Essential Checklist We have created a fail-safe checklist of everything you need to start your own Personal Concierge and Lifestyle Management business. This easy-to-read checklist will take you through, in sequential order, everything you need to know so you don t miss anything. We have included links to websites to save you time and make sure you get the right information. We ve shown you what to do and how to do it. Best of all it s all done on a budget because we understand that when you are starting out in business, you don t want to have to spend thousands of dollars.
Introduction You have found something that you really enjoy doing, family and friends keep saying that you re very organised and great at getting things done. You start to think you should start your own business, spending your day doing something you are passionate about and to be your own boss! What a fantastic idea! You starting thinking about how great your business cards will look, what colour your logo will be, what font you will use, should you get a uniform to look the part? You are a professional after all. All so exciting! Stop right there! Before you start flicking through colour swatches, complete our Essential Guide Checklist. Section 1 Board of Directors Business Plan Finance Plan SWOT Analysis Research Business Structure Insurance Section 2 Business Name Branding Website Emails Telephones/Voicemail Post Printing Bank Account 2
Section 1 Board of Directors What? A Board of Directors already? Yes! Your Board of Directors will be people that you already know and can give you advice without an emotional connection. The board members may be your accountant (which we highly recommend you enlist the services of for your business), friends or family that are in a successful business, or someone from your local Chamber of Commerce or business networking group. Choose these people wisely. Their advice and opinions need to be unbiased (and hopefully unpaid).they should be people that you trust and who will give you an honest opinion about your ideas. If you can have two or three on your Board, invite them out to dinner and run your idea past them. Remember that although they will be in different areas of business to you, at one stage or another, they were also staring out in business. They will have learnt a lot of things along the way. Listen to what your Board of Directors have to say but ultimately make your own decisions. Once you have started your business, it is a good idea to check in with your Board of Directors on a regular basis, but not too often for them to get sick of you. These people as there as a sounding board for you, not to hold your hand. If you have questions or are unsure of how to go about doing something, go in with some research already done. Task: Compile your Board of Directors Business Plan A lot of businesses stall at the Business Plan stage. They believe this needs to be a 100-page document with huge amounts of detail. The truth is it doesn t. It might only be a few pages long and that is fine, so long as you have a plan! Once you have written your plan, it is not set in stone. It will move and change with you as your business grows and changes. It's a good idea to review it once a year. Update the details so that they are relevant for your business today. Here is a link to an Australian Government website that provides some great ideas on how to formulate your Business Plan. In the meantime, start with writing an overview of what is in your head, then start to flesh it out. Do you have any niche areas or areas of expertise from your previous working life that you particularly want to specialise in? How can you market to that niche area? Who are your competitors? Where are your competitors? What will your ideal client be like? How will your ideal client find you? Are there special requirements that you need to have to offer a particular service? For example, can you do bookkeeping without qualifications and professional indemnity insurance? What is it going to cost to establish your business? (more on this coming up in the Finance section). How are you going to finance your business? 3
Are you going to go straight into working fulltime in the business or continue with your existing job and do this on the side? This is about business, not about logos or colour. That s coming up. Task: Write at least a 4 page Business Plan 4
Finance Plan This is one of the big questions that you need to ask yourself and discuss with your Board of Directors before you leap into your small business. What personal commitments do you have to meet? Can you be without work and income while your business grows? Is it going to put strain on your relationships and family life? Does your current position allow you to work part time while your business grows? Are you willing to work after hours, and week-ends to grow your business? (you can dot point this section so the questions stand out) Below is a list of some of the things to include in your Finance Plan. Whilst you may not know the exact cost of these items, they must go in the budget, ask your Board of Directors how much you should allow for the following items: Business registration costs Professional fees (ie accountant or lawyer) Branding (ie logo design, trademarking) Website development and ongoing maintenance Stationery Phone costs Marketing and PR (ie networking events) Education and Development Task: Do a basic twelve month cash flow analysis your business income minus your expenses. Don t forget to include a wage to yourself. If your business is not going to make any money you may have a hobby and not a business! SWOT Analysis What are your Strengths...Weaknesses Opportunities and Threats? Through your Business Plan you have identified your services and your target market etc. Now it is time to do some navel-gazing! Your SWOT Analysis is essential. Below is an example of a SWOT Analysis. Think through each of these groups and write your notes into the relevant boxes and be realistic! 5
