by James Kim (to BGAmedia)
Thinking about starting up your own small business but don’t know exactly how to proceed? Don’t worry: it’s a daunting task for anyone. Just keep these things in mind and the sailing will be a lot smoother:
1. Be specific in your planning
The most important thing to do is to be sure that you know exactly what you want to do. Without having really developed your ideas, it will be hard to take any steps forward since you won’t be able to accurately make goals that you’ll want to aim for. You can’t just tell an investor, “Well, this is kinda what I’m going for but I haven’t quite figured it out” if you really want to get them on board.
If this is easier said than done for you, you can try looking at universities in your area to see if they have any incubator attached to them. An example of this is the Texas Venture Labs at UT Austin, which helps entrepreneurs perfect their ideas and develop a pitch that you can use later. You can now tell that theoretical investor exactly what you’re planning on doing and be confident in what you’re saying because you know that you have everything worked out.
2. Be realistic
Obviously, you don’t want to act like you’re going to have a Fortune 500 company in only a single year because that just doesn’t make sense. However, what this is really important for is when you’re obtaining funding. You don’t want to get a massive loan that you don’t need, especially because it might tempt you to spend money that you either don’t have or you would have been better off saving for later. Be realistic in what you’re doing and what you will need and you’ll end up way better off in the end.
3. Tailor to your needs
Again, this is an issue that primarily deals with funding. If you’re not looking for a lot of money, it makes sense to try to borrow from family and friends before going to that big bank that is not going to give you as good of a deal. Make sure to do your research before choosing a place to go. You can end up getting money from the government (specifically the US Small Business Association at sba.gov), one of the many business accelerators or even that big bank if you need to. Making sure that you’re looking in the right place based off of how much money you need will ensure that you get the best deal in the end.
4. Don’t be afraid to get help
Starting a business from the ground up is no small task; there’s nothing to be ashamed of if you think you need some help. Those business accelerators just mentioned will, aside from getting you funding, enter into a partnership with you. In exchange for a stake in the business, they’ll help you along the way in order to make sure that they’re investment pays off. You’ll get a type of partner/mentor that can help you run the business so that you have people who know exactly what they’re doing and not all of the burden is on your shoulders.
There are also a plethora of other business solutions that can help run you through the entire process of starting up your business. If you have the bit of money to spare and are unsure of exactly what you’re doing, they can be amazing lifesavers and will make sure that you get started off without a hitch.
5. Develop good habits
When the money starts coming in, what are you going to do? Get a contractor to help keep up with the volume of business? Get some office space? The answer to all of these is no, not unless it’s absolutely necessary. You don’t have to start spending money just because it’s starting to roll in. Just like how you wanted to be careful with your loan money before, you want to be careful now. You don’t want to buy things that you really don’t need and you want to make sure that you have money to fall back on in case anything goes wrong. It’s the “want or need” conversation that you likely have with yourself often in real life and it’s no different in the business world.
So what should you do? Deposit it in the bank. Aside from getting interest and keeping your money safe, this makes the bank notice you. If you find yourself in need of a loan at some point down the line, your bank is much more likely to give you money if you’ve been regularly depositing your earnings because you’ve shown them that you’re responsible, profitable and an all-around good investment for their money.
Hopefully all of these quick tips have helped you on your way to fulfilling your dreams and starting your own small business. The underlying message of all of this is that you should be: prudent with money, humble, willing to ask for help and responsible. Follow all of these and you’ll be well on your way to a successful business!
James Kim is a writer for Choosewhat.com. ChooseWhat is a company that provides product reviews and test data for business services and products. Their goal is to help small companies make informed buying decisions on business solutions that help their business.
