Steps to set up a new business for young entrepreneurs
Johannesburg - The challenging economic climate and lack of work opportunities has prompted many South Africans to start their own businesses.
This is encouraging as small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are vital if we are to see a recovery in the economy and see the unemployment rate decrease from the current 34%.
Whether you are starting a business to supplement your income from your 9-5 or to make a living for yourself, it is important to be fully aware of what it takes to establish a successful entrepreneurial enterprise.
Starting a business is not as easy as just waking up one morning and hitting the ground running. Taking your start-up from the ideation phase to a fully-fledged product or service can be challenging and often frustrating, but it need not be.
There are certain steps that budding entrepreneurs can take to ensure that they set up a solid foundation for their business to thrive.
David Seinker, CEO and founder of The Business Exchange, has plotted five steps that new business owners should take to set themselves up for success.
Identify your workspace
This seems like an obvious one, but many budding entrepreneurs wake up on the first day of being on their own, and they have no idea where to set up their workspace. If you’re keen to work from home, identify a spot in your house that becomes your workspace and try to only work from there so that the rest of the house remains a zone to relax in.
You could also opt for a desk or office in a co-working space such as The Business Exchange. Co-working spaces may mean that you have to fork out a membership fee every month, but these fees work out to be less than you would spend on conventional office rent and can include a number of perks like free coffee and other amenities.
Set your business goals for the year
Take some time to plan your goals for the year. Ask yourself what you wish to achieve by the end of the year and how you need to go about achieving your set goals. You can work all of this into a solid business plan for the year and keep referring to it when you think you’re going a bit off course.
While you’re in this process, identify your strengths and weaknesses while also doing an assessment of the market. Look for the gaps in the market and see how you can address these gaps to the benefit of your business.
Meet with potential clients
To ensure that the bigger business world knows that you exist, set up face-to-face meetings with people you would ideally like to have as clients. If you’re selling coffee, meet with restaurants. If you’re a tax practitioner, meet with small businesses that may need some help down the line.
Get yourself in the door and make a good first impression. This way, if people don’t need your services immediately, you are top-of-mind for any potential projects or jobs in the future.
Meet with other entrepreneurs
There are others who have come before you that have done this before. Meet with other entrepreneurs to find out what worked and what didn’t work for them. If you’re in a co-working space, you will find people of this ilk all around you.
Attend workshops and conventions and use them as an opportunity to network with like-minded people.
Get the paperwork out of the way
Compliance is of utmost importance when setting up a registered business. It can be very overwhelming, but it’s definitely something that you should get out of the way as early as possible.
Register your business, be tax compliant from the start, apply for BEE status if you can, sign up for accounting software to keep track of your money, and set up a business bank account.
Find out if there are any regulatory bodies you need to be registered with. Make sure you have all the necessary compliance certificates and licences for the industry you are operating in.
There are a number of other base requirements, depending on how big and what your area of business is, so be sure to research what you need to do and get it done at the very start of your exciting new chapter.
IOL Business