Strengths Weaknesses Your industry connections No reputable service providers Opportunities Threats Your old employer Competitors Refer to your Business and Financial Plans and make sure you have included strategies (and finances) to overcome your Threats and Weaknesses. For example, you may have identified as a weakness that you are new to running your own business. Therefore, you need to include marketing ideas and if they are going to have a cost component. These would be included in the Finance Plan. Equally make sure you have included strategies to best utilise your Strengths and Opportunities Task: Prepare a SWOT analysis. The results may provide you with some guidance as to how to position your business and what outside assistance you may require. 6
Research Part of your SWOT analysis may reveal that you haven t done enough market research. Know what other concierge businesses operate in your area (remember competition is a good thing). You may find other icalm members operate in your area. You may spot a gap in the service offering in your area or your research may reveal a new opportunity, eg a company is moving to your area and may require relocations assistance. Note: Never secret shop another concierge. This is considered to be extremely bad form. If you want to talk to someone about the industry in your area, call or email them and introduce yourself. You will find that more often than not they will be happy to talk to you. If you contact your local icalm State Representative, they will also be able to let you know when the next get industry get together will be so that you can meet other concierge in your area and ask the questions you have been wondering about. Task: Thoroughly research the niche area of Personal Concierge or Lifestyle Management you wish to enter and speak to others in the industry. By now you should have: 1. A Board of Directors; 2. A good understanding of how you want your business to work; 3. A detailed understanding of the costs involved; 4. Identified your Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities and Threats Task: At this point take the time to have a Dinner with your Board of Directors and discuss your findings so far. These key areas will always be evolving as your business grows. You may add people to your Board of Directors, or you may not require the services of another. Your Business Plan, Finance Plan and SWOT Analysis should be reviewed at least annually. Finally, you should always be researching your market, it will be changing as much as your businesses is and you need to keep up. If everything is still looking good let s move on. 7
Business Structure How are you going to structure your business? Will you be a Company (ie Pty Ltd), a Sole Trader or Partnership? Do you require an ABN or be registered for GST? One of the biggest questions is whether or not you need to have an ACN as well as an ABN. An ABN is very different to an ACN and has different implications; for example, an ABN is required for a business not a company and is separate to ASIC. Australian Business Number (ABN) is the number required by a business in its dealings with the Australian Taxation Office. An ABN is needed to register for GST and other elements of the Tax System. In Australia, to Register an ABN (Australian Business Number) Click Here In New Zealand, to Register for a Business Number, Click Here Australian Company Number (ACN) is a nine-digit number issued for every Pty Ltd company in Australia. The ACN is a unique identifier, no two companies can have the same ACN. In Australia, to Register for an ACN (Australian Company Name), you will need to select each state in which you wish to register your business. Setting up a Pty Ltd can be a bit complicated. We recommend that you speak to your accountant to take care of this for you. Make sure you check with IP Australia that there are no registered or pending trademarks identical or similar to your proposed business name. Call IP Australia on 1300 651 010 or visit www.ipaustralia.gov.au It is advisable to check with your Accountant, Business Advisor or Lawyer to ensure your business is correct set up and you have the appropriate registrations. If you wish to register for GST, In Australia, Click Here. In New Zealand, Click Here Task: Confirm your company structure Make the appropriate registrations 8
Insurance Yes, believe it or not, you do require insurance to operate as a Concierge or Lifestyle Manager. Don t put this off. It will be Murphy s Law that you start working for clients uninsured and you ll need it. It s like driving a brand new car without insurance, you just wouldn t do it. Your own insurance company will most likely never have heard of our industry and not know which insurance coverage you need. You may be asked if you are a cleaner or a housekeeper. To take the pain out of this, contact our Brand Partner YIB Link. YIB Link have been working with Personal Concierge, Lifestyle Managers and Professional Organisers for many years and have tailored policies ready for you! YIB Link 1300 YIB BNE (1300 942 263) http://www.yibbrisbane.com.au/ Task: Get your insurance organised 9
Section 2 Business Name What is your business name? Are you going to have a business name? You can trade under your name Jane Smith, however you will need to register the business name if it is Jane Smith Concierge to the Stars. Spend some time choosing your business name as this will define your brand and set the tone for your business. Does your business name describe what you do? Joes Plumbing we know immediately he isn t an electrician. Before you have your heart set on your name check that it is available to be registered and is not already taken by another business or your competition. You need to check availability of your preferred name with: Australian Business Register Australian Securities and Investment Commission Companies Office in New Zealand The second key thing you will need to check about your Business Name is whether the domain name is available? You can check availability of domain names at these sites and these are also the cheapest! www.crazydomains.com.au www.cheapdomains.com.au www.1and1.com Task: Create your business name and search its availability. Pay for registrations of your Business Name and Domain Name. Branding This is very important to get right but don t get paralysis by analysis and not make a final decision. You may already have a simple concept. Either way it is good to get the help of a professional graphics person for two reasons: First to have their creative input and secondly to be able to put your branding into the various print formats that will be required. You need to consider how and where your branding may be used, ie will it fit into a regular web advertisement space of 125 x 125 or 250 x 250 pixels? Will it fit comfortably into a magazine or newspaper advert, both horizontally and vertically? Can you create a long and short version of your branding? 10
