Before you take out a second mortgage, use these rules to figure out the realistic costs of setting up a business.
Have a Solid Plan Then Change It
Most business start-up stories say that you have to have a business plan. And you do. But that’s not the beginning and end of figuring out your start-up costs.
Jeff Shuman, who directs entrepreneurial studies at Bentley College, says, “The conventional wisdom is that an entrepreneur sees an opportunity, comes up with a business plan to capitalise on it, determines the capital that needs to be raised, raises the capital and then applies it to building the business described in the business plan.”
There’s one major problem with that model, says Shuman. It all hinges on getting the business right the first time, and that doesn’t often happen. “In reality, it’s likely that some of your initial assumptions are pretty good and others aren’t going to be worth the paper they’re written on,” he says.
Shuman and others say that figuring out your start-up costs means regularly reviewing your assumptions and changing your initial model. Writing a...