2 minute read
Start-up advice
Hayley Charles
Start-up advice
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RGU alumna Hayley Charles (BA (Hons) Applied Social Science, 2012 and MSc Fashion Management, 2014) is a Business Advisor at north-east social enterprise, Elevator. The company encourages entrepreneurship, business start-up and growth while delivering free Business Gateway services across Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Tayside. Here, Hayley explains the varied support available to new businesses.
I work with individuals who are at the pre-start and start-up stage of their businesses. During this phase I help them develop their ideas, grasp the sector they are looking to break into and also help with the more practical aspects such as business planning and understanding their market research.
My own personal background, I believe, helps with this. I run my own fashion business which has given me hands-on knowledge of issues such as breaking into the market, working with suppliers, marketing and, ultimately, working effectively with customers. I also come from a bit of an entrepreneurial family with many of them running their own businesses, giving me an insight into the real ups and downs of being self employed.
When an individual comes to the Business Gateway team with an initial business idea we can advise them on the next steps and, for me, market research really is key. As a business owner you need to be able to identify who your customers are, who your competitors are and ultimately what problem you are solving for your prospective customers. If you don’t have a customer, you don’t really have a business – so it is vital to understand this.
From here, the next step would be to start developing your business and plan to understand how you want to move forward with regards to your business aims and objectives.
Starting a business can often take up a lot of time and energy. It takes a while for your business and idea to gain traction, and this can often be where many striving businesstycoons fail as they feel that customers don’t or aren’t responding as quickly as they’d hoped. This is completely normal, often the mental challenge of pushing on can be one of the biggest.
From a start-up point of view funding a business can also be a huge challenge, especially if you have large start-up expenses such as property and equipment. The good news is there are funding opportunities out there, it is just a case of identifying what the best option for the business will be.
There are lots of start-ups and businesses providing a huge range of different products and services. Networking and meeting likeminded businesses within your sector can be a huge advantage. It really is amazing the referrals you can make by simply sharing what your business does with others. It also gives you the opportunity to learn from similar businesses, offering you a chance to pick up lots of hints and tips to help improve your own ideas. Who knows, you could maybe even end up collaborating with some of them too.
Business Gateway is a publicly funded service contributing to the economic wellbeing of Scotland by providing access to free business support services. Whether you’re thinking about starting a business or becoming self-employed, or maybe you’ve already started, Business Gateway can help you through a mix of services including online support, fully-funded local workshops and events, advice to suit specific business needs and business information through a dedicated team who are available to support all aspects of starting and growing a business. For more information visit www.bgateway.com/local-offices/aberdeen
