Taking the first steps

Write down your ideas

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?

Helpful advice from Gov.UK

The Gov.UK website has helpful advice including:

• The things you need to think about before you start to write a business plan from Start up Donut

• 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 essential guide to writing a business plan from Start up Donut

• business planning template from the King's Trust website

• a cash flow template from the British Bank website