Setting up your own SME is a big undertaking, regardless of how small you’re starting out. 

Some aspects of setting up a business are essential, and many different laws need to be followed depending on what industry you’re looking to make waves in. There’s a lot to consider, so consult official channels like GOV.UK for all the latest guidance when it comes to law and regulation. Any oversight here can result in hefty fines and prison sentences in the most severe cases. 

However, to jumpstart your business with a kick, there are more things you need that aren’t necessarily covered in law. Failing to consider any of the forthcoming suggestions could well put your SME in a worse position that it would be in otherwise… 

Consequently, here are a few tips to help you set up your own SME. 

Establish an Online Presence 

These days, many SMEs simply can’t survive without a suitable online presence. 

Considering the coronavirus, many smaller businesses have been digitising their services anyway they can. The Guardian report that everyone from yoga teachers to gardeners are exploring their online possibilities, whether it’s marketing services or shipping certain products. Unfortunately, the effects of the pandemic are not likely to be abated anytime soon, so it’s a good idea to invest here whenever you can. 

Still, even before COVID-19 gripped the world, online trading and services were still climbing an upward trajectory in their popularity. It cuts the costs incurred in maintaining a premise, provides cheap and accessible advertising, and helps to give customers a more refined and immediate service. To jumpstart an SME effectively, a solid online foundation is key! 

Hire IT Support

The moment you begin working on computers and storing data digitally, you need expert services at your back. 

The use of computers can make SMEs exceedingly efficient. However, they can also become faulty or outrightly breakdown. Additionally, they can be attacked from rogue hackers from a great distance or infiltrated by trespassers on the corporate premises. There’s a host of eventualities to prevent, and unless your SME is an expert IT consultancy, you will absolutely need the wisdom of those in the knowhow to safeguard your venture. 

Stepping into specialist engineering roles in a dedicated fashion, Texaport provide IT support. Highly accredited in the provision of cyber security systems, cloud storage, and guidance, this company can boost your productivity and overall cost effectiveness on demand. They leave no stone unturned, and when it comes to something as intricate and complex as computer systems, that’s what you need every hour of every day. 

Step Into Multiple Roles 

When you’re starting out, it can be tempting to hire a few friendly faces to keep the ball rolling, or even just to have a few people to work alongside. 

However, as an entrepreneur, it can be more viable to assume different roles yourself. Though you are the leader of this venture, try not to let your ego get the better of you. You can make some sales yourself, or even package up some deliveries yourself! You’re not above these kinds of positions, and in the beginning, fulfilling all these different asks will help you cutback on staff expenses, from their salary to the stationery and equipment would have invariably used. 

Hire where you need to, but if you consider things long and hard enough, chances are you will find an area or two where you or the few colleagues you’re working with can pop on a different hat and do a different job for a few minutes or hours. You can expect to work harder and longer than you would otherwise, but if you’re prepared to take on that compromise, your dream business will be realised at a more affordable cost.  

Set Expectations

When you make any seismic life decisions, it’s always a good idea to keep things in perspective. 

When you’re running an SME, there are many trial and error processes and learning curves. Therefore, it’s important to be humble, and not let these experiences put a damper on your ambition or motivation. Instead, play to your SMEs strengths. You don’t need to be a multinational corporation to be successful, and often those kinds of businesses don’t win much favour with the public either. 

Writing in The Telegraph, entrepreneur Holly Tucker recently made a series of optimistic assertions, among them being that “the ability to pivot your business is the only thing that matters […] the consumer is realising the beauty in small vs big as well”, which highlights the attitude many SMEs need to adopt. In other words, SMEs don’t need to always grow into some gargantuan, global corporation. 

While there can be an overwhelming pressure to ‘make it big’, SMEs are the backbone of every industry and country out there. If your goal is to rise into something great, that’s valid too, but pace the growth in a way that is modest and based in reality. Setting your expectations is key, because growing too fast can be derail everything you have worked so hard to achieve. 

@TechmashUK #TechmashUK