Self Employment

Starting a business of your own is a huge and exciting challenge. This guide outlines some of the key things you should consider before you take that big step.

Before you start your business, you need to decide what sort of business it is going to be. This section looks at some of the options available to you and helps you to explain your business idea quickly and succinctly.

Developing your business idea into a viable product or service is a critical part of building a business. Thorough assessment and market research at an early stage will help you to establish whether there is a market for your product or service.

One of the toughest things about running your own business is feeling that you have to do it all on your own and wondering how you are going to fund it. 

Although starting your business is an exciting prospect, there are a number of tax and legal issues that you have to consider.

Launching a small business can be risky and success is not always guaranteed. Businesses are most vulnerable to failure during the early years of trading, with 20% of new businesses folding within their first year and 50% within their first 3 years.