Top tips for starting your own business
19 January 2012 Last updated
at 00:01 GMT
Source:By Peter DayPresenter, Radio 4's In
Business
Steve Barnes co-founded Appetise after he and his friends identified a consumer need - their own
(Steve Barnes和他的朋友發現消費者的需求後共同創辦Appetise – 並擁有自己的公司)
由於青年的失業率屢創新高，一種讓年輕人得到一份工作的方式，就是開創自己的事業。
Instead of waiting for someone else to hire
you, why not set up a company and employ yourself?
But how do you launch a business during an
economic downturn?
而不是等待別人聘請你，何不成立一個公司，並聘請自己呢？
但如何在經濟衰退期間推出自己的事業？
Peter Day, presenter of Radio 4's In
Business, has interviewed generations of young start-up entrepreneurs over the
years, and here he summarises the words of advice they have shared with him on
taking the DIY route.
Peter Day，Radio 4廣播商業台節目主持人，多年來先後採訪了一代又一代的青年創業者，在這裡，他總結各方的意見，分享青年創業者的DIY路線。
LESSON 1: HARD TIMES ARE GOOD TIMES TO
START A BUSINESS
The way the start-up entrepreneurs tell it,
it is tricky to start a business at any time - not just during a recession -
but their particular business idea is so niche, so focussed, and so special
that they shrug off the gloom and just get on with it.
第1課：愈艱困時愈是創業最佳時刻
開始創業者訴說它的方式，在任何時候開啟事業都須很機警- 不只是在經濟衰退期間 - 但如果有很特殊的商業理念當作創業利基，可以引人注目，讓人覺得特別，那他們就可擺脫晦暗，執行製作它。
Steve Barnes co-founded Appetise after he
and his friends identified a consumer need - their own
Steve Barnes和他的朋友發現消費者的需求後共同創辦Appetise – 並擁有自己的公司
The upside of starting a business during a
downturn is that things can only get better as the economic climate improves,
and you will have learnt an awful lot in the difficult times that you can use
in the easier ones.
在經濟低迷時期開始事業的好處是，當景氣復甦時事情能得到更好的改善，在艱困時候你能獲得驚人的收穫，你可以輕鬆的使用。
Steve Barnes of the start-up internet fast
food delivery service Appetise.com says he has only known economic gloom, but
that has not stopped him.
這位展開網絡快餐配送服務Appetise.com的史蒂夫巴恩斯說，他早已知景氣低迷，但這並沒有阻止他。
"I don't know what a boom feels like,
to be honest. I don't really know what to expect.
"When you've got such a small start-up
business I don't think it is really going to be affected at all. There's plenty
of opportunities in a recession."
But what should your business actually do?
“我不知道什麼是繁榮的感覺，老實說。我真的不知道要期待什麼。
“當你開啟一個小的創業行動，我不認為會真的受到影響，在經濟衰退的時候有很多機會。”
但您的企業真正應該做什麼?
LESSON 2: FOCUS ON THE IDEAS STARING YOU IN
THE FACE
Lots of people go about finding their niche
by using business school tools such as market analysis or sector research.
Clever, but remote.
Why not start a business based on a need
you yourself have, that is not properly addressed by existing suppliers?
第2課：創業始於專注面對你的理念
很多人藉由市場分析或部門業務的研究，如學校的工具去尋找自己的優勢。聰明，但易偏離主軸。
何不根據你自身需要而現有的供應商沒有妥善解決的業務開始？
'Silicon Roundabout' in east London is the capital of the UK
“迷你矽谷”在倫敦東部是英國的高科技啟動繁榮的都市
倫敦東部的一小塊地區迅速崛起成為世界一流的高科技中心倫敦的迷你矽谷
You experience the gap in the marketplace,
and you fill it: easy-peasy.
University campuses are full of ideas for
businesses. For example, David Langer was at Oxford University
你體驗在市場上的差距，你會輕而易舉的滿足它。
大學校園充滿各式商業概念。例如，大衛·蘭格是在牛津大學時，他創立一個集團空間。
It started as a service for Oxford University
Group Spaces now has two million users
worldwide, helping club administrators in more than 100 countries.
它開始作為牛津大學一個俱樂部的服務，旨在設計能幫助祕書和財務主管，試圖為社群俱樂部，社團和同好團體管理，使生活更容易。
集團空間現在在全球擁有200萬用戶，幫助100多個國家的俱樂部管理員。
It was purely to solve a problem that we
had as students”
Steve Barnes Co-founder, Appetise.com
The company employs 10 people, working near
East London 's start-up hub Silicon Roundabout
and has recently raised £1m ($1.54m ) in investment.
