Live your dream: business start-up program

There is no perfect type of person to start a business. If you want to do it, you can.

Still, it is a good idea to talk with entrepreneurs (and avoid asking friends or family unless they are entrepreneurial) to get a better sense if the lifestyle might work for you.

Don’t worry, you don’t even need a great idea to get started (see Module 2).

You want to pick a business that is suited to you and the lifestyle you are looking to create.

Start by looking and exploring the first ones that come to mind. Also, try checking out the North American Industry Classification System (where they classify almost every type of business there is): here: NAICS Search.

You do not need a great and new idea (though they are welcome). It doesn’t have to be big (but it can be).

You can decide to be a virtual assistant, a freelancer, start a landscaping company, coffee shop, bakery, or building a rocket ship that will get us to Mars for under $1000…you can change your mind later…for now just pick some possibilities for businesses that seem right for you.

Having a business is great, but if no one is buying from you, you will have a short run.

The good news is you can get a pretty good idea if people will buy from you before you get started for real.

Once you have an idea or two for a business, it is time to do some market testing and ask some potential customers if they would be interested in purchasing a particular product or service from you (and at what price).

This is also where you have a look around the marketplace at your competitors and ask questions like: What do they sell? How do they sell it? Who buys it? Why do they buy it? What do they pay?

Start putting all of this information together in a folder. You won’t have all the answers and a complete picture, but you will learn an awful lot that will help you get more or less comfy with your idea for a business.

Assuming your business idea gets to this point, you will be getting more convinced that your business idea has some real merit (if not, go back to Step 2).

Now is the time to start writing down a really simple business plan where you will start to chart out where you are now and what it will take to get you where you want to go with your business.

Your plan will include more details on: your product or service, who your customers are, how and where you are going to sell, your pricing, your promotion and marketing strategies, and where you are going to get the money you need to get going.

If things still look promising after this initial research, keep going. If not, again, go back to Step 2 and pick another business idea.

Most businesses require less money than you think to get started…but you still likely need some.

When you take this step, you will start to do a deeper dive into figuring out the money you need to get started and be successful.

You will need to: estimate your start-up costs, speculate on how you will get this money (e.g. friends and family, crowd-sourced, bank, etc.), prepare some basic sales projections on how much you will sell, of what, and to whom.

Next you will create some other standard accounting documents (i.e. profit and loss statements, cash flow statements, and a balance sheet), figure out your sales pitch, open a bank account, and set up an accounting system to track all your revenue.

Some of this sounds intimidating but once you get started, you will be fine (plus we are here to help if you need it).

The government doesn’t need much from you when you start-up your business, but you do have to do a few simple things to keep them happy.

You need to do things like register your business name and get a government identification number. Depending on what kind of company you are starting, you might need some licences, permits, trademarks, or patents.

One of the first things you need to do, however, is to determine the legal structure of your company (sole proprietorship, LLC, Corporation, etc.). Though not for the government, this is a good time to get a domain name secured so you can have a YourCompanyName.com web address.

So once you are legally legit (see Step 6), you need to look legit to the world. You need to look (and feel) like a real company that people will trust and want to do business with.

A solid brand is crazy important if you want to attract buyers and keep them buying. This part is frankly a lot of fun. If you do the steps above you will now have a pretty good idea about your target customers and what they: do, where they live, what they buy, who they buy from, what their pain points are and what their aspirations are.

So…now you take all that information and create some sales and marketing tools to reach out to them in a way that will appeal to them.

This is the step where you look at doing things like: websites, logos, taglines, and business cards. You will also look at establishing your “corporate voice”, key messages, and corporate identity (i.e. you pick your company colours, fonts, style, etc.).

What fun!! Especially when you don’t have to do it all on your own.

At this point, you are almost ready for the world!

Depending on your business, you just need to get some (not all) of the following business infrastructure in place:

You will need to pick a location (in or out of your home), get some insurance (depending, talk to a good insurance agent), decide if you will grant credit and make a credit policy, draft job descriptions, create job postings, do interviews and hire employees or contractors, set up a phone system, and finish off your website and get your corporate e-mail set up.

You might decide to set up a CRM (Customer relationship management) and sales/marketing automation system to keep track of and communicate with your customers.

Finally, you will probably want to set up accounting software for your invoicing and income tracking.

A bunch of stuff yes, but knock of one thing at a time and it will be done before you know it.

Launching your business (and continuing to run it) is about building and maintaining a sales and marketing machine.

You need a system that will attract people to you, motivate them to buy what you are selling, and do that repeatedly.

Start things off with as much fanfare and pageantry as you can. You want to do everything you can think of (and afford) to get the word out about what you are selling and why they need it!

This is all about: networking with anyone who will listen to you, creating a marketing plan (including things like: social media and e-mail campaigns, sales presentations, and even grand opening T-shirts!), get any necessary signage, handouts, posters in place…and you will be off to a respectable start.

Just do what you can.

You won’t get it all done…or get it all right…and….you don’t need to. 

The important thing is that by this point you are up and going.

This step is about establishing and maintaining a strong business planning, execution, and adjustment process.

At this point you are running your business and constantly looking at ways to make things run better and more profitably.

It is important you do this in a systematic way and be very intentional about taking time to set aside day-to-day business work to continually plan and think strategically.

This is also a good time to set up a small business advisory council so that you get some regular perspective, advice, and much needed accountability.