Starting a Business in Five Steps: How to Become a Start-up & Entrepreneur?

Do you want to start your business and join 15% of the UK workforce that has registered itself as self-employed?

Well, you are in the right place!

In the UK, starting your business is exceptionally easy and relatively low-cost.

Yet – most people end up hitting a roadblock or never fulfilling their dreams.

Noirwolf friendly team are here with an easy-to-follow 5-step guide on how to start your business and help you focus on the essentials.

So, how do you do that? We will tell you.

Let’s get started on helping you with some tips for kick-starting your business in the UK.

Start-up picture by Wix Media Design

1. First things first, draft a business plan

As a small business owner, writing a business plan is essential. It will help you in setting your objectives, developing ideas, and planning out goals for both the short and long term.

Additionally, it will make you aware of all the things that you are trying to achieve, and will also help you in presenting your business idea to people outside your business - like a bank or potential investors who might be willing to invest in your company.

Regardless of how you intend to use your business plan, you must frame it properly, with utmost honesty, and professionalism. Remember, your business plan is the first introduction of your business to the outside world. Therefore, make sure that it is nothing short of the best.

We will highly recommend you go through the business plans of businesses like yours to get an idea of format and brand positioning.

An expertly written business plan is well-researched and contains budget forecasts. Business Plan guidance is available here on the HMRC website and free business plan examples (all industries) on bplans.

2. Financial Analysis

To support your business plan, you will typically require supporting financials to compliment your business plan documents. Typically includes:

A. Personal finances (i.e. survival budget, savings)

B. Start-up costs

C. Sales Forecast

D. Cashflow Forecast

E. Profit and Loss

F. Assets and depreciation

G. If required: Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) and critical figures for investors

GOV.UK provides links to templates and examples of business plans. The leading banks offer helpful tips for constructing a business plan; Barclays, Lloyds sample business plan provides explanatory text and HSBC asks a structured set of questions.

3. Business Name and Location

Once you have the business plan and financials ready with you, it is the right time to establish your business with Companies House – choose a name and address, making sure your company name is unique.

If you are the sole proprietor, your name can also work as the business name.

A business address is essential in the UK for tax purposes and to get your company registered with Companies House.

4. Sorting banks, accounts, and finances

Successful businesses maintain separate bank accounts to the owner’s funds, manage a budget (forecast and actuals), for ease of operations utilise a simple bookkeeping system and potentially, an accountant.

At a bare minimum, you must keep a record of all sales and costs.

5. Take care of tax and legal requirements

As you set up your own business, you must do things right from square one. One such critical element to take care of is the tax and legal implications.

To avoid any difficulties, it is advisable to register your business for Self-Assessment to pay taxes.

If you have decided to set up your company as a private limited company or limited liability partnership, you will also need to pay corporation tax on the profits made.

In addition to taking care of taxes, you are also required to abide by the UK legal requirements. It would help if you satisfied all regulatory laws related to running a business (i.e. employer liability, licensing, data protection, health and safety, and so on).

These steps are straightforward and are easy to accomplish.

Additionally, free UK start-up information webinars and courses are available from Start&Grow.

Sounds Tough? Noirwolf is here to help!

Undoubtedly, starting a new business could prove to be a stressful experience.

You might already be running a few ventures and falling short of time to invest in this new idea. Or you might be having a 9-to-5 job with no time to work on your start-up.

Irrespective of your case, Noirwolf is here to help! We help people looking to start their business across the UK and internationally.

To learn more about us, and how we can be of immense help to you, contact us today.

Noirwolf Consulting is a global strategy and management consulting firm in Leeds. Noirwolf works with the UK and international clients to develop their comprehensive strategic plans and business transformation. We help entrepreneurs, small and mid-size business with creating business plans, optimise operations performance and productivity to grow their businesses.

Registered Address: 15 Queen Square, Leeds, West Yorkshire LS2 8AJ, England United Kingdom

Contact Noirwolf today: enquiries@noirwolf.com