What you need to know when starting own business

There is a lot of advice available from both the government and private sector specialists about how to create your own business. However, when opening a new business many business owners still get caught off guard with things such as the time it takes to setting up a new business account, or how long does it take to build your own business website.

Cash-flow and money issues

The first thing you need to know when opening your own business is cash-flow management and forecasts. Business bank account While it's not strictly necessary in all cases, having a business bank account separate from your personal finances is the best way of ensuring there is a clear distinction between your personal money and your company income. However, opening a bank account can take longer than expected since checks are often more strict than with personal accounts, and if your business is just starting its credit rating will be either very low or non-existent. That can make accessing start up financing more difficult, and slower. Business payment terms and credit Unlike consumer products, where you are expected to pay when the sale is closed, business often pay their invoices several weeks after receiving them. If you work on a project basis and don't negotiate otherwise most clients will expect to pay after the goods or services have been delivered. This can make opening your own business difficult unless you have access to savings or finance, because even if you are working full time you won't have access to the cash for a few weeks. Plan your cash-flow from the start, so you are never caught unaware and without money to pay a supplier, which would hurt your reputation and the possibility of negotiating better payment terms in the future.

Other common mis-conceptions

From accountancy to marketing, new business owners often find themselves needing to learn lots of things to make the company work. Business taxes and regulations In most countries business owners tax legislation is considerably more complex than for permanent employees. You can get free business tax advice both from commercial accounts or government entities helping entrepreneurs, but in some cases it may be best to just get an accountant. Not knowing that you had to comply with some regulations is no excuse, and the fines can send you to bankruptcy. Marketing costs
While there's free ways of advertising a website, such as SEO, they take several months. So unless you are willing to pay money on active advertising plan for several weeks delay from the moment of starting a web page until it's on the search engines and getting traffic.