Is It Difficult to Start a Business?

It can be difficult to start up a business, however, if you’re doing it for the right reasons, it can come with substantial long-term benefits.

If you’re new to the startup world, setting up a business can be an extreme lifestyle change. Whilst being an entrepreneur may seem, and often can be, exciting and glamorous, there’s a lot of hard work and dedication that goes into starting and running up a successful business.

Therefore, it’s important to go into starting your own business for the right reasons. Don’t go into starting a business thinking it’ll solve your problems, or help you get rich quick – because odds are it won’t. Successful businesses are started from great ideas, an entrepreneurial passion and lots of hard work.

So yes, starting a business can be hard at first, and requires a great deal of love and attention. However, your dedication can pay off in the long run – many in the later stages of their business are able to proudly watch it grow and thrive within its industry.

Therefore, when considering whether to start up your business idea, it’s important reflect on the reasons why you want to pursue this venture in the first place, making sure you’re genuinely dedicated to the entrepreneurial lifestyle, and all the highs and lows that can come with this.

How Much Money Do You Need to Start a Business?

The cost for starting up a business will very much depend on the type of business you’re setting up, as well as how you plan to run your operations. However, whilst startup costs can vary, some of the main costs you can expect to come across whilst setting up including the following:

Advice – when setting up a business, it may be worth considering seeking professional advice, helping you to conduct your operations in line with the legal framework of the industry. Enlisting the help of solicitors and accountants will come at a price, however, some may offer their first consultation for free – especially if they think you’ll become a regular client.

Premises – unless you’re planning to run the business from home, odds are you’ll likely have to find premises to run your operations. Few businesses actually own the premises they work in, and rather lease the commercial property through its landlord. Before going forward with your business idea, it’s important to plan how you’ll pay for the various expenses that come with running a business, including the rent for its premises, helping to prevent you from running into financial difficulties later on down the line.

Setting up a limited company – depending on the nature of your business, you may decide to set it up as a limited company. This is fairly cheap to set up through Companies House, however, some opt for an intermediary firm to help them complete the relevant paperwork. The prices for this can vary considerably, being as little as £10 for the more basic services, whilst others can fetch costs in the hundreds. Read about how to register a limited company in the UK.

Where Do I Start When Starting a Business?

There are a number of different things that need to be done when setting up a business, meaning it can be difficult to know where to even start. First things first, when starting a business, it’s important to conduct thorough research into the idea behind it.

You business venture will most likely have arose from a great idea you’ve had – now it’s time to back this idea up with proper research. Firstly, it’s important to see if someone else has also had this idea, and if so, does your idea differ in any way to theirs? Is yours better? Would your business feasibly be able to compete with its competition?

Aside from this, it’s also important to explore whether your business idea has the potential to succeed. Successful businesses either fulfil a need, offer something desired by the market or solve a problem. Finding out where your business idea stands and figuring out its initial potential is a valuable step to start with when thinking of setting up a business. Below are a list of questions you may want to consider asking when conducting this research:

• Is there a need for your business?
• Who would need/benefit from the business?
• Is there competition, and if so, how does your idea compare to it?