Checklist: 47 Things You Must Do When Starting Your Own Businessfifnddd

Check for Success

Starting a new business can be very exciting but, let’s face it, also a bit scary. If you’ve never done it before, there are a lot of things to figure out… at least according to the Internet. You have to develop your product and your brand, find your audience, write a business plan, there’s all this legal mumbo jumbo, and it just goes on and on.

But honestly, starting a new business is a lot easier than most people think, especially these days. In fact, you can get up and running with as little as $100. But before you go spending any money, here are a few things to think about first.

1. Be honest with yourself. Starting a business is hard. Really hard. So you need to ask yourself if you have the physical and emotional energy to see it through.
2. Eliminate the words “business plan” from your vocabulary. Much of the internet will lead you down this road because incorporating, patenting, or “help” with business plans are things that are easy to charge for.
3. Just ignore the Internet. At this stage you don’t know what you don’t know, and the quickest way to crash and burn is get your advice from “experts.”  If you are going to act on information you find, be absolutely certain of two things: A. that person knows what the hell they are talking about and B. It applies to your particular situation, not just to them or “in general.”
4. Get a coach. The best player in the world has a coach. You need those fresh eyes. You need someone to call bullshit on you. Most importantly, a coach is a way for you to get your advice gut-checked.
5. Find free advice. Your local SBA, SCORE, and other small business resources can provide you with free advice, access to business templates, and other tools.
6. Make a list. Man, that seems like fluff as I’m writing it but it’s really not. I’d MUCH prefer you to have a list like this and a light-weight financial model of your idea or business than a formal business plan.
7. Do you really have something people want? Find your friends who have the kajones to not sugar coat things for you, and ask them if they think people will really want what you have to offer. Then be honest with yourself when evaluating their feedback.
8. Have a brand. There’s a lot of competition out there so you need to understand what makes you, you. Don’t worry about branding in general, that will come. You just need to know in your heart who you are and what you are trying to do.
9. Will someone pay for it? Validate your product or service. No, really. And by validate I mean get someone to pay real money for it, preferably a stranger.
10. Get a bank account specifically for the business. Don’t overthink this – just walk into any bank that will be convenient for you – maybe the one you’re already with personally, and open a business checking account. And the customer support for business at banks is nicer than personal so it will go quickly. They have someone who can answer all of your questions there.
11. File for trademarks and patents. The best thing to do is consult an attorney early on about the need for patents, especially.  Get the advice early. You may be able to defer filing for a while, depending on the nature of your business.
12. Consult your insurance agent and secure coverage. Depending on the type of business you’re starting, you may need insurance of one kind or another, like liability, workers’ comp, or health insurance, especially if you hire full-time staff.
13. Cover your ass legally. Maybe you need a Terms of Service or a Privacy Policy for what you are creating. Whatever it is, make sure it is written down, clear and that your customers know about it.
14. Apply for business licenses. You may need one, if not several, business licenses for your startup, depending on your industry and where you are located.  Most licenses are at the state or local level.  Here in the United States, the SBA has a helpful business license & permits tool.
15. Craft your elevator pitch. Within a matter of minutes, you should be able to get anyone excited about your business. And remember, if you don’t believe yourself, no one else will.
16. Catalog your assets. This is boring and mostly used for tax purposes, but it’s healthy to step back and see what you have at your disposal and what you can do with it.
17. Decide if you should incorporate or have a business entity of some sort. At the 60-Day MBA our advice here is often to run as a sole proprietor for as long as possible, until you figure out what you are doing and who you are. No reason to waste your money on legal if decide two months in that you should be knitting socks instead of designing web apps. Incorporating does not make you a business. Selling stuff people want and working hard to grow those sales is a business… once you have that, decide if you need a corporate entity. here is a helpful short list of options: http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Employed/Business-Structures.
18. Raise money. Okay, you probably don’t have to do this but you might. The biggest thing is to figure out if you do or not.
19. Get your friends and family behind you. Make sure the hubby or wifey is on your side. You are going to need support, not resistance.
20. Choose your business name. Don’t sweat this too much. You make the name mean something, not the other way around. For example, what the hell is a “google?”
21. Scoop up all the social media profiles for your business name.Don’t go crazy just get the basics – twitter, Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn (and if you’re in photography or food or interior design, maybe Pinterest).
22. Get a brochure website up. Many people get stuck here but a slick website does not make a good business…making a business makes a business. That said, an AOL email address or a website with free hosting and a name like mysite.wordpress.com makes it seem like you don’t take yourself seriously.
