Could You Be a Business Owner? Here’s What You Need…

Could you be a business owner? Here’s what you need to turn your career from stuck in employment, to succeeding in entrepreneurship.

Spend any amount of time in employment and you’ll likely eventually get bored of the same repetitive grind. Maybe you work in a restaurant, or a shop, or a garden centre, doing the same things every day. Maybe that promotion you took hasn’t really lived up to expectations. Or perhaps you never actually got the promotion – or any sort of reason to stay the job. Whatever route you’re taking into business ownership, whether its from employment or migration from another career, the way forward can often seem hazy – but for a lot of entrepreneurial pursuits, it can actually be a straight road.

With an idea, passion and a bit of commitment, your dreams of business ownership can bare fruit.

You Need an Idea, Fuelled By a Passion

What is it that you want to do? It needs to be something you enjoy and can see yourself doing for years to come. Ideally, it also needs to be something that your competition isn’t already offering. Maybe you love customer service and have skills in cleaning ovens – there are probably at least 5 other oven cleaners near you already. It’s a good idea to write up a business plan, whichever route to business ownership you take, be it new start or via franchising. The business plan should detail your idea, how you intend to make it work, why you want to make it work and how it will stand out from competition (USP).

Ultimately, you will need to enjoy what you do. If you don’t, the dream of running your own business will turn to sand, gradually each day. Your motivation will turn sluggish and performance will drop. So make a list of things you enjoy, it could be cats, it could be computers. Then think of how you could turn that passion into profit.

Businesses need time to develop and nurture, requiring fine tuning along the way to ensure not only the business is profitable, but stays that way. Ongoing you’ll need to adapt to changes in market trends, researching and developing new products or services to ensure you stay ahead of your competition.

Make sure your idea is fuelled by a passion, something you enjoy doing.

You Need an Investment

An investment of time and money can help grow your business. How much depends on the type of business you plan to run. A restaurant, you’ll need good financial investment and working capital. A low cost online business, probably less, but you’ll still need money to get going. Time and money are a good fuel for launching a business, hindered only by your own experience. You’ll learn by making mistakes and mistakes are common when entering the world of entrepreneurship.

Depending on the type of business you intend to run, the financial investment to get the business off the ground will vary anywhere from six figures, to an investment as low as £5,000. With an online business, its easier than ever to get rolling. Set up a Google My Business profile, establish a local business presence online and naturally customers will eventually find you. Utilising the latest SEO and social media marketing methods will drive faster sales. With a shop based business like a restaurant, you’ll need to employ staff, so breakeven will take longer due to things like salary and utilities.

Make sure you have cash in the bank for whatever business idea you wish to pursue, with extra in reserve as working capital.

You Need To Do Market Research

Explore the market. Not only find out if your business model has already been tapped, but find out exactly what demand there is for your services. This is an obvious factor you need to consider, but it’s also one many people overlook in their determination to get going. Find out what your potential competitors are charging, what they offer and what they do well. And what they’re doing wrong! Read their customer reviews, find out why their business isn’t pleasing and establish a way on which you can overcome that in your business.

Research potential partners and suppliers for your stock or materials. Gauge demand for your service, such as through local Facebook groups. You need to carry out market research before stepping forward.

You Need to Consider Your Options

Don’t jump straight into starting up a business from scratch. At least not yet. Have you considered all of your options? Have you considered franchising? Maybe there’s a business available for sale that does exactly what you intend to do. One that already has an established brand and customer base.

Franchising lowers the risks associated with starting a business. While you still enjoy the pleasure of owning your own business, you get to use an established brand and access a proven business model. Many UK businesses are franchised. From board game cafes to vending machines, children’s activities to corporate catering. Maybe your passion is already available as a franchise or business for sale? Carry out due diligence and explore avenues relating to your entrepreneurial interests. Investing in a franchise rather than a business from scratch can have significant benefits you would otherwise miss on, such as:

• Full backing, training and support from the franchisor, including R&D and continued brand development
• Increased buying power, access to partners and suppliers established in the franchise agreement, offering discounted products or services to you
• National marketing, your franchisor may use royalty fees you pay each month to run marketing that benefits the entire network – such as TV ads and magazine inclusion.

TV campaigns, newspaper ads, these work fantastically well for a franchise network because of the larger coverage of the services of the franchise. For a small business, this media can be incredibly expensive for only a small audience. Making sure you explore opportunities such as franchising, will mean you run less risk of going back on yourself later down the line.

Could You Be a Business Owner This Time Next Year?

Whether you choose franchising or an independent business start up, there are a wealth of resources out there for you to benefit from. With many banks and business actively involved with franchising, access to finance and advice has never been closer to hand. More and more people are becoming business owners, either by starting up from a business idea or via franchising. Why not explore the business opportunities available, maybe you could be joining them soon.