For example, icalm can be used: You may know a graphic artist or you could try online services such as: www.elance.com www.upwork.com/ www.fiverr.com These services are like an online recruitment service. You list the type of work you need done, in this instance graphics, then people who are registered service providers on these sites will apply for your work. You can then screen their profile and make an appropriate selection. These services are very cheap and can be used for a variety of things. Do your research though and get reliable references before you engage anyone. Or you could engage two people to do the same job and see what they come up with! Task: Finalise your branding and someone to assist if required. 11
Website You now have all the basic ingredients you require for your website, ie your domain name, branding, a rough outline of what your business will entail, and all your contact details. You can set up website for free if you are technically inclined, otherwise you could post a job on the above websites and get them to apply to do the work for you. Other options are: www.vistaprint.com.au www.weebly.com www.freesites.com.au If you choose to create a free website, be sure to do your research and make sure there are no hidden costs. Also check how flexible the site is; Can you do lots of edits? How many pages can you have? And so on. Task: Start work on your website Emails If you have purchased a domain name, then you need to select a domain host these are two separate things. There are plenty of inexpensive website hosts. Often the provider of your website or domain name will also offer hosting services. Set up a company email address once you have registered your domain. You can do it for free. You can often have as many email accounts as you wish, depending upon your domain host. For example, admin@abcconcierge.com.au, sales@abcconcierge.com.au, jenny@abcconcierge.com.au and they can all come into your own Inbox. Do not use a Hotmail or gmail account as this looks very unprofessional. Task: Set up your email addresses 12
Voicemail/Telephones Reset your voicemail message on your mobile phone introducing the name of your business, for example Welcome to ABC Concierge, I am currently unavailable, please leave a message and I will return your call as soon as possible You may also choose a 1300 number, this will give you a stronger more established presence and can cost as little as $5 a month. Your calls will be directed to any number you wish, either a mobile or a LAN there is no need to get another telephone line installed at home. www.telcoworx.com.au Task: Re-record your voicemail message and consider if you want to have a 1300 number for your business. Post Get a PO Box. Most Concierges base themselves from home and with GPS tracking everywhere now, using your home address allows people to see exactly where you live. Not only does it not give your business credibility, it is also a safety issue as you have just publicised to the world where you live. Task: Visit your local post office and hire a post box. Printing We leave printing until now because your branding may be changed or tweaked when creating your website. There are plenty of printers who will be keen to take your money for printing your new stationery, but as far as we are concerned, when you are starting out, you cannot go past www.vistaprint.com.au Just have your graphic artist create documents to the specifications for each product, upload, and send. It s that easy and very very cheap. Make sure you sign up for the newsletter because they frequently send newsletters offering items for free! Task: Get business cards and any other stationery items printed. Bank Account Armed with your Certificate of Business registration, head down to your bank and open a bank account. You do not want to get your personal finances mixed with your business finances. This is especially so if you are registered for GST. This also adds to your look of professionalism. When your clients are paying you, they are paying a business account, not Jane Anne Smith. Task: Open a company bank account. 13
Essential Checklist Summary of Tasks Task: Compile your Board of Directors Task: Write at least a 4 page Business Plan Task: Do a basic twelve month cash flow analysis your business income minus your expenses. Don t forget to include a wage to yourself. If your business is not going to make any money you may have a hobby and not a business! Task: Prepare a SWOT analysis. The results may provide you with some guidance as to how to position your business and what outside assistance you may require. Task: Thoroughly research the niche area of Concierge or Lifestyle Management you wish to enter and speak to others in the industry Task: At this point take the time to have a Dinner with your Board of Directors and discuss your findings thus far. Task: Confirm your company structure Make the appropriate registrations Task: Get your insurance organised Task: Create your business name and search its availability. Pay for registrations of your Business Name and Domain Name. Task: Finalise your branding and someone to assist if required. Task: Start work on your website Task: Set up your email addresses Task: Re-record your voicemail message and consider if you want to have a 1300 number for your business. Task: Visit your local post office and hire a postal box. Task: Get business cards and any other stationery items printed.. Task: Open a company bank account. 14