Be your own boss in 2012: How to set up your own company for less than £1,000

By ANDY YATES, HUDDLEBUY
Updated: 11:43 EST, 11 January 2012

This is Money has teamed up with Huddlebuy.co.uk, Europe’s largest group buying site for entrepreneurs and businesses, to launch a great new weekly column.

Each week we give you exclusive top tips and share secret savings. So if you are involved in a business, if you are an entrepreneur or would-be entrepreneur, a start-up, a home worker or consultant…read on and start saving money right away.

This week we are looking at how to set up a fully fledged business for less than £1,000.

Going online: Getting a website address is pretty cheap now

The challenge is on – how to set up a fully fledged business for less than £1,000!

We have all dreamt at one time or another of owning and growing our own business. The good news is it is a lot cheaper to start a new business than you think and anyone turn those dreams into reality.

I banged on about this so much to the Huddlebuy team they threw down the gauntlet – and challenged me to prove I could set up a fully fledged business for less than £1,000. So here is how I got on.

1. Setting up your company

Setting up a limited company in the UK is a breeze these days. The Formations Company www.theformationscompany.com costs just fiver and is a quick and easy to do.

I save the Companies House registration fee, get standard company documents (eg Memorandum and Articles) and even get £50 cashback for setting up a Barclays business account.

So wait a minute with £5 spent and £50 cash back I am a net £45 up – I am feeling slightly more confident about this challenge.

2. Getting a website address

Next any self respecting business these days needs a website. So here is how you can do it on a budget.

Getting a website address is pretty cheap now. A couple of the leading players are www.godaddy.com and www.123-reg.co.uk and prices can start from a couple of pounds a year.

But when you throw in VAT and multiple domains (eg .com as well as .co.uk) I reckon a typical spend is around £60. Still £985 in the bank.

3. Building a website

You don’t need to be a technical genius to create a great website these days. You can get access to pretty simple website building software and hosting for a snip.

A good starting point is www.basekit.com and www.squarespace.com which makes it super easy to create and add content to your website. Both offer free trials so you can try them out and get comfortable with how they work. Then ongoing prices are £6 a month.

So I am putting another £72 in the budget for this. Down to £913.

4. Getting a logo

Small Business Logos - www.smallbusinesslogos.co.uk- is a good starting point. They charge £75 for a simple logo design. I make that £838 left. So far I have set up the company, got a bank account, secured a domain name, built a website and got a logo – for £162. Not bad even if I say so myself.

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So Merry Christmas and we will be back in the New Year with weekly money saving tips for you and your business.