Over one half of all new businesses fail within the first 3 years of trading. But with sound planning, some business knowledge and most important of all a great dream you can dramatically improve your chances of surviving, growing and succeeding.

Have Long Term Goals

The primary task in managing a business is deciding its long-term objectives.

Making a success of your own business doesn't just require you to have the right personality, attitude and business idea you also need the skills or the ability to pick new ones up quickly. You also need to be able to distinguish what you can do for yourself and what you are better leaving to the professionals.

Assuming you don't have an endless supply of money, when you start your own business you are suddenly responsible for a lot more than just doing your job.

There are over 5,000 grants available for small business from the EU, central and local government and a wide range of organisations and trusts.

All grants have different criteria and different conditions, some will take the form of interest free loans others will be free grants of cash or they could be grants in the form of advice or business support.

You have found a gap in the market, you have thought of a business idea that you believe will make you a healthy profit. The next stage is to conduct a thorough analysis.

You've had a brilliant business idea. But it's a bit early for you to splash out on an expensive market research survey or start to negotiate with investors over how much you'll need to raise to get started.

No matter who you are the banks, business angels or government agencies who are lending you the money all want to know that their money is safe.

Main factors

Poor management skills are the reason 80% of owner-managed firms go under. So this is the first thing that lenders will look at when considering you for a loan. Before they will lend you the money they will want to see that you have a good track record, the expertise and skills to adapt to changing financial and economic circumstances, a good product or a quality service, good financial controls and ideally growth prospects.

When setting up your company you need to decide at an early stage how you intend to structure it. What type of company legally beneficial - a Limited Company, a Partnership, Limited Liability Partnership or Sole Trader?

This decision can have both legal and practical implications, so it's an important decision to make. It's advisable to seek individual advice before you commit yourself to any of the four basic options:

Limited Company

A limited company is where shareholders (members or owners) have limited liability to the company's debts.

No matter who you are you will make mistakes at some point in your business life and unfortunately the law is not very forgiving - ignorance is not a defence. Here are some of the common pitfalls to watch out for when setting up your own business.

Partnerships

A partnership is formed when two or more parties form to start a business, sharing the workload and investing capital to get things going.