Do you dream of owning your own business? You’ll become your own boss, the master of your destiny—even the leader of an industry. Is it difficult? no doubt. Is this a challenge? certainly. Do you have to be rich, well-educated, and have a long resume? not at all! Can you do it? As the Magic 8-Ball says, “All signs point to yes!” So what do you do to make it work? Plan, plan, plan! There are some tried and true methods on the road to starting your own business. There’s no time like the present to start!

Pinpoint Your Business Goals

Have an idea. It could be a product you’ve always wanted to make or a service you feel people need. This might even be something people don’t realize they need yet because it hasn’t been invented yet!

• It can be useful to have enthusiastic and creative people join you for casual brainstorming time. Start with a simple question like “What are we going to create?” The idea is not to create a business plan, just to spark some ideas. Many ideas will be discarded, and there will be some ordinary ones, but there will also be some that have real potential.

Determine your goals. You want to achieve financial independence. Finally, selling your business to the highest bidder? Or do you want to own a small but sustainable business, something you love to do and make a steady income from? It’s best to think these things through from the beginning.

Create a business plan. A business plan can help you determine what you need to start your business, whether it is large or small. This will summarize the philosophy of your business in a single document. It also provides investors, banks, and other interested parties with a map to use when deciding how to help you, and helps them decide whether your business is viable. There are books available that cover a variety of topics on how to write a business plan, and you should allow yourself to read at least one of them as a guide (you can find these in bookstores, libraries, or online). In short, your business plan should include the following:

• Executive summary. Describe the overall business idea, how you make money, how much funding you need, what stage it is in, including its legal status, who is involved, a brief history, and anything else that makes your business look successful.
• Business description. Be more specific about your business and how it fits into the overall market. Who will you sell to and how will you ship your product? If you are a corporate body, limited liability company, or sole proprietorship, explain your chosen method to God and the devil. Describe your product, its best features, and why people need it.
• Marketing strategy. If you want to be successful, you have to understand your market, so spend a lot of time analyzing who will want your product and how you plan to entice them to take their money out of the bank and give it to you. How big is your market? Can the initial market expand? What is your sales potential? Once you understand these questions, you’ll want to use them to impress the people reading your business plan.
• Competition analysis. When you complete the above steps, you will know who your main competitors are. Learn who is doing something similar to what you are planning and how they are succeeding. It is equally important to find examples of failures and the reasons why they failed.
• Development Plan. How will you create your product? Is it a service that you will provide, or is it something more complex – software, a physical object like a toy or a toaster – whatever it is, how will it be created? Define the process from raw material procurement to assembly to finishing, packaging, warehousing, and shipping. Do you need anyone else? Will there be a union? All these things must be taken into account.
• Operations. Who will lead and who will execute? Determine the structure of the organization, from the receptionist to the CEO, and what role each person plays functionally and financially. Understanding your organizational structure can help you better plan operating costs and determine the capital required to operate effectively. Remember, your business will continue to grow, and you will have a rough idea of who you need to keep your business running. ;As your business grows, you may need to change your recruiting plans to adapt. Likewise, in many cases, “employees” are you and the people you can consult, such as your attorney and accountant. That’s okay, as long as you show that you’re willing to pay for outside advice and help and know that your business is ready to hire employees.
• Funds. Simply put, this tells you how much money you plan to spend versus how much money you make. Because this is the most dynamic part of your plan, and probably the most important for long-term stability, you should update it monthly in the first year, quarterly in the second year, and annually thereafter.

Name Your Business and Build a Team

Create a working title. You can do this before you even have an idea for your business, and if the name is good, you may find that it helps you nail down your idea and take shape as your plan takes shape. You may have the perfect name in mind, but don’t let it hold you back early on – create a name you can use while planning, and don’t mind changing it later.

• Take a page from the Beatles, who often used funny names before the songs were finished. For example, the working title for yesterday’s song was “Boiled Eggs.”

Go build your team. Will you do this alone, or will you have one or two trusted friends join you? This creates a lot of synergy as people react to each other’s ideas. Two people together are often more powerful than two people alone.

• Consider some of the most successful recent examples, including John Lennon and Paul McCartney, Bill Gates and Paul Allen; Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak; and Larry Page and Sergey Brin. In each case, this collaboration maximized both sides of the equation, and everyone became a billionaire. Is cooperation a guarantee of becoming a billionaire? No, but you might as well try!

