Category Archives: Decide and Plan for a Small Business

The first step to starting a small business is to decide on an idea and create a plan.

Decide and Plan for a Small Business, Getting Help with Your Small Business, Inspiration & Quotes

When Starting a Small Business Family Members Can Be Your Worst Opposition

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Woman talking by phone
© Abdone | Dreamstime Stock Photos

When you’re starting a small business, you might assume that your family members will be your staunchest advocates. Surely they’ll be the first in line to buy your stuff and give you a positive review. Surely they’ll call you up and say “congratulations.” Surely they’ll call and offer you some assistance to help your business grow…

But a lot of new small business owners (myself included) have a very, very different experience. In fact, the reaction from family members when you’re starting a small business can be downright cold!

Resisting the Negativity

If you find yourself in this type of predicament, your biggest challenge is going to be overcoming the negative thoughts, beliefs, words and actions of your family members. These are the people who know you best, so they also know how to really hurt your feelings if they really want to. You can probably think of one person in particular right now who seems to get a kick out of annoying or hurting your feelings.

Listen up: you have to do whatever you have to do to stay motivated to achieve your goals. If that means that you have to separate from your family members for a while, then so be it.

Second tip: that person in your family who gets a kick out of seeing you down and out? Don’t tell him or her anything about what you’re planning to do.

Third tip: Understand that when someone reacts negatively to you trying to better you life, it’s because they’re unsatisfied with their own life. They don’t want you (or anyone for that matter) doing better than them. That’s their problem — not yours.

Things don’t always happen immediately when you’re starting a small business; it takes time. That’s why it’s so important to stay around positive people who motivate you to keep pushing forward. Unfortunately, that doesn’t always include members of your family. Take the advice of the late great Napoleon Hill who suggests that all entrepreneurs join a mastermind group of like-minded people who all want each other to succeed.

 

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Decide and Plan for a Small Business, Inspiration & Quotes

Starting a Small Business: Is Someone or Something Discouraging You?

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When I first started out as an entrepreneur, my family and friends definitely weren’t very supportive of my decision. They laughed at me, to my face and behind my back. They basically told me that I was crazy and needed to go get a job!

Years later, I may still have my ups and downs as an entrepreneur from time to time but as Frank Sinatra sang: “I did it myyyyy way!” I earn a living doing what I do and I do it all on my own terms. I am not at the mercy of an employer or boss, which is possibly the most rewarding part of having your own business.

I believe to this day that if I had more support and less doubt from the people in my life at the time, I would have gotten a lot further as a small business owner in a shorter period of time.

So my question to you today is, do you have someone or something in your life that’s discouraging you from moving forward with your plans to start your own business? If so, here’s a little motivational post to help you eventually pull away from and around that roadblock.

You’re the Only One Who Can Live Your Life Successfully

From the time we’re children, many of us are conditioned to live our lives based on the wishes and desires of others – our parents, teachers and peers. But the truth is that they don’t know what’s best for your life. Only you know that. You are the only person who can live your life, so keep that in mind when you find yourself making decisions based on what other people want for you.

Relieve Yourself of the Opinions of Others

There’s a saying that goes “your opinion of me is none of my business.” A lot of people go through life making decisions based on what other people will think of them. Why do we care so much about what others think? When it comes right down to it, the opinions of other people really don’t matter in the grand scheme of things. The only opinion that matters is the one you have about yourself. Are you happy? And if not, what do you need to do to get happy?

Some Day…

Are you taking up space on “someday isle?” That’s a place where people sit by idly, speculating on what they’ll do “someday” instead of taking action today. They make excuse after excuse about why they can’t take action: someday when my kids graduate from high school… someday when I get my master’s degree… someday when I save this amount of money. What is really stopping you from taking the first step to make your small business idea a reality? You can start today, even if it’s just sitting down and writing a plan of action. JUST DO IT.

If you’re serious about starting your own small business, you will do it. It’s as simple as that. As Tommy Lasorda said “The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a man’s determination.” There comes a moment in life when you have to decide that nothing and no one will stop you from pursuing and achieving your dreams.

