How to set up a new business in Singapore?

Setting up a new business in Singapore

Recently, I advised a group of people who have been working for the past 5-7 years in an office. Their job range from back end to middle office and they told me that they are really sick of their job. They can't wait to break free and they would like to try running their own business. However, they have no idea how to do that.

I ran through with them their raw ideas and I realised that they do not have a clear structure on how to set up a business. The key thing is, you should not jump into setting up a business simply because you are bored of your job. You will need to think through and plan.

The following steps are what I got them to do before deciding on kicking off their business and I thought it will be interesting to share here:

1. Think through your key competencies (your KSA - knowledge, skills and abilities)

2. Decide on your competitive advantage based on your core competencies

3. Envision where your business will be in the future

4. Decide on your business's identity (What will the business represent? what will be the value add to the society and the consumer?)

5. Research on current market situation (both micro --> your strength and weaknesses and macro --> the economic situation, changing trends etc)

6. Strategize to achieve your vision and mission (You can follow the 4Ps strategies to have a clearer idea -->

-- product / service: what are you selling? Why would people buy from you? What is the core advantage that you are offering to your consumer? How are you going to package? Why? Are you providing any ancillary services?

-- price: how much are you going to sell your product or service at? Why? 

-- place: where are you going to sell product? How much is the rental? Is the fixed cost too high? How long can you hold out with your capital? Have you explored digital space?  

-- promotion: how are you going to promote? Through which channel? would it reach your target audience? How much budget do you have?

7. Come out with ways to measure and quantify your business (Are you going to only focus on financial perspectives or are you taking into account other KPIs such as customer perspectives (like retention rate, satisfaction rate etc))

You should also assess your business and know if you are going to start a sole proprietor, partnership, company or?

Done with brain storming all those mentioned above? Eager to start your business?

The first step is always to register your business with ACRA

ACRA has an informative page on how to start a business -- https://www.acra.gov.sg/components/wireframes/howToGuidesChapters.aspx?pageid=1755

Backward looking = reflection, forward looking = solutions!

We should only spend 20% of our time looking back to reflect and learn from past events and the rest of our time looking forward to find solutions.

Many people I know spent too much time looking back and asking the "whys" instead of channeling their energy into looking forward and solving the problems. Start today by spending majority of your time looking forward!  

Business Requires Transparency and NOT intransigence

Transparency:

Regardless of whether it is towards your employees or customers, every business requires transparency. The inability to be transparent towards your employees or customers will only cause more issues in the future.

I have learnt along the way that the inability to be transparent has led to more problems in the long run. I always thought that if sensitive information is not shared or disclosed, it might be better for both sides. However, some of the times, it is important for us to disclose to the employees on certain things such as revenue model so that they will know how they are value adding to the customers. Some times, we got lazy and we decided not to disclose certain information and this might also lead to potential bottlenecks in the future.

Intransigence:

One of the worst things that can happen to a company is when agreements cannot be met due to intransigence. No one would gain from prolonged insistence on their own stand. Many businesses have lost deals or huge revenue because they are not willing to compromise on anything.

I used to have an employee who is always quick to point finger at someone else whenever things happen. He can come out with many reasons why things go wrong due to other people. No common agreements can ever be reached in the company when he leads the meeting as he is always making an extreme decision and expecting everyone to follow. While devil's advocate is good, the inability to listen to others and compromise is a big NO NO! Eventually, the whole company spent too much time debating and hence became unproductive. As counselling and coaxing did not work out, he was subsequently asked to leave.

As such, it is really important for a business and also a person to always be transparent and not intransigent.

Ideas? Stories? Share with us! We Want to Hear You!

Valerie Chai
www.starcresto.com