Business Advisors

Also read: Patents | Trademarks

Business advice is invaluable, especially if your have just started out with your own business. It can be very useful to talk about your problems or experiences with someone who is knowledgeable in the area. A Business Advisor can be used to help you fill in the knowledge gaps/skills you or your workforce might have.

What a business advisor could do for you:

• Solicitor - to advise you on legal matters and to prepare your contracts
• Accountant - to advise on your financial arrangements and to prepare your annual accounts.
• Information technology consultant - to install a new computer system
• Human Resources - to help with people management or recruitment
• Marketing Advisor - to offer new ways of selling your product or service
• Management Consultant - to give you fresh ideas about the way in which you run your business

Finding a business advisor

Look for an advisor who suits your circumstances. Ideally, the advisor will:

• Experience in dealing with businesses of your size
• Has a understanding of your industry or business sector
• Experience in specific issues you want to deal with

advisors can come from a range of sources:

Enterprise Agencies can offer free business counselling for New Businesses both before and after you start trading. For example, they can help you prepare your business plan and approach sources of finance.

Other people you may know good people to contact for the advice you are looking for are your bank manager or accountant, professional bodies, friends and business contact. Your local Chamber of Commerce and your trade association may offer advisory services or have lists of recommended advisors.

Get the right business advisor on board

Firstly work out exactly what you need from an advisor, then use this to draw up a brief stating what you need. You should include information about your business including budgets and deadlines.

Once you have done this you can start searching for an advisor.