Home » Starting Your Business
Important: The information on this page is based solely
on personal experience and is not to be taken as gospel. It is intended to be a
simple tool to get you started. Ultimately, you need to do your own research and
make your own decisions about what is best for you and your business.
Starting Your Business
- First and foremost, you need passion and confidence. You can usually
work everything out if you are passionate about what you want to do but you need
the confidence to know you can do it. Either way, you need to be willing to face
the scary and unknown and have the ability to work out issues as you go. If you
possess the mandatory passion and confidence, everything else should fall into place.
- Next, get legal. Know your options before you choose a business
structure, i.e. sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation). Laws vary from state
to state so take a few hours and talk to some professionals before making your final
decision. Don’t be intimidated because you don’t know what you’re talking about.
Just call a CPA (an accountant) or an attorney and tell them what you want to do
and let them know you need a little guidance to get started. See? Simple. All you
need to do is ask.
Yes, there are places on the Internet that will be happy to file all the paperwork for you to make your new endeavor a legal business structure. If you are well-versed in business structures, it's perfectly fine to use an internet-based service. Most of them have customer support to answer your questions. If, at any time, you do not feel comfortable with using an internet service, call a professional. If you let an attorney, near you, take care of the paperwork, they will then be knowledgeable about your business. In the future, when you have a question (and you will), you can call your attorney on the phone.
Anytime more than one person is involved in a business, everything is fantastic
and exciting until you start making money (or spend too much). Once you start making
money (or spend too much), everyone wants to fight about it. It’s like a marriage.
It’s important you have everything in writing, no matter how long you’ve known the
person or how close you are. Even if you are married, literally, you need everything
about this business structure in writing. Stuff happens. In the end, if it comes
down to sharing profits or if someone wants to bow out, there will be no surprises
because it’s all in writing.
One more thing you might need to know about getting an attorney…if you get ticked
at your associate and you want out, don’t call the corporate attorney and ask them
to help you fight with your partner. They cannot help you, John Smith, because they
represent the business entity, i.e. the corporation or the partnership. In this
case, you need to call someone else. Having said that, when you and your associates
are discussing which lawyer to call to begin the business structure creation,
don’t blurt out the name of your own attorney. You might need him or
her at a later date to represent your own interests.
- Get insured. You’re going to work hard to start your business.
Just like car or health insurance, you need to make sure you’re covered. Get insured.
If you don’t know who to call, just call an agent…any agent. Make the call. If they
cannot help you, they can probably point you in the right direction. If they won’t
or can’t, they probably won’t be an agent very long. If you’ve already secured that
attorney we just talked about, they may be able to point you in the right direction.
Once you know what kind of insurance you need, do not take the first rate quote
you get. Start calling anyone and everyone that might be able to cover your particular
type of business. Get all the quotes you can. Talk to all the agents you can. Why?
Because you will gain a little bit of knowledge from each and every agent you talk
to, not to mention you’ll get the best rate in the end. Again, business insurance
might not be the best thing to get online. You really need some personal interaction
with an agent to be sure you’re completely covered.
- Let’s talk about start-up capital. If you can keep from getting
a business loan, that’s one less payment you’ll need to worry about when you’re
trying to get your business off the ground. Besides, the paperwork is grueling.
You will, most likely, end up finding someone you have to pay (with money you don’t
have) to do the paperwork you’ll be taking to the bank to get rejected because they
don’t think your business will work.
If you think your business will work and you are willing to work at making it work,
it will probably work. The last thing you need is a banker looking over his glasses
at you, telling you he doesn’t think he can help you. Don’t let someone, with no
vision or passion, tell you what you can and can’t do. Look at the bumblebee, for
instance. We’ll save the bumblebee for a newsletter.
If you’ve decided against the business loan, do what you need to do to get off the
ground. Suggestion: check out the Work From Home page. Working from home is a real
money-saver. It’s not applicable to every business; but depending on what you offer,
it could be the only location you’ll ever need. If home doesn’t fit your needs,
find an affordable commercial space, then get to work right away to make your business
grow so you can pay the rent. Keep as much of your profits as humanly possible in
your business so you can increase your inventory or get a better location.
Keep it simple. Try to pay for everything as you go. Just because your vendors will
let you buy their products on account doesn’t mean you need to put it on account.
If you need to buy something and you don’t have the cash, go get some more business
first and then buy it when you have the money.
If you have to keep your day job for a while, then do it. Yes, you will be tired.
It depends on how badly you want it, doesn’t it? If your new business requires day
hours, turn your “day” job into a night job. If starting your own business was easy,
everybody would do it. It’s not for the weak at heart. Be prepared to work hard
to make it succeed.
- Finally, get a plan. Not every business needs an elaborate plan.
Just write it down. Seriously, how many hours do you really need to spend on a mission
statement? Just write down, in your own words, how you see your business. Start
with jotting down thoughts; then put them all in a form that you will understand
as you move forward.
Even though you may not be getting a business loan, you still need a simple plan.
Why? Because you will get lost along the way. You’ll get caught up in busy work
before you even know it. One day you’ll need something and won’t be able to pay
for it and wonder why your bottom line is now red. In this case, go back to your
plan, back to the basics and find your direction again.
Starting Your Business
It doesn’t have to
be difficult. Stop
spending time on
busy work and open
your doors.
Growing Your Business
Get tips and tricks
on building your
business. Don’t
wait for it to come
to you.
Working From Home
Save the earth and a
ton of cash! Work
from home. It’s
amazingly easy and
inexpensive
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