Here you will find a few key things that just might help you to get your new business up-and-running:

1. research, research and research again your idea before you launch your business. Some people sleepwalk into starting a business and actually admit after a short period that they have no idea why they are doing what they are doing.  That is not a tactic likely to help you achieve success;

2. if you have started by deciding you want to run a business but haven’t a clue what, then have a good long hard think.  There are plenty of sources of inspiration out there;

3. there are certain basic things every business needs including a business plan, accounting, market research, marketing and so on.  Comparatively few start-up business people are lucky enough to have all of those skills under their own belt.  Acknowledge your own shortcomings where they exist and whilst learning, be prepared to get help rather than do things on an amateurish basis yourself;

4. make sure you are adequately capitalised to begin with.  Look at sources of start-up business finance including the banks and business angels etc.  Once you have some trading history behind you, it may be possible to get expansion funding from business funding providers such as everline.com;

5. invest in some sensible business support technology.  With the greatest of respect to devices such as smartphones, it’s doubtful if you can run your entire office systems entirely from them. If funding forces you to choose between the latest glamorous pocket gadget or a quality PC and printer, choose the latter;

6. remember that some businesses are very well suited to working from home whilst others are less so.  There also isn’t necessarily a correlation between an online business and working from home either.  For example, a volume selling online business may need to operate from a premises that also has a warehouse or extensive storage – something typically not found in the typical home;

7. learn to measure success.  Understanding your cost base and allocating it to your activities isn’t always easy.  Measuring that against your expenditure, including any living money that you are taking out of your business, can be equally difficult.  It’s not unknown for business owners to go bust and be stunned, as they actually thought they were making a profit. Learn this area thoroughly or use a good accountant from day-1;

8. spend time researching your legal and taxation obligations.  Ignore these at the outset and your problems will start to accumulate quickly;

9. don’t give up the day job!  Showing 100% commitment to your new business idea is laudable but be cautious about turning your back on existing income until such time as you have proven that your new business is going to be a success.  Remember that your confidence and enthusiasm alone won’t pay your mortgage and other bills.

It is a sad fact of business life that the vast majority of businesses fail within their first two years of operation.

That’s sometimes simply due to bad luck or the prevailing market conditions but in many instances it’s attributable to a lack of research, expertise and capitalisation.  Don’t make those mistakes!