Some Considerations When Setting Up A Small Business

For many, starting their own business is the perfect way to make a living. There are many reasons for this; but one close to my heart is that it’s a means of enabling those who do not fit naturally into traditional work environments to have a liberating and successful professional life. Something that can often be denied to some otherwise. In fact, teaching entrepreneurship is one way that many parents of autistic children are battling the heart wrenching struggle of those on the spectrum to gain or maintain meaningful employment opportunities. 

Naturally (being self-employed) and the parent of a special needs child; I agree. Owning your own business is honestly the only viable option for some, and for many others it’s the best possible option. So, I think it is good to encourage a full grasp of opportunities for developing minds, to make sure they are aware of all possible options when it comes to employment, and to know what sort of responsibilities, and experiences each would or wouldn’t entail. 

With all that in mind, here are some factors to consider when it comes to forming your own business, whether for your own reference, or for other curious minds.

Different Types of Businesses

The first thing to consider is what is your business? What do you do? What do you sell? 

There are lots of types of businesses, but let’s take a moment to simplify it. Often you can boil it down to one of three categories (and expand from there): services, distribution, or manufacturing. If you provide a service, then people pay for your specialist skills or experiences. Retail is an establishment which involves buying products and selling those on. Finally, manufacturers/suppliers create/farm and sell (either direct to client, or to a retail business).

By knowing what type of business you want to create, you can also identify your needs. That’s very important!

Location

OK, location is something incredibly important… even deciding whether it isn’t important.

As a blogger, it doesn’t matter where I work from. I need to work from a screen, and I don’t have employees. So, home is fine. Perfect even! However, very rarely – I do travel for work, which means that affordable and easily accessible travel options are a must, but a company car certainly isn’t.

Now if we think about retail, maybe, a zero waste store… the obvious location would be a store front (you probably don’t want people coming in and out of your home) and have to consider things like ease of access, flow of customers, and storage, therefore location is incredibly important, although it is a business that could work mobile too.

Thinking about location is a must, so is knowing and understand what you need available at certain locations. Items like the latest air cooled chiller from Hydrosolar.ca could be implemented at a site, whereas space isn’t so easily added.  

Seek Support

Whilst being self-employed and owning your own business puts all of the responsibility on you (and this can be overwhelming) it doesn’t mean you are alone.

The most important piece of advice I can offer is build a support network and understand that it’s OK to seek aid. 

Whether it’s hiring a virtual assistant to manage your workload, an accountant for your books, someone to help you get your head around the particulars of registering your business in your region, or local movers Sarasota based to help you get your location set up, it all takes some of stress off you.

Anyone looking at starting their own business should definitely think about what support they are likely to need and seek out what they can ahead of time (there are plenty of industry relevant communities online) but also be receptive and adaptive to seeking extra assistance as and when required thereafter.

One Final Note

Being self-employed, and owning your own business has difficulties, but with a little careful planning, thinking through all the different elements and getting support that you need, it can both give freedom from the traditional work system, and also allow those who couldn’t otherwise experience a healthy work life. 

Whilst the points here are some considerations (not a definitive guide) to think through, self-employment/forming your own business can genuinely be one of the most liberating and enabling methods of experiencing the professional world, and I would encourage anyone on the fence to consider looking into this option further.

*This is a collaborative post