Starting & Running a Business All-in-One For Dummies, 4th Edition (UK)

Chapter 1

Preparing for Business

IN THIS CHAPTER

Working up to opening up

Measuring your business’s viability

Exploring options for help (and there are plenty of them)

Considering an incubator

Finding organisations that can assist inventors

When you’re starting a business, particularly your first business, you need to carry out the same level of preparation as you would for crossing the Gobi Desert or exploring the jungles of South America. You’re entering hostile territory.

Since the last edition of this book, just shy of two million UK businesses have closed down. Many were in their first year or two of trading, always the most dangerous period. And when the going gets tough, as it surely did during the Covid-19 pandemic, even well-established businesses including Joules, Paperchase, Jaeger, Oddbins and Debenhams, can stumble. Even deep wallets may not save you. Bulb, the Green Energy supplier, gave up the ghost in September 2021, despite having taken in £65.3m from investors over ...