Reminders for New Business Owners

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When starting up a business, a founder has a laundry list of considerations after registering a company name and entity.

Owners must consider website creation, setting up (and maintaining social media profiles, coming up with a brand presence, drafting marketing materials, hiring a team (as contractors or permanent staff), etc.

Each item has its own sub-list of tasks and timelines, which can quickly become overwhelming — budgeting enough time (and planning) can smoothen the initial setup experience.

On top of the above, a few things will inevitably slip through the cracks — it’s important to have as much sorted out before going live (or “opening your doors to the public”).

Insurance, office maintenance, subscriptions, and training/development are some of considerations that don’t get prioritized by founders, but should to avoid long-term issues down the road.

To help point you in the right direction, here’s a mini-guide about these critical items to check off your ‘business startup’ list.

Insurance 

One thing that often slips out of a lot of people's minds is the insurance coverage that they should take out.

There are so many different types of insurance that businesses should purchase, which can cover them in case of an accident or emergency.

Common and essential types of business insurance most businesses should consider are general liability insurance, commercial property insurance, professional liability insurance, business continuity insurance and travel insurance. 

When getting quotes for business insurance products, the recommendation is to gain multiple quotes — in this manner, your company can ensure a competitive, market price.

Many sites offer price comparisons, which can be very useful - similar to consumers searching for car insurance quotes. 

Office maintenance 

If you have your company requires an office, then maintenance and general upkeep are needed.

These costs are often not involved as part of a lease, but can quickly add up if unaccounted for within budgets — consider monthly activities such as window & carpet cleaning (based on specific characteristics in an office space).

A cleaner to come in and vacuum an office is the most common, recurring cost, but a suggestion is to try this cleaning services scheduling software which allows for booking in advance. Factoring in other maintenance charges (such as roof tiles) can become part of a total service package and reduce overall expenses by bundling services.

Subscription costs 

Typically, when starting out, there will be a lot of subscriptions that a new company needs to pay for.

A lot of these subscriptions may be top of mind, but there will be others that seem less important.

Regardless, the recommendation is to create a subscription ‘pool’ in your budget, which accounts for known & unknown subscriptions. 

Since most software vendors charge on a subscription basis, reviewing recurring costs (quarterly at minimum) can help save annually with underutilized servoces.

This email marketing, SEO tools, domain management subscription, finance apps, graphic design subscription, or customer satisfaction subscriptions.

What’s best is to reach out to veteran founders & business owners and ask them for a list of all their monthly costs — this way, multiple costs can be included in budgeting from the start. 

Training and development 

If staffing is needed for a company, then business owners need to allot time and resources to training — this ensures propr development & growth of employess over time.

Training and development can come with multiple associated expenses, especially if an additional person needs to be hired as a trainer.

Online training can be more cost-effective, but this isn’t always the best for in-person companies.

Ready to get started?

For those starting a business soon, hopefully the above discussion has provided useful tips in moving forward.

The best advice is consistency and persistence, especially multiple obligations seem to be piling up at once.

What costs do you think a lot of people forget about when starting up a business? Which of the above suggestions do you think carries the biggest cost? Is there anything missing in our guide that you think we should be adding?

Let us know in the comment box below!