Business Plan Outline

A Quick Business Plan Outline for Your Small Business Startup

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Some people think that it’s pointless to create a business plan unless you’re asking someone for money, but I beg to differ. The main reason why the majority of small businesses fail within the first 5 years of operation is poor planning. At the very least, you should create a short-form document (a few pages long) containing this business plan outline to use for your own reference.

Executive Summary

The executive summary is an introduction to what this business plan is all about. It offers an overview of your goals as a new business owner, what you’re selling and why you believe this is an awesome business idea. If you have an interesting (but brief) story to tell about how you got the idea or inspiration to start the business, here is where you put it.

Company Description

Just write the basics about your company, including the location, what you do, your industry and what makes you better than the rest.

Market Analysis

99 percent of businesses have some type of competition (or will at some point in the future). In this section of the business plan outline provide information about your industry, competitors and the market where you plan to sell your goods.

Management Profile

The people who are running a business are crucial to its success. In this section provide a list and details about each key player who is involved in launching and managing your business. If there are a lot of people, you may want to create an organizational chart using Microsoft Word.

Product or Service Description

Here is where you get down to the “nitty gritty” of what your business is all about. What do you plan to sell, how do you plan to make it and what makes it different and better than what’s already out there on the market?


Marketing Plan

As a marketing major, I may be a bit biased but I really think that this is the most important part of your business plan. After everything has been established, products designed, store in place (online or brick and mortar) and items purchased, all you’re going to be doing is marketing.

In this section of your business plan outline, discuss the 4 Ps of marketing (promotion, place, price, product) and give a detailed profile of your target audience. Use demographic data where possible and any marketing research you’ve done (focus groups, surveys, etc).

Financials

In my experience writing business plans, the financials are usually the most time consuming to complete. That’s because you have to create several different financial statements that can be a bit complicated to generate if you aren’t familiar with accounting. Statements you’ll need include an income statement (profit and loss), balance sheet and cash flow statement. You’ll need to create financial projections for years 1-5 (possibly longer if you’re applying for loans or an investment) and past statements if you’ve already been in business for a while.

If applying for financing, you also need to create a funding request outlining how much money you’re asking for, how you’ll use it and how you plan to repay it (if applicable). If you’re not familiar with how to do your financial section properly, hire an accountant to help.

Use this simple business plan outline to create a short plan for your own reference or to present to lenders or investors.



Starting up a small business, even if it's just on the side, is no longer an option -- it's a necessity. Why? Because everyone needs an additional source of income in our new economy. Click here to sign up for educational and motivational posts to keep you on track.

Decide and Plan for a Small Business, Entrepreneur Ideas

3 Totally Doable Small Business Ideas

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A lot of people hesitate to start a business because they think they need to invest a whole lot of money and time to get it going. Not so, thanks mostly to the Internet and social media, there are plenty of options for starting a business with a minimal investment. Here are 3 totally doable small business ideas to get your creative juices flowing.

Get Crafty

In the past, the only people who benefited from your creative crafts were your mom and maybe your cat, but now thanks to sites like Etsy, Zazzle and Cafepress you can get “crafty” and make some money in the process. You can sell your creations on a highly trafficked site that gets a lot of attention from the public. A lot of online craft sellers promote their creations on Twitter and other social media sites… and yes, they sometimes make a nice bit of change doing it.

So get crafty and have some fun making some really cute jewelry, home décor, clothes and other items from scratch.

Your investment: the costs associated with the site, which usually include a small listing fee and a percentage of each sale, so yea, basically not much at all. Oh and the investment of your time spending your weekends making beautiful crafts (as if that’s some type of chore! Have some fun with it).

Time for Your Close-Up – Start a YouTube Business

You may be surprised to learn how many people make a nice living from YouTube. With this totally doable small business idea you make money by posting videos that provide information, tips, advice, funny content and other things that people really want to see online. So how do you make money? Google has a program called Adsense where you can run ads besides your videos and make cold hard cash every time someone clicks to your page.

Your investment: the cost of a really good camera (a web camera works) and 1+ hour per day recording videos for posting.

