Small Business. What Are The First 3 Steps To Starting Your Own Business?

Small Business : What Are The First 3 Steps To Starting Your Own Business

Ive been work a dead end job for 12 yrs now, im 32 with 10k dollars and i want to start my own business, but have no clue on how to go about taking my first 3 steps towards this goal. Any business owners out there have any advice for me please. ~~~ Sean ~~~

Best Answer To Small Business Question

Heres a good link for starting a business...

All Answer To Small Business Questions

Answer 1

Think about the things you like to do and what are you good at. A business plan even though you dont know what you want to do may give you some hints. How to Create a Business Plan for a Service Business

Answer 2

Find something you like to do and find a way to get paid for it.

Answer 3

First you need to figure out which business you want to start. Then you have to have a business plan. Then you need to aquire enough money to start the business, and keep the business going for at least 5 years. This includes paying yourself a living wage. Most businesses fail in the first few years. Just about all of them lose money for the first 3-5 years. 10K isnt going to be nearly enough to keep the business and yourself going for that period, its not even enough to live on.

Answer 4

1) Identify a business idea that matches a passion you have. 2) Research marketability of your business (. competition in the area you want to do this business, or relocate yourself to an area that itll succeed); look at Census data for consumer spending habits in the locality; forecast a realistic market share youll have for the next 3 years - through growth curves. 3) Forecast income and expenses for the business over the next 3 years (includes computing operational costs, leases, utilities, advertising, employees, and your own time). 4) Determine if you can afford to dump your time into the business 5) Develop a full scale business plan. Entreprueners Magazine is a good place to start as they contain prepackaged business plans for common upstarts, and templates to create your own. 6) Talk to your friends and family about it. See if they think its still a smart business after seeing your business plan. 7) Look at funding options. 10K is a tiny amount to start a business. Many businesses require $50,000 to $4,000,000 to get it up and going. You can look at setting up a corporation and selling private issue stocks to family and friends. 8) Look at franchises that do what youre thinking of doing. Their advertising, and prepackaged systems, and their support... are very helpful for someone that has never started out before. 9) Even if you dont go with a franchise, go ahead and interview 2 or 3 of them so they can sell you on their system. Its a fantastic education process, even if you decide to never send them a check and opt to compete against them (or go an entirely different direction than the type of franchise you entertained. 10) Set goals

Answer 5

There are some truth in some of the comments, like identifying different ideas (maybe based on your experience, or just stuffs you like) and make a bit of research. Now, I dont agree with the comment about 10K not being enough , all depends in what business you are wanting to its sales related , most part of the time, You dont need to much capital, I personally helped some people start businesses with less than 10K and they are in good track. all of them sales related though. If its some retails, manufacturing, then youll probably need more money, but you can always start the business and then request a SOHO loan or SBA . Good luck

Answer 6

Heres a good link for starting a business...

