Are you one of those who dream of owning your own business? You’ll be your own boss, and the captain of your destiny—–maybe even a captain of industry. Is it hard? Without a doubt. Is it challenging? Absolutely. Do you have to be wealthy and well-educated with a lengthy resumé? Not at all! Can you do it? As the magic 8-ball says, “All signs point to yes!” 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!
- 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 or produced.
- Define Your Goals.Do you want financial independence? Do you want something small and sustainable, that you love doing and want to derive a steady income from it? Is it a solo practice or are you looking to partner with someone? These are the things that are good to know very early on.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Come Up With Some Marketing Strategies.You mustknow 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. What is the size of your market, will there be opportunities to expand the initial market, and what are your sales potentials?
- Do A Competitive Analysis.You need to know who your key competitors are. Find out who is doing something similar to what you are planning, and how have they been successful.
- Consider Finding an Attorney or Other legal Advisor.There will be many hurdles to leap as you go from working stiff to an over- worked 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. Don’t let stuff bother you.
- 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.
- Form A Business Entity.You’ll need to decide what type of business entity you want to be, for tax purposes and hopefully to eventually attract investors. Most people are familiar with corporations, LLCs, etc., but for the vast majority of small business owners, you will need to form one of the following
- A sole proprietorship, if you will be running (not including employees) this business on your own or with your spouse.
- A general proprietorship, if you will be running this business with a partner.
- A limited partnership, which is composed of a few general partners, who are liable for problems with the business, and a few limited partners, who are only liable for the amount in which they invest in the business. All share profits and losses.
- A limited liability partnership (LLP), where no partner is liable for another’s negligence.
- 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 wantto visit, and wantto stay, do it.
- Launch Your Product or 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.