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This year is seeing more people turn to setting up their own business rather than working for someone else. This is pretty understandable. The coronavirus and Covid-19 pandemic has seen a whole lot of people losing their jobs. Government guidelines that have been put in place to slow and minimize the spread of the virus have left many businesses unable to operate, leading to collapse and mass unemployment. Some companies have made staff redundant. Many have had to ask staff to work fewer hours or on lower salaries. This means many people have decided to set up their own business rather than attempting to find a new job in a job market that is scarce. On top of this, many of us have found ourselves with enough time on our hands to decide that being an employee isn’t for us. We want to make our own fortune rather than working hard to build someone else’s. We want control over our careers. We want to decide whether we work from home, what we sell, what we wear and what hours we work. Setting up your own business can allow for all of this.
So, if this is something you’re considering, you’re far from alone. The good news? Setting up a business of your own is possible and you can do it from home while the pandemic is resolved. Here are some steps to take to get started in the right direction.
Setting Your Company Up
Chances are you already have an idea of what you want to sell. But before you get started, it’s important that you officially form your company. Official company formation is extremely important – it is a legal requirement that makes sure that your business is acknowledged as its own, independent entity. A lot of us have experienced financial hardship over the past year and don’t want to experience anymore. If you fail to officially form your company, your business’ finances will be tied with your own and if your business experiences difficulties or bumps in the road, the financial burden will be on you. You’ll have to pay your business’ debts and could see your own property and assets being repossessed to cover the costs. By officially forming your company, you can make sure that your business is a separate legal entity to you. This will make sure that you separate your personal finances, personal property and personal assets from your business’ finances, property, and assets. Then your business can simply be dissolved or go bust without negatively impacting your personal finances if you ever need. Learn more about this through Company House or a business formation specialist.
Maintaining Your Privacy
Of course, you’re going to want to maintain your privacy when it comes to running your business from home. When you set your business up, you’re going to have to provide a business address, phone number and email address in order for your customers to get in touch – whether that’s with queries, complaints or anything else. While it’s essential to give them some contact details, you should avoid giving them your personal ones. Why? Well, first and foremost, you don’t know who your customers are. You don’t want them to pose a threat to you if they’re ever dissatisfied with your products or service. On top of this, you want to be able to split your work life and your personal life apart. You don’t want people you don’t know calling you through the night, blocking your inbox or turning up at your home. The steps below can help you to maintain your privacy.
A Forwarding Address
You may feel that you don’t need to supply any address with your business. But you do. It’s a legal requirement to provide an official business address when you register your business. You also need to make sure that there’s an address for customers to return unwanted products to. As we’ve highlighted above, you probably don’t want to give your home address. So, why not use a professional service that provides you with a business address apart from your home. You can then forward all correspondence sent to this address to your actual address. This helps to maintain your privacy and ensures that you get all mail and parcels directed to you.
A Business Phone
Now, it may be tempting to use your personal phone as a work phone. This can help to save money, as you will only have to fork out for one handset and one monthly contract payment or monthly credit top up. However, you should be aware that forking out for an extra phone and contract will prove more than worth it. Using your personal phone for professional purposes can lead to a number of difficulties. You could find yourself falling prey to prank calls and messages. You could also face unwanted calls through the night, when you may rather be able to leave your phone unsilenced in case of personal emergencies. When you have a professional phone, you can silence or turn it off outside of working hours. Having a professional phone will also reduce your chances of accidentally sending or forward personal messages or images to professional contacts. Generally speaking, separating the personal and professional is something you should start early on. So, take out an extra phone for business purposes only.
A Business Email Address
A final area you should address when it comes to separating your personal and your private life is your email address. Having a personal email address is useful for personal correspondence, to sign up to marketing email lists for products you’re personally interested in and other personal emails. You don’t want your personal email address being flooded by emails from customers. It would be extremely difficult to keep on top of your personal emails amongst this. Personal email accounts can also look relatively unprofessional, making customers question your authenticity and perhaps even losing you sales. So, make sure that you set up a business email address with your brand name in the address. For example, yourname@yourbrand.com. This will make managing your work emails much easier and will also prevent your own inbox from getting flooded.
Invest in Your Equipment
Every business needs equipment to operate. This goes without saying. We live in a technological age and, nowadays, the majority of people and workers will carry out the majority of their work using technology. You will also need some office equipment to create a productive working environment for yourself. Here are a few things you should seriously consider investing in to make sure that your business can get up and running as effectively as possible.
- Devices – you will definitely need some sort of device to work from. Whether that’s sending emails, updating product descriptions on your website, drafting new ideas in word documents or anything else. What type of device you work from will depend entirely on your individual needs and requirements. Some people opt for a desktop computer. Some will use laptops. Some work well from tablets. Others will require a smartphone to work from. Chances are, you’ll find yourself using a combination of more than one of these devices. So, browse the market, find the best deals and invest in what you need for your work. If you’re going for something with wires or Cable Overmolding, make sure to invest in some cable management systems.
- Ergonomic Furniture and Equipment – You need to make sure that you can work safely. Generally speaking, we don’t think of sitting at a desk typing and working on a laptop or other device as particularly dangerous. But if you have poor posture and do not support your body properly while you work, you can easily risk developing chronic aches, pains and issues such as repetitive strain injury. This is why you need to make sure that you invest in ergonomic furniture and equipment while you work. Put simply, these pieces of furniture have been specially designed to ensure that you maintain proper posture while you work and that you are working in a way that isn’t detrimental to your body, health and overall wellbeing. There’s all sorts of ergonomically designed furniture out there, ranging from ergonomic desks to ergonomic chairs, foot rests, back supports, keyboards, mice and more, so make sure to browse the market to find the options that you need. While it can be tempted to avoid spending in this area, it is essential and will make all the difference!
These, of course, are just a few different areas that you might want to focus on when it comes to setting up your own business and working from home. Each can serve to significantly improve your chances of success and to also make sure that you are safe, healthy, happy and well while you work. Of course, it can feel like a lot to take in. But setting up a business is going to be hard work and you’re going to have to learn a lot along the way! Hopefully, the above advice can really help you to experience success in your venture!
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