So you're a start-up

Being a start-up is meant to be one of the exciting times of your life. You’re finally doing the thing that you’re truly passionate about, and yet the HMRC and a thousand and one other institutions are trying to ruin it with their mountainous lists of deadlines and fines. Everywhere you turn it seems there’s someone trying to thwart you.

But while setting up a business does involve a lot of hard work and yes, a lot of hoop jumping, it doesn’t have to be a joyless exercise. Simply knowing what you should be thinking about, rather than waiting for a series of nasty surprises, can really help to take the pressure off. Then all you need are a few trusty experts who can help you with it all.

Easy! Ok, not quite, but it’s certainly a start. So with this in mind, we’ve put together the following tips to guide you through the obstacles of starting up your business. Not a surprise in sight.

Be tax-wise

Income tax, corporation tax, VAT. You name it, there’s a tax for it. So it’s important to understand your obligations and take all the necessary measures to protect yourself. Despite all the many rules and deadlines that you need to adhere to, it needn’t be an insurmountable task. You just need the right guidance and advice to you make your way through it.

The HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) website - http://www.hmrc.gov.uk - is a good starting point, as it includes plenty of pointers on what you need to do to be compliant. The site is broken down into relevant areas and even includes specialist videos and tutorial advice for small businesses. Be sure to make yourself aware of the dates for tax returns, as penalties for late submissions range from several hundred pounds to thousands – depending on how late the submission is.

Your accountant can submit self-assessment tax returns to HMRC on your behalf, but you will need to make sure you give them all the information they need and well within time.

An accountant can also advise on all the costs that you can claim (you’d be surprised!), which range from stationery and advertising to industry-specific clothing and equipment hire. Helping you to save pennies in every way possible.

Book keeping

While most businesses take the step of hiring an accountant, many still take on book keeping for the first few years of business. While this can seem to make financial sense, the toll on your time often makes book keeping a draining and costly exercise.

Book keeping by a professional can simply consist of preparing monthly, quarterly and annual bookkeeping records, but many also offer services relating to VAT returns, tax affairs and Pay as You Earn (PAYE). And while your book keeper or accountant is busy taking care of your back office affairs, you’ll have more time to focus on areas that are integral to the smooth running of your business.

Payroll and HR

Before your employees even put their feet under their new desk, you need to be thinking about all your obligations to them as an employer. Even if you’re only employing a handful of people, you still need to take care of things like National Insurance Liabilities, P45s, statutory and non-statutory deductions, holiday entitlement and employment contracts.

While small companies rarely have to cope with complex succession planning charts and benefit schemes, be mindful that the more robust your HR and payroll is now, the easier it will be in the long-term to grow your workforce and introduce more detailed policies and procedures later on.

Speak to people who are in the know and can advise you on the ‘must haves’. Many companies will offer some level of payroll and HR outsourcing, whether fully managed or bureau (where you take on some of the payroll work yourself). And there are plenty of sites that offer templates for policies, like http://www.human-resource-solutions.co.uk to give you a helping hand.

Keep an eye out for useful websites like www.hrzone.co.uk that offer easy-to-digest advice on topical and sticky HR issues, as and when they arise.

Privacy policies

If you’re planning on getting a website, we’d advise putting together a privacy policy, which tells people how you’ll be using their data, for example, if you’ll be passing it on to third parties or using it for mailing campaigns. It’s best to include your privacy policy as a link on your email forms, so people can read it before submitting their personal information.

Privacy policies essentially cover your back, should any issues arise regarding how you’ve used someone’s data.

A privacy policy needs to include your registered number for the register of data controllers. You can submit your entry online at http://www.ico.gov.uk for a fee of around £30 a year. Here you’ll just need to outline how you intend to use people’s data in the various different areas of your business.

Do take some time to look through the ICO’s information on the data protection act, to make sure that you’re processing data legally.

Corporate standards

Corporate standards are dull, there’s no getting round it. But what they do offer is peace of mind.

Setting out lists of dos and do nots for a not yet crystallised workforce may seem like a waste of your time, but there’s actually a lot of value in it. Your corporate standards help you to know how you want people to portray your business and prevent confusion and inconsistencies later on.

Think about what font you want to use; how you want your company name to be written (do you really need to use ‘Limited’ every time someone writes it down?); what you want people to have in their email signatures; your messaging i.e. the key statements that you want associated with your company; and even any kinds of etiquette that you’d like to instill e.g. how people should write their out of office messages.

Make sure you include your logo, so people know how it should look, and any colour references that are important to your brand.

We hate to keep banging on about templates, but create these where you can, whether stationery templates for letterheads and business cards (ask your designer for these so you have them on file), or the look and feel of a proposal. A centralised reference point makes everything faster and more efficient, both for you and your employees.

Trademarking

It’s not essential to trademark your business, and at rate of around £200 it may be an unnecessary cost, but you may want to trademark your logo and/or name, if you have concerns about other companies trying to copy you later on. You can file for a trademark on http://www.ipo.gov.uk.

You must check that a similar trademark doesn’t already exist in your industry, as there are no refunds for unsuccessful applications. The process takes roughly 2 months, as this is the time required to allow for any challenges or objections.

Terms and conditions

Before you start marketing your product, make sure you have the small print tied up. Think about what you need your customer to understand about the way your product/service works before entering into a purchase/contract. Again, Ts and Cs are readily available as standard templates, so all you need to do is make one your own.

Do make them as short and accessible as possible, so that they are clear for your customers and are less likely to cause recriminations later on.

Marketing and sales

Try to get a marketing plan in place as soon as possible, so you can start promoting your business. Marketing and sales is a vast area to cover in one document, but there are a few areas to think about:
Online marketing – websites, social media, directories, online advertising and pay per click. Explore your options.

Offline marketing – telemarketing, networking, newspaper/magazine adverts, exhibitions, award entries, referrals, partnerships.

Whatever you do, don’t invest in anything unless it gets you in front of your target audience and you have a rough idea of your return on investment.

And now?

Our only advice for you now is to get cracking. Contact local experts in each of these areas to see where you can outsource any tasks that may require specialist knowledge. Delegation is hard as a business owner, but the sooner you start doing it, the sooner you’ll reap the rewards.

About the author

Rosie Heptonstall is Clever Business Websites’ marketing manager. She loves websites and working with small businesses, and has spent many years learning about what makes small businesses tick. Rosie also believes that a small business is more interesting and more fun to work for than a large corporation. But that’s just her personal opinion...

For more hints and tips on marketing your business, or to find out more about Clever Business Websites and what we do, just give Rosie a call on 01865 989 899 or email Rosie on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.