CLIL

Humanities and Social Science 4

Being your own boss

A Have you ever thought of setting up your own business and becoming your own
boss? There are lots of reasons for doing this, including the idea that it’s nice to
be in charge and not have anybody telling you what to do. Also, instead of
someone else profiting from your work, you get everything you make. Having said
this, there are many things you need to think about, including what kind of
business it will be, where you will 1operate from and how you will actually start it
up.

B To begin with, you will probably need some capital – money to pay for things like
the premises, supplies, wages for the first few months and so on. Without this, it’ll
be difficult to get going and you will probably find it hard to be really successful.
Once you’ve got sufficient capital, you’ll be able to start your business and begin
trading.

C Of course, you could go into partnership with someone so they take some of the
risk and provide you with some of the capital needed. This can work in a number
of ways: first of all they could simply 2invest in your business, leaving you to make
all the decisions and be the boss; or, they could insist on making the decisions
with you and being involved in the day-to-day running of the company.

D The easiest way to start your own business is to be a sole trader. This means that
you are responsible for all the finances of a company, including any 3debts it
might have. In other words, if your company owes money, then you have to pay it,
which might mean selling your house or taking out a personal loan. However, this
kind of arrangement worries many people as they do not want this 4liability for
any problems their company might find itself in. One way to avoid this is to set up
your business as a limited company. This means that your personal 5accounts
are kept separately from your business ones. To do this you have to register your
company and follow certain regulations.

© Macmillan Publishers Ltd, 2010

 E So, as you can see, setting up your own business requires planning and careful
thinking, especially about how you are going to finance it and cover yourself if
things don’t go well. This doesn’t mean you have to plan for things to go wrong,
but that you won’t end up losing everything simply because your business doesn’t
work out.

1 Choose the best answer according to the text.

1 If you have capital, you …

a will be successful.
b will be able to cover the cost of premises, supplies and wages.
c don’t need to go into partnership.
d will make all the decisions.

2 In a partnership, your partner …

a is never in charge, as it is your business.
b is not responsible for the possible debts.
c might want to run the business with you.
d won’t invest some of the capital needed.

3 When you set up a business you should …

a plan for things to go wrong.
b start as a sole trader.
c plan so you don’t have problems if things don’t work out.
d always register as a limited company.

2 Match words 1–5 in the text to definitions a–e.

___ a detailed records of a company’s money transactions

___ b amount of money that you owe

___ c use your money with the aim of making a profit

___ d legal responsibility

___ e run a company

© Macmillan Publishers Ltd, 2010

3 Find words in the text that mean the same as …

1 money or property you use to start a business. _________________

2 the position of being one of two or more people who own a company.
_________________

3 an individual who owns a business by him/herself. _________________

4 an amount of money that you borrow, usually from a bank. _________________

5 a business that is organized to give its owners limited liability.

_________________

© Macmillan Publishers Ltd, 2010