TACTICAL CHECKLIST FOR STARTING YOUR BUSINESS:
INTRODUCTION
If you’re like many people who dream of owning their own business, you may be unsure of how to make the transition from employee to employer or how to create a business that could work for you. If you’re established in your career, it can be a daunting challenge both mentally and physically. At the same time, there is a wild sense of excitement about what could be – about the potential to call all the shots and see what you can create.
As someone who has made this transition, I offer my personal experience. My business partner and I worked on developing our small business part time, while we worked full time for our respective employers. There was a lot of evening and weekend work when we met and piece by piece we built a business that we could some day step right into.
The benefit of this approach was that when we finally moved from full time employee to full time employer, we literally stopped work one day at our corporate jobs, and the next day we each were able to step into a small office with the entire modern infrastructure in place, a team of three employees working in our business, an active client base, and all the license requirements fulfilled.
Additionally, we each had some savings as a result of working full time for someone else, while reinvesting all of the income from the small business back into the operation. This meant that all of our equipment and software was 100% paid for and we didn’t owe anyone money. In effect, our sweat equity over the seven years of working on the business during the weekends and evenings, paid for the start-up cost.
Like most things in life, it isn’t always obvious how to go from point A to point B. In this case, it would be rather difficult for myself to going from a position in a large company to running my own business, unless I had put in a large amount of work and preparation for this day.
This handbook offers you a tactical list of action items that are organized by category of things that are relatively simple to do. You can certainly work on them as part of a long term transition to your own business. Depending on the amount of time and the type of business you are forming, this transition obviously may take more or less time than my experience.
One challenge is that many people can’t get away from their full time job during the day. For businesses that sell to other businesses during the day or that plan to include a store front, this restriction of time will create a challenge. The ideal business to form on the side would be one that operates off hours (off from whenever your full time job is), or via a home office/direct marketing such as an internet store or catalog operation.
Either way, many of the tasks outlined in this guide can prepare you for any type of business. If you can’t get away at all during the day and your business development requires some “day time” work, you will need to get clever. I have included a chapter on this specific challenge and outline tasks that can help.
Some of these tasks will be a one shot deal while others will require your attention on a regular or periodic basis. At first glance, this list may appear overwhelming and could make starting a business seem unrealistic for some people who may be busy juggling their current activities. The reality is that over time, any project that is broken down into small pieces is much more manageable.
Remember: Taken inch by inch, it’s a cinch! Taken yard by yard, it’s hard!
My hope is that I’ve given you smaller tasks that you can tackle as you have the time and energy. One next step is to read the entire list and then rank them in order of execution that makes sense for your unique situation and business. Add any additional tasks you can think of and then tackle them in order as time permits. Having a full time business partner can also make the journey much more fun and possible. In the end, if you both execute well, there should be plenty of work and profits for you both.
While I make mention of many potential services and products including specific brand names and web sites of resources, I can not make any guarantees in terms of suitability or performance for your business. No company pays for a link from this site. These are simply sites I have used or found that may assist you. I also do not claim to be a lawyer and do not provide legal advice. While mention is made of some legal related items that require your attention, you should consult with an attorney if you feel you need more guidance in any specific areas.
The goal of this handbook is to provide you with a detailed checklist, sharing some of my personal experiences and tips that I've learned the hard way, and direct you to additional resources as appropriate.
Enjoy the ride and good luck as you start and grow your own small business!
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