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Small Biz Startup Tips

 

Overview

this page is for helping you start/create a new small business from scratch.

small biz startup tips

going into business for yourself is tough, at least the way I did it.

  • you have to market yourself and your business to everybody on the planet through every means possible - lots of work, something I personally am not wired for, I don't consider myself a people person, more of the fit better into the wallpaper or around the food type or around people I know. helps if you have a family member which can do this for you.
  • you do half of your own accounting. ugh! before you start, take an accounting class, it will do you GOOD! When you have your biz, Buy QB and take some community classes on quickbooks too, you might need it, some accountants require you to use QB, and QB has some awful quirks when it comes to inventory that your accountant will probably fix at end of year.
  • costs money to start a business. bank account requires buying checks, consider business cards from vistaprint.com, envelopes and possibly business card envelopes and general ledger and invoice book and pencils and file folders to file your taxes in from office supply store to get started, quickbooks at $144, web hosting for at least 5 years, domain for at least 5 years. total is about $1000 or more.
  • pray about a business name - you want God's guidance on that. answer might come in the form of an idea you like or through someone else. and sometimes you just have to drum up some names from whoever you can find:"Proverbs 11:14 Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.". always check to make sure the domain is available before you register your trade name or register your business with the state or change your trade name+drop old one. mine was. (cool! thank you, Lord!) I made the mistake first time around of doing it myself - couldn't come up with a name. chose a really long, but descriptive name. broke all kinds of web and business forms. big mistake. keep it short and sweet. and meaningful/descriptive if possible, so people know what you do. "Joe's services" says nothing about what he does. Joe's computer services" is more descriptive. Woodland Computer Repair" is better than "Joe's Computer Repair" and better than the previous ones.
  • the more years you have your domain and hosting, the higher your ranking on the search engines (but that's not the only factor), take an SEO class. you have to submit your site to the search engines!
  • just to let you know, having a web site on a search engine is NOT a guarantee of business or customers, but everybody expects you to have one, such as a Facebook page.
    • they may not be local
    • unless you are an internet business, your city license probably only allows you to operate within certain cities check your state business license application or call the state to see how this works.
    • I get VERY few calls from people who visited my web site. like maybe once every month right now.
  • if this is a home-based business, you need to check whether (if you live in an apartment) whether the complex will allow you to run a business there or not. check your agreement. also ask your state business licensing whether that's allowed in your state. some apartmenrt agreements don't allow this. some do.
  • contractor and consultant stuff gets complicated and you should have liability insurance and other stuff. check with the SmallBusiness Association (SBA) in your local area to read information you need to know on this topic. that have an extensive library, and someone can direct you to the book you need most likely. while they won't handhold you, they can at least do this foryou - any questions you may have should probably be asked through your accountant.
  • make sure you get the right kind of accountant for your business structure you are going to pick! you need someone with some brains for this job. sometimes they may cost more, but the cost may be worth it if you are starting up and have lots of questions. batch them up as much as possible and make the questions educated.