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A good business idea is essential to setting up a successful business. Use your knowledge of the changing financial climate to create a focused business idea.

Find the right business idea for the economic conditions

If you don't already have an idea, consider which of your skills could be used as a base for starting a business.

Even at this early stage, you may want to think about your preferred type of business. For example, are you thinking of buying a franchise, or starting a social enterprise or a home-based business?

Once you have a business idea, you should research whether there is a market for your product or service and formulate a business plan. If you need start-up capital, lenders will usually request a business plan.

Testing your business idea for tough economic conditions

You can use the economic downturn as an opportunity to define what you and your business want to achieve - and how best to set about achieving this.

Tougher market conditions are often caused by very specific issues, such as unavailability of loan finance. Understanding these issues and their impact on you will help you reconsider the nature, scale, and market of your business.

Check the business news for insights on economic downturns and how they impact businesses. Understanding these issues will help you develop strategies for coping with them.

You can also think about practical tests of your idea without large financial overheads by starting a business from home or looking for opportunities to test your idea with a pop-up shop.

What business ideas work in an economic downturn?

You should ask yourself:

• What sorts of business are thriving at the moment?
• What is it about them that makes them resistant to an economic slowdown?
• Is the customer truly central to your business idea?
• What evidence do you have that people are likely to buy your product or service in a tougher economic environment?

Bigger established companies may struggle when their business-as-usual model is affected by a sudden economic shift. Smaller businesses and new entrepreneurs may find success by operating in a more flexible way.

Economic downturns can be a good time to bring a fresh business concept to the market. With established business sectors struggling, a disruptive product, service or business model could thrive – see setting up an innovation start-up.

Once you have tweaked your business idea for current market conditions, it needs to be implemented through a full business plan and a decision on the legal structure of your business.

You need to decide what legal structure will best suit your business in difficult economic times. Carefully consider the advantages and disadvantages of each option because the structure will affect:

• the tax and National Insurance you have to pay
• the records and accounts you have to keep
• the way management decisions are made

Some of the business structure options are:

• sole trader
• limited liability company
• partnership
• limited liability partnership
• franchise
• social enterprise
• co-operative

To see which structure would best suit your business, see legal structures for business: an overview.

Creating a business plan for an economic downturn

A business plan describes the business' objectives, its strategies, the market it is in and its financial forecasts. A good business plan is particularly important when starting a business during tough economic times.

Going through the process of writing the plan should focus your mind on everything from where the business will be based to where you are going to find your first customer.

It is also a blueprint for the future development of the business that potential investors will want to read before they lend to you.

Your business plan should include:

• an executive summary
• a description of the business
• a marketing and sales strategy
• information on your operations, including your business premises, your IT and management information systems
• financial forecasts

You should factor in the effects of the economic slowdown. This will show how your business model can succeed.

For more guidance see how to write a business plan: step-by-step.

After the business plan, you should consider writing a marketing plan, which sets out how you will target and interest potential customers in your product or service - see how to write a marketing plan.

Finding the funds to start your business can be a challenge during an economic downturn. Financial institutions may switch their focus to less risky forms of investment.

However, with a strong business plan, you may find borrowing may be relatively cheap, as loans may be more affordable with lower interest rates.

More funding options might open up as the government shifts focus to economic recovery.

Ways to source finance in an economic downturn

If you need to raise money to start up your business, there are various options, including:

• Personal money - such as using savings, redundancy payments or a pension windfall, or even financing from friends and family.
• A business loan from a bank or business investor - this may be more difficult during a credit crunch. Any lender will want to review a detailed business plan before loaning any funds - see bank finance.
• A grant - you may be able to find a business grant scheme geared to your industry sectors and project scale. You should be aware that applying for a grant may take some time. Search our Northern Ireland business 91Ï㽶»ÆÉ«ÊÓƵ finder for available grants, advice and 91Ï㽶»ÆÉ«ÊÓƵ.

Essential to raising finance is convincing investors or grant bodies that your business is sound. This means showing that your idea is worth investing in and that you have what it takes to run your own business successfully in tough times.

Five tips on getting finance in an economic downturn

• Make sure you have a realistic business proposal. Have you calculated the money needed to start-up?
• Think about and plan your ongoing budget.
• Start to plan your finances by thinking about costs, living expenses and sales targets - and whether these are realistic given the economic conditions.
• Make time to research the market conditions in the downturn. It helps to show you are serious about your business.
• Be prepared for hard questions.

Other start-upfinance options in an economic downturn

Banks are not the only option when it comes to business loans. You could also explore the following:

• Angel investors, or business angels, usually provide funds in exchange for a small stake. They are often just as valuable for their contacts, insight and experience as for the investment they can offer.
• Venture capitalists may demand a large percentage of your business in exchange for investment. Ensure you have a clear understanding of their expectations.

Find out more about other forms of business investment in our guide on how to secure equity investment.

It's never too early for an entrepreneur to identify start-up risks and learn how to address and manage them.

Risk management for start-ups

It is important to identify the key risks your business may face and develop strategies to eliminate or reduce them. This will make your business more flexible and more able to withstand volatile market conditions.

Common start-up business risks include:

• losing customers and failing to attract new ones
• increased competition
• poor cashflow
• failure to anticipate problems/inability to adapt to a changing market environment

Market strategy in an economic downturn

You must have a clear strategy for identifying and looking after key customers and growing relationships with them. It also pays to plan for certain worst-case scenarios which might arise, such as losing a major customer. Try to expand your customer base as soon as possible – then the loss of a major customer will have less effect.

You also need to consider potential opportunities that could arise, for example, if one of your competitors ceases trading. 

How to keep your cashflow healthy in tough economic conditions

Cashflow is the balance of money entering and leaving a business. It is important to anticipate cashflow problems as early as possible so that solutions can be found before the problem is urgent.

At all times you need to know how much money your business has in the bank, how much it owes and how much it is owed. If you keep your financial records up to date and create forecasts for sales, profit, and loss, you can spot when you may need extra funds.

If you anticipate serious cashflow or funding problems in the early stages of your business, seek advice from your accountant and your bank.