- By Buckinghamshire Business First
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The web is full of useful support perfect for start-up business owners.
Business Academy
The Business Academy is here to support your entire business growth journey; not just exports. Their expanded programme offers even more valuable insights and resources tailored to your needs.
Create your free account and explore their calendar of events, select the ones that are relevant to you and your business and then attend live to ask the experts questions, or watch the session recording on-demand at a time that suits you.
Guides on setting up a business
The Start Up Loan Company, run by the British Business Bank, have plenty of support and guidance available on their website for all aspects of starting a business, including free, downloadable guides and templates to help with everything from getting an idea off the ground to cash flow forecasting.
Learn with Start Up Loans
Start Up Loans, delivered by the British Business Bank, have partnered with The Open University to provide a range of free, useful courses for start-ups. The online courses can be accessed easily by visiting the Start-Up Loans website and have been designed to suit all needs and paces of learning, from introductory to intermediate to advanced. Depending on the level of study, the courses take six, 10 or 30 hours to complete and are grouped into several key areas:
- Entrepreneurship
- Finance and Accounting
- Digital and Computing
- Artificial Intelligence
- Marketing and Commercial Awareness
- Collaboration and Communication
- Business Diversity and Sustainability
Business Planning Guide
A Business Plan is a written document that sets out your core business objectives and works as a road map on how you plan to achieve them. It will generally include information about your strategies, marketing and sales plans and financial forecasts, all so that you, and others, can see how you plan to generate money and make your business sustainable. A thorough, robust plan is essential if you plan to apply for any business finance.
Use this free Business Plan template to get started.
Business Model Canvas
The Business Model Canvas is a strategic management and entrepreneurial tool that allows you to design your business model and see how each aspect of your business interacts with the next – all on one easy-to-use page.
Marketing Plan Guide
Similar to a Business Plan, though focusing on marketing strategies, a Marketing Plan sets out your sales objectives and how you plan to meet them, encompassing all plans for making your products or services visible to potential customers. You'll find helpful guidance on every aspect of marketing for a start-up in this essential guide to marketing - from how to come up with a marketing strategy to making the most of digital advertising.
Business and employment information available at Buckinghamshire Libraries
Buckinghamshire Libraries offer a range of resources and information specifically targeted towards business and employment.
They can help you whether you are looking to start your own business, expand an existing one, or are considering a career change or seeking employment.
See the support available here >
Support from HMRC
HMRC has plenty of information on what taxes you'll need to pay, whether to set up your business as a sole trader or a Limited company and how to plan for your tax returns and payments.
You'll also find information on the Making Tax Digital campaign - the biggest change since Self Assessment was launched over 30 years ago. This new system (from 1st April 2026) will mean using a recognised bookkeeping or accounting software to send quarterly updates on income and expenses, which will make estimating your tax bill easier.
The HMRC YouTube channel has a vast range of easy to understand video guides. New videos are posted regularly and information is often reviewed to make sure it is up to date. For example:
