy your product or service and make your business excel. Why is this important? Because you need to know who you are talking to, to make sure that you speak their language and not jargon.

3.Do you know who you will run the race with- competition?

Now this is not to put you off your idea just because other people might already be doing your business idea but instead to see what or who your up against. Its like the old saying ‘keep your friends close but your enemies closer’. This is so you can learn from their weakness and give that as another solution to your target audience.

4.Have you got knowledge on how your going to market your product or service?

This is the part were our director stopped the other product idea they had and Market Forever was birth. Knowing the best way to market to your audience is crucial for the best results. Which service, which platform, insights on the service, time to do the marketing- it can really be the make or break of your Business plan.

If you are at that stage and are looking for dedicated people to help why don’t you check out our Services in www.market-forever.com.

5.Do you have funding to start ? Or need to find a grant/loan

There are some great funding and loans out there that can be used to start a business. For social enterprises you could call your local council for some grants or events to be hosted.You could also get some investors on board who will invest money for an equity ( % share ) of the business. If your unemployed you can visit the jobcentre for more help on funding and starting your business.

6.Did you research your costing to make an end product or service ?

This is not to alarm you but its just to be ‘real’ about the profit or loss you might make. This would involve thinking of things like manufacture costing,  VAT, taxes, wages, platform cost, marketing cost, start-up etc to make sure when calculating how much you would need to start- you would have a rough idea.

7.Have you analysed what your revenue streams could be? From what services/product can you generate money from?

This is all about how you can generate money from different ways into your business. Finding different ways to make money with the services you have would increase your profitability margins. For example, Amazon have lots of different streams- they sell books and different industries, they are resellers at cheaper prices, subscriptions from Business, pay for prime accounts shipping etc.

8.Have you learned about start up fees or process?

This question is to give you a rough idea as to how you want to operate. Would it be a limited company, a freelancer or a sole trader. Each of these three have different benefits, different downsides and tax rates. It maybe best to consult an account in regards to tax.

Limited Company

A registered company through company house who file annual returns, taxes and your company name would be protected. There is limited liability in the case of bankruptcy which mean your personal assets are not attached eg. car/house

Freelancer

Act as an agent for someone or a company.

Sole Trader

Can still have a logo and company name but it wouldn’t be registered and other companies could use your logo for branding. Mainly your assets would be accountable for liability in the event that you would need to pay back money.

9.What resources and platforms do you need to make your business work?

By ‘resources’ and ‘platforms’ it means how would you make your products or what do you need to make them work. For example, if you were a business for a barber business the platforms you could use for marketing

10.How would you maintain any clients that come?

Is there maybe a scheme that you thought to keep them on-board or to capture audiences. There are 5 different types of customers out there. We will be blogging on the 5 different customers soon so that you can capture each one in their own way.

Now that you had a rough idea of what it takes to be in business- I hope you are still interested in taking this life changing venture.

If you have any doubts or need to talk more in detail about your business model- please feel free to call one of our trained agents. At Market Forever we know the struggles and we are ready steady go to help.

Know anyone else with a business that this might be usual for? Share it on your Social media, review, comment and like us.