Choose wisely. Be careful when choosing people with whom you want to start a business. Even if someone is your best friend, that doesn’t mean you’re a good business partner. Things to consider when choosing your partners and assistants include:

• Does this person make up for your shortcomings? Or can both of you only offer the same skills? If it’s the latter, beware that you may have many cooks doing the same thing and no one doing anything else.
• Do you agree with the big picture? Disputes over details are inevitable and important to making the right decision. But if you don’t agree on the big picture, you may have irreparable differences in your career goals. Make sure your team cares about and buys into the goal as much as you do.
• If you’re going to interview people, learn a little about how to spot real talent beyond degrees, certificates, etc. People’s innate talents often differ from the education they received (or didn’t receive), and it’s important to look for a “fit” (you get along well with them) and talents that go beyond paper credentials.

Organize Legal and Financial Matters

Find a lawyer. Choose someone who “clicks” with you and shows that he or she understands your business. From employees to overworked, low-paid small bosses have many hurdles to jump through. Some obstacles include piles of relevant regulatory paperwork, from building clauses to city ordinances, county permits, state regulations, taxes, fees, contracts, shares, partnerships, and more. Having someone you can call when you need it can not only give you peace of mind but also provide much-needed resources that can help you plan for success.

Establish an economic entity. Decide what type of company you want to set up – a body corporate, a limited liability company, a sole trader, a cooperative, etc. This is important for tax purposes and to attract investors. This decision can be complex, so read widely about the advantages and disadvantages of each entity and consider new forms of social enterprise, which can make some adjustments. If you are a social entrepreneur, then a more social business structure may be suitable for your business.

Consider funding. How do you raise initial startup capital? Banks, venture capital, angel investors, the Small Business Administration, and your savings; these are all possible options. Remember the four F’s of investing: founders (people who share your philosophy), family, friends, and fools.

• When you start a business, be realistic. You probably won’t hit 100 on every project, so you’ll need to keep enough money aside until you’re ready and up and running. One path to failure is insufficient capital.
• You may think you need $50,000 to start your business, and that’s okay. You get $50,000, but your desks and printers and raw materials, and then the second month starts and you’re still producing, the rent is due, your employees need to be paid, and all the expenses come together. When this happens, your only option is to give up. If possible, try to set aside enough funds to meet your financial needs if there is no income within 1 year.
• Plan to keep purchases of office equipment and miscellaneous expenses to a minimum when you first start. You don’t need the best place to operate, the latest office chairs, and expensive art on the walls. Ideas about the best location A broom closet would suffice if you could tactfully bring your clients to the local coffee house to discuss business every time (meet them in the foyer). Many small start-up companies fail because they buy expensive gadgets instead of focusing on the business itself.

Plan your path to financial success. At what price do you want to sell your product or service? How much does it cost you to produce? Roughly calculate the fixed costs that affect net profit, such as rent, energy, employees, etc.

Check out your competition. Know how much similar products they sell for. Can you add something (added value) to make your product different and thus make the price more attractive? For example, maybe your company wants to offer a free extra year of warranty, or free repairs, or an extra original gadget.

• Competition is not limited to the products and services themselves. It’s also about your social and environmental credentials. Consumers are increasingly concerned that your company’s concern for labor conditions does not harm the environment. Qualifications obtained from authoritative organizations, such as labels and stars, can convince consumers that your product or service is more in line with their values than one without these certifications.

Keep an eye on your operating costs and keep them consistent with your budget. Whether you are a company doing $100 a year or $100,000,000 a year, you need to know where your money is going.

• It could be that you’re using more electricity than you budgeted for: mind your business and turn off some lights.
• Whenever you see waste – electricity, telephones, stationery, packaging – look around and estimate how much is actually needed, and do whatever you can to cut costs. Be frugal when you first start out, rent items instead of buying them, and use upfront terms for needed services instead of signing long-term contracts.

Set up a merchant account. A merchant account is a contract under which the bank is required to extend the credit line to the merchant, and the merchant hopes to accept bank card payments from a certain bank card association. Without such a contract, you cannot accept payments from any major credit card.

Set up a website. If you sell stuff online, to get your e-commerce up and running, either build a website or have someone build it for you. This is your showcase, so do whatever you can to make people want to visit and want to stay.

