So you are thinking of starting a business. You want to venture out into the big unknown to establish your niche in the marketplace. Good for you! To start you off on the right foot, we have compiled a list of questions which you need to answer before setting up a business or company in Singapore. These are issues you need to consider before you start operations.
Ask any successful entreprenuer and they will tell you that you need to plan all aspects of your business as much as possible before you even start. Funding, Budgeting, Marketing, Sales, Human Resources etc are all issues which an entreprenuer needs to solve before getting even the first sale. Ask yourself the questions below. Have a good answer to each one of them that satisfies you and your partners.
1. Where is your capital going to come from? Your personal funds? A bank loan? Investors? Do you have a business plan for prospective investors?
2. Have you planned your cash flow, taking into consideration capital purchases, registration fees, licensing fees, and everything else?
3. Have you found a suitable office location, and planned for the shift into it?
4. Have you planned a sensible schedule for everything from registration to marketing? For that matter, what is your marketing strategy?
5. What is your business model?
6. Have you done any form of market and audience research? Have you analyzed the competition?
7. What is your pricing model? Is it of sound mind?
8. Who are your workers? How are you going to recruit them? How much are you going to pay them, to retain them?
9. Who are your partners? Are they capable, responsible people, who have skill(s) to contribute to the operations?
10. Who are your suppliers? Are they reliable? Are they offering you good prices?
11. Do you have a company that will be your core supporter, or regulator?
12. Do you have enough funds to survive through the initial bleeding (loss) period?
13. What is you long-term aim and vision?
14. Have you written your company profile, so that you wouldn't be caught in an embarrassing situation when someone asks you to describe your business or company?
On top of the business issues, personal issues too play a crucial role. Many startups have failed because the founders were not commited or had different ideas on how the company should operate. So ask yourself and your partners these questions:
Are you willing to lose a lot of hair and sleep, and possibly grow fat, fall sick, or fall out of love?
Are you willing to sacrifice a lot of your personal life?
Are you prepared to face unreasonable customers, demanding staff, barking shareholders, each and every day?
Do you have the energy, the passion, the drive to make it succeed? Or rather, are you calm enough even in months when you are making dramatic losses?
Do you have the speed, the imagination, the foresight to verve to new paths when your existing one fails?
Do each of the partners have the same level of commitment and share the same vision for the company?
Finally, in addition to having a sound business model, there are plenty of administrative issues that you need to know and act on when starting a business. These include company registration, potential tax obligation, audit requirements and when and how frequent to hold your annual general meetings(AGMs). All this information can be obtained from the Registration of Business and Companies (http://www.rcb.gov.sg) and through the services of a corporate auditor and a corporate secretary.
More information about starting up a company is Singapore can be found at Start Up eAdvisor. http://www.business.gov.sg/
For more information on Self employment training please visit http://www.sgemployers.com
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