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This library of Advice Articles has been drawn together by Board staff, partners and third parties. For ease of searching, the articles are categorised into six main areas similar to our Useful Links section. Just select the relevant category from the drop down menu below and click Search to see the relevant articles in that category.

• General Business Development: includes articles on any area of business development such as new business start up, growing a business, buying a business or assisting an ailing business.
  
• Legal Matters: includes articles on a range of legal business matters such as company law, employment legislation, health & safety legislation, intellectual property, tax legislation and legal structures for business.
• Finance: includes articles provide information and support in a range of financial matters such as accounts, analysing financial performance, financial management, insurance, sources of finance, taxation and auditing.
• Management Skills: includes articles on a range of management matters such as communication skills, human resource management, industrial relations, planning, time and stress management.
• Marketing & Sales: includes articles in a range of marketing matters such as customer service, distribution, export marketing, market research, marketing management and strategies, pricing, promotion and sales.
• Operations Management: includes articles on a range of matters such as location, materials handling & storage, production layout, purchasing, quality, stock control, environmental issues,I.T and technology including E Commerce.

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Category: General Business Development Legal Matters Finance Management Skills Marketing & Sales Operations Management

 

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[Thinking of Starting a Business?]

 

Starting your own business is not magic, nor does it require special talents or membership of any elite social group. Lack of educational qualifications is no barrier and you don’t need to be smarter than everybody else. Depending on the type of business you have in mind, you don’t even need a lot of money to get started. So, almost everybody has the potential to start and run a successful business. But it may not be a good idea for everybody to take the plunge. There is still a tendency in this country to think of self-employed people as ‘fat cats’ but nothing could be further from the truth. Consider the following*: · The average working week of a self-employed person is 64 hours. In almost half of those businesses, the spouse/partner is also involved for another 21 hours (together, 85 hours). · Most people do not increase their income by becoming self-employed. · A survey conducted in America identified hard work, perseverance and motivation as the three most important elements for success. Other interesting elements mentioned were integrity and good health. · Support of the spouse/partner is a critical factor in the success or failure of a start-up business. · 20% of entrepreneurs do not earn anything in the first 18 months. * Ron Immink; “Look before you Leap” So how do you decide whether starting your own business is right for you? Here are some of the aspects you should think about before you make this decision:   Motivation Energy, determination and perseverance are the hallmarks of a successful entrepreneur, but where does it come from? You should look at what you want (what you really, really want) out of life. Some of the key words that crop up among entrepreneurs are “Independence”, “Recognition”, “Sense of Achievement” and “Money”, though money alone is seldom a strong enough motivator. Entrepreneurs feel a serious lack of fulfilment in these areas of their lives and this lack of fulfilment gives them enormous drive to fill the gap. Starting a business is the way they choose to meet these needs. If you are (or have been) quite happy in some other walk of life without starting your own business, then you have to ask yourself whether being an entrepreneur will add anything of value to your life.

Abilities: One of the classic ways of starting a business is to capitalise on an existing ability, talent or knowledge you have, or develop a new one, for which people are willing to pay. This will generally be in some ‘technical’ area concerned with the skills of actually making the product or supplying the service you have in mind, but could also be in the management area. Business skills such as selling, marketing, finance, decision making, problem solving and possibly ‘man-management’ will be required in all types of businesses but it is certainly possible to develop these, even if you don’t have them now – just don’t forget, in the rush to get the business running, to make the necessary investment in acquiring these abilities.

Energy: It is clear that there is a wide variation in people’s energy levels. There are some people who seem to always work harder and play harder than the rest of us. Others might see them as being ‘high maintenance’ rather than ‘high energy’ and might mistakenly label this behaviour as stubbornness. In fact, they are often charismatic and if they are hard to resist, it is because of the passion they bring to pursuing their goals. Starting a business does require a high energy output. If you recognise that you are not naturally the ‘high energy’ type, it is going to take a lot out of you and maintaining this level of energy output will depend on your level of motivation. Keeping fit, eating properly and making sure that you have enough relaxation and sleep will help a great deal.

Resources : We are regularly asked if it is possible to start a business with no money. Our answer is that the scale and sophistication of the business you start depends very much on the amount of money you can bring to the venture. Generally, investors (including state agencies) and lenders will only put money into the business in proportion to your own cash stake. If you have no money at all to invest in your idea, you can still start a business but you will be limited to selling either your time/labour or your ideas. Money is not the only resource that can be used to start a business; land or premises and equipment are also valuable.

