Thinking about starting a new business? Starting from scratch with absolutely no experience of being your own boss? Here are a few things that will help you get it right and make your transition to business owner as easy as it can possibly be…

Evaluate yourself

Before you start your business, do your best impression of an HR professional and honestly evaluate yourself. Think about your strengths and weaknesses.

• Are you good at public speaking?
• Do you struggle to organize your schedule?

Write it all down and take a long hard look at it all. Doing this will help you to work out what aspects of your business you’ll be able to handle solo and where you could maybe use some outside help to get things up and running. More important than that, it will give you a very clear idea of whether you even have the right stuff to sit in a business or not.

Look at all the options

Sole trader, business partner, investor, owner of a franchise from Franchise Direct – these are just some of the ways you can get your foot into the door of being a business owner. It would be prudent to explore them all to before you commit so that you can choose the business that best fits with your life and which allows you to do the most with the resources you have.

Conduct market research

As well as evaluating yourself, you should also take the time to evaluate your business idea in the form of market research. Conducting market research early on will stop you from plunging ahead in and making a mistake. It will help you to determine whether your business idea has legs, and if so, who your target audience is likely to be, what they would like to see from your business, how you price your goods and so much more. It is one step you should never skip.

Make a plan

Making a business plan is not optional. Sure, it’s no fun, but it will help to ensure your business is viable and create a path for you to follow to success. It will also be essential to you if you hope to persuade banks or individuals to invest in your company. If you don’t know where to start, there are lots of resources to help you, or you could even hire a professional to create your business plan with you.

Network

As soon as you decide you want to start your own business, you should start networking too. The more contacts you have in the industry, the easier it will be to pick up contracts, make sales, and generally make a success of things. If you can get yourself a mentor, that will be even better for you as they will help you to avoid many of the pitfalls of being a new business owner.

Starting a company is rarely easy, but if you follow the above advice, it should be at least a little simpler, and you will be more likely to succeed.