Business Analysis Tools and how they relate to my Enterprise
After having gone over the business analysis tools in Unit 1 Task 1, I've now got the ability to take what I've learnt and apply it to my own enterprise idea. For this task, that'll mean producing a SWOT analysis for my business along with a PESTLE analysis. In addition, I'll have to consider how Brexit and the UK's cultural policies could impact my business.
SWOT Analysis
Above is a SWOT Analysis that I've conducted related specifically to my business concept rather than myself as a person. Whilst the previous analysis did have some relation to the business, that took a backseat to the analysis of myself. In addition, the old SWOT Analysis related to my old proof-reading business idea, making it completely ineffective for my new enterprise concept.
PESTEL Analysis
The next thing to consider is a proper PESTEL Analysis for my enterprise idea. To remind ourselves, a PESTEL analysis goes over the Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental and Legal. Whilst I've done a general PESTEL analysis of a variety of businesses throughout the UK, I'll be doing one more specifically focused on what could impact my business as a freelance commissioned writing business.
First are the potential Political barriers for my business. Despite the fact that I'd be entirely self-employed for my business (which has its own barriers and regulations), my business would still be classified as a small business as a sole trader. For these classifications of businesses, they will have to ensure that they pay Income Tax if their allowance reaches £12,500. Once this is reached, I'd have to pay a 20% income tax on the money I receive. In addition to this Income Tax is the requirement of paying National Insurance. As a sole trader, I wouldn't have to pay corporation tax. In addition, Brexit would pose a minimal impact on my business as I wouldn't be operating any physical trade such as delivering goods. Instead, all of my services would be delivered digitally via sending the finished product to the client over the internet. This means I could avoid any troublesome trade regulations implemented via Brexit.
Next are the Economic factors to consider for my business. As previously stated in Task 2, the economy of the UK is fairly well off at the minute, with most young adults having a disposable income of around £37,000. This disposable income means that my target demographic of young adults would have plenty of money to spend on my writing business, as I wouldn't be pricing my services ridiculously expensively. Going to a secondary demographic of younger teenagers, their disposable income is listed as around £34,000 which leaves them still having plenty of money to throw at my business without feeling like they've made a huge expenditure (although this figure feels off, as I don't know many 0-17 year olds with that kind of money available).
Following this is the Social aspect of the analysis. As I researched before, the largest demographic of the UK is 40-45 year old women. This is absolutely not the demographic I'm aiming to target, although the higher number of women compared to men is a positive as I believe more women would be interested in writing commissions than men (although they'd still definitely provide a good portion of my clientele). Looking at a population pyramid from 2011, there still appears to be a good number of 20-30 year olds living within the UK, giving me a good amount of young adults to potentially be interested in my business. With this in mind, however, it's important to consider that my business could stretch to customers in different countries due to the digital nature of the business. Without having to worry about delivery or trade laws, I can easily send off my writing commissions to people all across the world if they're interested, giving me a very wide range of potential clients. Something else to think about is my proximity to Norwich, one of the first UNESCO cities of literature. Norwich has a long history of writing and literature, leaving the culture of the area quite focused on the arts and writing in general, meaning a good portion of people in the area could hold an interest in my business if they don't have the skill to write themselves.
Next is the Technological side of the analysis, which has a much smaller consideration for my business. The only real resources that I require for my business to operate well are a computer with a writing program (i.e. Microsoft Word) and access to the internet in order to communicate with clients and send their finished products over. As the UK was listed as the fourth most technologically developed country in the world in 2015 (according to the International Telecommunication Union), it's no surprise that I've got easy access to both of these things already. Therefore, I shouldn't have any issue running my business due to technological barriers.
After the Technological factors are the Environmental factors to consider. Considering that the business I'm planning to run is a solely digital based one, the environment of the UK doesn't have too much of an impact on how my business can run, as I don't have to worry about weather for deliveries or locations I can go for photo shoots or anything akin to that. There are plenty of natural areas around me that I can relax in if I'm getting overworked, and living near Norwich gives me access to the National Centre for Writing which has tons of resources that could help me as a writer to boost my confidence and make writing for my clients easier.
Finally is the Legal aspect of the analysis, which has one of the biggest impacts on my business and how it can operate. The first and biggest thing to consider when working as a creative, especially in my case as a freelance commission-based writer, is copyright. As mentioned back in Task 1, copyright is a law utilised within the UK in order to protect the original works produced by creatives, such as artists, writers and musicians. Once an original work is produced, the law protects it from being copied by other people for financial gain. Keeping this law in mind, I'll have to avoid infringing on the copyright of other people's works, meaning I can't just basically copy Harry Potter. This could prove to be an issue if I'm asked to write in the setting of an original work (i.e. fanfiction). I could avoid any potential copyright infringement by not allowing my clients to use these works in the bigger world, as in not publishing them as actual books. By just allowing my clients to have access to these pieces of fiction, I won't have to worry about them potentially infringing on the original source material.
Another legal consideration for my enterprise is that I'll have to keep records of the sales and expenses produced by my business, meaning I'll need to find a way to keep track of how many sales I make compared to the expenses for my business (which would be very small, unless I can find a way to include rent or something in those expenses). In addition to this, I'll also have to send something known as a "Self Assessment Tax Return" every year, which is a document collected by the HMRC filled in by the business owner in order to collect income tax. As stated earlier, I would have to pay income tax as a sole trader, and therefore would be required to fill in this tax return annually to ensure my tax is paid.
Something else to consider legally for my business is the name, although this is a much smaller consideration than the previous ones. The name of my business, as a sole trading business, cannot include anything along the lines of "limited", "Ltd" or similar titles. In addition, the name of my business cannot "be offensive" or "be the same as an existing trademark", linking back to the earlier copyright laws. With this in mind, I'll have to ensure that any business name I come up with does not contain any potentially offensive language (e.g. slurs or swears) and does not match the name of a business that has already been trademarked.
Finally, I'll have to ensure that I register my business for self assessment with the HMRC. As mentioned above, I need to send in a self assessment tax return every year in order to pay income tax for my business and stay legal. For this to work, I've got to simply register my business for self assessment with the HMRC, which requires me to just let them know they can expect a tax return from me (whether done online or via a physical form available on their website).
Conclusion
To conclude, there are quite a few considerations I'll have to make for my business to work successfully. After a bit of research into currently active trademarks across the UK, I've discovered no other businesses named Story Jungle, meaning I should be alright to continue operating under this name. I've had a good look into the different factors regarding my business, and believe there is space to operate successfully within the UK with the resources and demographics available to me, including the nearby city of literature Norwich and all the writing resources available there.
