In November/December 2018 I took the decission to start as a self-employed person in my own company. From then I already had some very busy weeks, allthough quite different from the weeks I normally had while working in paid employment. First I enjoyed the saved up vacation days, I still had at my latest employer. During these days I informed myself and read a lot about all that is involved in starting a new company: A first visit to the chamber of commerce, deciding the company name and logo, website registration, the development of this website (which I want to be able to do all myself). And think about what services I can offer; think about what possible customers to contact; think about financials, possible investments, earnings (the needed hourly fee), general conditions, the making of a model contract, and so on. Deciding what administrative software to use for financial administration; the opening of a business bank account. Beside all these business tasks I also wanted to keep track on what happens on the market. So totally I already spend many hours in the preparation (So I’m totally not bored yet!) And all of this without being operational yet, but a good preparation is what I think is the best way to start (although a good financial budget is in this stage quite difficult to set). People who know me better, know that I prefer to prepare myself for all kind of situations: First everything as much as possible in order before being operational. This week a day at the chamber of commerce for starters, followed by registration in the Dutch trade register next week. A day to IPM in Essen ,Germany the end of January to do some networking and promotion of Horti-Assist. And hopefully not much later my first project.
