Small businesses are easy to start due to the low capital requirement and the fact that you do not need a high level of staff. However, there are some basic plans you need to make before you start trading.

What do you have to do?

1. Start-up capital: You must have a start-up capital ready. The amount of money you need depends on the type of business you have in mind and the level at which you want to start. Usually. You don’t need a lot of money to get started, but you do need to plan for other areas so that the small income you start with is used judiciously.

2. Location: The location where you will locate your new business is very important. You need to think of a place where you are guaranteed high traffic coming to patronize you. Therefore, it would be wise to locate your small business in the heart of the town/city rather than on the outskirts of town where no one can hear of it. If you’re located in the heart of the city, people wouldn’t pay a huge amount for transportation before they could get to you. After everything you just started, no one knows you yet. So why should they spend so much to locate you when there are multiple people providing the same services you want to provide them?

3. Accommodation: You need decent and cheap accommodation to start your new business. You have to think of a place where your client can be comfortable and relaxed when they come to patronize you. So you shouldn’t use a dilapidated place that would cost you a fortune to get back into shape. While looking for decent accommodation, you should remember that you don’t have to spend your life savings to get accommodation. You need to look for something moderate but decent. If possible, you should pay at least a year up front and then relax to do business. Sometimes the business may not recover in time; therefore, taking care of your accommodation means that the landlord will not throw you out for not meeting the monthly rents.
However, if you are very sure of driving daily sales, it would be wise to settle for a monthly income so that you have enough capital to invest in your business.

4. Staffing: You need little to moderate staff to get started; You must get competent hands who are willing to work for moderate wages so that you can meet your monthly salaries. You can increase your salaries as your business grows. As a general rule, you should avoid signing incompetent hands simply because they are cheap; instead, employ few skilled hands and add your staffing services to theirs to get your business on its feet. You can employ cheap labor for non-sensitive areas like cleaning, security, transportation, etc. Everything must be moderate; don’t start two grand, otherwise you’d run out of cash too soon and also out of business

5. Working capital: You need to have some reserved capital available for the day-to-day running of the business. You need money for transportation/fuel, monthly staff salary and miscellaneous expenses. So you need to remember to save some money to help keep your business running.

6. Advertising: Think about how to let people know about your business and the services you can provide. You need to advertise your business online or offline. You may need to print business cards or brochures that you distribute to clients. You may also need to place ads in newspapers if you have the money. You definitely need to let people know your business exists in order for them to patronize you. On the Internet, you can use resources that would not cost you much: social networks, blogs, e-books, newsletters, etc.