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5 Step
Guide to Starting a Business from BusinessTown.com
STEP
1
Business Ideas
To start a business you will need to choose or create a business
idea. While this is an obvious step many people who want their
own business don't have an idea, just the desire to be an
entrepreneur. For the budding entrepreneur, there are many
options; buying a franchise
or an existing
business, or looking to others for ideas
for a start-up business. Once you have decided on the business
you wish to start, then the real work begins.
STEP
2 Business Plan
Writing a business
plan is your next and most important step, this is how you
and others will evaluate your business. When seeking financing
the investors or lenders will want to read your plan before they
supply you with funding. If you're financing the business
yourself, you will still want to have a written plan to develop
business strategies
and financial projections.
A key element within the business plan is the marketing
plan, which explains marketing
strategies that will be used to advertise
and promote
the products or services. The goal setting steps of the plan
will help you to analyze the success of the business in future
years and clearly illustrate the capital needed to operate the
company to break-even.
STEP
3 Financing
With your business plan in hand, you are ready to go find
yourself some capital. Most small businesses have three options
for financing: friends
& family, investors
or bank
loans. Each of these options has different considerations
for the business. Investors and even friends & family
usually want ownership and control of their portion of the
business. Bank loans burden the business with an additional
expense of the loan payment, which can erode the business
profits.
Download MBD's Non-Traditional Funding Source List 2003 very
good data base by Minority Business Development.
STEP
4 Getting started
You've got the plan, the money and the enthusiasm; you're ready,
right? Not yet, as with everything you need to take the legal
issues into consideration. First you should choose a legal
structure: Sole
Proprietorship, Partnership,
or Corporation.
Your financing decisions will have an effect on what legal
structure you choose. Now you can file with the state to
incorporate and obtain a federal Identification number.
STEP
5 Opening the Doors
Okay, it's time to get on the road to making some money; this of
course means spending money. Where are you going to run your
business? Will a home
office do or is commercial
space needed to service your customers? Do you need to hire
employees to help you run the business? What are your bookkeeping
needs, do you need an accountant? Finally, who could forget taxes,
what taxes do you have to pay and collect? Now that your
business is through the start-up phase, you can now look forward
to the issues of managing
a small business.
See BusinessTown.com
to learn more.
Reference:
www.businesstown.com/gettingstarted/index.asp
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