Start a Flourishing Business – $5 at a Time

Another totally doable small business idea for entrepreneurs young and older who are just getting started out is to start a Fiverr business. If you’re not familiar, it’s a site where people can post what are called “gigs” – a service like writing, translation or design – for $5 per gig. You can also sell products on the website, it’s totally awesome and easy to use. There are plenty of resourceful people who have built thriving “Fiverr” based businesses earning a living on the site.

Your investment: none (besides the $1 fee for each completed gig) and your time investment providing the service.

So as you can see despite popular belief, there are ways to start a business without having to invest your life savings or work yourself into the ground. Have some fun with it and remember that when you do what you love, people can tell and they will buy from you. Get started today!



Starting up a small business, even if it's just on the side, is no longer an option -- it's a necessity. Why? Because everyone needs an additional source of income in our new economy. Click here to sign up for educational and motivational posts to keep you on track.

Decide and Plan for a Small Business, Entrepreneur Ideas

How to Find Your Talent – Your Calling

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What is your calling in life? How do you find your talent — the one thing that you have a knack for that could make you a lot of money if you set up a proper system to sell it?

But to be clear, when I ask the question, “what is your calling?” I’m not just asking what you’re good at. Everyone has skills in one area or another, but just because you’re good at something doesn’t mean that it’s your calling. You might be good at copying papers, but do you really want to copy papers for a living?

When I ask “what is your calling” I’m asking what do you LOVE to do. That’s what it comes down to — you have to love what you do first and foremost. You can always learn and refine your skills as time goes on.

So what do you love doing? How can you make money from it? Here are a few suggestions for brainstorming and coming up with a good idea:

  1. Take a trip back to your childhood. In elementary school I wrote a little book in one of those small white hard covered books where you can draw a picture on the cover) and also won 2nd place in a statewide poetry content. It wasn’t until 15+ years later that I realized I loved to write and could make a living from it. Think back to what you loved to do when you were a child but may have stopped doing because someone told you you had to be a “grown up” now.
  2. Ask yourself, what would you do even if you weren’t getting paid for it? What are you passionate about? What makes your heart flutter when you even think about doing it?
  3. What do you do on your free time that you really enjoy? Golf? Tennis? Are you the grill master on weekends? Do you love to snowboard? Reading? Start off with your hobbies, activities that you’re knowledgeable about, and then think of innovative products, services that you can sell to other people who have the same interests. Maybe even an online store selling the best stuff or an informational blog on the subject that earns money from clicks.

Start off with these ideas to find your talent. You might have to try a few things until something takes off. If you have to keep working in the meanwhile, no problem; do that, and use your nights and weekends to work on your new business idea.

Whatever you do, don’t give up! Keep pushing forward until you find your calling and can finally say that you love what you do for a living.

 



Starting up a small business, even if it's just on the side, is no longer an option -- it's a necessity. Why? Because everyone needs an additional source of income in our new economy. Click here to sign up for educational and motivational posts to keep you on track.

Make Money Online

3 Ways to Use Twitter to Make Money

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Some Twitter users spend a lot of time posting on Twitter for fun, but they don’t realize that it’s possible to use Twitter to make money. Your time is as valuable as money (if not more), so why not use your time spent on Twitter to make some money? Shift your perspective a bit, because this could start off as something to do on the side and turn into an opportunity to start a small business.

So if you’re a Twitter fanatic who is also a fan of making money, explore ways to use your account more productively. Before you get started, read Twitter’s Rules to ensure that your plan is in line with their guidelines.

Here are three simple ideas for earning an income on Twitter and other social media sites:

Promoted Tweets

Some people make money by promoting tweets to their followers. An advertiser pays them a fee for each tweet. There are a number of services that facilitate this type of transaction by accepting payment from the customer and then immediately posting the tweet to your account (like this one). You set the price—obviously, the more followers you have, the more you can charge. It’s also helpful if you happen to reach a targeted group of people who advertisers want to reach, like moms or teens.

