What do Juan from Spain and Jessica from the USA have in common? They are both teenagers running successful businesses. Juan, 16, has a gardening business with 75 clients and three employees. Jessica’s company cleans new houses. She started it when she was 14. if you want to start a business, good planning is important. Here are some tips.
1 Get organized. Decide what your skills are. Find out if there is a market for them in your area, e.g. ask your neighbours what they need. Babysitting, coaching for exams or sports and computer training are all possibilities.
2 Decide how much money you need to start your business. Think about how to get the capital. You can use your own money or you can ask the bank for a loan.If you get a loan, be sure you can afford to pay theinterest.
3 Calculate your costs.First, work out your fixed costs, for example, the rent on your office or the interest on a loan. Then add your variable costs, for example, equipment or tax (if you pay).
4 Work out how much to charge for your service. Find out what other people are charging and use this to set your own prices.
5 Your revenueis the amount of money you receive from selling your service. You need to calculate this very carefully. Your revenue is the number of hours worked multiplied by the price per hour.
6 Your business will make a profitif your revenue for a year is more than your costs. If your costs are higher than the revenue, you’ll make a loss. Work out carefully the number of hours you need to work.