Your own business

What type of business are you thinking of setting up?
I think LEOs are ok but they seem to lack the knowledge people need to develop a brand, a base for you to build your customer experience. It is this that will help you sell a product or service. Now obviously the 10 sept guid is extremely important, but so to is the Customer Experience. This guid below is from a LEO in Dublin. It is the same guide that they all use really.

Starting your own business? Here are ten steps that will help you get started.
1. Know yourself
Can you work alone?
Can you take responsibility?
Are you of a positive disposition?


2. Are you prepared to take a risk?
Starting a business will involve risking your savings.
Are you prepared for this?


3. Research your market
What is the extent of the market for your
product/service?
Who are your customers?
Who are your competitors?


4. Look at your production requirements – premises, machinery and labour
Where will the enterprise be located?
What considerations are important in the choice
of premises?
What machinery is required?
Will employees require additional training prior to
commencing work?


5. Work out your total costs
What costs are involved in the purchase of capital
equipment/premises?
What are your labour costs?
What is the cost involved in production?


6. Estimate your selling price and plan how you will achieve sales
Taking the above factors into consideration estimate
your selling price.
Who/where is your target market (local/national)?
How will you promote your enterprise?
What channels of distribution will be used?

7. Decide the legal framework of your business/check out any legislation that might affect you
What business structure will the enterprise use
– sole trader, partnership, limited company?
Have you registered your business name with the register of business names? (www.cro.ie)
Have you registered as self employed?
Are you familiar with your obligations as
an employer?
Are you familiar with your tax obligations
(Income & VAT)

8. Check out your sources of materials/supplies, their availability and cost
Where can the raw materials be purchased?
Have you received quotations from a number of
potential suppliers?

9. What are your total financial/investment requirements?
How will you fund the project (personal investment,
grant aid, loan)?

10. Produce a Business Plan
Using our template or other, commit all relevant
information to paper – be realistic and set targets
based on the research carried out.

This is spot on!!

If I may add, also try to think somehow include what marketing activities will be. Let's say if it is e-commerce you have to be able to map out briefly how you'll be promoting your products online (e.g ads, social media, etc) or how you'll get traffic to your website (e.g lead generation, demand generation, seo, etc)

But before anything all of those you need to be specific with (1) what your business will be and (2) who you will cater to (target customers) cause once you have those all of what was mentioned above will just follow.

Has anyone more experiences they can share about the LEOs? Particularly for early thinking, pre setup.

personal experience wasn't great, found them a little useless. The person I was dealing with seemed to recite business for dummies rather than having any actual experience to draw from or advise on. That is not from a recent experience though so could have changed.

Same for microfinance (who LEO referred me to), still have the letter of refusal saying the business wouldn't work (in their opinion). 4 years later business is still here and continuing to grow nicely with a bank happily funding whenever we need it. I can still hear the sound of the catty voice of a condescending loan adviser telling me it wouldn't work. Again not from a recent experience, but from what I hear they are about as useful as a motorbike ashtray now.

OP what's the business?

Are you working now? Could you start your idea as a side-line? Is the business you hope to set up something that you know or have experience in or is it something new that hasn't been done before.

Starting a business takes money and many have lost savings trying to get one off the ground. Make sure you have enough savings to support yourself while the new business gets up and running as if you leave a job, you have no regular income but rent/mortgage/utilities/food/transport still need to be paid. Have a plan for your own living expenses and dont overlook a good business plan, it's essential. Great list in post #3.

Good luck OP.

Another digital business idea that comes to mind is focusing on marketing services on different platforms. Specifically, social media marketing–which is a really good business right now (and it's pretty achievable–with the right resources). You can just focus on one platform like Facebook or Instagram and anchor all efforts there. Once you've built a solid following–funneling them to other platforms can get easier :)