Journey of an Entrepreneur – Part 3
Thank you for reading the previous two parts of this series. If you have not, please do so to get a better understanding of this series. Do feel free to leave your feedback in the comments.
The initial volumes consist of a list of questions that need to be asked and considered. These will help in painting a holistic picture of entrepreneurship. These will serve as a guide to help you monetize your concept in a structured manner.
Entrepreneurship is just not about monetizing your concept or skillset. It’s about doing it the efficient way which is legally compliant with fair and ethical business practices.
Preparing the Journey
In the previous volumes, we have seen the contemplations that need to be mulled over to arrive at a consensus with yourself. Once that is done, then prepare for the next step with the help of this checklist:
- What will be the brand name?
- What will be the name of the legal entity?
- What will be the type of legal entity (private limited (Pvt Ltd), public limited (Ltd), one-person company (OPC), sole-proprietorship, partnership, limited liability partnership (LLP), freelance, etc.
- How many members will be involved initially as the core or founder team?
- What will be the amount of initial investment?
- Who will do the initial investment?
- How will you take care of company accounts?
- How do you plan to grow and expand your reach?
- Which activities will you outsource?
- Which activities will you handle yourself?
This is not an exhaustive or exclusive list. However, you can take this as a starting point to help you give direction and focus to your core concept. Do reach out to practicing Chartered Accountants (CAs) and Company Secretaries (CS). Most of them are friendly and do offer valuable advice and guidance in the form of free consultation. They will guide you in terms of best practices followed in the industry and in terms of compliance norms to be implemented and maintained. They are the best guides as they work with different companies in different domains, hence their experience is varied.
Each of these points require careful thought and planning with proper paperwork in place. After the thoughts and brainstorming has been done, then all the above points need to be implemented or put in action, one by one. A word of caution, especially for the investments part – ensure proper and complete paperwork. Its not just about getting the money to get started, however, do ensure that proper agreements are executed, appropriately signed with adequate witnesses. This is for the safety and surety of both – the entrepreneur and the investor. A practicing Company Secretary (CS) would be the best guide to help with this or a Corporate Lawyer.
Synopsis
The initial preparation for beginning the entrepreneurship journey is exhaustive but to ensure that the building is steady, its foundation must be strong. This is the attempt made in the initial volumes of this series. Entrepreneurship is a journey of endurance and perseverance. The journey of a salaried individual is tough; however, it is comparatively simpler as it does not require all-round skills that are needed by an entrepreneur.
Thank you for continuing reading and staying with me in this journey. Hope that these points are valuable for you especially for budding and aspiring entrepreneurs. For those already into entrepreneurship for quite some time, hope you find something in these that you may have overlooked which you can still implement in your existing business.
Quick Link:-
Part 1 – Who is an Entrepreneur?
Part 2 – Importance of Decision Making Process
