So, You Want To Start A Business

Congratulations on starting a business!

I have so many thoughts that I want to share with you; I am just going to list them. You might have already considered these, but I wish that I had a list like this when I started.

BUSINESS STUFF

• If you are going to do it, you should do it right. Join your local chapter of the Small Business Association (SBA), Women’s Business Center (WBC), or Service Corps Of Retired Executives (SCORE). I am sure there are other local organizations that are wonderful as well. Local government often offers them as small businesses boost the economy.
• Do you know what kind of business you are going to be? LLC, Partnership, S-Corp (not offered in every state), etc. Considerations include your tax responsibility, personal financial responsibility, management hierarchy and special rules. Do the research and decide carefully.
• If there are multiple parties involved, have you discussed each of your roles in the business and how you resolve disagreements? What if one of you leaves or sells your part of the company?
• If one of your fabulous products gets caught in a vacuum cleaner and starts a small house fire or your client's sales plummet after purchasing your service and the customer sues you (think McDonald’s hot coffee), are you prepared? Get insurance. Call multiple places to discuss coverage and quotes.
• Write a business plan! There are many books and sources online. Keep in mind that there are two kinds; one will help you clearly define your goals and direction and the other will secure financing. Have one of the above listed agencies review it.
• What is your business model? Sell few expensive pieces or many cheap pieces? Or do you have another strategy?
• Forecast your cash flow. How much money do you need to bring in each month to break even?
• How do you decide how much personal money you will contribute? When and how does it get reimbursed?
• How do you determine compensation? Do you get a salary? A percentage of each sale?
• Get a business checking/savings/money market/credit account. Look into credit unions because their rates are usually better.
• Learn QuickBooks/Quicken/MS Money! Make spreadsheets!
• Don’t forget to save for taxes (~25%).
• Learn your type of business’s tax laws and keep paper records for EVERYTHING (including printer cartridges)! You should be able to deduct your "office", so keep good records of home utility bills too.
• When you register your business, you need to investigate if you sell to out-of-state residents whether or not you need another type of license.
• How much inventory will you keep on hand?
• How do you deliver your products? What does it cost to ship within your state or to another? Do you ship overseas? What do you charge? A flat rate, actual costs (including packaging)? Do you make a profit on the shipping itself?
• How do you advertise? Newspaper? Web? Phonebook? And how do you track the success of the advertisement?
• Do you get a PO Box or use your home address?
• What are your target markets (socio-economic level, sex, age, location, etc.)?
• Are you only selling your products, or do you have to convince potential customers of the value of your product too?
• What differentiates your company/products from the competition (price/quality/uniqueness/customer service, etc.)? How do you convey that message? Why should a customer choose you over another?
• Who is your competition?
• What is the market saturation?
• What is the economic trend of your type of business?

THE FUN STUFF

• Your registered business name needs to match your domain name. Have a list of at least 3 business names with available matching URLs before you head to city hall. A web address is ideally two words, but no more than three. Check domain availability at Yahoo.
• If your business is going to be online (which it should), you need a website with spectacular design, solid functionality (secure transactions and following out-of-state sales tax laws if applicable), high rankings with search engines, etc. You also need an interface so that you can update it regularly. Before you dive into a full blow web solution, take interim steps. As soon as you register your business and domain names. Put up a small site informational site. I recommend starting small. It will take you some time to finalize your business plan, finances as well as build up some inventory. You have 2 options.
  1. Use the free tools (Yahoo’s are decent) that are often provided by your website host, or
  2. Hire your neighbor to make you a small site

  No, it won't be fabulous, but it will serve two purposes.

  1. It will force you to start thinking about what you want your real site to be so that you can be an informed consumer when it is time for the big one.
  2. It will allow the search engines to find some relevant content.

  Now, I am not suggesting that you build your own e-commerce site, but, while you are arranging your business, putting up a page can be useful.

• If you are itching to sell products right away, throw a couple up on eBay and link back to your informational site.
• Once, you have built a solid foundation for your business, hire an established web company who specializes in SEO (search engine optimization) and ecommerce. I can tell if a company is good or not by looking at some of their code, so feel free to ask me to review your choices.
• I recommend hiring the company a year before your hosting is up for renewal. You can then easily transition your site to their servers with no lapse of service.

I hope I didn’t overwhelm you… And congratulations on starting a business!!