S9 Start-up and Self-employment Support
This is about helping people decide whether starting a business is right for them, test their ideas, plan and launch, and get through the early months of trading. It recognises the emotional investment and personal risk involved, and the different starting points people come from.
Who it's for
Business support professionals who help people explore, plan and start a business or become self-employed.
What you need to show
- S9.1
Help the individual explore their motivations, skills, circumstances and readiness for self-employment or starting a business
- S9.2
Help them develop their business idea and test it with potential customers before committing significant resources
- S9.3
Help them choose an appropriate legal form and understand their registration, tax and insurance obligations
- S9.4
Help them develop a proportionate business plan, including pricing, cash flow and break-even
- S9.5
Help them understand how starting a business may affect their benefits, employment and personal finances, and direct them to specialist advice
- S9.6
Help them identify start-up finance options and prepare applications
- S9.7
Help them plan their routes to market and first sales
- S9.8
Support them through the early months of trading, including record-keeping and cash management
- S9.9
Help them reach an informed decision where an idea is not viable
- S9.10
Adapt your support for under-represented founders, and for people starting from unemployment or alongside caring responsibilities
What you need to know and understand
- S9.K1
The steps in starting a business, and what it takes to start and run one successfully
- S9.K2
Techniques for developing and testing business ideas (for example customer discovery and testing a value proposition)
- S9.K3
Legal forms and registration requirements, and the basics of tax and insurance for new businesses
- S9.K4
Start-up finance options
- S9.K5
How self-employment interacts with benefits and employment status, and where to get specialist advice
- S9.K6
The emotional investment, risk, time and commitment involved in starting a business
- S9.K7
The barriers faced by under-represented founders and the tailored support available
- S9.K8
The common causes of early-stage failure and how to reduce the risk
- S9.K9
The particular needs of home-based and part-time businesses
Evolved from
Business Support 9 (business experience, items 13 to 20, and items 37 and 38); Introduction to Enterprise Support 5; Business Information 8; Business and Enterprise Support (2013) units 5 and 19 (in part).