Where To Start? The First Steps of a New Business
Take yourself back to the very day that you decided to become a freelancer? You’ve given yourself the green light and now it’s time for action, but where do you start? With the business cards? Writing a business plan? Or working on a website?
This was a dilemma for one attendee of my Business Owners’ Mastermind Group in St Ives. Having just decided what to do, she openly admitted to not having a clue of where to start. A situation felt by so many others, once they’ve made the decision.
If this is you, here are the first steps from other freelance businesses owners, to help you make the decision of where to start:
“I was made redundant with no notice (company folded) and, as I had to complete a few client’s projects, the first thing I did was buy a Mac from John Lewis and load it with all the software I needed so I could continue working on a freelance basis. It was an extremely busy couple of days!” — Karen Cann, Karen Cann Video
“I went out and found my first contract. Necessity being the mother of all invention and all that. Googled grants to write training. Phoned up the place. The website was out of date, but got talking and have been delivering project management and innovation skills there ever since — 5 years in. Phew.” — Caroline Broad, Catalyst Bio
“I was made redundant on the Friday, bought a laptop and built a website and social media profiles over the weekend, then launched on the Monday when I also registered with HMRC, opened my business bank account and ordered my business cards. Bish, bash, bosh..” — Emma Read, ER-VA
“First thing for me was to register a Ltd company and that meant choosing a name that was right for the business, not already registered and with a .co.uk and .com domain available. I created pages of mind maps with a ‘theme’ on each and lots of associated words and worked my way through with a green pen for ‘available’ and a red pen for ‘not available’ before I made my final choice!” — Alison Rice, Magnify & Grow Business Consulting Ltd
“Hard to remember actually, as it sort of evolved from massage. I guess the first thing I did was to get business cards done and posters up, mainly at the local climbing centre who were kind enough to allow me to use their room for free, for the benefit of their climbers. But of course before I had business cards I had to design a logo, colours, and I must have started the website at the same time… I also used Facebook to promote to friends and family.” — Kathryn Preden, Arcadia Physiotherapy
“I actually started my business on the 1st August 2011 in the UK… I had only left my full-time job the day before! I took voluntary redundancy and was lucky to get a years salary as a lump sum… I was still eager to get my business off the ground. I think I started my website quite quickly, and I signed up to PeoplePerHour and started looking for clients… I got my first client quite quickly, but I was mostly organising website, business cards, social media channels etc… “ — Jo Harrison, Virtual Assistant
I remember the day as clear as yesterday. Once I’d made the decision, I came up with the name, reserved the URL, and booked in an appointment to chat with a local accountant, so I know what I needed to do next legally.
- What were your first steps? Leave a comment below, so you can share your story with others.
- If you’re at the conceptual stage, then get in touch and I’ll happily give you my thoughts to help you take the first steps. You can also find some more business tips here.
This post was first published at http://www.edagoodman.com/where-to-start-the-first-steps-of-a-new-business/.
