Are you about to start your business and wondering where to start and how to proceed? Be pragmatic and take the right approach. This is how you make this launch a success. Here are the 5 steps you need to follow to start your business the right way.
Complete your business model
First of all, be clear about your project. Your reflection must indeed have gone beyond the stage of the idea. It must have produced a strategy, broken down into action plans.
You must have identified the precise characteristics of your offer: nature of the activity, targeted purpose, prices charged, distribution channels, means of distinguishing yourself from your competitors… Also make sure that there is demand in your market.
A business model is never fixed. You can (or, more likely, you will have to) adjust it later.
Do a market research and a business plan
When in doubt about the viability of the project or the importance of the offer, do not hesitate to conduct a market study. And, if necessary, draw up a business plan.
The market study and the business plan are two tools that allow you to structure your thinking, get to the point and most importantly highlight the profitability of your business.
Set goals, but be realistic in your forecasts and try to be as objective as possible about your chances of achieving them.
Choose your legal status
When all the lights are green, you can move to the next step and enter the “production” stage. You must find a legal status for this: micro-enterprise or sole proprietorship, SASU or EURL, SAS, SARL, SA, SNC…
This complex choice requires the analysis of many parameters: number of project participants, social status of the leader, income tax, financing methods (bank loan, fundraising, etc.).
Define the key features of your business
If you opt for a company, you will have to find a name (company name), an activity (business object), an address (head office), a term (usually 99 years) and an asset. You must also identify any contributions it benefits from. Then, as you interact with other people, you need to plan the distribution of the company’s titles.
All this information is contained in a written document called Articles of Association. FYI, sole proprietorships and micro-enterprises do not need to set up one.
Know that many professionals can accompany you if you feel unable to do it yourself.
Request your company registration
It is the last of the stages of establishing a business. It consists of declaring your activity so that your company is registered in the appropriate register. The registration procedure is very light for sole traders and micro-enterprises. In general, it is sufficient to submit a declaration of the start of the activity (P0) and some supporting documents.
For commercial companies, the process is longer and more complex. You must complete an M0 form, complete a Beneficial Owners’ Declaration (RBE), publish a legal notice and provide numerous documents.
Once the business is registered, your business can be officially launched!
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