To put it simply, it’s daunting. The confusion of the legal aspects, the worry of whether or not you will succeed financially, and the sometimes overwhelming thought of ‘can I really do this?’ Starting up your own business is a difficult, blind journey into the unknown. But it’s one that you really should consider diving into.
At this stage we’re small. Really, really small. As time of writing we currently have a mere 19 likes on our Facebook page and that’s about all we have to speak of in terms of ‘our successes’. I get what you’re thinking, why should I read something written by someone who’s still in his diapers in terms of a business? Well, to a certain extent, you’re probably right. But for me, I’ve always read blogs and posts from people a few years into a successful business, and I’ve always found it intimidating. I’ve looked at it and thought “I’m never going to get to that stage.” This time around, I’m certain anyone reading this can think “well I can make it to this stage”. And yes you can.
Don’t worry about failing; I’m sure you can manage more likes than what we are currently on, even if we are only 10 days into the page. I’m just here to tell you to give yourself a shot. If you have an idea of where you want to be in a few years’ time, then now’s your chance to finally take the opportunity and do it. Even in my very early days, I do have some words of advice.
Setting up goals and aspirations for the start of your business is vital. You need to think about what the goal is for you in the long term and solely aim to make strides towards that. Be ready to change your plans and your approach, we’ve already had to tweak a few things as they didn’t make sense for our long term goals. For us at the moment, it’s simply getting our name out in preparation for the next step. We’re not entirely interested in making much money yet as what we’re doing now is not what we want to be doing this time next year.
Our goal? To open a wedding dress shop. So far we’re in the process of doing market research, contacting suppliers, forming a business plan, keeping track of ideas for when the shop opens, contingency plans, financcal plans, and anything else we can possibly do to make this venture not only a reality, but a successful, long lasting one.
At this stage, we simply make bespoke, handmade wedding garters designed how you want them; simply pick your colour and what detail you want and we’ll make it. Slowly we’re going to add more and more to what we do, gradually building up our page so when it does come to opening up the shop, we would have minimised the risks by already having some sort of public profile, even if it will likely be small. We understand that in the current climate, and with the prospects of Brexit on the horizon, you need to lower the risks as far as possible. You have to do your research too, find where you can fit into your chosen market, where others are succeeding and more importantly where others failed. Trust me, I have two weeks of experience!
But seriously, if you’ve ever had the dream to be your own boss, and run your own business, then you owe it to yourself to give it a go. When I asked my wife what would be on her bucket list, opening a wedding dress shop was her first response. So here we are, a few weeks after that conversation, slowly setting the ground work to make her dream possible. Hopefully, this time next year, we’ll be happily set up in our new shop, with my wife doing something that genuinely makes her happy.
By Ross Hunt, RH Boutique Shop