Starting a new business can be a daunting prospect for most people, but believe it or not it's not that difficult.

1. Incorporate

If your company is not a sole propeitership or partnership then you are going to need to register it. This will make the company a legal entity, and reduce your liability. For example, if your company is a partnership and it gets sued, then so do you!

In the United Kingdom registrations are governed by Companies House.

2. Business Plan

A business plan is perhaps the most important factor in starting any new company. This details what you are going to do, and how you are going to do it. If you intend to borrow money as start up capital, then this is going to be first document the bank wishes to see.

3. Certification and Trade Memberships

Since your company has no previous trading record a certification can greatly help in gaining those first, important, customers. Small businesses should start out with a simple and cheap certification like the well respected IC9200, which costs less than $200.