Starting a Business? Avoid These Common Traps

Whenever the global economy enters periods of uncertainty, people from all walks of life start thinking about opening their own businesses. It's a natural human response to a risky job market, rising inflation, and political unrest. If you are one of those entrepreneurial types who is seriously considering starting a company from scratch, it makes sense to review a few of the most dangerous pitfalls that first-time owners encounter. Simply knowing what they are is often protection enough against the common traps that appear along the road to success. In no specific order, here are several obstacles that thousands of people face when attempting to unleash their creative spirit on the marketplace of ideas, goods, and services.

Not Researching the Competition

Far too many prospective owners spend little time doing in-depth research on their competition. Again, this mistake can be chalked up to human nature because it's easy to spend hundreds of hours writing business plans, designing products, assembling mailing lists, and essentially focusing on getting the company's doors open. What often falls by the wayside is opposition research, the investigative phase of any competent startup operation. Take the time to identify every viable, potential rival in your niche. Study their websites, prices, special offers, shopping carts, advertisements, ‘About Us’ website sections, and more.

Ignoring Potential Sources of Financing

Unfortunately, too many stop before they start, assuming they don't have enough financial resources to sustain the months it can take to get a company off the ground. Most working people have more available capital than they at first suspect. Among the many hidden sources of financing for a young business, one of the most overlooked ones is life insurance.

It's worth remembering that you can sell almost any type of life policy you currently own. Check the fine print to discover how you can sell the contract to a third party for cold, hard cash. The best way to begin is to review a complete online guide to the subject that explains everything you need to know. Plus, once you sell your policy, you can use the money for any purpose under the sun, and that includes financing your brand-new business.

Assuming You Need to Rent Office Space

In your mind's eye, you've probably envisioned yourself sitting behind a desk in a rented office, working away at the keyboard and telephone. In reality, most new organizations don't need dedicated, rented office space for the first few months of their existence. As an alternative, use an extra room, corner of the garage, or an attic loft as a temporary headquarters until you acquire enough regular customers to support the expense of a more formal office. And there are plenty of ways to track employee performance when working from home as you expand your team or outsource work.

Doing Your Own Books and Taxes

Unless you have a degree in business administration and know enough about accounting, finance, and tax law to do your own books and file tax returns, hand the job over to someone else. Fees are very competitive, and you'll have the peace of mind that comes with having all the financial statements and tax issues in perfect order.

 

Starting Your Own Business? Here Are Some Essential Tips For A Post-Pandemic Landscape

If you are on the verge of launching your own small business, then we can only imagine how stressful the last year or so has been for you. We all know that anyone starting their own company is at the mercy of the marketplace to some extent, but the waters have never been as turbulent as they have been since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Everyone hopes for the smoothest possible launch but that has hardly been on the cards since March 2020. However, this summer has finally shown us some reasons to be cheerful. More and more people are getting vaccinated, businesses are reopening, and it feels like we are starting to see something that looks like a return to normality.

However, anyone who has been following the news in the last eighteen months or so knows that the pandemic is not the only thing that can throw obstacles in the way of a fledgling business. There are a number of issues on the horizon that are causes for concern, in addition Coronavirus’ continued potential to wreak more havoc on the business landscape. You need to make sure that you have your bases covered and that you are ready for whatever challenges the end of 2021, and the start of 2022 will throw at you. Here are a few tips to help you make sure that you are making the most of all your assets and that you have the flexibility you need.

Anticipate Issues Before They Arise

There has been no shortage of issues that we have witnessed in the last few months alone that feel like they should have been foreseeable. There have been plenty that were foreseeable, and which happened anyway. You don’t need a pandemic to derail a business and there have been a series of issues that have caused already vulnerable companies, still reeling from the impact of COVID-19, to raise the alarm that hard times are still here. The numerous supply issues that have occurred because of the twin forces of the pandemic and Brexit are the best example. We have seen a massive shortage of HGV drivers, and in turn we have seen empty shelves, supermarkets warning about rising prices and unavailable items, and fast-food chains announcing that they can’t offer chicken or milkshakes.

You may not feel like these specific issues affect your business, but the fact of the matter is that there will be ways in which these major upheavals hit home one way or another. How can you stay ahead of them? Building in flexibility is ideal, but it is not always an option. Keep following the news, keep talking to your experts such as your accountant and your lawyer to go through worst case scenarios, and remember that you need to focus on what lies ahead as much as the issues at hand.

Look For Smart Ways To Save

We are all doing our best to look on the bright side right now but only a very foolhardy entrepreneur would think that this is a smart time to splash the cash where you don’t need to. When you are first launching, there is always the temptation to go big on your investments. This is your baby, after all, and it makes sense that you would want to pay to get the best. But we all need to be keeping one eye on our budgets and looking for those little, or big, ways to save will absolutely help you if things get more difficult a month or two down the line. The office is obviously a big expense, but what about all those other business-related costs?

Don’t be afraid to go hunting for the best possible deals on everything from your energy bills to your shipping costs. Talk to your accountant about what kind of tax breaks you can be applying for, and what kind of costs you can avoid at this early stage. Take phone plans, for example. The work phone is one of those things that you cannot do without, but there is no reason why you should be paying for more than you need. A SIM only plan will give you all the essentials without tying you into costs for bundles that you are never going to use. Lebara offers a wide range of different SIM only plan options that can be tailored to suit your business’ specific requirements. With no credit checks and 30-day rolling plans, there are no strings attached.

Do You Really Need An Office?

For a very long time, the office has been something for small businesses to aspire to. It is a status symbol as much as anything else, a statement that you are here and that you mean business, literally. It is somewhere to welcome potential clients and somewhere to put on your email signature. Of course, there are plenty of practical benefits to having everyone under the same roof too. But when the world locked down back in March 2020, everyone was forced to consider the idea that maybe the office was not as essential as we had assumed it was. We all had to figure out how to keep moving forward while working remotely because there was no other choice.

Even now, as many businesses consider the return to the old workplace, or have already started the procedure to get everyone back in, a lot of people are still asking the question: is this really going to help us? If you are just starting your business now, flexibility is going to be absolutely crucial. An office is a big expense to commit to, and if there is another major rise in cases or another lockdown, you may have to give it up soon after you’ve paid for it. You should also consider that not committing to a physical location may actually help you find people who are better suited to their roles from all over the country.

Focus On Your Online Presence

One of the best ways that you can give your new business the best possible foothold is to start working on your online presence right now. So many businesses were forced to pivot to online out of necessity during the lockdowns, but if you incorporate your online strategy into your business plan straight out of the gate, you will give yourself a big advantage.

Start by making sure that your website is easy to use and easy on the eye. Avoid templates that look like having a home page was an afterthought. Work on your SEO strategy now by creating content that demonstrates your expertise and what sets you apart from the competition. Remember that Google factors user experience into how they determine search rankings, so don’t just fill blog posts with key words and leave it at that.

Start building your social media presence as soon as possible. Keep in mind that this is one of the best ways to get your brand name out there and to interact with your core audience. Engage with your customers and start working on your brand persona. Research which channels your target audience uses and prioritise those. Everyone can spot an insincere brand social media channel so make sure yours has a real personality.