How to Start a Business

Nothing bites bigger than the entrepreneurial bug.  Once you get it in your mind that you want to start a business, wild horses can’t keep you away from the idea.  Once you own your own business, going back to work for someone else is nearly impossible.  This article will offer some suggestions and point you in the right direction.

Things you’ll need to get started: 

1. Money  
2. Register your business 
3. Make a budget 
4. An online presence 
5. Write a business plan
6. Marketing strategy
7. Determination

In this article, I will start off by telling you something that probably no one has ever told you and I’m assuming you won’t ready it in any article with a similar title as this one.

You are going to fail.

Whether you’re talking to people or reading information online, very few entrepreneurs mention anything about their failures.  Let me be the first one to inform you that we all do and so will you.  In fact, some of you may fail more than once.  When you do…deal with it, learn from it, embrace it and move on with your life.  It happens to all of us so get over it and make your next move.  Being overly emotional in business will only cloud your judgement.  You’re only a loser if you fail once and then never try again.

Now that I got that out of the way, let’s proceed with my list of things you’ll need.

Money

I’m not here to make this sound like a fairytale.  You will need some money to start your business.  Depending on what type of business you are interested in starting, you may or may not need a lot of money.  There are some businesses that were started with very little money and grew into multimillion dollar enterprises.  Either way, you will need some money to pay for startup expenses and more money to float the boat while you’re waiting for money to start coming in.  Don’t be surprised if you don’t make any money from your startup in the first year.  If you do, consider yourself to be lucky.

If you are a woman or a minority, you may qualify for a grant which is basically like free money to help you start your business.  If you didn’t know these resources existed, do a quick Google search to find out what your options are.  Unfortunately for white males like myself, we have to come up with money the old fashioned way.

Register Your Business

I’m sure you know that you’ll need a name for your business that is a good representation of what you plan on doing.  Discuss with your accountant and attorney the benefits of registering your business as a corporation (C corp, sub-chapter “S”, 501c3, etc.), limited liability company, partnership, etc.  Your lawyer can register your business or you can go through a company like LegalZoom which is very cost effective.  Probably cheaper than your attorney.

Make a Budget

Think of your business as a diet.  Just like calories come in and out, so will money in your business.  As mentioned above, you will have some startup expenses.  Write them down and anticipate what they might be.  In business, it’s always important to be strategic and think about things before they actually happen so that you’re ready to deal with them as they do.  Once you figure your startup costs, then try to determine what your day-to-day operating expenses are going to be.  You can also try to anticipate what your revenue will be, even though at this point it will only be an estimate.  If your budget shows that you’ll be spending more than your making, you have a problem.  This seems like a simple thing that anyone should know but a lot of people don’t figure this correctly and fall on their face before they even get started.

Have an Online Presence

The days of the yellow phone books are gone.  When someone needs a product or service, they go online.  Websites are expensive to have developed and if you need ecommerce capability it will cost even more.  Try to factor this expense into your startup costs.  If you don’t have the money to have a website developed yet, there are some temporary options.  You can purchase a domain name from a company like GoDaddy, which also has an easy website builder.  You can purchase both for very little.  You can also create a blog that looks like a website using platforms such as Blogger or WordPress.  These are free.  Any of these solutions will get you an online presence for little to no money while you’re saving up to have your website professionally designed.

Once you start to generate enough revenue, you should also consider launching an online marketing campaign by utilizing search marketing, SEO or other techniques.

Write a Business Plan

This will be required if you are seeking venture capital.  If you’re not, it’s still a good idea to organize your thoughts and business goals onto paper.  You can search the internet for business plan templates that will help get you started.  Sometimes your approach will become more clear to you once you get everything down onto a business plan.  You’ll be surprised how much it could help.

Marketing Strategy

You can be selling gold for $500 an ounce but if nobody knows about it you won’t make any sales.  Figuring out how to sell your product or services is undoubtedly one of the hardest things to do in business.  Either way, if this isn’t included in your business plan, it should be a well-defined plan of attack.  If you haven’t thought about sales and marketing yet, you should now.

Determination

Starting a business is very difficult.  As I’ve mentioned above, don’t expect it to be easy.  Be prepared to deal with the emotional challenges, anxiety, depression and disappointments you will encounter when things aren’t going the way you planned.  So many people give up just before they are about to succeed.  Owning a business takes determination, persistence, creativity and endurance.  You need a thick skin to coexist harmoniously as a business owner.  However, the rewards can be great if you reach the level of success you had hoped for. Making more money than the average employee and not have a boss breathing down your neck during regular business hours is what gets every business owner out of bed in the morning.  Good luck.

For more information or for help with your startup, call Ashlar Consulting Corporation at 305-849-9399 or visit www.AshlarConsultingCorp.com.