Starting a company is not easy. It takes the right idea, the right people, and of course, the right resources. But before you can do anything else, you must be sure that you have what it takes to get your business off the ground. Consulting with an attorney who specializes in small businesses will help you decide whether or not incorporating a company is right for you (it usually has a cost associated with it). These are our 4 essential tips for starting your company – considering your legal obligations, making sure you have enough capital, creating an effective marketing plan, and coming up with a solid business plan!
1. Legal Obligations
The first thing to do before you start your new business is to make sure that you are aware of all the legal obligations that come with it. For example, all companies must have a registered business name, keep specific records for tax purposes, follow their state’s incorporation laws, and observe any specific industry regulations. Read up on all local and federal laws and file for a business registration number to ensure that your company follows all the rules. If you’re unfamiliar with these legalities, hire an attorney that will bring you up to speed.
A legal entity for your company will help not only your business grow, but the legal life of the company as well. An LLC may be all you need to protect yourself and those involved in your business. Consulting with an attorney who specializes in small businesses will help you decide whether or not incorporating is right for you (it usually has a cost associated with it). You can also look into getting a DBA (Doing Business As) to register your name and protect yourself in case there’s something similar out there you don’t know about. Thanks to the Internet, this is becoming an increasingly important task that needs to be completed.
2. Have Enough Capital
Before starting your company, it is important to have enough capital saved up. Capital includes the money that you will invest into your new company as well as the money that you will need to sustain it for its first few months of operation. If necessary, try convincing friends and family members to invest in your business. As a reward, you can offer them equity in your company, letting them have a stake in its success while easing the financial burden on yourself.
However, a better option is to give your business plan to a potential angel investor. This essentially means that an investor will give you capital now in return for a portion of your company. Angel investors are usually very wealthy individuals that have made their money through successful ventures and want to reinvest it into the next generation of entrepreneurs.
3. Create An Effective Marketing Plan
After finding out about all of the legalities and necessary capital involved with starting a business, it is time to create an effective marketing plan for your company. Even if you have a solid product or service, without a well-crafted marketing plan, the public will never know about it. To be as efficient as possible with your money, you should hire a professional, like a web design and development agency that specializes in creating effective online and offline campaigns aimed towards reaching your target audience.
If you do not have the money to hire a professional marketer, consider reaching out to your contacts. If you have any friends that are successful marketers, chances are they would be willing to help you without having to pay them much or anything at all.
4. Have A Solid Business Plan
After creating an effective marketing plan and ensuring that your company is legally bound, it is time to come up with a solid business plan. A good business plan should contain the necessary information that shows that your company is capable of delivering what it promises. If you do not know how to write one, consider hiring an expert to help you draft one for your business before approaching potential investors or lenders.
Your business plan needs to include your company’s mission statement, its goals, and objectives, the strategies you will use to meet these goals, a market analysis of your industry, an overview of your competitors in addition to their strengths and weaknesses, how much capital you need to launch the business, projected revenue for the first five years of operation, and operations and management plan for your business, a marketing plan aimed at your target audience, and a list of risks that you might encounter going into business. Additionally, your business plan should have a section dedicated to the people who will be involved with running the company.
When it comes down to it, starting a business is very complicated and takes the right idea, the right people, and of course, the right resources. Utilize these four essentials when creating your company so that you can successfully launch it soon!
Founder Dinis Guarda
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