Starting up a business is a huge leap of faith, but also incredibly rewarding.

The challenges and successes of being your own boss and starting your business go alongside the old adage that ’It’s great working for yourself; you can decide which 18 hours in the day to work!’

Before you do anything, you’ll need to choose a business name and logo, decide where to work from, and what equipment and think about your IT requirements and marketing. You will need insurance and possibly registration certificates for your industry.

Keeping records of business income and expenses can seem daunting, but there’s a huge range of bookkeeping software available to you, much of it online. The business will also need its own bank account.

Another factor to consider is whether to operate your business as a sole trader/partnership or a company. The basic difference is that, as a sole trader you, and the business are treated as one (i.e. the same legal and taxable entity), whilst a company is treated as separate to you (i.e. a separate legal entity and taxed separately).

Whether you operate as a sole trader or company, if you exceed the VAT threshold (currently £85,000) over a 12-month period, you will need to register for VAT.

A business plan helps you to set out how you’ll build your product or provide the service, target and reach your customers, and fund your business. Dependent on the type of business, different levels of funding will be required.

If you cannot self-fund, loan or asset financing may be available, depending on your circumstances.

There isn’t crowd funding on the Island, but private investors are linked with businesses through the Bridge Angel Investor network (www.bridge.co.im).

There are government grants available. The Micro Business Grant is available to all start-up businesses. This grant is a maximum of £5,000 with a mixture of income support and capital grant. A five-day training course and mentor is also part of the scheme.

A range of grants are available covering training support to specific projects, including a £25,000 grant available towards eligible expenditure for businesses involved in export or import substitution.

The Financial Assistance Scheme gives grants of up to 40% to eligible businesses.

The Enterprise Investment Scheme, operated through Spark, provides both loan and equity financing. They can also help with gaining private investment.

More information on grants is available from www.whereyoucan.com.

Remember to keep positive, get good advice, be prepared to work hard and enjoy the challenge!