How to Plan Your Business

When you hear the term “business plan” it's easy to be put off by the thought of some huge complicated dossier. But don't worry, it doesn't need to be as complicated as that. At this stage we're more interested in why you want to set up your business, who you want to serve, what problems you've identified, and how you aim to solve them.

On this episode we're going to look at some examples from photographer Julie Christie, and shop owner Nicola Donnelly. Why did they decide to start their own businesses? How did they go about it? What can you learn from their experiences, and what advice do they have for you?

When it comes to the money side of things, we need to have a think about your anticipated startup and running costs. Then we can look at how much we can expect to earn, and figure out if this is a sustainable income for you to live on. For this segment we've brought accountant Gordon Howes on board.

And recruitment consultant Patricia McGuire has some advice for you on your long term goals. What kind of company would you like to have eventually? What would it look like, and how would you fit into it? Being clear on this can help you to work towards your goals, even if they seem a long way off at this early stage.

Finally, two of the biggest things that hold people back are

Over-planning to the point that they never start

Fear – just being so scared of what might go wrong

Recognising these obstacles early on is important if we want to overcome them. Yes, you're taking a risk, but you take a risk leaving the house each morning. As the old saying goes “A ship is safer in the harbour, but that's not what ships are for.”

Transcript

If anyone was thinking about starting their own business, they felt they had a good idea, they had what it took to make it work, then I would say go for it.

Hey folks, I’m Colin Gray and this is Business Startup UK – the podcast which takes you, step by step, through creating your own business. Since this is the first show, it’s probably worth a little introduction here. As you’ve guessed, this is all about starting a company. There’s obviously a huge range of possibilities there. Maybe you’re looking to register self-employed so that you can do a bit of freelance work outside your main job. Maybe you’re going full time in the business, but there’s no need for a limited company yet. Or maybe you’re jumping in, feet first, and setting up a business with employees, VAT and all the rest, right off the bat. Whatever your aims, there are a lot of steps they have in common. Over the coming 6 episodes I’m aiming, with the help of many others, to give you a full grounding in business startup in the UK. That means what you need to prepare, what you need to think about and what you need to do as you set up your company. By the end of this first series, you should have a really good idea of your first steps, the pitfalls, the things to watch out for along the way.

In case you’re wondering who on earth I am, my name’s Colin Gray and I’m the founder of The Podcast Host. As you’ll guess from the name, we make podcasts and we help other businesses to do that too. I first went self-employed around 10 years ago now, I’ve set up 2 limited companies and helped with a fair few others. I definitely don’t know it all, though, and during this series we’ll be talking to a big range of other people about their experience. Some are experts in finance, law, sales or marketing, and others are just business owners – people who’ve gone through the same experience. We’ll be hearing about the highs, the lows, the tops and the pitfalls. All of this with the aim of making the whole process much, much easier for you.

So, enough explanation – let’s get to the meat of it. In this episode we’re talking about that first step for many – the business plan. Saying that, don’t worry, we’re not jumping straight into a 20 page document with super detailed market analysis, customer segmentation and financial projections – I’m just ta