Contributed post
Creating a business is no easy feat to accomplish. First of all you have to go through the long and arduous process of thinking about your niche, where you could exploit a gap in the market and whether or not your business idea has the ability to stand on it’s own. Next comes the business plan, how you will implement all your ideas in the real world. Going through the fiscal challenges and the task of setting foot into a totally new world of services for B2B, you’ll realise just how difficult it is. However, after you get used to searching for the right services, talking to people who can expand your knowledge, getting all your ducks in line to finally open will gradually take place. Where you can limit any potential pitfalls and mental exhaustion is being fiscally conservative.
Multi-talented staff hirings
Your largest expense will be hiring employees to work for you. Since you are a small business, they will know that the salary might not be average for their role title. However you can increase the salary of your employees by simply not hiring as many. It’s far better to hire 3 or 4 multi-talented staff than to hire 10 with different but unique skills. Therefore when you are looking to hire staff, make sure that you are specifying they need to be able to work different roles at once. For example if you were setting up a publication, you would require the sub-editor to also be a writer, help to look for and hire staff, proofread your marketing plan that will be sent out to potential investors etc. As you can see, he or she may be looking for a mainly sub-editor role, but their skills should be used elsewhere to save money and cut the costs of other tasks. In the job advertisement write clearly that you expect this kind of person only to respond to you.
Switching on lights
To power your business you’ll need an energy supplier. Obviously, you cannot choose a home energy contract from the provider as the need of your business are simply going to be much higher and abnormal at times. Get a quote for free for the amount of kWh you can use per year and therefore the annual price you can expect. For example if you are a hair salon, you might only have 2 chairs for customers in the beginning. Your equipment is going to be middle-shelf and thus not too much to run. However, in a year or less you could have 3 chairs for customers and better equipment for everyone, thus your energy supplier will need to be flexible and upgrade your power allocation.
Using the used
When you are considering buying equipment, it’s recommended you first look at used equipment that is still in good condition. Buying brand new will cost you more and you need all the funds you can hold onto in your first year or so. By that same token, you don’t want to have the equipment break on you either, so choose wisely and test equipment you’re interested in before purchasing.
Opening up a business is not going to be cheap but it doesn’t have to be expensive either. Switching on the lights can wait, hold off until you have made the right hirings of multi-talented staff, chosen the best flexible business energy supplier and saved on equipment where you can.