Making Plans for Business
It is a very busy time taking the steps needed to becoming self-employed. There are so many things to organise and sort out. For example; what business are you in? Where will you work from? How will you market the business? Who and where are your customers? Etc, etc, etc...
Incidentally, am I an entrepreneur or just somebody who works for himself? And is there a difference? The answer has probably got something to with the amount of money to be made - although I guess there is a difference between the person launching an innovative new product and somebody working as a plumber. According to the guy who lectured at the business start up course I attended; an entrepreneur is a 'risk taker' - but surely anybody starting a business at whatever level is taking a risk? And therefore anybody starting in business is an entrepreneur? I'll get my dictionary...
Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, very busy trying to get organised. Well it is still early days in my journey and trading doesn't start officially until 2nd October so I've got a couple of weeks yet. Then I should have all of the elements in place and can start advertising and handing out business cards.
Actually, there are things that really hold up your progress when you decide to start a business. One of them being the time it takes to open a business bank account - I was lucky in that I didn't want to borrow any money or have an overdraft facility (we'll see if this changes at a later date), but it still took a couple of weeks from filling in the forms to receiving my cheque book, cards, etc.
At the moment I am waiting for BT to install my new phone line (should be later today) and until they do they will not confirm the number. Naturally this means I haven't been able to have any business cards or other stationery printed - one more spanner in the works that delays the process still further.
With all of the stuff to do first in setting up and then actually running the business it is more essential than ever before to set goals and have a plan to work to. Hey, we could call it a business plan! What do you think?
Incidentally, am I an entrepreneur or just somebody who works for himself? And is there a difference? The answer has probably got something to with the amount of money to be made - although I guess there is a difference between the person launching an innovative new product and somebody working as a plumber. According to the guy who lectured at the business start up course I attended; an entrepreneur is a 'risk taker' - but surely anybody starting a business at whatever level is taking a risk? And therefore anybody starting in business is an entrepreneur? I'll get my dictionary...
Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, very busy trying to get organised. Well it is still early days in my journey and trading doesn't start officially until 2nd October so I've got a couple of weeks yet. Then I should have all of the elements in place and can start advertising and handing out business cards.
Actually, there are things that really hold up your progress when you decide to start a business. One of them being the time it takes to open a business bank account - I was lucky in that I didn't want to borrow any money or have an overdraft facility (we'll see if this changes at a later date), but it still took a couple of weeks from filling in the forms to receiving my cheque book, cards, etc.
At the moment I am waiting for BT to install my new phone line (should be later today) and until they do they will not confirm the number. Naturally this means I haven't been able to have any business cards or other stationery printed - one more spanner in the works that delays the process still further.
With all of the stuff to do first in setting up and then actually running the business it is more essential than ever before to set goals and have a plan to work to. Hey, we could call it a business plan! What do you think?
