How to Start a Small Business

Are you one of those who dream of owning your own business? You’ll be your own boss, and the captain of your destiny.

So how do you do it, and make it work? Plan, plan, plan! There are some tried and true ways head down the path of creating your own business, and there is no time like the present to get started!

I – Setting out the Basics 1 – Have an idea. It might be a product you’ve always wanted to make, or a service you feel people need. It might even be something people don’t know they need yet, because it hasn’t been invented!

2 – Create a working name. You could even do this before you have an idea for the business, and if the name is good, you may find it helps you define your business idea. As your plan grows, and things begin to take shape, the perfect name may come to you, but don’t let that hinder you in the early phases—–create a name that you can use while you plan, and don’t mind changing later.

3 – Define your team. Will you do this alone, or will you bring in one or two trusted friends to join you? This brings a lot of synergy to the table, as people bounce ideas off each other. Two people together can often create something that is greater than the sum of the two separate parts.

II – Writing Business plan

1 – Create a business plan. A business plan helps to define what you think you need to launch your business, large or small. It summarizes the sense of your business in a single document.

2 – Come up with some marketing strategies. You must know your market if you are to be successful, so spend a great deal of time analyzing just who it is that will want your product, and how you plan on appealing to them to take cash out of their bank account and give it to you.

III – Covering the Legal

1 – Consider finding an attorney or other legal advisor. There will be many hurdles to leap as you go from working stiff to overworked and underpaid small business owner. Some of those hurdles will be composed of stacks of documents with rules and regulations, ranging from building covenants to city ordinances, county permits, state requirements, taxes, fees, contracts, shares, partnerships, and more. Having somebody you can call when the need arises will not only give you peace of mind, it will give you a much-needed resource who can help you plan for success.

2 – Get an accountant. You’ll want someone who can deftly handle your financials, but even if you feel you can handle your own books, you’ll still need someone who understands the tax side of running a business. Taxes with businesses can get complicated, so you’ll need (at a minimum) a tax advisor. Again, no matter how much of your finances they’re handling, this should be someone trustworthy.

IV – Manage you finance

1 – Cover the financials. Succinctly, this describes how much you plan on spending, and how much you’re making.

V – Marketing your business1 – Get a website. If you’re selling online, get your ecommerce in gear and either build a website, or have one built for you. It’s your storefront, so anything and everything you can do to make people want to visit, and want to stay, do it

2 – Hire professional designers. They may cost more initially, but a well presented and trustworthy site is essential. It needs to look professional and work with ease. If you are including money transactions, invest in security encryption and check that your money transfer companies are sound and reliable.

3 – Discover your inner publicist. You might truly believe in your product or service but it won’t fly unless everyone else believes in it too. If you’re new to advertising and marketing or you dislike doing the sales pitch, now is the time to overcome such feelings and put on the publicist persona. You need to develop an excellent short pitch to convince people they need your product or service, one that reflects the value, purpose and potential of what your business is offering. Write down this pitch in many ways until you find one that you feel satisfied says it all and is something you can say readily. Then practice it like crazy!

• Have interesting, eye-catching business cards printed.

5 – Implement your marketing and distribution plans. With your product being built or services developed, and a reasonable expectation on when either is ready for selling, begin marketing. If you will be advertising in periodicals, they will need copy or images at least two months in advance of publication. If you will be selling in stores, get pre-orders sold, and shelf space allocated. If you will be selling online, get that e-commerce site ready to sell. If you’re offering a service, advertise in appropriate trade and professional journals, newspapers and online.

VI – Launching your Business 

1 – Launch your product or your service. When the product is all built, packaged, coded, online, and ready to sell, or when your services are fully worked out and ready to go, hold a special event to launch your business. Send out a press release, announce it to the world. Tweet it, Facebook it, let the word resound to all corners of your market—you have a new business!