Everyone’s path to starting their own business is different. You may be a parent who wants to have greater control of their time; you may have found it impossible to progress in your career due to economic changes; you may be looking for a way to plan your later years, continuing doing the job you love with a team behind you to help keep customers happy.  Balancing the time you spend on work and your life and being in control of your own destiny are the main reasons that people choose to start their own business.

Wanting to start up your business is not the same as being ready to do so.  Most business face issues after the first 12 months, while 40% of small businesses fail within the first 5 years, often because of cash-flow or liquidity issues.  Writing a business plan is an important process in starting and running a business as it sets out your growth strategy. You should think of your business plan as a living document; it will change over time as you achieve goals and deal with challenges.

Decide on the right model for your business. When thinking about starting up in business as well as defining your service and its value proposition, you’ll also need to be on top of finances, sales pipeline, performance data and data security.  A choice between sole trader, partnership or franchise. With a franchise model you don’t have shoulder the responsibilities and risks alone, typically for the franchise fee you can expect, an established brand with associated marketing package, operating processes and procedures, and in some instance ongoing business coaching, support and training.

Market Research and Marketing shouldn’t be overlooked.  Successful entrepreneurs understand that it is essential for their business to have good brand awareness and exposure – but how much time do they really need to spend on their marketing pipeline?  Now, you can work from handwritten contact books, writing a completely new follow up email to each enquiry, but with planning and organisation you can optimise the workflow from enquiry to sale by using templates and processes.

Pride Road Architects Franchise: another option for your architectural start-up. Investigation shows there’s a healthy market for domestic projects across the whole of the UK.  Specialising in this area of work can deliver a healthy annual turnover, and with the right admin systems and business processes in place you as the architect can spend most of your time on design work.  Because Pride Road is an established franchise business, funding is available to help cover start-up costs. A successful Pride Road Franchisee has the same customer-centred approach, and the drive and passion to build an architectural practice that are the core of the Pride Road brand.