At TBOS we receive a steady stream of enquiries from fledgling agency directors looking at starting up an agency. One of the big questions is always how long it will take, and the usual assumption is that months will pass before you’re ready to begin trading.
Often they focus on getting their website just right and launched or wait for business cards to print and ship. Honestly, it seems like many of the potential directors who think this way are almost using this to stall having to start recruiting.
In fact, so long as you hit the key points on the checklist below, you can start trading in just 2-3 weeks. There’s plenty of time after that to get everything else right.
So what actually, definitely, needs doing before you start, and how long does it take?
Form the Company
Registering as a limited company at Companies House is fast; completion usually happens around 12 hours after your information has been collated and uploaded. You’ll quickly receive a Certificate of Incorporation with your registration number.
Register a Domain & Set Up Emails
When you’re registering your company is a perfect time to make sure that the domain name that suits it is available. We recommend purchasing both the .co.uk and .com versions to minimise any risk of being duplicated! You can set up email addresses as soon as you’ve done this.
Company Bank Account
Without a company bank account, you can’t take payments. Don’t spend too much time matching one account against another; it’s rare that there’s much of a difference in numbers.
What you need is to make sure business banking is user friendly, can handle the payments you expect to take, and that the account can be set up as soon as possible.
Registering a business bank account takes 3-7 days, with online access sometimes needing another 7-10 days. And yes – this can be one of the longest tasks to complete.
Sign Up With HMRC
You’ll automatically receive your UTR number and register for Corporation Tax once your company is registered at Companies House. VAT registration is an online application but can take between 10 days and 10 weeks depending on how quickly your application is reviewed. (The shorter end is much more common.)
Signing up for PAYE will also be needed the moment you have payroll, be it for a member of staff or a contractor – this takes 3-5 days after you set things up online. If you’re working in contract placement for construction, you also need CIS registration for contractor and subcontractor.
Organise Data Protection Cover
As you’ll be dealing with customer data you need to register for a Data Protection Certificate. Head over to ico.org.uk and you can sign up immediately – with fees of around £35 per year.
Company Insurance
Find a reputable provider specialising in recruitment and you’ll have a much easier time of identifying the right policies and protections. You’ll want Employers Liability, Public Liability, and/or Professional Indemnity policies.
Don’t overspend on this – stay on a low level until you need something higher to support your clients.
Buy Contract Templates
Your placement contracts should be up to date and offer genuine protections. Employment lawyers are good people to check with for this, providing standard templates for contract and permanent placements – though if you need something specific added, there will be extra costs.
Some lawyers offer a bundle discount on templates, too. We recommend limiting yourself to a maximum spend of £1500 in this area.
Design a Logo
Your logo should feature on each contract sent, each invoice paid, and take pride of place on your website to identify the company. Make sure you have this done professionally!
Start Recruiting
With the rest of this checklist done, you’ll be ready to start growing your business and recruiting just a few weeks after formation.
You should set aside some time to consider:
- Do you need to arrange invoice finance?
- What should your website have on it at launch?
- How will you develop your social media presence?
- Are you going to handle accounts and back office work yourself, in-house, or with an outside provider?
Every single one of those questions still needs answering and attending to, but you can deal with them while beginning to bring in money.
With upwards of seven years working to help set up new agencies and more than 100 clients we’ve done that for, TBOS can be a great way to answer some of those questions, save time, and money, and let you focus on what you do best – the recruiting.
If you have any further questions, why not get in touch?
