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How to Start a Business

Topic: Starting Your Business | Comments (1)

Posted on December 11, 2009 by workingpoint

1092thermometerIf you missed yesterday’s webinar from Earn.com on the topic of “How to Start a Business,” then you missed a great talk by Earn’s own David Gass. What I liked about it was that it wasn’t your average, “here is 50 things you need to do to get a business up and running” – though, that list is a practical list. Instead, Gass started the talk off with the first thing you need when starting a business: Passion – Are you passionate about the specific type of business you are thinking about starting or is that you just want to get into any type of business.

I think this is a point that we entrepreneurs often skip over. We get an idea and run with it, without stopping to think if this is “the idea” – the one we are going to be passionate about on those long days or nights when it doesn’t seem to be going the way we had hoped but we still believe in going to work and drives us to press on.

Gass recommends that to test your passion level, you wait 30 days before acting on the business idea to see if you are still passionate about it. This is what he calls the “30 Day Rule.” I think it may be hard to wait 30 days and not do research and run the idea by friends and family to see what they think but there may be something to it. Starting a business is a huge commitment, like a marriage. Day-in and day-out, you’ll be committing yourself to setting goals and meeting the needs of your business. If you are still psyched about the idea after 30 days of not doing any real work to make it happen, I think you may have “the idea.”

Once the 30 days is over, Gass’ “90 Day Rule” comes into play. On Day 31 to Day 90, Gass recommends that you don’t spend any of your own money until you have spent these 60 days doing your due diligence. Quoting an SBA study, Gass claims that you are 6 times more likely to succeed if you start with a plan. He recommends gathering the following:

1) A Feasibility Study – Is there a market for your product/service?
2) A Competitive Analysis – Is someone else doing it?
3) Your USP or “Unique Selling Proposition” – What makes you different?
4) Financial Projections – Can you make money at it?

Gass then goes on to touch on building the right team (employees, mentors, advisers, consultants), determining your business structure (sole proprietor, partnership, LLC, corporation), identifying proper funding, meeting compliance issues (licenses, permits, taxes, etc), marketing your business’ USP and finally after all your planning is complete, take action! Start your business, keep positive, be determined.

In addition to Gass’ list of steps, you’ll also need to set up your bookkeeping system or better yet, get a WorkingPoint account and manage your sale, contacts, inventory and bookkeeping. We want to help you succeed and we’re building the application that has everything you need to start, grow and manage your  business.

For more information on Earn.com. Visit their website. Earn.com offers Business Breakthrough Seminars and an advanced Earn University courses to help you reach investors and take your business plans to another level.