Taking the first steps

Preparing a business plan

There is an old saying:

"businesses that fail to plan, plan to fail".

So, before you start, get your ideas down in writing. For example:

  • what are you going to sell?
  • to whom?
  • who are your competitors?
  • do you need to buy stock?
  • how are you going to fund your business?

The Gov.UK website has helpful advice including:

  • templates to help you to prepare a business plan
  • an interactive start-up organiser

Spend some time looking through all the other links on these Gov.UK pages. There are many other interesting pieces of advice about business planning. For example:

  • the business planning template
  • a cash flow template
  • information about setting up a food business