Relationships: Your relationships are very important in two different ways. Firstly, people who find it easy and enjoyable to make friends find it much easier to start a business than those who prefer to work alone or have interpersonal limitations that they have not managed to overcome. Business is all about people and this is particularly true in a self-employment situation when you are the business. Secondly, your existing relationships need to be relatively stable if you are going to have the peace of mind to concentrate fully on your business. This will require the willing support of those you hold dear. They will be affected by your business and should be involved in the decision to go ahead, with full knowledge of the time commitment, the stress, the risks and the early sacrifices in which they will be sharing Health and fitness It should be clear by now that starting a business places demands on your mental and physical health. It is certainly not a good idea to start a business if you have any significant problems in this area. Especially in the beginning, you will find yourself working longer and more intensively, facing periods of increased stress. You need to be able to cope with this kind of situation and still be able to turn off occasionally so that you get enough relaxation to keep you going long-term. This is a skill that most people can develop with some training or counselling. All of the above may seem very negative and it is certainly intended to get you to cast a cold eye on the idea of starting your own business while you still can. However, the benefits of independence, a sense of achievement and job-satisfaction are very real for most owner-managers. For true entrepreneurs, there is no choice because they realise that no other way of life can make them happy.

Which Business? Apart from factors concerned with you as a person, you need to consider your business idea and the chances that it will be successful. Ultimately, this is a judgement that can never be fully quantified .However, information reduces risk, so the more research and planning that is done, the higher the chance of success will be. But an even more important consideration is the business you choose to go into in the first place. Most entrepreneurs begin by coming up with an idea that gets them excited. From that point on, objectivity can go out the window as they commit themselves to the original idea to the exclusion of all others. While doggedness and perseverance are admirable and even essential in starting a business, a smart entrepreneur will never loose his or her ability to evaluate objectively and think critically. It may be only 5% of their thinking but they will constantly check whether their plans make sense and whether the business is the right one to go into. Before getting involved in doing things well, it is necessary to make sure that you are doing the right thing. So how do you recognise a good idea when you have it? You need to develop a quick test with which you can screen out the dud ideas before much energy is wasted on them so that you can concentrate on the ones that justify your time and effort.  A lot of these tests should be personal to you because they concern your interests, knowledge, abilities and resources. However there are a number of general issues that you might like to include:

Size of the market – In general, a smaller market (or a small segment of a larger market) is easier for a start-up company to enter As long as it is not so small that it cannot support a new entry. The question is not just “is there a gap in the market?” but also “is there a market in the gap?”

Market Growth and Development Stage – In general , growing markets will provide more opportunities than stable ones and declining markets are mainly to be avoided. Very early stage markets – especially those served by extremely innovative products and new product categories – are very hard work because consumer awareness has to be generated and the market has to be educated; an expensive process.

Specialist Technical Knowledge – If you don’t already have the technical qualifications, skills and experience required by a particular business, then you must to be able to acquire them, either by taking training yourself (if that is possible and practicable), or by hiring or partnering with someone who already has the right technical background. Partnering is usually the better option if these skills are rare or valuable, as funders will always be happier if they see that any skills which are critical to the business are tied into the ownership and management.

Level of Competition: Markets characterised by competitors with very similar offerings will tend to be fiercely competitive and, unless the market is growing very strongly, this will be reflected in lower margins. You are also likely to need a larger ‘war chest’ of working capital to survive the inevitable competitive onslaught that will greet your arrival. The usual strategic response to this problem is either to start with a highly innovative and competitive product that provides customers with an easily understood competitive advantage (We all would if we could!) or find a less well-served ‘niche’ in the market

Finance required. – There is no point in considering a business opportunity that can not be started (and maintained until cash flow turns positive) with the amount of money available. In general, nobody will buy you a business, but funders will often match the ‘owner’s equity’ that you are putting up yourself. If the project is eligible for state assistance (mainly manufacturing and specific internationally traded services), you should be able to treble your own stake. (cash preferred – putting any value on ‘sweat equity’ is problematic). Generally speaking, less owner’s equity means smaller and simpler businesses. Starting small can be a virtue but starting too small can make it difficult to get noticed or even to be credible. It is possible to start some businesses with almost no money but these businesses will depend largely on selling your time or ideas and can feel a lot like working for someone else. Businesses ideas are not in short supply. Once you are actively on the lookout, you will be sensitised to opportunity and will see it everywhere. Start by analysing the businesses you see around you. How do they work? Why do they work? What are their strengths and what are the problems they are likely to be tackling? How would you improve that business if you found yourself in charge? While it is certainly possible for businesses to fail, there is an argument that almost any reasonably sensible idea that is well executed will work in the thriving economy we have in South Dublin today. Don’t hold out for the ‘big idea’. Remember that success is about doing a thousand small things just one percent better, rather than doing just one thing a thousand percent better. Above all, if you are genuinely interested in starting your own business and you believe it is right for you, then get active and make a start – there has never been a better time.