What I need to know as a startup business?

[Naheem]

Hi
I'm looking around to find out what I need to know before I start up a business online website.
For example I have the logo design and copyright protected.
Do I need to register as a business? Or do I wait till I get income coming in?
As of now I'm working part time to fund the business any help would be nice.

 

[Trader82]

Hi Naheem,

It's best to get yourself registered with HMRC as soon as you can, it doesn't take long and its free.

Thought about record keeping?

Sign up for HMRC's email alerts, updates & webinars.

All the best
Emma

 

[Naheem]

I have Quickbook 2016 which is easy to use will have my own record keeping.

 

[Trader82]

Hi Naheem,

I would recommend signinng up for the HMRC services mentioned in my last post, you'll be notified of any changes in legislation etc.

All the best
Emma

 

[Matthew Beddoes]

Create a Cyber Security Policy before you build your website, Also an online marketing strategy that fits. If you build your business around security then your business will be harder to attack.

 

[tony84]

Put aside 20% of everything you earn so you can ensure you can pay the tax man at the end of the year. If there is anything left over its like a little bonus.

 

[Naheem]

Put aside 20% of everything you earn so you can ensure you can pay the tax man at the end of the year. If there is anything left over its like a little bonus.

I need to make 25k before I register myself as a VAT business online?

 

[Trader82]

20% aside to pay you tax due which is calculated when you complete your self-assessment tax return.

VAT registration is a totally different thing.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

I need to make 25k before I register myself as a VAT business online?

No, £82k!

 

[sometechcompany]

Before all the things that have been mentioned, the first thing that you need to have is a viable product. If you want to start a basic e-commerce store (selling tee-shirts and this kind of things), they are plenty of free (magento.com, joomla.com), and good quality pay-for (shopify.com) platforms.

If your product idea is more involved than putting things in a cart and checking out, you might want to learn how to create it yourself instead of paying an agency £10,000-40,000£ to do it for you. There's a training just for that focusing on entrepreneurs without technical background and taking them on the market with their software in as less as 60 days. Not only this means big savings for you today, but you can reuse these skills to start any business in the future. You can check this out here : team23.training

Full disclaimer : I am the founder of the training.

The point of my message is that the most important thing to know when you start a business is to know how to make money with it as fast as possible. The registration process is pretty fast in the UK, and HMRC is cool, you can even wait to have your first customer. But for an online business I'd say that it is better to register early otherwise you'd have trouble to open merchant accounts with credit card processing providers and this kind of things.

 

[Trader82]

And you can register voluntary if your business turnover is below £82,000 threshold.

 

[Trader82]

Have a look at starting up a business page on the GOV.UK website

 

[Sparetoolparts]

Don't forget National Insurance Contributions

I forgot about that for at least 9 months and now have a job to gather the funds to cover the past 9 and any future payments :-(

Still it's a learning curve,

 

[Deleted member 257760]

Hi Naheem

Is your proposed business 100% internet based? (Digitally delivered products?)

Online AND offline?

Could your business idea work if the internet didn't exist?

The internet is but a medium for doing business, not a business per se. Many models can be tested before you register anything or spend a penny. When you have a model that works, you can easily backfill all the HMRC / security stuff etc etc etc.

There are literally millions of businesses with logos & websites & business cards & HMRC registrations & all kinds of fancy doodads ... which do not make money because the model is poor or broken

Tell us your model my friend

 

[xnstandy]

If you would like to sell products, Do your business at the marketplace, like ebay and amazon. If not , am also interested in your business model

 

[Deleted member 244558]

You need to learn a lot more than reading a few posts in here. Don't get me wrong it's usually all good advice but you still have to piece it all together.

Get a couple of good books on business and think about what you're passionate about then use that as your focus.

 

[Barnes Thomas]

Hey mate you haven't mentioned your business model, also, Is you business online?

if your business is online creating a Cyber Security Policy is good before you build your website. You can consult with a professional who can suggest you the ideal marketing strategy for your business.

 

[japancool]

You don't "need" a registered company, website, business card, logo, office, team or even experience. Experience helps but everyone has to start somewhere.

 

[waj]

mostly important to check if you are offering something new to the market. Best to try online market places to see how the product responds

 

[Deleted member 257760]

japancool is correct. You don't need all of that stuff. You can backfill that later ...

What you need first is a model that works, including the knowledge of how to spend £1 & get at least £1.50 back when buying ad media

Google my name & sign up for the free Advanced Entrepreneurial Thinking advice

 

[TODonnell]

Just start. Buy things as you go along and only as you need them. Try to keep things simple. Don't get flustered into buying an ecommerce website before you've even got a product line. Don't form a limited company until you've worked out why you need one.

You can be a Sole trader and sell stuff on eBay or Gumtree with a £50 outlay, to see if there's a market.