Starting a small business online begins with taking the time to ask yourself one big question. Are you ready to start a business? Owning and operating a small business is not something that you should approach lightly. Many fail within the first year, and over half of the ones registered to do business fail within five years. That means that you need to be willing to make sacrifices to ensure that you do not become a statistic.
With that being said we can move on to the meat of this article. There are steps that you will need to take to get your small business off the ground. It will be specific to the sector that you have chosen, such as online selling or services. Whatever type of company that you have chosen, though, will require a few steps.
Steps To Start A Small Business
1. Business Structure- You will need to pick how you plan to structure your online business. There will be four choices for you to consider.
- Sole Trader-You will be the only person running the business. You will be solely responsible for all expenses, debts, and taxes.
- Partnership- You are part of a group of people who share the responsibilities of running the company. As such, more than one person will be responsible for expenses, debts, and taxes.
- Company- You are part of a group of people that have shares in the business but will not have complete control over every aspect of the business. Shareholders will share the responsibilities of expenses, debts, and taxes.
- Trust- You assign the responsibilities of the business over to another person or company. They will have control over decisions and will be responsible for debt, expenses, and taxes.
2. Register- Your next step will be to register your business. You can easily do this online through a platform set up by the government. The internet makes everything simple. You will need to apply for an ABN, which is an 11-digit number that will be specifically assigned to you. It is used for everything financial, including taxes that you will owe.
3. Domain- If you have not done so already you need to set up a website, using an SEO-friendly domain name so your customers can find you. It should be unique to your business, but easy for others to remember. The catchier your domain name is, the more likely that it will be for people to remember it.
4. Funding- The main reason start-ups fail is due to funding. Get a source of funding set up before it is too late. Online business should not take as much money to run as an actual location would, but it will take money to be able to expand and increase your reach. You may also have employees that you will need to pay and have insurance in place to cover them. And since you are running a business online, it may be time to invest in a good computer system with programs specific to your area of operation.
5. Taxes- Now the part that we all love so much. Taxes. You need to register your business to pay taxes. You may want to check with your local area because if you make over a set amount you will have to pay extra amounts if you only file one time a year. Check to see what the limits are, and which bracket you may fall into.
That is it for the basic steps. After that, you will need to continue setting up your online company that you have chosen. For instance, if you are selling goods online then you will now need to get your online shop set up. There are numerous platforms that can help you get going with one, or if you have the knowledge, you can do it yourself. No matter what direction you have chosen to go, make sure that you are set for business before you open your virtual doors to the public.
