A business plan is essential to keep everything on track

According to government statistics there are now more than one million self-employed women – a 17 per cent rise since 2000. More and more women are lured by the fact that setting up their own business can give them more flexibility between work and family life.

The product

Your first big decision as a business woman will be what you’re actually going to sell. It might be a product that you physically sell or a service where you use your skills to do something for customers that they cannot – or don’t want to – do themselves. Either way, any model must be based on a market for the product or service your business will provide. Ideally you should identify a market and then decide how best to satisfy its needs.
If you decide you want to sell a physical product the first thing you have to deal with is sourcing: where is the product going to come from? Basically you have two options: making it yourself or buying it from somewhere else such as a manufacturer.
If you have a service to sell – for example, your skills as a personal assistant or landscape gardener – then your time should be a valuable commodity that customers are willing to pay for. Establishing there is a need for your skill is key and starting a business will be more straightforward than if you are selling a physical product.

Inventions and patents

If you have been inspired to invent something you first need to check it hasn’t been done before. A product search checks the market for ideas either similar to yours or that tackle the same problem. After a product search comes the patent search. A patent prevents anyone else from making, using, selling or importing your invention for up to 20 years. You can either carry out a patent search yourself or pay a company to do it for you. Searches conducted by the UK Intellectual Property Office start at £750. If the results of product and patent searches leave you confident that your idea hasn’t been done before, you need to take steps to protect your idea before developing it further.
Antonia Chitty runs her own business, ACPR, which offers support for women in business. She has also written a number of business books including Family Friendly Working and A Guide to Promoting Your Business. ‘Copyright protects written material, written and recorded music, and sound and visual recordings such as films. Copyright is automatically yours,’ she explains. ‘Just keep copies of drafts and notes to show you are the originator of the material. Designs lay out how products look. You get automatic “design right” to something you have invented. Keep copies of your initial notes and the first items you create. Your design is protected for 15 years after creation or for ten years after the first sale. ‘You can register a design with the UK Intellectual Property Office within one year of putting it in the public domain, which costs around £60,’ says Antonia Chitty. ‘Your design can be protected for up to 25 years, renewable every five years.’

A business plan

The old adage “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail” is never truer than when it comes to setting up a new business. A business plan is essential, especially if you need to attract investors or borrow money from a bank. The Which? Essential Guide to Working For Yourself says a business plan should include the following seven sections: summary, background information, the product or service, marketing, day-to-day running (or operating plan), financial needs and projections, and a risk assessment.
Meanwhile Tessa Lyndon-Skeggs, founder of the NatWest and RBS Women in Business Service, says a business plan should cover all aspects involved in running a business such as finance, pricing, business assets, competitor analysis and how you will identify and reach your customers. ‘Having a business plan is not just relevant for a start-up, it is just as important for an existing business to stay on track and keep sight of their original business objectives,’ she says. ‘Be clear on what your objectives are and how you’re going to achieve them. Identify the risks to your business and how you are going to manage them to achieve your objectives – you should constantly review your plan, updating it with any unexpected changes.’