Inner Strength – Why Business Success Starts at the Foundations
Starting a business is easy enough that a lot of big-name companies are well-known for having begun as just two people in a basement before they exploded out into the company we’ve familiar with. Getting an ABN – Australian Business Number – is free and simple to do online. But having your business be a success is a lot harder, and it starts with the basics.
Efficient Equipment
While it can be tempting to get the cheapest versions of everything from toilet paper to computers, if you don’t properly balance your business’ efficiency with its expenses, the extra cash will do you little good. If throwing in an extra few bucks for a better office printer, like the HP Pagewide Pro 477DW, saves your employees hours upon hours of fixing paper jams and replacing inks, then it’s well worth it. Likewise, if having comfortable chairs keeps your employees happy working long hours (and it doesn’t break the bank), then go for it.
Founding Families
If your life is a mess and you can barely tie your own shoes, then starting a business probably isn’t for you. But being a well-rounded person with the experience and knowledge to start a business isn’t enough. If your family isn’t supportive, your focus will be split between running the business and dealing with your family and friends, and you can be sure that the business – as well as your relationships – will suffer for it.
Hire Help
At the start of a business, chances are you’re alone with only a few others who share your specific ideals. But pretty quickly, if your business is going to go anywhere, you’ll need to start delegating tasks to people who have more time and focus to devote to them. Hiring employees is a big step – you’ll be letting go of the control you had and leaving something important in the hands of someone who may not share your goals, but it’ll be worth it for the growth of your business. You don’t have to waste your expertise on menial tasks if you have employees for that.
Thorough Theorising
The spark of an idea may be enticing, but it takes a lot more than a vague concept to start a good business. So many business that fail to take off attribute their difficulty to a lack of research and imprecise business plans. You can imagine the embarrassment of starting production on a product only to find that it already exists, or that nobody else perceives the problem you’re trying to solve. Thorough research on everything from the industry you’re joining to the optimum layout of your office and marketing strategies will better prepare you for all the intricacies of running a business. So go over it once, go over it again, tell all your friends all about it, and be absolutely certain of what exactly you’re aiming to achieve before you begin.
Tax Time
If you’ve done your research, you’ll know that tax is the bane of a business’ existence. There are different types of tax, charged for different reasons, and you need to know which ones your business will be paying, as well as when they’ll be paid. The legal trouble of tax evasion isn’t worth it – not in the negative impact it’ll have on your business image or in the cost of seeking expert counsel. This brings us back to the problem of doing it alone – enlisting the help of a tax accountant will help your business avoid a lot of future problems.
Starting a successful business is a lot harder than you might think, but by going in with a good plan and taking it one day at a time, it can be done. If you go in with a solid foundation, it will be a lot harder to crumble under pressure.