Making a career change is a common New Year's resolution, one that you may find on your own list of goals for the coming 12 months. For many, that will simply mean looking for a new position in an established company, but if you have grander ambitions, perhaps 2016 is the year you start your own business.
Starting a new company is an exciting, but challenging, adventure, and New Zealand is a fantastic place to do it. In fact, the 2015 World Bank's Doing Business Survey ranked the country as the easiest place in the world to do so. That's an encouraging thought, but it's still important to plan accordingly for what's ahead of you.
Create a business plan
Whatever you want your new business to be, it's important to outline each step you'll take on the path to establishing your new company. Whether you're expecting to work on your own from home, or employing staff at a dedicated location, everyone involved needs to be focused and on the same page.
One of your first steps will be itemising everything you need to start your business, and getting your finances in order to plan how you will fund your new venture. With easy to use business accounting software such as CashManager from Accomplish, you can set and manage your budget with little stress. Once your budget is in place, CashManager can also keep tabs on your payments and invoicing, project tracking and all other business accounting essentials.
Stick to your plan
Once your business is underway, it's all too easy to get sucked into the day-to-day operation and neglect your broader strategy. While you will have unexpected issues to address along the way, make sure you're checking in with your goals regularly and amend your tactics as required.
Monitoring how you are progressing is an essential part of planning, and it's vital you don't become so engulfed in where you are that you lose sight of where you want to be.