Oompa, Loompa, doom-pa-dee-dee. If you are wise, you'll listen to me..

If there was anybody following our odyssey to create a new start up programme to help people develop new or early stage businesses on SBC..well this is the start of it. Lots more to come as we build out the course over the coming months and get used to videoing ourselves. And it’s probably not what you were expecting or indeed, is anything like the prototypes that we released over the last three months or so. We’ve scrapped them. They were too much like all the other courses out there, many of which are being done better that what we were trying to do. Ours also felt academic. And that’s not what SBC’s about. SBC is straight talking (even if the straight talking might be nonsense). It’s where we learn from each others mistakes, share insights, ask for advice, give advice and network. It’s peer to peer. It’s about shared wisdom and knowledge. Hopefully that’s what the SBC community believe is the SBC brand. So rightly or wrongly we are trying to stay true to that essence with this new Start Up ‘hopefully helpful’ Course. We’re calling it a course because we can’t think of a better name for it. We were calling it a syllabus, but at that stage we had lost the run of ourselves.

Dot the 'I's and cross the 'T's on legalise

Choosing a legal structure for your business is fairly straightforward but take some time to consider it as it can affect the ownership, tax structure, risks and future operations of your business. Getting it right can protect you from risks, help with tax management, minimise paperwork and help with unnecessary red tape. Get it wrong and you may end up paying more tax than you need to or be overwhelmed with bureaucracy...so before we go any further, get legal advice!

Ctl Alt Del not good enough anymore

It used to be switch the power on and off. If your were really tech savvy, you tried 'ctl alt del' when something went wrong. Drop kicking the PC out the window was a bit crude. You need to make technology your friend! It can help you work more efficiently, find more customers and save money while doing it. And ‘techspeak’ – with the advent of the internet – is now plain English usually in the form of easily followed lists. So here’s a list of tech tips! Please feel free add your own tips/lists.

Ideas are nothing without execution

What really matters is the execution and the quality of the team. In SBC we often talk about companies that we have met with great management and a so so business concept and a great business concept that’s being managed by a poor team. If only we could switch them around. While a business that ends up being successful could be started with a so-so idea, a successful business will never be built without a good team. A good team will analyse...

In analysing your business ideas you must be able to pass them through a test to determine if they truly are valid opportunities. All of your ideas must have a demonstrated need, ready market, and ability to provide a solid return on investment.

I have built the best mousetrap in the world... but!

Whatever your product or service, it needs to be sold—a product or service is never bought, and no matter how good your product is, if you don't sell, your business may not survive. And if you, the business owner, are not a good salesperson, you have to find the resources to employ experienced people who are or find other methods of getting your product to market.

The importance of effective selling cannot be over-emphasised. And remember,even if you generate a large volume of sales, unless you keep control of your costs, extra sales can turn out to be unprofitable.

Maps, man and women

If you want to read an enjoyable book, read “why man don’t talk and women can’t read maps”. Strategy is a bit like that. Replace women with business people and you have it in one. Most businesses have no map, can’t read a map and apparently don’t see the need for a map either. Words that spring to mind are rudderless ships, headless chickens and head in sand. You don’t want to start a business like that. You need a sense of direction and purpose.

Do you look into your heart and know what customers want!

Listening to your customers just might help aswell. You will need to find out how you can consistently reach your customers in a changing world, because you require customers to survive. Keep in touch with what is happening in your industry, the general trends, what your competitors are doing and (unfortunately) the overall economic situation so you can take into account factors that might affect your success. Market research never stops and is a critical part of the strategy for arriving at a well prepared marketing and business plan, which by the way is an ongoing body of work aswell. So is it worth the effort? Market research helps you make decisions about pricing, promotion, product and location of the business. It helps you understand how the product or service meets the requirements of the target market. It helps you gain information about how competitors operate, deliver their services and their pricing. It assesses you client needs in order to meet them. It can also help you to answer questions such as who buys your products? What goods and services are people likely to buy? What are they willing to pay for them? Where, when and how often are they likely to buy? What is the best way of reaching them ie distribution channels? What changes do they want in your product or service? How should your products look, feel, taste etc? How many potential clients exist in your area? How big is the market? Is there sufficient demand for your product to make the business viable? Is it worth it? If it answers the above questions, probably!

Writing business plans, persuasion documents, loan submissions, tenders...are a hard slog. Hours of blood, sweat and tears. When you finally get your work of art finished and before you submit, do yourself a favour - ask an outsider, an expert, a potential client to review what you have created. Urge them to rip it apart and tear it to shreds. All with the intent of making the plan as good as it should be. Whatever you do, try to take a step back, create some distance, take a helicopter view and look at:

• The way it is presented.
• The proposition itself; if you were neutral; would you buy, finance, invest?
• The proof that you will be able to do what is says on the tin.
• Is the executive summary compelling.
• If you would mark between F and A+ what would it be? Anything below A needs to go back to the drawing board. Only then can you wipe up the blood, sweat and tears.

Mind the cash!

Making sure you have enough money to cover your start-up is easier said than done. However it needs to be said: If a business is under-capitalised, the survival prospects are not good. Your business – and you - will need sufficient cash to carry you through the initial months of operation until the business begins to break even or turn a profit. There are some sane ways that contributors to smallbusinesscan have raised start up finance, such as selling (the number one way to raise finance) bank loans (know what is required), savings, family and business partners (get written agreement), grants (worth the effort?), investors and awards and competitions (take it serious, consider the Business Achievers award). including bootstrapping ie putting everything back into the business until it becomes self sustaining. One last thing: keep accurate and up to date financial records and manage your cash flow. A close eye on performance means you can address problems straight away rather than leaving them too late. This can save you money and your business. Knowing what’s coming in, what’s going out and your cash position tells you your company’s financial health.

Love it when a plan comes together

Do you have a business plan? We find that the businesses contributing to SBC that have well thought-out business plans are surviving and thriving better than most, are more profitable and find it easier to attract finance. A lot admit that they wished they wrote their business plans as soon as they started thinking about setting up the business because it acts as a road map and provides a very good discipline for judging progression. However many initially found the idea of writing a business plan daunting. It need not be.

Gut feeling or bursting a gut?

Thinking of starting a business? First question you should ask yourself: are you nuts? You’re embarking on a long and sometimes lonely journey. There’s going to be a lot of pitfalls on the way. Are you up for it? Do you have the personality, stamina, focus and fire in the belly? Can you and your family face the uncertainty of no money coming in some months? By the way, the journey is also going to be exciting, rewarding fulfilling and there will be some days when you get something over the line that you will be bursting with pride (or if you don’t get it over the line bursting a gut). We have a personal characteristics checklist that can guide you to see where you have strengths and where you might need some help either through mentoring and/or doing a bit of a course (like this one?).