10 Start-up Tips: How to Get Your Business Up and Running

(Part II of a II Part Series)

Sometimes a lack of knowledge is paralyzing. If you’ve waited to start your tax practice because you’re unsure how to go about it, this article is for you. Last week we discussed the following 5 startup tips:

1. Name Your Business
2. Choose Your Business Structure
3. Get to Know Your Competition
4. Be Legally-Minded
5. Tread Lightly (financially, that is)

This week we’ll finish our discussion by addressing the final 5 startup tips.

6. Pick a Business Location (even if it’s just in your basement)
In real estate they say what matters most is location, location, location. The same applies to your business. The most important element in picking the right location is finding a place that will allow you to be productive and focus on your work. If you’ve decided to lease an office, take the time to research an appropriate area. Can you find a business district that compliments your services? Can you realistically afford to lease an office space right now? Is there a room in your house that could be dedicated to your new business? Weigh out the pros and cons and pick a place that works for your current situation and budget.

7. Create a Business Plan
It’s cliché because it’s true: If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Robert Krummer, Jr., chairman of First Business Bank in Los Angeles says, “The business plan is a necessity. If the person who wants to start a small business can’t put a business plan together, he or she is in trouble.”

Now should you stop everything and write up that business plan? No, one word of advice as you are starting out you will see things and ways of doing business that you feel you would like to pursue. Don’t stop building your business, and looking to grow your clientele base while putting down your plan on paper. Keep the ball rolling while planning out where you want that ball to go.

A business plan is a must for those who are seeking funding from investors or loan approval for their small business; it should convince readers of your business’s validity and profitability. It also helps you articulate your business goals and objectives; later you can use your business plan to assess your progress.

Business plans generally include the following:

• Executive summary

• Company description

• Descriptions of products and/or services

• Market and sales analysis

• Strategy and implementation of your products and/or services

• Management summary

• Financial plan

That may sound overwhelming, but you’ll be surprised at how creating a business plan will help you better define your business and give you the plan necessary to succeed. Learn more about writing a business plan in next week’s newsletter.

8. Create a Marketing Plan and Get to it!
Many businesses underestimate the importance of having a plan of action, a road map, or better known as a Marketing Plan for their business’ existence. If you don’t have a marketing plan, chances are you won’t get many clients, and if you don’t get many clients, your business will fail. You need to know certain things before you set out doing the activities that will drum you up some business. Even if you’ll be marketing on a shoestring budget, you need to know what marketing strategies you will use so that you can begin using them! A marketing plan should define or address the following:

• Target market

• Marketing objectives

• Market analysis

• Marketing strategies

• Budget

Watch for our tips on Marketing Plans in two weeks, we will be highlighting in more detail some steps you could consider and take to learn more about creating a marketing plan for your business.

9. Hire Well, Fire Quickly
If you’re hiring a staff, even if it’s small (one or two people), you’ll want to get the best employees possible. Don’t settle for an average applicant simply because you’re anxious to get started or doubt you can find someone better. Hiring superior support staff makes for a superior business. Ask the right questions, call their referrals, and perform background checks if you feel it’s necessary. Finding the right employees will save you a lot of time and money in the end.

Develop the list of questions that you feel if answered would give you the best information you would need to make the hiring decision. Look at the whole person, and their abilities for growth and for taking ownership of the position and pushing forward for you and the company.

If you realize that you’ve hired the wrong person, don’t wait for things to work out. While giving employees the time to adapt and “learn the ropes” is appropriate, giving them the time to drain your energy and resources is not. If your gut says it’s not going to work, chances are you should let the employee go and start looking again. Make sure you comply with your local labor laws and the processes of firing an individual to avoid problems down the line.

10. Hope for the Best, Prepare for the Worst
It’s good to be positive; it’s fatal to be blindly optimistic. Positive thinking will get you far; the more you envision your own success, the more likely you’ll be successful. On the other hand, while it’s great to hope for, and even expect the best, it’s important to prepare for difficulties with contingency plans. What will you do if your loan doesn’t fund? What will you do if your spouse can’t pick up the financial slack? What will you do if you loose bread and butter clients? You can’t anticipate every obstacle, but by preparing for the most obvious you won’t be devastated when problems arise. Just be sure you also celebrate your successes.

Information is power and we hope that by learning more about starting your own business you feel empowered to get busy and see it happen! These tips among many others are taught in the curriculum of the Professional Tax Preparer’s program. You will be able to gain these with the other marketing and business principles when you get yourself enrolled in the course.

You can do it! You’ve waited long enough to be able to take that next step. Time is racing fast and before you know it it will be too late to get your dreams of owning your own business off the ground for the upcoming season. Don’t procrastinate any longer! Enroll Today!