Starting a business

A step by step guide to starting your own business in Australia.

Paulina Gallardo

April 30, 2008

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How to start your own business

To start with, a business management course will be useful as it will give you the skills required to manage your business in an effective way. If you are unemployed when you decide to start a business in Australia, you may be eligible for the NEIS program (New Enterprise Incentive Scheme) which is a government funded program that will teach you everything you need to start your own business and at the end you acquire Certificate IV in Business ( Small Business Management) and receive government support for 12 months if you are successful in the program.

You will need a business plan:

How will you write your business plan and is anyone going to help you? if you are eligible for the NEIS program you will cover this area and they give you assistance in writing a business plan. If not, there are business plan writers that you can pay for them to write it. But since it's your business, it's better that you plan it youself. If you search on the internet; how to write a business plan or business plan basics, you should be able to find many articles.

When writing your business plan you will cover some the of the following issues:

Who is your target market?
What industry corresponds to your business?
What are you offering; product/service?
Marketing action plan
Company and management
Production and Operational plan
Experience and skills
Potential Customers
Financial plan
Business registration
Public liability insurance
Legal issues (e.g; Partnership agreement)
ABN number registration
Market research & Analysis

How relevant are your skills and qualifications to the business that you are starting, check to see if you need to complete any courses or even short courses to upgrade your skills and understanding in relation to your new business.

Decide whether your business will have a physical address, online or both. You need to find out if you need to take out any licences or permits by contacting your local council.

Here are two main questions to get you started:

1. If you are selling a product - who will be your supplier?
2. If you are providing a service - what procedure will you use to provide this service?

Money Matters

1. Where will you acquire the necessary funds required to finance your business costs?
2. Are you eligible for a loan and how much can you borrow?
3. If the banks don't lend you the funds, who else can give you a loan?
4. Do you need a large amount of cash? or is your business a low-cost starting business?
5. Do you need money to buy a business or will you lease?

The main steps to follow when starting a business:

1. Register a business name.
2. Apply for an ABN number.
3. You need a logo, who will design your logo? (it is important to have a professional business
image to attract customers).
4. If going online; the 3 main steps to take are: register a domain name, find a web host and a web designer.
5. Prepare a business plan.
6. Evaluate whether your business will be a sole Trader/proprietor, partnership or company and complete any legal documents.
7. Acquire any finance required to start the business.
8. Advertise your business and prepare special offers to attract customers.
9. Will you need any employees? Determine whether you will hire under commission, contract, or full time, casual or part time.
10. Find an accountant and solicitor if required.
11. If selling a product, find suppliers.
12. Arrange for design and or printing of logo, business cards, letterheads, website and envelopes.
13. When you have everything setup, find advertisers. If you have a low budget try internet directories that are free to list your business. There are some newspapers that may free classified advertising.
14. If you have a generous budget you can try paid listings on online directories that range from around two dollars to about 200 dollars a year.
15. Another way to advertise is the use of flyers, calendars, marketing cards, business cards, website, search engines (if you have a website) and fridge magnets which are low-cost to print depending on the quantity.
16. Also, keep in mind that there are good designers that will charge a considerable amount for high-quality design services.

Good luck, we hope our information has been useful to you in starting your own business.

Below, a couple of websites with helpful information in starting your own business, please copy and paste url on address bar.

www.business.gov.au
www.workplace.gov.au

By Paulina Gallardo | The Manager of Logoland Design

http://www.logoland.com.au