純粹是為了解決當時我們作學生時的一個問題。“
Steve Barnes聯合創始人，Appetise.com
公司現有員工10人，近東倫敦的啟動樞紐迷你矽谷處的工作，並在最近提出投資100萬英鎊（$1.54米 ）。
The fast-food delivery service Appetise.com
was an idea borne by students from Warwick
University
"It was purely to solve a problem that
we had as students," says co-founder Steve Barnes.
"Trying to order a take-away, we used
to order in groups of 10 or 20 people and trying to organise that over the
telephone is a bit of a nightmare.
快餐配送服務Appetise.com是由英國華威大學學生的的創意現在已經遍及全英國。
聯合創始人史蒂夫·巴恩斯說：“這純粹是為了解決作學生時的一個問題”。
“我們使用的10或20人的團體常試訂購外賣，並試圖組織那些透過電話實在有點是一場噩夢般的事。
"Whereas now everyone can sit down
individually at the computer, place their order and then submit it all in one
order and it's very easy to see an itemised bill to see who owes what."
Keep it simple, and answer an in-your-face
need.
If you have got the need, and the idea,
then come the operational problems - but even they are less daunting than they
used to be.
“而現在每個人都可以坐下來單獨在電腦中，填寫他們的訂單，然後一次提交訂單，它很容易看到每個條列事項，也可看看誰欠缺什麼。”
保持簡單，並回答你所面臨的需求。
如果你發現需要和想法，然後來運作這些問題 - 即使他們曾經是那麼令人氣餒的。
LESSON 3: YOU ALREADY HAVE THE TOOLS YOU
NEED
Most homes and most students are already
equipped with quite a lot of the tools any business needs to reach a worldwide
audience from day one.
第3課：你已經有你需要的工具
從一開始大多數家庭和學生都已經配備了很多任何企業要延伸到全世界的觀眾所需要的工具。
A laptop and a mobile phone is all the
infrastructure a new business needs to get up and running
Computer power is so cheap that many school
or university leavers have their own machines, with processing power
unimaginable a few years ago.
Laptops can edit sound or movies, design
software, and keep track of all the details of a start-up business at minimal
cost.
一台筆記型電腦和行動電話是建立一項新的事業所需要行動和運作的基礎設備
電腦所創造的力量成本是如此便宜，許多學校或大學畢業生都有自己的機器，幾年前處理能力是難以想像。
筆記型電腦可以編輯聲音或電影，設計軟件，以最低的成本開始啟動事業的所有細節。
Internet connectivity allows a start-up
entrepreneur to collaborate with video conferencing at almost no cost, an
extraordinary breakthrough.
The internet also enables a new business to
reach a specific, even worldwide marketplace with a minimal outlay.
互聯網連接允許一個剛起步的企業家，以幾乎沒有成本的運用視頻會議與協作來突破。
互聯網也使一個新的事業以最小的支出來達到一個具體的，甚至是全球的市場。
Clever viral
marketing can pull in curious customers seduced by ingenuity alone.
And very young people are often
instinctively able to use the new technology that makes all this happen.
They already know things that great big
companies have to pay specialists huge sums to get done.
而年輕人往往能很本能地使用新技術，讓所有這種情況發生。
他們已經知道，大型公司必須支付專家巨大的資金以完成做的事情。
LESSON 4: CASH IS KING
Now, what about funding?
Starting any kind of business always used
to need money: from savings, relatives, angel investors, a bank loan. The latter is reputedly
horribly difficult at the moment.
所謂的天使投資由美國開始興起，是指一群投資家，. 扶植一些沒有經驗、沒有資金的年青人，投資在他們的計劃.
第4課：現金為王
現在，什麼是資金？
任何一種事業開始時總是需要錢的：從儲蓄，親戚，天使投資，銀行貸款，後者此時據說是可怕的困難。
Warren Bennett of A Suit That Fits funded
it through credit-card loans and cash from up-front orders
For several reasons, including the
technology mentioned above, not having pots of cash is now much less of a
problem than it used to be.
Several of the start-up entrepreneurs I
have met needed only credit-card loans to get their businesses up and running -
a potentially costly route, mind.
Warren Bennett的A Suit That Fits(合宜套裝)通過信用卡貸款和前期訂單的現金來供應資助。
有幾個原因，包括上面提到的技術，沒有大量的現金現在比以前來說已不是太大的問題。
幾個我遇到的企業家只需要信用卡貸款，就讓他們的事業進展和運作--一個潛在昂貴的路線，需注意。
Warren Bennett, 30, is co-founder of the
bespoke tailoring service A Suit That Fits - now 6 years old, the company sells
around 15,000 suits a year.
