Everyone is looking for ways to make extra money in this tough economy, so it’s no surprise that small businesses and self employment are on the rise. There are pros and cons to starting a small business, but overall if you have an entrepreneurial spirit, you will do just fine!
Starting a small business
Start by creating a plan. You’ll need a business plan, and a sales plan can be helpful also. If you don’t have a business plan, chances are you won’t have a successful business. Your plan doesn’t have to be super detailed, it can be 3-5 pages long and cover everything in a general sense. You can add specifics later.
Figure out where you are going to get the funds from to start your small business. Are you going to apply for a loan? Try apply for a grant before you go into too much debt with loans. Consider selling things to come up with the extra money, but don’t put your house up for collateral or anything like that. Times are hard, and you don’t want to chance losing your house because of a failed business venture.
Keep in mind that starting a small business is a lot of work. You have to worry about running everything yourself, as well as things like small businesses taxes, expenses, and more. It’s a good idea to take a business accounting class or two if you have the time, just so you have an easier task ahead of you when tax time rolls around.
Another downside of being self employed is health insurance. Finding insurance for self employed folks is not an easy task. Health insurance is so expensive, even for the average working man (or woman), so health expenses are definitely something to keep in mind before you quit your day job to become your own boss.
All in all, starting your own small business can be a great experience, full of lessons learned for everyone involved. And who knows, you may come up with some awesome small business ideas and strike it rich like that Facebook guy did!
Business plan is a must in putting up a business. You will be lost on your journey if you don’t have this. Try to plan everything very thoroughly.
addison davis recently posted..Detox Your Makeup Bag
Yes. Having a good plan is important.
Calculate how much available capital you’ll use to start your small business. The more money you have, the wider your options for the type of small business you can start. Consider getting a business loan at a local bank if you have the credit and the means to pay it back. As always, don’t dedicate money to the small business that you can’t afford to lose in regards to your household budget.
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Great point on capital.
Hi Diane, thanks for the good summary
It seems like mastering the social media side of things is becoming more important when starting a small business these days too. If you don’t have a good presence on the internet then you’ll likely lose out to competitors. You’re right too when you say it’s not wise to invest much, a lot of businesses don’t make it first time round and you might need to have a few goes at it before you make it. Good luck to anyone having a go! Thanks! Glen
So true about social media. Seems like you have to have some sort of a social media presence in order to be successful.
Twitter: smhmama
Great tips. All very necessary for starting a small business. Small business owners should also check out resources like the SBA. Along with funding, many small businesses faile to plan for the long term and often don’t have a plan in place for expanding their business. So it’s important to start thinking about hiring employees, payroll, HR solutions, etc. so they respond to growth when it happens.
Thanks for adding these great tips!
Y’know – I’m thankful for my health. It would be really tough to start a business if I relied on health insurance from a big company. There’s no way I could afford it on my own if I were ill.
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