Despite fears of a ‘double dip’ people are still going solo and making their business a success. There are many people who ‘Aspire‘ to start a business but with no prior experience it is not easy.
Elysium Magazine spoke to Guy Mucklow, Managing Director of Postcode Anywhere, who sought to ‘Achieve‘ his ‘Desire‘ to start his own business. Guy has provided some helpful hints on how to start your own business:
1. Getting the business model right
We were fortunate in stumbling across the right model. The key points to consider are:
- ensure that you get paid up front. Cash flow is crucial.
- make sure that the service or product is attractive across many sectors. The wider the potential audience, the less sensitive the business will be to cyclical swings in the economy.
2. Don’t try and re-invent the wheel
Find a better way of making it turn.
3. Play to your strengths
Small businesses are far more agile, innovative and can offer a more personal service than their larger competitors by virtue of the fact that they are less hide bound by process.
4. It’s much easier starting a business in a sector where you have prior knowledge and contacts
5. Marketing is everything
There are far more failures of great products/services that have been poorly marketed than poor products/services that have been well marketed.
6. Timing is crucial – both in relation to the economic cycles & to technology cycles
E.g. trying to sell a new piece of technology that is reliant on an infrastructure which doesn’t exist, is impossible
Use these tips when thinking about starting your own business. Before founding Postcode Anywhere with Jamie Turner in 2001, Guy was finance director for the family property business, A&J Mucklow Group Plc. He left the company at the height of the dotcom boom to realise a lifelong ambition to establish and manage his own. Prior to this, Guy spent over ten years as a fund manager at Invesco Plc. Guy is a chartered financial analyst, chartered secretary, and holds an MBA. A passionate follower of Worcester Rugby Club and sometime golfer, he is married with three children.
For further information visit www.postcodeanywhere.co.uk