Feeling empowered to start your own business?
According to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) publication in the UK, micro-businesses have on average 0 to 9 employees. There were 5.7 million micro-businesses in the UK in 2020, accounting for 96% of all businesses (BEIS, Gov.uk.). Even with the global crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic the UK still have over 4.63 million companies on the companies house register.
If you are considering the first steps in a business start-up, your key to feeling empowered is to gain valuable knowledge. As Francis Bacon stated in his aphorism “nam et ipsa scientia potestas est” – “Knowledge is power”, it is evident that the more you know, the better your business will be.
If this is your first business venture, this can be a frightening experience. It can be rather daunting leaving the safety net of education or if you are a valued member of an organisation with a regular and ensured income. Being risk-averse, however, is not how many entrepreneurs start and if you have even considered your own business, then you have already taken the first step to personal success.
Your first priority should be to identify what exactly it is you have to offer in business; which will enable you to highlight potential contacts who will support you in your endeavour. Are these contacts who worked with you in the past? Are they existing customers? Pay close attention to who has supported you in the past and who will support you in the future. This is why I say you don’t have to be tough to be a great leader or business owner and being kind is not a sign of weakness. You do have to be resilient, especially in these turbulent times, and sometimes ‘no’ is not a bad thing to say, because in business terms, you can look at your SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) and turn that threat into an opportunity. Tenacity is key.
Your connections may also have come from your educational setting. Have you been to busines school or pursued further studies? Have you studied at a university in which you have been lucky enough to study in a collaborative setting which has enabled you to combine creative development with business approaches?
It has been highlighted that those working in co-creative industry environments can further develop the innovative, high-level business and practical understanding needed to embrace more varied leadership challenges and opportunities in the business world.
Jumping onto the next big trend is not always the way forward and innovation is key to your concepts and business enterprise. This can further support funding from investors, if you have real research development incorporated into your business. An independent review was conducted in 2017 by David Connell examining how the UK government would maximise the impact of the Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI). It was identifying how to support and stimulate innovation by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), ultimately boosting the UK's innovative capability through creating profitable product and service business (Connell 2017).
Having a good business mentor can help you on your path to success. Mine is my father, a very successful businessman in the Public Health sector; we come from very different industry sectors but his professional advice has clarity and sound judgement, mainly from experience. It’s important however to try not to compare yourself with others too much. You have created your USPs, you are already unique. But listen and be guided, and you will be empowered.
As an educator, my aim is to enable the enablers. You are never too young to start your business and now more than ever we are gifted with technology giving us the power to transform. What’s stopping you?
