Anyone of legal age can become self-employed. A business registration is usually sufficient to get started. However, the right planning is important for successful self-employment. From the business plan and financing to permits and insurance: We show you all the steps involved in setting up your own business. This business can look like you want, it even can be an online casino.
At a glance: 10 steps to self-employment
Develop a business idea
The idea is the starting point when you set up your own business. The following questions will help you come up with an idea: What are you good at? What motivates you? What do customers pay for? We help founders to further develop their business idea with the Business Model Canvas. If you don’t have an idea yet, we have prepared 500+ business ideas to inspire you.
Writing a business plan
The business plan helps founders in all important areas on the way to self-employment: calculate prices correctly with a tool, analyze the competition and identify strengths and weaknesses. You can create a business plan quickly and easily with our free template.
Obtain permits and choose the legal form
Depending on the activity or sector, permits, a business license or a master craftsman’s certificate may be required. For example, restaurant founders need a health certificate. The motto here is to take care early, as these certificates must be available for business registration – find out which permits you need.
Find a name & create a logo
Now it’s time to get creative: to make you and your product stand out from the competition, you need a name with recognition value and a logo. You can do this with the 5 steps to finding a name.
Set up a website
A website is the be-all and end-all when starting your own business as a figurehead for customer acquisition. We show you which website builder is best suited to setting up your internet presence and what you need to consider when creating a website – in terms of style, content and legal aspects.
Register your business
Before you can officially start your own business, you need to set it up in practice, including all the formalities and visits to the authorities. Most founders have to visit two offices for this: We explain how to register a business with the trade office and how to complete the tax registration questionnaire with the tax office.
Start marketing
To win customers, you need to drum up support for your business: Place advertisements, position yourself in search engines, be present in social media, carry out telephone canvassing and so on. We show how freshly launched founders can do social media marketing even without a budget.
Open a business account
Separate professional and private expenses right from the start – this will help you keep an overview and simplify the entire bookkeeping process. You can easily find the right business account with our business account comparison.
Writing invoices & bookkeeping
As a self-employed person, there are many new tasks, including bookkeeping. You can do this yourself with the help of smart tools or simply outsource it to your tax advisor. We compare the best accounting tools. Once the first orders have been won, the self-employed also have to write invoices.
Check insurance
Most self-employed people have questions about health insurance. We show you what to consider when choosing between private and statutory health insurance and which insurance policies are also relevant for founders – take the insurance check!
It starts with you: What are your strengths?
Self-employment is an exciting new phase of life, but it also involves risks. The risks are usually higher if there is insufficient planning. The first step in sound planning is a self-analysis. In this personal situation analysis, prospective founders record their qualifications, professional experience, knowledge of business management and their motivation and passion to become self-employed. Our start-up test helps with this. Based on 30 questions, prospective founders receive specific tips for starting a business based on the following factors:
Personality: Mindset, passion for the idea
- Environment & stress: Stress resistance, support from family and friends
- Experience: Entrepreneurial or industry knowledge
- Finances: Equity, need for financing or funding
- Storytelling: Tell your story
Your story as a founder is what counts. The founding motivation should be packed into a fascinating story: Why are you the ideal person for this business idea? What makes the concept irresistible? What drives you to start your own business and why is now the right time? Storytelling works in the business plan and convinces lenders and customers. The more vividly and captivatingly founders formulate their stories, the greater the emotional connection with the reader. Use our founder profiles as inspiration for your personal story. These are part of the business plan and perfectly summarize the motivation and personal why of the founders for the reader.