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The Ultimate Business advice cheat sheet

Posted by Oliver Corrigan on Aug 17, 2015 8:30:00 AM
Oliver Corrigan
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You’ve just graduated, you’re bursting with creative ideas and enthusiasm and you’re all ready to start your own business. But where do you start, and how can you be sure that you’re making the most sensible decisions at the right time? In your eagerness to get a new business off the ground, it’s all too easy to rush in – but, as we noted in a blog offering advice for start-ups, this is when mistakes happen.

To make the best use of the time you spent at university and to ensure you start your business off in the right way, follow these tips…



Don’t wait forever for the perfect opportunity

While it’s very important to plan and do your homework before starting a business, it would be a mistake to wait around forever for the ideal opportunity to come along. If you try, you can come up with a million excuses not to make the leap now – from a slight downturn in the economy to your own financial situation. If you have the idea and your plan is sound, be brave and seize now as an opportunity.



Create a watertight business plan

This is one of the first pieces of business advice any experienced business owner will give you – to come up with a sound and thorough plan for how you will actually start and run your business. It should lay out every single detail, no matter how small, about how your business will actually run, for everyday operations and the long-term plan. Be as meticulous as you can, and really put some effort into identifying and resolving theoretical problems and obstacles you could encounter. 



Get the paperwork done

Before you can start some of the fun bits, like marketing your new venture, you need to lay all of the right foundations. For example, you need to register your business for tax, register your intellectual property, and as our blog about starting a business in Leeds highlighted, apply for funding if you need it. It may be dull, but it needs doing.



Ideas are great, but they’re nothing without implementation

Some people are born dreamers, and of course, original thinking is key to coming up with a new idea or a twist on an established concept. However, you also need to be able to implement your big ideas. For every idea you dream up, make plans for making it happen – and be realistic! So many new businesses fail because ambition and creativity just didn’t match up with the logistical and financial realities of implementing the initial concepts.



Don’t run before you can walk

Too many budding entrepreneurs think they need to sign up for long leases on office space and start hiring people before they’ve even built up a customer base. Starting a business may be risky, but taking on this level of financial commitment before the business is off the ground is a risk too far. Find working solutions that suit the needs of your business now, such as a virtual office – which allows you to work from home but have calls and mail received, a prestigious address and access to meeting rooms and other facilities if you need it. Alternatively, you could make use of shared workspace – which can be great for stimulating creative, innovative thinking and making invaluable contacts. What makes both shared workspace and a virtual office good for start-ups is that they require less financial outlay and they’re flexible – so they can adapt to the needs of your business now and as it starts to grow.

 

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