Start with the end in mind
Not every business should be started in the home. If you're just starting out, it's easy to get caught up in the stuff.
Instead, look for what your company really needs and get a head start on that first.
Here are some of my favorite areas to start:
1. Your name. Get a business name that is simple, catchy and easily recognizable. I have a friend who started her company, Littletown Gardens, while living in the country but eventually moved to town, where she named it "Littletown Nurseries" in order to be loyal to the market she served. Her sales kept her in town and allowed her to continue growing with minimal overhead, beating out many other garden centers who had abandoned that market years earlier for a quicker way into more upscale customers.
2. Physical location. Is your business going to be retail, wholesale or a service? If you're starting a retail business, are you going to need space for lots of inventory? If you're going to be offering seminars and events, will you travel or hold them at a location where people can come easily?
3. Marketing methods. Do you want to sell online? In person? Do you want to take out advertisements in a media that is local or farther away and less costly? Or do you have connections in your industry that can help with referrals and word-of-mouth marketing?
4. Office equipment. Are you going to run the entire business from your phone and computer? Or do you want to spend money on good equipment and professional-looking office space so that your customers can experience a greater level of professionalism?
5. Employees or self-employment. Do you have the skills to run this business by yourself or are there aspects that you need help with? Can you hire people who are experts in their own field, such as an accountant, insurance agent, shipping company or receptionist for answering phones and scheduling appointments? If not, can you afford/manage to train someone who doesn't know what they're doing yet?
6. Business model. How will you run things? Will you do it all by yourself, with a team, a corporation or another alternative?
7. Entrance into your industry. Is there a way to start small in that industry, getting your name out there and then deciding whether or not to go full-scale later?
8. Contractors/vendors. Do you want to hire outside help for one-time jobs or monthly vendors that can help keep your business running smoothly? Which do you need more? In the beginning, I worked with outside designers and printers because I never had enough time to learn the software programs myself that would let me create everything I wanted without having someone create it for me. Somewhere along the way, I learned to do that myself and realize that outsourcing was not necessary. The key is to know what you need and learn how to do it as fast as possible.
9. Customer retention. Is there an aspect of your business model that could be improved? If so, how can it be accomplished?
10. Partnerships with other businesses in your industry or niche. This is something I've done more than once in my day and started by finding people who were doing similar things but a little differently, asking them for advice and encouragement as well as referrals. I've found that it costs me less than advertising and has the added bonus of helping me to build relationships with people who I would not otherwise have met.
11. Employment relationships with employees who can help you. Believe it or not, there are always going to be things that you don't do well, even as a boss. I had a boss once who ended up coming back to work for us because he didn't like being out of the industry, but wanted to work for himself most of the time. The key is to talk about what you'd like to do with the employee and give it some careful thought, then make it happen.
12. Networking. It can help you get more business and better quality customers, both of which will help you grow faster than if you were only doing things by yourself.
13. Outsourcing or virtual assistants. Sure, this can seem overwhelming at first, especially if you're thinking about hiring someone part-time or for a short period of time as a virtual assistant in addition to having someone do your business books for a full-time salary. This can be a great idea unless you're poorly organized or have no idea how to keep things running smoothly. Instead, hire people for the job you're actually hiring them for.
14. Outsourcing/virtual assistants. What if you need help with your business books and records? I have a virtual assistant who is an expert in that realm, very affordable and extremely competent in what she does. She's also been wonderful to work with and offers very attractive pricing as well as fast turnaround time on any bookwork she needs to do in addition to my business books.
Conclusion:
The beauty of this is that you don't have to do everything on this list at once. You can look at one area first, then go to the next and then come back to the first, then start again. The trick is finding where you're lacking so that you can stop wasting money and energy doing things that are unnecessary and focus on what your business needs most right now in order to become a success.