Is 2008 going to be the year that you finally start your own business?

Andrew Halfacre Coaching Notes

I'm fortunate to spend a lot of my time doing a very specific form of coaching, namely, helping people who are leaving a job in the UK to set up their own business.

Maybe this is something in your mind for 2008? If so, there are three main areas that you are going to need to pay attention to:

Firstly - will anyone buy what I'm offering? This is especially important if you are a knowledge worker and plan to sell what you know.

Second - is it for me? Do you have an appetite for the risk and flexibility that goes with taking control of your own life?

And thirdly, have you got a grasp of the mechanics of tax, NI, VAT, insurance, using an accountant, legal structure, expenses etc? Understanding this area is vital if you are to avoid the many traps for the unwary.

Interestingly, I find that 95% of my clients have 90% of their attention on the mechanics as this is the stuff that have heard about but don't know about. So naturally people are curious about it and it gets all the attention.

Most start-up guides and other handbooks published on this subject start in the right place - with personal attitude and sales potential.

In my experience though, that's not where most people start. Often people leaving a job to start their business run into a real fog around all the mechanics of how to do it. They hear conflicting messages and feel confused by the wealth of things they need to think about. Telling them to have a winning attitude or that "anyone can do it" does nothing to help with this. Nor do the war stories of dragons and gurus.

On my workshops we spend the best part of a day breaking down the mechanics into easy steps. It's the stuff that accountants either won't tell you or charge a lot of money for. Clients often find that this explanation of the mechanics blows all the fog away from this area.

I'd love to get this information out to a wider audience and I've recently spent a month distilling it into The Red Stuff Handbook which covers the 12 basic questions asked by over 95% of clients on the Start Your Own Business workshop.

It's written for people who want hard nosed, fast, practical help with the mechanics. It's for people at the transition stage who have been curious and concerned about the mechanics and want to arm themselves with some information and answers before talking to other professionals. It is, for example, an ideal handbook to work through before you start talking to accountants.

If 2008 is the year that you finally start your own business then please check out The Red Stuff Handbook which is available for download right now.

Andrew Halfacre is an associate and lead trainer with Brefi Group.

He is also principal of Lighthouse Coaching and Training

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