Starting a company requires more than just creating a product or service and taking it to market.
There are so many things you must do to ensure your company reaches its potential, so there could be costs you haven’t included in your start-up business plan.
Hiring an accountant
You must have your finances in check if your business is going to survive. You might not want to hire an accountant, believing they are an unnecessary expenditure when you can monitor your own costs, but they could save you money in the long run, whilst ensuring you don’t stretch your budget too far.
Unless you’re a financial expert, you should consider hiring an accountant, who can identify any tax issues when registering a new company, and can provide financial support on VAT and tax. For an additional fee, you can add book-keeping services so your accountant can control your outgoings and incomings.
Creating a website
There’s no denying domain names are affordable, and there are also some great cheap hosting UK options to choose from. This doesn’t seem too expensive, does it? Well, if you want your website to complement your brand, you must invest money into your website. That means purchasing a theme that can be customised by a website designer and/or developer, so you can improve the user experience and even feature a safe and secure shopping cart.
You may also be tempted to sign up to a standard hosting plan, when an ecommerce website would be more suited to Magento hosting. While it is a slightly more expensive option, you could end up saving yourself money, because poor load times could result in a loss of customers and profits.
The little things
The little things will all add up when starting a company, so you must budget for them. You might think staff uniforms, company licences and stationery won’t cost too much, but you can guarantee your bank balance will feel it once you’ve bought all these items.
Safety training
You might have taken employee salaries into account when starting a new business, but have you budgeted for safety training courses? It is an employer’s legal obligation to ensure their staff are safe on their premises, so you must provide health and safety training, such as fire safety and first aid courses.
Marketing budget
You don’t have to embark on an expensive marketing budget straight away. If anything, it’s probably a good idea to develop your brand before you take your product and services to market. There are some great ways to promote a product or service for free online, for example, a Facebook competition can catapult a company in a matter of hours, with people vying to win your product. However, as you start to make a profit, you should consider setting money aside for a paid marketing campaign, such as sponsored social media posts on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, or you could even use the cash to pay for flyers, PPC, Google ads, brochures or a radio/TV advertisement. The choice is yours.
