How to Start a Small Business at the Beginning

Introduction: Start at the Beginning

So you want to start your own business? Congratulations. Right now, you’re probably focused on all of the great things you associate with business ownership:

§  Financial independence

§  Creative freedom

§  Fully using your skills and knowledge

§  A balanced life with the ability to have time with your family and friends

Right now, you may not be thinking about:

§  Acquiring Customers

§  Keeping Customers

§  Risk (in various forms)

§  Liability (various types)

§  Paperwork (lots of it, even when it’s all done digitally)

§  Competition (from constantly changing directions)

§  Never having enough time

§  Never quite knowing what you don’t know

Starting a business isn’t easy. It takes a lot of motivation, discipline, talent, research, planning and good old-fashioned hard work—before you can even hang your “open for business” sign. The topics covered in this overview just scratch the surface. The links you’ll find will take you a little deeper on a topic, but even then, any small business owner will tell you: You don’t always know what you don’t know.

The difference in starting a business and starting a startup

This is an overview of how to start a business, not how to start a startup. There’s a big difference. We once created a funny GIF “listicle” about the difference in starting a startup and starting a business, but the main difference is this: Startups are all about raising funds. Starting a business is all about having customers who pay you more money than it costs for you to provide the goods or services for that payment. Both kinds of companies are important to the economy. But our focus is on starting businesses, not starting startups.