Start with what you want the business to make possible. Using a three-year Be–Do–Have exercise, consider who you want to be and how you want to feel as a business owner, what an ordinary working week would involve and what the business needs to provide.

Then ask whether the business you are imagining looks capable of supporting that life, including your income needs, responsibilities and priorities.

Identify the people or organisations most likely to value your product or service. Explore the need it addresses, what customers currently do instead and why they might choose to buy from you.

Develop an initial offer that you can explain clearly and take into conversations with potential customers.

Explore the relationship between your income needs, business costs, pricing, sales and available capacity. Consider what you would need to sell or deliver, and whether that looks realistic within the time and resources you have.

Identify the assumptions that need evidence before you rely on the figures.

Design a manageable test of your idea before making substantial commitments. Consider what you need to learn, who to involve and how to limit the time and money at risk.

Decide what evidence would support proceeding, changing the idea, testing further or stopping. Positive comments can be encouraging, but they are not the same as evidence that people will buy.

Identify any checks or permissions needed before carrying out your proposed test.

Explore practical ways to reach potential customers and help them understand your offer. Consider where they look for information, who they trust and how relationships and relevant evidence can support a buying decision.

Choose a small number of activities you can test and sustain, rather than trying to promote the business everywhere.

Identify the practical arrangements that need attention before you begin trading. These may include how the business is structured, financial records, insurance, terms, systems and industry-specific requirements.

You will identify where specialist advice or further checks are needed. You will also practise a short explanation of your business: who you help, what you offer and why it matters.

Bring your thinking, figures and test results together. Decide whether your next move is to proceed, adapt, investigate further or pause.

Create a realistic action plan recording your starting position, priorities, first steps, measures of progress and review dates, including any support or specialist advice you need.

Thinking of Starting a Business is an introductory workshop for considering whether business ownership is right for you.

Starting a Business is a seven-part programme for working through a proposed venture in more depth, including customers, numbers, testing, finding customers and preparing your next steps. You do not need to attend the introductory workshop first.

 Yes. The programme welcomes experienced owners developing another venture, as well as people starting their first business. You can use the framework to question assumptions and examine the particular demands of your new idea.

No. I provide guidance, examples and exercises to help you develop your own thinking and decisions. Your work can inform a business plan, but the programme is not a done-for-you business-planning service.

No. You may be ready to take a first step towards trading, or you may need further testing, a different offer or more preparation. Depending on the idea and timetable, you may leave with a test ready to run rather than completed results.

Deciding not to proceed can also be a considered outcome.

The programme helps you identify the requirements you need to investigate and the advice you may need. It does not provide comprehensive technical or regulatory instruction for every industry.

Short videos and a Thinking Workbook help you prepare before each live part. You will be invited to respond to questions and share relevant experience, but you do not need polished answers. Applying the exercises and testing ideas between sessions will help you make the most of the programme.

Register your interest and select all the available time slots you could usually attend. I will use the responses to arrange suitable sessions.

You will receive the proposed timetable and next steps before being asked to pay. Registering your interest does not reserve a place, commit you to payment or confirm that the programme will run.

A minimum of four paid participants is needed to confirm the programme. Regular sessions have a maximum of six participants.

If the programme cannot go ahead as proposed, I will contact you and explain any alternatives. You are under no obligation to accept an alternative arrangement.

Once confirmed, an occasional absence bringing attendance below four does not automatically cancel a session. The arrangements for changes or cancellations will be explained in the booking terms supplied before payment.