Just twenty years ago, starting a business was as simple as having a product, a vision, and the desire to succeed.  While that is still true, so many more dynamics have become paramount in business.  Even community organizations, schools and non profits are forced to reconsider their battle plan as the importance of an online presence, and utilization of social media increases. The average American spends 31 hours online each week with 25% of that time devoted to social media (Mashable, December 2010).  That is less than half of the time they spend in the car listening to the radio.  It stands to reason that as a business or organization, you need to be where your clients are – online. A common misconception about having a website is that you need to have a full time IT (Information Technology) person building and/or running it.  This just isn’t so, anymore.  With the advent of platforms such as Blogger, Wordpress, or many of the other CMS (Content Management Suites), … [Read more...]

Starting a business is an exciting time filled with many questions that need to be answered.  Check out the first article in this series where I talk about what questions to address first.  Once those questions have been answered, you really need to stop what you are doing and think about your business finances. For the small time operate out of your home business owner, chances are you will be able to handle the financial aspect on your own.  However.  Please don't think you know it all.  In my experience with consulting companies, the first mistake most owner's make is they think they can handle everything.  While this may be true in the beginning days, there will come a point that you need to consider handing things over to a specialist. If you are a do it yourself-er, don't make the mistake of thinking you need some expensive software.  Quicken is an adequate program to use, and as money allows, you can always upgrade to Quickbooks.  For the companies that I work … [Read more...]

You don't have to read the news to realize that our country is in hard economic times.  Unemployment on the national level stands at 9.7% with 16 states over the 10% mark.  14.9 million people are unemployed right now, yet only 4.78 million are collecting unemployment benefits.  So, what are the other 10 million people doing to make money? It is my belief that we are going to begin to see a large uptick in small business start ups in the coming months, and years.  However, with most businesses failing within the first three years of opening their doors,  you need to do a lot of research and leg work to make sure the odds are stacked in your favor. You have a great idea for a product, or you simply have a talent you want to use.  Where do you go from there? The very first thing you need to do is figure out how to structure your company.  For most purposes, at least in the beginning, starting out as a sole proprietorship will suit you just fine.  This is the easiest, and … [Read more...]