Answer 7

Good, a safe, dead job is a great way to start a business. YOU NEED THAT! SO BE VIGILANT AND KEEP IT! Now you have 10k saved up, and a bunch of free time. 40 hours is less than 25% of a week. (7 days x 24 hrs = 168 hrs) What are you really doing with the remainder of that time? So spend about $1000, 1/10th of your nest egg, and try to make it back by the end of the year in your spare time. Try to ramp up to a part time job out of it. Remember to keep saving so when you make the jump to full time you have a few months cushion. SAFE --gt; Services --gt; Harder you work more money you make: Pick something you like, that others always want as a favor (means you are good at it and already have clients), and figure out what the others are charging. Now under bid by 25% and get it started. RISKIER --gt; Products --gt; Manufacturing $$, Ramp;D, Testing, ETC.: Try to develop a product everybody will want, that you can manufacture in a cost efficient, safe, and environmentally conscious manner. Here are the nuts and bolts to "Just Start a Company": You need a name. Go to and make sure nobody is using the one you want.....VERY BAD! Look it up via TESS here. /main/ Try to coordinate it with a domain name here. ($10) And make sure neither coincides with a company inside your state. Search is available at most secretary of state websites. ONCE YOU HAVE FOUND A NAME AND DOMAIN NAME YOU LIKE....BUY THE DOMAIN NAME! Hold off on the trademark for a minute. Now form a Company; LLC (Limited Liability Corporation) or Corporation is best in most states, it protects your assets from bankruptcy of the company, and legal lawsuits. There are some more accounting, filings, and paperwork that go with it. Go to your secretary of state online by searching "secretary of state" and "Colorado" or "California" or "your state". ($50-500 depending on state) Next an EIN or Employer Identification Number. This is the social security number if you will for your business. It is separate from the filing status of the corporation above. You are filing as a corp, regardless of whether or not you are an LLC. IF you can file for "S" Corp status, aka small business status, DO IT. To do this go to the IRS website and fill out the forms. If you go down to their office they are happy to help you. (lt;$100) Now go to your local bank, EIN in hand, and open a FREE checking account.($5 to deposit) Now open a phone account, unlimited minutes, with your checking account (need EIN, Secy of State Docs, and Passport)($25 cheap phone, $25-$99/mo). Now open a gmail email account with the phone. ($0) Now open an efax account with the gmail account. ($0) Next go home, and open a paypal account with email, phone, fax, and checking account. Finally, buy or get some free business cards. / 250 free ones to start (with advertisements on back). /vp/pSearch/?GP=7%2f31%2f2009+7%3a45%3a50+AMamp;mk=Free+Business+Cardsamp;ad=exact And you have a business, that takes checks, takes credit cards, can receive phone calls, faxes, and employ people. You can now go apply for a loan etc. BUT.... At this point you should, a Finalize your product/service. b Go Make Sales the Hardest way (knocking on doors) c Deliver and Collect Do this a few times. Then spend money you have earned, not borrowed...build a custom website or otherwise advertise to leverage your time. When web shopping, you need one that grows as you put time into it. You want to be building a wing on the house a month rather than renting a penthouse or loft. / Dont forget to go back to and trademark that name when you have the funds ($325).

Answer 8

Most communities have lots of resources for the aspiring business owner. There you can find the help youre seeking to come up with a business idea and also build your business skills, plus get a little support. 1. The SBA and SBDCs (Small Business Development Centers) have lots of resources and their help is free or very low-cost. 2. Most community colleges have classes in starting a business, either for credit or not. 3. It sounds as if you have the financing you need (very smart), but some micro lending organizations offer business training. Google "micro lending (your city name)" for organizations in your area. 4. Heres an assignment I give my small business students that they really enjoy: interview a small business owner. If you dont take up more than an hour of their time, dont ask for a job, and dont pry into their finances, most business owners are very willing to sit down with you and tell you how they got started, plus the good, the bad, and the ugly of self-employment. Youll be amazed at how much youll learn from these sessions. 5. I agree with the advice to figure out something you enjoy doing. How can you use your knowledge/interest/experience to solve someone elses problem? Thats what people are willing to pay for. 6. A good resource for getting launched is The One-Page Business Plan, by James T. Horan, Jr., available from amazon or your public library Good luck! Pamela Johnson (and community college business instructor)

Answer 9

I am a CPA, so I have a professional type business. I can tell you the first things I did to start mine: 1) Got my certificate up to date with the state I live in. 2) Checked with my state and county to figure out what licenses I needed to run my business. Turns out I needed a DBA (doing business as) since I was starting as a sole proprietor. I needed this before I could have a bank open a checking account in my business name. (If I was going to have employees there wouldve been several more things to get, like an FEIN (Federal Employer Identification Number)) 3)Hired a business coach (traded services with her) to get some advice on my vision for my business.. 4) Found businesses I could trade services with to get me started. Traded services with a Graphic Designer who did my logo and business cards, a web designer who put together a great website for me, and my business coach who helped me stay on track. 5) Joined 2 local small business networking groups. One group is 5 women only (me included) and we all own different types of businesses. We meet twice a month and provide personal and business support for each other. The other is a group of about 8 business owners (men and women) who provide a kind of think tank for each of our individual challenges we face. I used these groups to come up with a name, tagline, marketing ideas, website ideas, and everything else. I still attend these meetings regularly. The people in them have funneled lots of business my way. Depending on what type of business you are looking to start, there is a plethora of information available over the internet and at the library. I read a few great books when I was in the startup phase: "The Answer" by John Assaraf. Will help with visioning.... "The Emyth Revisited" by Michael E Gerber "Your Business or Your Life" by David Shepherd There are many more great books. Find some that pertain particularly to your area of interest for a business. Maybe even find someone in your community who you could ask questions of who has years of experience in business. There are business owners who are looking to give back and help others get started. Good luck...starting my own business was the best decision I ever made! Its been nothing but fun for a year and a half!