沃倫·貝內特，30歲，是合身套裝的定制剪裁服務的聯合創始人
– 公司現在已成立6年，每年銷售約15000套套裝。
Find out more
Listen to In Business on BBC Radio 4 on
Thursday, 19 January at 20:30 GMT and Sunday, 22 January at 21:30 GMT
了解更多可聽BBC廣播商業4台在1/19週四，時間20時30和1/22（星期日）21:30 GMT
Back home in the UK ,
Warren
在尼泊爾作為一個志工老師時沃倫有想法，在那裡他被本地很好的成衣事業絆倒了。
回到英國，沃倫和朋友從家裡開始，成立他所說的世界上第一個網上定制西裝的業務。
The company now has studios across the UK for people to drop into to have measurements
taken for a suit that is made thousands of miles away in Nepal
A Suit That Fits was funded solely through
credit cards and by asking customers to pay in advance. It is a business that
lives off cash-flow, not bank borrowings.
公司目前擁有的西裝測量工作室橫跨英國各地可讓人走進測量訂製西裝的尺寸然後在遠到數千英里的尼泊爾製作。
A Suit That Fits(合身西裝)，僅僅通過信用卡借款，並要求客戶預先支付資金來開啟事業。這是一個靠現金流而非銀行借款業務過活。
Not having to depend on outside investors
also means the founders get to keep a full stake in the business they founded.
And there are many businesses devised
around generating a cash flow that finances the rest of the company's
operations - asking for up-front money from customers that can be used to pay
suppliers and manufacturers later on.
不必依賴於外部投資者也意味著創始人可維持他們創辦時的商業股份。
並有許多企業策劃圍繞集聚現金流資助 - 如其他公司所經營的策略 – 從客戶端要求前置金，以用於支付供應商和製造商。
Positive cash-flow is a business wonder:
funding your business expansion out of cash flow is even more wonderful.
正現金流是一個商業奇蹟：累積你業務擴張遠離現金流則是更加精彩。
But not always.
但並不總是。
One Internet start-up founder told me what
they say in Silicon Valley ,
USA
You should be gobbling up investors' money
to fund your hell-for-leather growth.
一個互聯網創業的創始人告訴我，在美國矽谷他們說：如果你正在盈利，表示你的速度增長的不夠快。
你應該吞噬投資者的錢以資助你的事業快速成長。
LESSON 5: TELL YOUR STORY
第5課：訴說你的故事
Whether you are pitching to a potential
sponsor, mentor or customer, it helps to tell a good story.
無論你是對一個潛在的贊助商，良師益友或客戶建構事業，講一個好故事有助於事業發展。
Arnold Sebutinde shows off one of his
portraits, which he created by drawing with both hands
In my experience, young entrepreneurs know
how to tell a story, both their own and that of the business they have set up
and the needs it is trying to address - plus the adventures they have had on
the way.
Arnold Sebutinde, aged 27, from Birmingham
阿諾德Sebutinde顯示了他的肖像畫，這是透過他雙手描繪的創作品之一，
在我的經驗，年輕的企業家知道如何講述一個故事，它可以既有自己的風格，又極富他們所建立的事業和需求的構圖，和嘗試標註的識別 - 加上他們在行徑上所遇的探險。
阿諾德Sebutinde，現年27歲，來自伯明翰創作自發性畫像事業。
His story, which helped him get funding and
a mentor from the Prince's Trust, is compelling. Arnold
他的故事，幫助他得到資金和良師益友的是來自王子信託資金，很是引人注目。阿諾德陷入困境，被判兩年半的徒刑並服監。
While serving his sentence, he made use of
his talent for drawing and started to sell portraits of inmates and their
visitors, for £2.50 a
time.
After being released, he continued to build
his business, and posted internet videos to highlight his special talent:
在服刑期間，他利用他的繪畫天賦，繪畫並開始出售肖像給囚犯和他們的訪客，每次為2.50英鎊。
在被釋放後，他繼續建立他的業務，並發佈網絡視頻，以突顯他的特殊天賦：
"I got a commission to draw the England
"I did this to get the word out, so
people would talk about me as this artist who draws with both hands."
Story-telling is a vital part of running
any kind of business, but it gets neglected as companies get bigger and bigger
and more and more arrogant.
Start-ups have great stories to tell.
“我做這件事是為了傳播訊息，也許人們會談論關於我這樣一位用雙手繪製作品的藝術家。”
敘訴故事是任何一種事業運行重要組成部分，但當公司越做越大，越來越自負時它卻被忽略了。
初創企業有許多故事可闡述。
LESSON 6: DON'T TAKE TOO MUCH NOTICE OF
THESE LESSONS
Just get on with it!
第6課：不要把太多的注意放在一些教訓上
只需隨行注意並繼續努力！
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