23. If you are selling physical goods, decide how you will sell and ship them. I used to be that if you warehoused your product you may be able to capture a greater margin – but now a days there are networks of manufacturing and shipping that you just can’t beat. FYI, to “drop ship,” means that when someone buys a product from you, that you tell your supplier to ship it directly to them instead of shipping it yourself.  For example, the first business I ever had was one that sold kegerator conversion kits online while I was working as an engineer. I would get an order and assemble the kit, and mail it out during lunch.  When I learned I could have the distributer do this for me and only give up 10% in margin, I gained back something like 75% of the time I was spending to instead grow sales, which more than made up for the lost margin. Let those who have an expertise do their thing, while you stick to doing your thing.
24. Decide if you need a physical office. This is a balance of how you work and how you will best access your customer. For example, if your home has too many distractions, you might need office space.
25. Rent retail space If you’ve got a brick-and-mortar business. If you plan to run a retail business, pay attention to foot traffic, accessibility, and other factors that will affect the number of people that will walk in to your store.
26. Order business cards. As a startup founder, you’ll be doing a lot of networking, so order a lot. They are inexpensive enough that you can reorder them later if things change. Without cards you lack credibility.
27. Set up the office. You’ll need office tools like email addresses, support, calendars, etc – google apps for the win here obviously.  Even if you’re not a tech company you are going to need some basic online software to run stuff. And be smart about it and back up anything that could set you back really far if you lost it.
28. Get the right technology for the job. Maybe you can do everything with your smartphone and one of those credit card swiping devices. There are a lot of free apps out there to help you get the job done.
29. Advertise your business. The easiest way to do this is online. Google and Facebook will help you get started with online ads. Be careful and keep a watchful eye on your spend.
30. Get a virtual assistance. If your business is going to require face to face sales and you’re “not that guy or girl,” than you’re probably gonna want to hire a salesperson. If you will have lots of administrative work, consider a virtual assistant to free up valuable time for you to do the harder stuff. This comes back to focusing on what you do well.
31. Apply for an EIN. An Employer Identification Number (EIN) helps you separate yourself from your business. You’ll need it if you plan to incorporate your business or open a business bank account.  Plus, with it you can avoid giving out your social security number (an opening  to identity theft). EIN numbers are free; apply online 0. here is a helpfu site:ttp://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Employed/Employer-ID-Numbers-EINs – create marketing for your business
32. Read the book good to great. I’m not gonna get into this one – just read it. Read it, and when you are done eat the book to try to gain its’ powers. It’s magical like a unicorn.
33. Hire your first employee. Depending on the type of business you have, you may need staff from day one (retail) or you may be able to outsource to freelancers, interns, and third-party vendors for a while (service and tech businesses).  Just remember, trying to do everything yourself  takes you away from growing the business
34. Have the guts to fire someone.  You need to do what is best for your business. So don’t hire your deadbeat brother to help you out just to be nice.
35. Everyone in the business must be on the same page. If everyone is rowing in a different direction – you don’t get anywhere.
36. Have a way to get paid. Maybe this is obvious, but this is a hell of a lot more important than your “branding on social media.” If there is no place to pay you, there is no business. This is in some ways, the most important thing on the list.
37. Set up an employee benefits program. If you have employees – then are they going to be getting any benefits? If you so – you need to set this up with benefit or health care companies, or you can have this all managed by some pretty creative HR companies out there. There are now some very low cost methods of getting payroll and benefits set up for what is little money that it’s worth it simply for freeing up your own time by using specialized folks who do this stuff all day long.
38. Pay your taxes. I know business taxes sound scary but they’re really not much different than your personal. Still – you should probably hire someone to do this if you have at least one employee.
39. Work your  network. Reach out to former co-workers and colleagues, as well as friends and family. Don’t pressure them to buy your products or services.  Instead, tap into them for introductions and help with other things on this startup checklist.
40. Keep track of what you spend. You probably don’t need a fancy accounting system but you should put some thought into this before you start spending money on equipment, supplies or payroll.
41. Line up suppliers and service providers. Finding a good source of inventory is crucial, especially in certain types of businesses (retail, manufacturing). Beyond inventory, line up good reliable suppliers and service providers so you don’t have to sweat the details.
42. Start as soon as possible. At the early stages of a startup there is never enough money – resist the temptation to wait until things are “perfect.”
43. Get ready for some ups and downs. Starting a business is hard. You need to be in a good spot both financially and mentally because the process of starting one comes with a lot of ups and downs.
44. Get ready to scale. You must be prepared for blowing up or vice versa. Do you have a gut idea of what you would do to scale up or back?
45. Don’t compare yourself to others. No matter what, there’s always someone who is killing it just a bit more than you are. That’s okay. Spend your time growing and working hard… not comparing.
46. Don’t get caught in “startup squared” pitfalls. You are starting a business. You have a lot to think about and do. Many things can change based on what you do or think every day. You do not have the bandwidth to withstand the exponent of that. Basically – if you partner with another equally small and brand new company, you have to deal with all of your own problems times all of theirs.
47. Refine as you go. As you go along, you will learn more and more about the marketplace. Use customer feedback to refine your product and service offerings, and your go-to-market approach.