Going Solo: Musts for Making the Self-Employment Decision

You want to start your own business. Admirable! But, there’s a problem: you don’t know everything you need to know in order to get up and running. The regulations, the practical business considerations, the logistics of taking money and distributing your product on a small and large scale or even how to scale up and grow your business.

Here are the factors to consider before making the decision to become self-employed.

The Skill Sets You Need To Succeed

You need to be creative, or at least practical, in business. You need determination, knowledge of your industry, leadership skills, organization skills, and a profound belief in yourself and your business.

Most businesses exist to fill a need and solve a problem. Even when a business moves into new, untested, territory, it wants to solve a problem of some kind. Not all business owners are serious risk-takers, but there is always an element of risk in starting and running a business.

The Legal Loops You Must Jump Through

You have to be willing to jump through a lot of legal loops and processes to start your company. There’s a lot of information on the Slater and Gordon website about getting your business protected and legal. But, you will also probably need someone in-house that can manage it all – an HR person.

The Money Consideration

You need money to get up and running. Where will that money come from? Most business owners raise money from their families, through personal loans, and with personal savings. If you don’t have access to any money, odds are you’re not going to be able to start a business.

Even home-based businesses, which are inexpensive to set up, require capital. How much capital depends on the operation. For a bakery, for example, you might need over £90,000 to start – just to start. With a home-based operation, maybe you only need a few hundred pounds.

The Entrepreneur vs Business Owner

There’s a dividing line in business between a business owner and an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs are risk-takers. They have untested ideas that they need to flesh out and test. They delegate management to experts so that they can focus on creative work and the business will usually run without them being there.

They take a visionary approach and are responsive to new opportunities. They also tend to want to generate buyer interest in their business and take it public.

A business owner exists to solve existing problems. They are also not real risk-takers. They are risk-averse, preferring low-risk decisions that satisfy short-term security. They also manage their employees closely, making it difficult for the business to run without them. They take a traditional approach to running a business, and often possess core business skills.

They have little or no intention of selling their business. For them, it’s not about maximizing selling price. It’s about creating a lifetime income for their employees and themselves.

Deciding which route you want to go will determine your future in business. Many people aren’t cut out to be entrepreneurs, but they make excellent business owners.

Bob Slater has held a number of executive positions in a number of key industries. He is always pleased to lend his support and insights to others through a variety of online sources. He has already written articles for a number of business and industry websites.