SO YOU WANT TO START SOMETHING NEW?

How to run a (successful) start-up in South Africa

By Montaque Swanepoel

Running a successful company is not easy, but it can be done with the right amount of effort and determination. Let’s take a look at some of the critical elements to help you run a successful small business in South Africa...

Start Efficiently and Prove Your Concept First Before going down the rabbit hole of registering a company and spending countless hours (and money) on a concept that hasn’t yet been proven, you need to be sure that you’re working on something that people/businesses actually need.

Start simple, with some market research on your product/service, and trade as a sole proprietor until it makes financial or logistical sense to switch to a company. There is a lot more red tape, and costs, involved in registering as a Private Company.

With the abundance of free resources on the internet, it has never been simpler or more cost-effective to start a business without needing to dig deep into your pockets to get your start-up off the ground.

Stay Organised with Your Finances Keeping track of your money and accounts is essential. It’s easy to get lost in the day-to-day operations and forget to keep up with your bookkeeping. However, this will eventually catch up with you when it’s time to file your taxes.

It might be a good idea to start by getting a business account, keeping your funds separate from your personal account, and getting a sound accounting system to keep track of your business’ profitability.

Decide if You’re Running a Lifestyle Business or a Growth Business Depending on your long-term vision for the company, it is vital to determine your goal and how you intend to run your business from the outset. Not every business needs to be a high-growth start-up.

Suppose your focus is to grow the company to a medium- or large-sized business. You need to plan for growth, reinvest in your business and have a realistic roadmap.

On the other hand, you could intend on starting and running a lifestyle business. There are still risks involved with this business type that need to be considered. These could include events such as a large client leaving, dependability on a single stream of business, etc.

In general, we always advise our clients to think about what they want to get out of a business before they start setting it up. It helps you to focus and plan accordingly.

Spend on Marketing and Growth Above all else, marketing and growth are key to your company’s success. Know who you are trying to reach, and target them through digital marketing, which generally yields the highest return on investment. You could be the best at what you do or have a fantastic product, but you don’t really have a business if you don’t know how to market or sell.

Online marketing and sales are the fastest ways to kickstart growth for a new business and continue that growth moving forward. Automate or Write Down Every Procedure Knowledge is power, and you should strive to free up time for yourself by having documented processes that can be followed by yourself, your staff, or outsourced resources.

Once procedures are documented, your service and product quality will stay consistent and efficient, and this then becomes something you can delegate as you grow.

There are also many mundane tasks to running your business that can be automated. If you look hard enough, you might find a solution to repetitive tasks in an app that will save you time and money.

A common pitfall we see business owners fall into is that they tend to work more in their business than on their business. While that may be what you enjoy, it is also good to have the option of avoiding this and outsourcing to the specialists so you can focus on what you do best.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Montaque Swanepoel is a chartered accountant and the founder of CFO360 – chartered accountants and auditors that help business owners to streamline their processes and understand their finances so they can spend less time on admin, and more on the things that matter. Find out more at www.CFO360.co.za or get in touch directly at montaque@cfo360.co.za.