Business Planning & Advice Ireland

Starting Your Business

You have finally taken the decision to start up your own business. That is exciting news. You've got a commercial idea, and investors who believe in you. Now what you need is a business partner who knows the legal, fiscal and financial ropes.

A partner who can help you:

• Decide on the most suitable structure for your business - sole trader, partnership, or limited company
• Prepare a business plan, cash flow projections, budgets and trading forecasts
• Assess your finance requirements, advise on the best sources of finance and draw up the necessary proposals
• Establish a good working relationship with your bank
• Complete any registration procedures with Company Registration Office or Revenue Commissioners
• Deal with company secretarial issues
• Set up a recording system for your internal use and for complying with statutory requirements

We have the skills and experience you need to make a real difference to the development of your business.

Once your business is up and running, we see our role in our partnership as actively:

• Helping you manage and improve the financial health of your business
• Providing services like Payroll and Management Accounting, that you will need as you grow
• Planing your personal investments, pension & taxation

Starting a Business in Ireland

If you are starting a new business, or expanding an existing business, and want to raise finance we can offer some helpful advice and also help you with your loan applications. It is common for loan providers to request financial and cash flow projections particularly for longer term, higher value loans and especially where your business does not have a trading history.

Your Business Proposition

Before you start your own business you should ask yourself the following questions:

1. Why do you want to start your own business? There are advantages & disadvantages of running your own business.
   • Some of the disadvantages:
     • irregular income
     • unexpected setbacks
     • longer working hours
     • you will be responsible for any losses
   • Some of the advantages
     • making your own decisions
     • you profit from the success of the enterprise
     • flexible working hours
     • you can do the work you like and pay others to do the work you do not like
2. What product or service are you providing?
3. What is your market for this product or service?
4. Have you carried out market research?
5. Who will your competitors be?
6. How will you provide your product or service?
7. Does your product need to be manufactured? If so then you will need premises.
8. Do you need equipment?
9. Will you need staff?
10. Will you need finance for your business?
11. Who will be your suppliers and customers?

Once you have considered thoroughly the reasons for embarking on your new venture then you will need to prepare a formal business plan, which sets out the detail of your business idea and is normally required by finance providers.

Owner-Managed Businesses in Ireland

The diversity of owner-managed business clients we represent includes sole traders, partnerships and limited companies for whom we deliver individually tailored support and solutions.

Because we offer such an extensive range of services, an owner-managed business can select exactly the services required. This may begin with the simple preparation of accounts, tax advice and VAT compliance. As the business grows or alters direction, many other services can be added to help at all stages of the business cycle, from start-up to exit.

If you're starting up, we can advise you on choosing the most suitable business structure. We can also help you formulate business plans and raise finance, and free up your time by taking on all your routine book-keeping. As your business develops our services include attendance at board meetings, helping you minimise tax and advising on exit routes

Growing the business

When making decisions to expand your business you will be faced with many issues to consider including the following:

Employing staff

Recruiting the right people at the right level of experience will be essential to the continued success and growth of your business

Suppliers and purchasing

It should be possible to re-negotiate your terms with your suppliers as your volumes of trade increase.

Stock control
Efficient stock management is a vital component of a growing profitable business. Holding stock ties up valuable cash, and incurs costs in warehousing, personnel, transportation and insurance.

Sales and Marketing
Sales and marketing will be an essential element in growing your business.

If you are too small to have your own marketing department here are some elementary ideas for improving your performance.

1. Make sure your products or services are distinguishable from your competitors'
2. Monitor your competitors' marketing activities, and change your own as appropriate
3. Have a marketing plan - and follow it!
4. Aim to provide a regular stream of new customers
5. Respond quickly to customer complaints, investigate the causes and fix the problems
6. When you lose a customer, contact them and find out why
7. Uncover customers' needs. Find out what they really want from your business
8. Keep advertising expenditure within industry norms. Over-advertising smacks of desperation, under-advertise and no-one knows who you are
9. Search for new markets for your products or services
10. Keep your existing customers aware of all you can offer
11. Actively look at new products or services
12. Keep your sales forecasts and statistics up to date and distribute them to appropriate employees
13. Make sure that staff who come into contact with your customers or clients have high morale and present a positive image of your company and its products and services
14. Use your remuneration structure to motivate and reward sales people
15. Invest in sales-focussed training for your non-marketers (show them how they can have an impact on sales)

Evaluate the performance of your sales team and provide training where needed.

Outsourcing
As you grow the business, outsourcing non-core operations may be an increasingly attractive option.

Businesses now routinely outsource processes from cleaning to customer enquiries, but typical areas include: payroll functions, human resources (insurance, recruitment etc), marketing, information and IT systems and delivery

Contingency and disaster planning
As your business gets off the ground, it is important to have a strategy for dealing with disaster.

Disasters take many forms, including 'natural' causes such as floods or storms, and 'man-made' calamities caused by human error or sabotage. Careful preparation will minimise the impact on your business, so you should act sooner rather than later. Here are some of the areas to consider:

• Hazard avoidance.
• Safety.
• Security.
• IT and information protection.
• Insurance.
• Contingency plans..
• Emergency routine.
• Recovery.

Remember that being prepared could make all the difference to the well-being of your staff and the long-term survival of your business. Even if the worst doesn't happen, you will reap the benefits, by reducing your vulnerability to everyday risks and improving staff confidence