Going into business for oneself can be the most rewarding step you could ever take. However there are a few things I think you really should consider:

1. It’s going to take twice as long and cost twice as much

It’s a frequently used maxim but only because it’s true. It is easy to underestimate how much needs to be done before revenues come rolling in and one’s plans rarely allow for any contingency or indeed living oneself until the business kicks in.

2. Test your proposition first

If it’s a product you are going to sell have some advance orders, or test selling it at a car boot. If it’s a service, go be someone’s apprentice or stand in for a week or two first, and see if you are cut out for going it alone.

3. Strongly consider becoming a limited company

A limited company is a separate legal entity to you and so if things go wrong it can go bust without you having to. Also, with a limited company you can sell shares to others at different prices and quantities and so raise money whilst retaining 51%+.

4. It’s all about the team

If you are going to raise money from Venture Capitalists or Business Angels, they’ll want to see a team in place with all the key roles covered. Six rocket scientists might build a great rocket but will still need a sales person , someone in finance etc.

5. Be a little selfish or greedy

If this is your plan, or simply you seem to be doing most of the work, you don’t have to settle for equal participations all round. If the chances are you’re going to lead this, then take the biggest share – kindness at the beginning can cause problems later.

6. What’s your ‘Ronseal’ pitch?

Forget elevator pitches – life’s too short even for a quick explanation of what you will do. Ronseal ‘does what it says on the can’. Can you summarise your business proposition to anybody in a single sentence?

7. What need does your offering satisfy?

Very little in this world is completely new, so most times there is already a need. If there’s a need, does your proposition deal with it? If there’s no existing need, because it is as revolutionary as the Sony Walkman or Apple’s iPad, then you’re going to have to create the market too.

8. How will the competition react?

Be careful if a market opportunity appears to exist because of competitors’ inefficiencies. If by starting, you show them wanting, they’ll surely move to shut the door on you. And remember too, existing loyalties might make their customers slow to switch to you.

9. Don’t rely on professionals – do some yourself

Lawyers and Accountants etc make their money by charging for their time. Often at hourly rates you’d happily take as daily salary. So  ensure you know what you are asking for in terms of outcomes and always ask for a quote first.

10. Look for a mentor

Starting up is full of tricky situations you might never have encountered but invariably someone else has. Consider approaching an ex-boss or industry legend to see if they might agree to help you in your early stages. Surprisingly such help is often willingly given for free.

Michael Carter is the author of ‘Take the plunge – 101 things you need to know before starting in business’. This easy-to-read, colourfully illustrated book covers everything from business plans to VAT, selling to find premises, hiring people to limited companies and is available at a special price of just £5 (post paid) from www.efactorybooks.bigcartel.com

The traditional SWOT or TOWS (I prefer the latter) analysis is generally represented in a Boston box; you know the 4 x 4 matrix variety:

ABC Enterprises TOWS

We can find this representation in text books, most business cases and plans, adorning strategy presentations and so on, but what does it mean? Is it really an analysis? And that’s the point; unless you have written it you may not really know what it means. And even if you do, where is the analysis? I think there is a simple way to improve it.

I use “SWOT? So What?”, where the “So What?” forces the consideration of “So, what does this mean for the business?” i.e. analysis. It does exactly what it says on the tin.

A slight change to the layout reveals all.

ABC Enterprises TOWS

My “SWOT? So What?” approach encourages us to go beyond just the headline and really explore what it means for the business. Not only does this give better and more beneficial information, but it tends improve presentations too, forming the basis for discussion rather than just being the cue for an explanation.

Next time you are in need of a TOWS/SWOT analysis…why not give it a try.

We are all familiar with the marketing mix 4Ps: Product, Place, Promotion & Price, with Physical Evidence,   often added as an optional extra (some will add a couple more Ps).  I’ll happily discuss the marketing mix and how we can use these headings to shape our approach to the market and I’m not suggesting we should abandon them entirely.  But, and here’s the swipe, these are approaches from the supplier side.  What about the customer perspective?

Yep, radical as it may seem we need to view these elements from the customer perspective.  I suggest that for each P also consider what I call “the buying mix”.  Let’s apply some letters (this is not original, but can’t recall where I got it from during my studies all those years ago) and “A” will do nicely:

Product: Acceptability – how acceptable to your target customer(s) are the products or services: do they do meet the buyers’ requirement(s).
Place: Availability - where and how readily can your customer(s) get their hands on your products or services.
Promotion: Awareness - how and how easily can your customers find out about  your products and how to get them.
Price: Affordability – you may think it is a good and fair price but can your target customers actually afford it.

Just to make sure we haven’t missed any, let’s also take Physical Evidence…how about Aesthetics or Appearance…which offer a differentiation from whether a product does the job by adding the very important elements of fashion, smell or  cleanliness (quite important for a restaurant don’t you think!).

So, for a really customer focussed approach, think buying mix 4As and marketing mix 4Ps.

But with start-ups it’s different.

Certainly the starter-upper is probably well versed in what they are about to do: dog-grooming, house-building, architecture, wood-turning etc, but their knowledge of basic business isn’t there at all.

I greatly enjoyed Richard Branson’s ‘Losing my virginity’ but you can’t really advocate starting a business on a tax fraud, can you? Similarly, I was incensed by ‘Anyone can do it’ by Sahar Hashemi – cofounder of the Coffee Republic. Reading her book gave me no confidence at all that a potential start-up would learn any of the basic business steps to support their chosen activity.

My own first book: ‘It’s all cobblers!’ was, I found at my 45^th reading,  in a similar vein to the two above  – more autobiographical and less helpful to a start-up to whom I thought I had addressed it. In fact, reviewing the market I couldn’t find a book for start-ups that explained in bite sized chunks, why you need to do things in start-up mode at all.

So I wrote it. ‘Take the plunge – 101 things you need to know before starting your own business’.  Available from Amazon in paper or as an eBook – with all Amazon’s ‘look inside’ features.