Affiliate Arrangements

Another way to make money with your Twitter account is to manage a website or blog where you post affiliate deals and specials related to your subject matter. You can create an affiliate account with a service like Commission Junction, LinkShare or Amazon. Your job is to continue to provide valuable content that your followers enjoy on Twitter so that they will visit your website for more information and make purchases using your affiliate ads.

Write an Informational Guide

A lot of people make money on Twitter by writing informational guides and books (usually eBooks) and placing them for sale online. There are numerous ways to self-publish your work online for sale, including Amazon’s KDP platform, Clickbank and by simply posting a secure PDF file on your website for download after a PayPal purchase.

Use these ideas as a starting point to inspire you to pursue ways to use Twitter to make money and possibly start your own small business.

 

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Starting up a small business, even if it's just on the side, is no longer an option -- it's a necessity. Why? Because everyone needs an additional source of income in our new economy. Click here to sign up for educational and motivational posts to keep you on track.

Business Plan Outline

Business Plan Outline

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When you start a small business, one of the most important steps is to write a business plan outline. Once you have that outline prepared, all you have to do is fill in the blanks.

You may be surprised at how simple it is to fill in the outline once you have it in front of you. All of those thoughts that you’ve been having about the business that you want to start will start flowing out of your brain and onto the page.

A good business startup outline includes (but is not limited to) the following:

– executive summary

– summary of your proposed product or service

– marketing plan

– how you’ll implement this plan

– management summary (who will be running this company?)

– the financial plan (one of the most challenging parts to write)

Stay tuned to this section of StartUpaSmallBiz.com for advice and guidance on how to use a business plan outline to start your small business.



Starting up a small business, even if it's just on the side, is no longer an option -- it's a necessity. Why? Because everyone needs an additional source of income in our new economy. Click here to sign up for educational and motivational posts to keep you on track.

Small Business Adminstration

Small Business Administration

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Whenever you need some assistance and advice for how to start up a small business, it’s a good idea to turn to the Small Business Administration and its wealth of resources for guidance.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA.gov) publishes information on the following topics related to starting a business:

– starting and managing

– loans and grants

– contracting

– local assistance

and more. This section focuses on Small Business Administration topics that will help you decide and plan your new business. Stay tuned for updates and information.



Starting up a small business, even if it's just on the side, is no longer an option -- it's a necessity. Why? Because everyone needs an additional source of income in our new economy. Click here to sign up for educational and motivational posts to keep you on track.

Entrepreneur Ideas

Entrepreneur Ideas

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Come to this section of StartUpaSmallBiz.com for entrepreneur ideas to inspire you to start your new small business.

An entrepreneur is officially defined as someone who “organizes and manages a business undertaking, assuming the risk to make a profit.” Does this sound like it could be you?

– Do you really like the idea of being your own boss?

– Are you comfortable with the challenges involved in starting a small business?

– Can you handle the pressure involved when starting up a small business and money doesn’t flow in as quickly as you’d like it to?

– Do you have money set aside to invest in your business ideas and pay your bills while setting up your small business?

– Do you like innovating and creating new things?

If the answer to these questions is yes, then keep this page bookmarked for inspiration and useful entrepreneur ideas.

Visit the entrepreneur ideas category page >>



Starting up a small business, even if it's just on the side, is no longer an option -- it's a necessity. Why? Because everyone needs an additional source of income in our new economy. Click here to sign up for educational and motivational posts to keep you on track.

Home Business Ideas

Home Business Ideas

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Bookmark this page for home business ideas that may inspire you to start your new small business.

You don’t have to establish a separate business location in order to start a business — you can start your new company from home. Here are a few common home business opportunities you might want to look into:

– virtual assistant

– content writer

– online store owner/manager

– medical transcription

– tech support for people who aren’t computer savvy

– travel agent (setting up travel itineraries for clients)

– tutoring

– website developer or designer

Keep this page of StartUpaSmallBiz.com bookmarked for more home business ideas.



Starting up a small business, even if it's just on the side, is no longer an option -- it's a necessity. Why? Because everyone needs an additional source of income in our new economy. Click here to sign up for educational and motivational posts to keep you on track.