Today, I’d like to give you a brief list of 10 things you should know if you want to start an actual business.
The majority of my blogs — dedicated to making money — come from the angle of online or passive sources of income. There is a big difference, though, between starting a business and just making extra online income.
Let’s get to it the real business stuff, shall we?
Step one: Understand that owning a business is different from creating online income.
Owning a business means you’ve made a commitment to:
- Do the work
- Be frustrated
- Experiment
- Know your numbers
- Invest in experts
- Spend your time and money wisely
- Never give up
Step two: Decide if you have what it takes.
Running a business requires:
- Common sense
- Tenacity
- Resilience
- Insatiable curiosity (you can never ask enough questions)
- Crazy energy (you never get to stop)
Step three: Figure out what type of business you want to start.
It goes without saying that this step takes some people a lot longer than others. In fact, it is this step that often kills would-be business owners because for, whatever reason, they’re so afraid to pick one thing.
That’s why this, perhaps, might be the toughest step for the majority. Seriously, once you conquer Step 3 you’re off and running!
So, my advice? Just pick!
I’ve had, I don’t know, 15 different businesses (just counting the ones that have been viable). But I’ve also had hundreds of different ideas — some of which I followed through on for about 5 days… until I realized, “Okay, this actually isn’t a feasible business idea.” And, I moved on to the next thing.
Remember this: whatever it is you think could be your potential business, just start.
That’s half the battle right there. Keep in mind it may not be THE thing you’re doing forever. But you can’t know anything unless you pick and go!
Step four: Do some market research.
You need to know:
- The trends
- Is your business viable?
- Where are things headed?
- What the market wants
- Is this industry dying or growing?
- What customers are willing to pay
- Will people actually buy this?
- Is this marketable?
- The demographic
Step five: Reverse engineer your plan.
The best way to complete this step is by taking out a pen and a piece of paper and just doing a complete brain dump. Absolutely everything that you could possibly know and learn — from nuts to bolts — should be on this paper (and then some).
From the smallest of tasks to those things that you probably won’t have to deal with for a couple of years.
Once you have it all down on paper, then — and only then — you can start to put together the order in which you need to do things.
Part of this reverse engineering of your plan includes a list of absolutely everything you think you’ll need and more. And then give it all an estimated price and round up.
Then, create a list of what your profit centers will look like and your cost of:
- Goods
- Production
- Sales
- Delivery
- Fulfillment
- Insurance
- State filing taxes
Every single possible cost you can imagine! And if you don’t know where to start, may I suggest Google? Of course, it goes without saying that I’m offering these quick tips assuming that you are not already a member of the Marketing Impact Academy.
For the next 5 steps you need to start your business, please check out the Build Your Tribe episode below:
And don’t forget to subscribe to BYT for weekly podcasts dedicated to your financial wellness — whether it’s an online side hustle or full-fledged, up and running business!
