How to start your own business

Starting your own business. It’s thrilling, exciting – full of hope and possibilities. It’s a time in your life when anything can happen – and anything will. It’s a process marked by creativity, passion, and pure, unadulterated chutzpah. And that’s an exciting thing.

But before you pop the champagne cork, there’s a heck of a lot of work to be done. Because, after all, starting your own company takes more than just a dream and a kernel of an idea.

It takes capital – and plenty of it. It takes fleshed out plans, and roadmaps, and…, and…, and…. But don’t let all of those “ands” bring you down. You can do this! It’s all there – you just need to know how to organize and present it to potential investors, and your customers or clients.

So, let’s take a look at some of those “ands,” so you can start your business on the right foot.

Write your business plan

Starting a small business starts with a plan. And while it may sound daunting, it shouldn’t be. Business plans are fairly formulaic, and they’re designed that way for a reason: To help you understand your direction and attract investors. In general, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) recommends seven segments for any business plan. They include:

• Executive summary. It offers a brief look at what your business does and why it will succeed.
• Company description. Gives detailed information about your company, the problems it solves and the consumers, organization(s) and/or businesses it will serve. In it, you should address any competitive advantages, experts on your team, etc. Use this space to talk to your strengths.
• Market analysis. Provides details on your industry outlook and target market. It’s the area where you’ll outline what other businesses are doing, what their strengths are, and how you can compete for a share of the market.
• Organization and management. In this segment, you’ll explain how your company is structured and who will run it.
• Service or product. It gives you a space to deliver detailed information on the products and/or services you’re offering.
• Marketing and sales. Here, you’ll address how you’ll market your business and provide details on your sales strategy.
• Funding request. If you need funding, use this space to describe how much money you’ll need for next five years – and how you’ll use it.
• Financial projections. Here, you’ll tell your financial story, provide well-founded projections, and balance sheets, statements, etc. (if you’re already an established business).
• Appendix. Use this optional section to include things like résumés, licenses, permits, patents, legal documents, permits, etc.

If you’re still not sure how to start a business plan, or beginning one from scratch is more than you’d like to tackle, some document creation software offers comprehensive business plan templates to help you along the way.

Research the competition

Whether it’s for your business plan or your own on-going edification, understanding your competition before starting your own business – and throughout its life – is critical. Of course, you can use your favorite search engine to gather data, read trade publications, and follow them on social media, but there’s one other resource you may be overlooking: your word processing program.

Depending on which you have, you may be able to perform research directly from your business plan or files. With features that help you find related subjects, and content from reliable sources, you can gain valuable information without ever leaving your document.