The costs associated with starting a business might seem pretty straightforward; office, furniture, electricity bills, etc.… but realistically, it is not that simple. When starting a new business, planning and intensive accounting are crucial since it’s easy to get too caught up in the process, and not realize how much you’re spending, or if you have enough many to operate the business.
Neglecting the process of careful planning and accounting for every cost will end in unpleasant results. The startup costs which are the expenses for starting a business a different depending on the nature of the business. Of course, expenses needed to open a coffee shop are different than that of a gym. However, there are some startup costs that are quite common between all businesses.
Table of Contents
1)Business plan
Creating a business plan is crucial to the success of your business, especially if you have just started. A business plan is basically your business’s guide–it has everything inside it: marketing plan, executive summary, costs, operations, etc.… Also, if you decide to present your business to a potential investor, you must have a well-detailed business plan.
Unfortunately, putting together an effective business plan isn’t easy, unless you have experience in it. So, it is recommended that you pay a professional to do it.
2) Borrowing
Starting a new business requires you to have a capital amount. This amount differs from business to business, and to what scale you want to start your business with. However, there are two ways of borrowing: debt financing and equity financing. Equity financing is not really common with startups.
For smaller business owners, they will most likely finance their business with debt financing. And the same as with any other debt, the business loans you will take from banks or other financing institutions will require you to pay an interest expense, which should be accounted for when starting a business.
3) Equipment
Almost any business in the world will require you to have some sort of equipment or/and supplies. Before adding the costs of the equipment and supplies to your list, you must make the decision on whether you will rent out the equipment or purchase it, or half-and-half.
This decision mainly depends on how much capital you have, the usage of the equipment, and its price. Even if you don’t have enough capital to purchase the equipment but have made the calculations and realized that purchasing would be better than leasing, there are businesses that provide loans for business equipment financing. In other cases, leasing might be the more practical option. Nonetheless, make sure that you properly go through the terms of the lease.
4) Marketing
One of the most important determinants of a business’s success is the way it markets itself. Without proper marketing, how will people know about the business? Marketing can make a company’s revenues skyrocket simply by using the right marketing strategy at the right media. But of course, that comes at a cost.
Marketing is more than simply putting advertisements everywhere. Marketing is a huge field with many aspects, and depending on your capabilities, goals, and business, you might find yourself spending a lot on marketing or on hiring marketing agencies.
5) Technology
Not all businesses need expensive and advanced technology to operate, especially in the start. But you should account for the basics such as the cost of setting up a website: hosting, domain purchasing, etc.… You will most likely need an accounting software because doing accounting manually is a nightmare, not to mention how inefficient it is.
6) Administrative fees
To start up a business, you need to sign up for certain licenses, permits, and have insurances. Some businesses might need more advanced licenses than others, especially if they’re in a sensitive field like the medical field, and others might need basic ones.
Also, you should account for insurance for your employees, the assets you have, customers, and even for yourself to be protected against liabilities than might come.
7) Employees
The cost of labor is important when planning to start a business. Even if you are planning to start small with a few employees, make sure that you plan for the cost of salaries, wages, incentives, and benefits. Being unable to pay your employees properly will result in low motivation, morale, and you might even have a bad reputation, and not to mention employee turnover.
8) Emergencies
It’s recommended that you have emergency funds set aside when starting a business because you never know what might arise. You can figure out that you have underestimated your expenses when you start running things, so having cash to deal with unexpected issues is a smart move.
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