If you have had enough of the 9-5 grind and figure that you can do better by going it alone, you certainly wouldn’t be alone in your thinking. Many Australians have successfully made the transition from salaried employee to budding entrepreneur, and with the current economic climate, becoming self-employed might be the best move. Of course, starting any business is fraught with risk, and with that in mind, here is a checklist to ensure that no aspect of your planning is overlooked.

• Do your Research – Whatever your business concept, you need to be certain that there is a demand for such a product or service, plus you should be thinking of providing something that your competitors do not. Until you have done this, you can’t really take your project any further, and make sure that you have looked at this in a realistic manner.

• Business Registration – People will not take you seriously if your business is not registered, and there are many ways of doing this, so you should talk to a chartered accountant, who can recommend the best type of business formation, which might be in the form of a sole trader, a partnership, or even a limited company.

• Digital Marketing – You really will need the help of a company like evodigital.com.au, who are one of Australia’s leading SEO providers, and they would help you develop a good digital marketing plan that would ensure that your company develops a strong online presence.

• Business Plan – This should be your Bible that is referred to at all stages of implementation, plus your business plan should be thorough, addressing things like marketing, start-up and running costs, sourcing suppliers and creating a business infrastructure. Once you think your business plan is finished, hand it to a business guru and you’ll find there will be stuff you need to add. As a guideline, a business plan should be between 10-20 pages in length and would include cash-flow projections and profit forecasts for the first 5 years.

• Risk Assessment – As a business owner, it is your role to minimise the risks when launching a business, so make sure you have public liability insurance, plus vehicle cover and anything else that needs to be protected, which might be stock and a business premises. If you are planning to hire people, you will need some employer’s liability insurance and a local broker can combine everything you need into a single policy.

• Web Design – Your website is your portal to the world and it should reflect your company and what it is about. Unless you are a professional web designer, you are advised to hire a web design expert, or alternately, ask your digital marketing partner to design and build the site. Your SEO partner can also arrange domain registration and web hosting, both of which are necessary if you are going to publish your website.

• Determination & Persistence – The saying, ‘failure cannot live with persistence’ is certainly applicable in this case, and it will be hard; there will be times when you question your decision to go it alone, but like all things of value, creating a successful business is never easy.

If you have all of the above covered and a few good friends have looked over your business plan and can’t find fault, then you are ready to start implementation.