• Hire a professional designer. They may cost more initially, but a professionally presented, trustworthy website is a necessity. It needs to look professional and be easy to use. If your website can also transfer money, purchase a secure encryption feature and see if your money transfer company is reliable and trustworthy.

Ensure space. Whether it’s an office or a factory, if you need more space than your garage or a spare bedroom, now’s the time to find it.

• If you don’t need a studio outside of your home, but may occasionally need a conference room, there are often places in the city that better suit those needs. A quick Google search for “business meeting rentals [your city/state]” will bring up many rental options in your area.

Start Your Business

Build your product or develop a nanny service. Once you have the planned business, funding, and essential staff, it’s time to launch it. Whether it’s sitting down with engineers to program and test software, purchasing raw materials and transporting them to a factory (or garage), or purchasing bulk items and pricing them, this build process is how you prepare yourself for the market. During this time, you may notice things like this:

• A change of mind is needed. Maybe the product needs to be a different color, texture, or size. Maybe your services need to be broadened, narrowed, or more specific. This is a time to pay attention to any issues encountered during the testing and development phases. When something needs to be changed to make it better or more differentiated from the competition’s same-old product, you’ll know it.
• Get feedback. Friends and family are great resources for asking questions and getting feedback – don’t hesitate to ask them to be your echoes.
• Need to increase the scale of your operation. This happens more easily than expected. Once the inventory starts to accumulate, you may find them placed in your living room, bedroom, and garden. Consider renting storage space if necessary.

Discover your internal PR. You may believe in your product or service, but unless others believe in it too, the business won’t take off. If you’re new to advertising or marketing, or you don’t like the rhetoric of sales, now’s the time to get over that feeling and take on the PR role. You need to convince people they need your product or service with a great short tagline that reflects the value, purpose, and potential your business can offer. Write the slogan in different ways until you find one that really satisfies and expresses it enough that you can roll it off your tongue. Then practice like crazy!

• Create some interesting, eye-catching business cards.
• Take the time to create a great social media presence. This can be done before the business launches, increasing everyone’s anticipation. Use Facebook, Google+ Twitter, and any other social media you participate in, to build excitement and spread the word. You want to create some buzz so people start following you. (Be sure to use the business account registered for your business, separate from your account. The message you deliver should be tailored to the account you are uploading from.)

Implement your marketing and distribution plan. As your product takes shape, or your service is refined, and you anticipate anything ready to sell, start marketing it.

• If you are advertising in a journal, they will need copies or images at least two months before publication.
• If you sell items in a store, start by selling pre-orders and allocating shelves. If you want to sell online, set up your e-commerce website to be ready to sell.
• If you offer services, advertise in appropriate trade or professional journals, newspapers, and online.
• Set up a website where you can place orders directly for your products. Although you don’t need to know how to make a website yourself, it is highly recommended that you learn some basic knowledge so that you know what to pay attention to when asking someone to help you make a website, so that you know what to do if something goes wrong at two in the morning. There are several small courses on web development available online, many of which are free.
• Start contacting people in the industry and let your future customers hear that something they’ve always wanted is for sale.

Launch your product or service. When the product is finished, packaged, numbered, and online, ready to be sold, or when your service is completely ready to launch, run a special event to launch your business. Send out flyers and announce them to the world. Promote it on Twitter, and Facebook, and let everyone in the market hear – you have launched a new company!

• Throw a party and invite people who can help spread the word. This doesn’t have to cost a lot of money – buy some food and drinks from discount stores and ask family and friends to serve you (you can provide them with products or services in return).

Tips

• Don’t be afraid to experiment with different prices.
• Try to keep adding more and more good ideas!
• Always provide value and service to those who might become your customers, even if they are not now. When they do need your product, you want them to think of you first.
• Most dropshipping companies require less capital to start than a traditional real-life store. You can also make money faster than a traditional company.
• Keep learning and be open to change. Find peers, mentors, local business-related organizations, online forums, and wikis to discuss the day-to-day ins and outs of running a small business. Everyone can make their core business perform better when they don’t have to waste time and energy on “rebooting” on household expenses.
• Taking advantage of the Internet, an online business is probably the easiest way to start and requires less start-up capital than an offline business.
• You may also consider trading on eBay or Overstock.
• Franchising is a good idea, although the start-up capital is too high for most people.