When you decide to start your own business it’s important to realize that there will be some fixed and flexible expenditures that you’ll have to take into account for every single month. Deciding on a start-up budget will depend on your goals, how much disposable income you have and whether or not you’re in a position to take a business loan or not.
Potential Fixed Expenses
These include:
- Office rent
- Utilities
- Equipment
- Software
- Materials
- Security
- Taxes
- Insurance
- Business licenses
Potential Flexible Expenses
These include:
- Contractors
- Education
- Entertainment
- Staff
- Advertising
Make a list of every expense you think you’ll have and don’t stick to this list. Every business is different and has different requirements to keep it afloat.
Create a Spreadsheet
You can make your list in an Excel file so that you can enter the amounts the items you need will cost. When you come up with the number for your fixed expenses (the things you must have), that’s how much you need to just break even each month and how much you’ll need to invest each month in your business until you are profitable.
Judge for Yourself
The flexible items are things you can move to the fixed expenses line if needed – such as advertising, which is often a necessity for your business to become known and start earning money. It depends on the business and it depends on what you believe is important for your business.
Research
Conduct research for your niche to find out what basic expenses usually consist of so that you have an idea of what you really need. You can find a Facebook group consisting of the people who do what you want to do and find out from them what their monthly expenses include. The amounts will vary greatly from one person to the next, but you’ll soon realize that some things you just can’t do without.
Adjust Estimates
After you conduct research and implement some of your choices, you’ll want to adjust any estimated figures to the real numbers. You may need to do this often as prices go up, you upgrade software, or something changes. Keeping a good spreadsheet that is accurate will help you meet your goals.
Be Realistic
There are a lot of ads out there that claim you can start a business without any money and build a free website, use free software and still make millions. Well, it’s just not true. Yes, there are some free options, and you can get started that way, but if you invest in your business you’ll actually become profitable a lot faster.
Creating a start-up budget is an important step to starting your own business. It doesn’t matter if the business is going to be online or offline; you will still have expenses, most if not all of which are tax deductible, so it will pay off for you to keep track.
*This article is not intended to replace professional business advice and planning. Always contact professionals regarding any business advice, financials, planning, operations, and/or management.