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Research your market Test your business idea with potential customers to check if there’s real demand for what you’re planning to sell. This lets you find out about any problems and fix them before you’ve wasted too much time, effort and money. 1.       Identify potential customers. Talk to them and find out about their needs. 2.       If you can, make a basic version of your product or service (a ‘prototype’). Work out the cheapest and quickest way of making something that lets you find out if you’re meeting a real customer need. 3.       Test it with them and get feedback. Find out what they’d be willing to pay for it. Try out different prices with different customers in a consistent, realistic way to see what people will really pay. Can you make enough money for a return on your investment? 4.       If there are other businesses competing for your market, think about what ...

      Get funding When you start a business, there’ll usually be period when you’re investing lots of time, effort and money before you start making a profit. It’s important to  research your market  to make sure your customers will really pay for your product or service before you do this. Once you’re confident that they will, you should explore different  sources of funding  to help with the costs of starting up your business.    Government schemes If you need some initial funding to test and develop your business idea, you might be able to get help from a government-backed support scheme. Get a bank loan Once you can show that there’s a market for your idea, one option for funding your start-up costs is getting a  bank loan . You’ll need to be able to: ·         give the bank realistic cash flow forecasts ·         Prove that yo...

1.      Start with an idea If you’re thinking of starting up a business, you’ll first need to come up with a realistic idea that you can turn into a product or service. There are many supports available including help with developing business ideas. Register your idea You might have already come up with an idea for a business you think there’s a market for, or invented something you think people will want to buy.  First thing first, register your business  to make sure nobody copies it without your permission. Turn your idea into a business Research your market   - identify potential customers. Talk to them and find out if your idea is meeting a real need. Develop and plan   - test your product or service with real customers, make changes, and test it again. Keep doing this until you’re sure there’s a demand for it. Find partners and suppliers   - think about who you’re going to work with to develop and sell your...