Quote: (10-24-2015 10:46 PM)joecolombia Wrote:
Did you sucessfully started a business? How long it took to take off and how much $$ did you have to invest?
Personally, the step of starting is the hardest part, i think after i start with something, i will commit to it thus, making it sucessful (if it is a good idea though).
Yes, taking the first step is the hardest part of all. I'm starting a business this year and I've finally started making some cash only recently. I'm nowhere near profitable now, or even earning enough for sustenance, but I'll share what I've learned.
First, what kind of business do you want to start?
There are two kinds of businesses you can start:
1. One that requires a large capital infusion
2. One that requires little overhead and little/no capital
If you have a product or a prototype you want to sell, you'll need to patent it first. Get your intellectual property rights on it before anyone else does. Second, you'll want to test the market. The last thing you want to do is spend all of your money trying to sell a product no one wants. If the market responds positively and there is demand for your product (i.e. your product fills a pressing need), then you'll need a factory to make your products. Obviously you'll need a HUGE capital infusion to get all that started. You might go to Kickstarter to get some cash to start something up.
But I'm guessing that's not quite what you're looking for... you might be more going for the second type of business: a lifestyle / location-independent / online business such as programming, writing, software as a service or subscription, graphic design, or whatever you can do everything via online. That's the type of business I am working on currently. This type of business doesn't require much money to start up, and usually requires very little overhead. You basically need a website to market yourself, and charge clients for the services you provide. Big ticket item that may cost you the most money could be your laptop.
Some other things to consider...
Do you want to incorporate for tax reasons?
There are different types of tax classifications for your business. You could be a sole proprietor, where you are taxed for all of your income you earn through your business. It is the simplest, where you only need to fill out a 1040 and you're done.
However, you could save money and add a layer of asset protection by incorporating. If you earn more than about 20K a year, you actually save money by establishing an LLC or an S-corporation. The S-corporation is more complicated. LLC is much simpler, but also provides similar protection and tax advantages as an S-corporation classification.
By incorporating, you save on self-employment taxes that can run you 15% (think of the medicare and SS taxes that you only pay half of when you work for an employer). Another advantage to incorporating is if someone sues your business, your personal assets are protected and cannot be taken (in most cases). As a sole proprietor, ALL of your personal assets are fair game if you get sued.
What administrative tasks can you do yourself, and what can you delegate?
Starting a business is a lot of work. A LOT of work. You'll need to wear a lot of hats... the accountant cap, the secretary cap, the marketing director cap, and I haven't even gotten to the actual work you do! But the good news is you can delegate some of that work to other people who would do that work for you.
You could get a virtual assistant (VA) for menial tasks like keeping your schedule, researching the market for you, creating contact lists, etc.
You also could - and SHOULD - get a tax accountant. I'm not comfortable doing my own taxes and payroll with an LLC in the picture, so I'm not touching any of that stuff. Pay your CPA to take care of it for you. He's the expert on keeping the IRS away from you.
Also, if you incorporate, you could do it yourself, or you could get a lawyer to do it for you. Though you'd save lots of money if you did it yourself, and it's pretty easy to do.
Marketing, Getting Clients, and Invoicing
Now we get to the meat of running your business.
Marketing. THAT is the next hardest part other than taking the first step. Some people have a talent for marketing and can make 50K in the first 3 months of their business. Others, well... they struggle mightily to market their way out of a paper bag. I'll be honest with you - I'm in the latter group. I suck at marketing. But I learned so much in the past few months.
You need to find your market and niche down into it. Not just the demographics, but REALLY drill down into how they think and what makes them tick. Then tie your business services/products to the needs of your market. Take the "features" of your business and translate them into how they would "benefit" your target market.
Part of marketing is cold emailing and cold calling. I'm talking HUNDREDS of emails and phone calls and business card exchanges. Not 5, not 10, not 50, but HUNDREDS. Even THOUSANDS. In the past 2 months, I have emailed over 450 people introducing myself and my business. And you would need to follow up every once in a while, not just email or call them once and wait for them to call you back. Follow up, get yourself etched into their brains. Then when they finally need your service, you'll be the first name they think of off the top of their head.
Now once you've got some clients interested in your services, you'll need to have a way for them to buy your product / service. It could simply be an e-commerce store on your website, with a shopping cart. Or you'd provide an invoice for them. Make sure everything is connected to your business bank account (which I hope is different from your personal checking account), so you do get paid when people buy your product or service.
From there, it's just more marketing, more clients, and expanding your business. You want to think about scalability, too. If you can scale your business up, that could mean potentially huge revenue for you. A service-based business, however, is not very scalable, but can still be lucrative if you play your cards right and provide more value than your competition.
Hopefully I gave you a concrete step by step plan that takes away the fear of the unknown. Good luck.
PS. I started my business while I worked (and still am working) full time.