Why getting experience in a smaller business gives you a great insight into starting your own 

If you’ve ever thought about starting your own business, there is no better learning experience than working in a smaller business. Often, roles in start-ups and micro-businesses are fluid. If you take a job in a smaller business you will still be doing one specific role (marketing, admin, accounts etc) but you will likely be asked to chip in, in other areas. In a small business, you’re all in the same boat – there aren’t separate departments, different offices – you may work for a company where all staff work together in one open office. If that is the case here are some areas that you will be exposed to:

Finance / Credit Control

Keeping an eye on your finance is perhaps the most vital part of running a business. This includes balancing tax, wages, working costs, marketing costs and much more. You will also want to forecast your revenue and profits. Another process that your business might have to implement is credit control. If you offer services to businesses, you might have to take payment on credit. If the businesses don’t pay on time, which many don’t for a variety of reasons (not all sinister!) then you have to do the job of chasing payment and sometimes having quite demanding conversations over the phone.

Marketing

Working in a smaller business in a marketing capacity will give you first-hand experience of how to sell your business with a low budget. Growing your social media following or running promotional campaigns can be difficult without money to put behind it. Google Ads, which can be a very useful (and sometimes essential) tool for new businesses, can quickly rack up costs, as can advertising on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. Furthermore, marketing is time-consuming – setting up ads to be effective in terms of ROI can take a lot of work, as can creating content so that your website performs in terms of SEO.

In a start-up or micro business, you will see all this in action, you may be responsible for it yourself or you may just contribute to it, in terms of blog-writing or LinkedIn posts. Either way, you will get a good idea of what can be achieved, how long it can take to craft and launch a campaign, and the overall effort needed by the team.

IT

The vast majority of businesses are online these days and so building an effective website is likely to be one of your top priorities. You can do this through tools like WordPress and Squarespace, but even that does take some knowledge in order to create something modern and attractive. Outsourcing your IT could be an option, but again you need to weigh up the cost – not only for development but on-going support. This doesn’t consider other IT related costs like software packages and any other development you might need doing.

See an entrepreneur in action

If you really want to start your own business, it is invaluable to see an entrepreneur in action. Before you make the jump yourself, it is incredibly useful to see someone doing it themselves first-hand. You can see the trials and tribulations and the sacrifices that entrepreneurs must make, to be successful.  Furthermore, it helps to visualise whether you are in the position to make similar commitments yourself.

About Step

Step is a leading provider of student and graduate placements and internships. We offer undergraduates and recent graduates a range of work experience opportunities. All Step opportunities have a genuine development focus, are structured and often project based.

By registering and creating a profile with us, you will have access to a range of opportunities on our website, and we will be able to contact you directly if a great role comes along.

You can find out more about Step on our website: www.step.org.uk