Top Tips for Starting Your Own Business

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Basic business plan

Legions are being laid off, many from jobs they thought were secure, from companies they considered sound. All levels of workers are being laid off. And huge numbers of these folks are forming their own businesses. If you are one of them, here are our top tips for starting your own business:

THE HARDEST PART

The hardest part is that there is often no mentor to walk you through what needs to be done. Unlike the corporate environment, you are out there on your own. So the very first thing to do is create a support network around you, people who are knowledgeable about your business, people you trust. This one step will set you leagues ahead of others.

HAVE A WRITTEN BUSINESS PLAN

Fortunately, Business Plan Master can help you out here. Get your ducks in a row, and write it down. Keep it lean and mean and flexible. But do it.

GET A TEST RUN

It's ideal to start a business while you're still working because you have an income. Many don't have that option any more. If you do, use it.

SCRUTINIZE POTENTIAL PARTNERS

You will spend more time with your business partner than with your spouse. If it is a good relationship, you whole life benefits. If it is bad, well, everything suffers.

LEARN ABOUT BUSINESS FINANCIALS

Understanding revenue and profits is completely foreign to a lot of people. To get up to speed, take a class on business accounting. That financial know-how is a must for any small-business owner. Keep on top of your numbers, because at the end of the day that's what your business is going to be valued off of.

PLAN FOR THE UNPLANNED EXPENSES

Business comes with all sorts of unexpected — and expensive — surprises. In the financial template in our Basic Business Plan, and every other business plan, Business Plan Master provides a "contingency cost" option. Use it. It will take you through many rainy days.

BE SPECIAL

If your company cannot provide something special, something that is uniquely you, you shouldn't be in business. Cookie cutter businesses don't make it. Even if you have a franchise, you are in a unique community.

TRUST YOUR GUT

The bottom line is that it is YOUR business, not anyone else's. You know it. Even when the numbers point you somewhere else, trust your own gut first.

KEEP RETIREMENT AND INSURANCE FUNDS SEPARATE

New entrepreneurs are often tempted to cash in insurance policies and rob the 401(k) piggy bank. Don't. Those policies and plans were put there for a reason. Unless that reason has changed, leave them alone.

DEVELOP A RIDICULOUS OPTIMISM

There is no logical "reason" why most small businesses should succeed. They just do. The determination of the owner is an amazing driving force.