No business is an island, Bon Jovi might have said. But the temptation of fledgling home business owners is to ignore the necessity of real-life assets. This is especially true of web-based business owners. For them, it is often far simpler and safer to stay at home and not risk growth. However, if you want your business to increase, extra staff and equipment will be needed, and with them a whole host of other real-world needs. Here are a few of the key points you need to start looking into.
Finding Partners
At some point, you’ll have to involve other people. Having too much trust in your own abilities as a leader could be what stifles growth. This is known as the “leadership lid” and its effects can be brutal, if unnoticed. Make sure you find the partner for you by spending time working together first. Sure, a family member or trusted friend may seem like a good idea at the time. But does it work on a day-to-day basis? Also establish what your strengths and weaknesses are in order to find a good fit.
Finding Premises
The government has made a great video for advising small business owners on purchasing their first premises. As with home-buying, it’s location, location, location that is the key point. Find somewhere easy for your employees and suppliers to get to.
Finding good distributors
If your business is in online sales, then this is something you should already have looked into. Perhaps standard distribution channels have been adequate for now, and you now need to up the ante in a big way. Working with a freight forwarder could provide a cheaper, safer and more straight-forward way of working.
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Safeguarding your Software
IT support cannot be underestimated. It’s essential when your productivity is tied to performing all sorts of online transactions every day. Some problems just don’t have a ready-Googleable answer, so make a strong link with a local IT support provider. It is an investment well worth making.
Funding
As you are still in the startup phase, you might be pleasantly surprised to know that financial help is available. A number of government-backed initiatives are available, you just have to see which one relates to your business. Online finance finders are also a good way of checking to see what funds you are eligible for. Plus, if you have been accepting benefits, you should explain your idea at the job center to see if those benefits can be upgraded to funding. You could be entitled to up to £1,274 over a 26 weeks period.
Selling shares
This is a good way to get early funding, even if it does have strings. Talk to a financial advisor about the what is required to make everything above board and safe for everyone. Then ask friends and family if they would be interested. Failing that, the next easiest thing is to crowd-source over the internet. There are many individuals who want the pride of having put funding towards a good idea, and the examples are all over the internet. So pitch to the world, you might be surprised by the results!
