[ This is a work in Progress; I am writing it piece by piece.]

By the time you complete this tutorial, you will know how to:



Ok, all of you guys know me; and what I'm about so there is no point in wasting
time on an introduction.


Part 1: The basics of a business

Every good business model is based on answering the following 5 questions:

1. What is my business name?
There are two things to consider when selecting a business name,

I. Is this name available as an Incorporation?
II. Is the domain I want for this business available?


2. What is it that we do?

Once you have answered this question; it is time to come up
with your first product/service. We will get into more detail
about this later.

3. Do I have competition? If so, what makes me different than the
competition?

Comb your local area(phonebooks, internet sites, etc) looking for
other businesses that offer the same services as you.

Take note of the following:

1. Packages and Prices
2. Technical Support availability
3. Production costs
4. Advertising methods

example: Let's say I am starting a small ISP. I would comb my local
area to find various ISP's that are available to my client
base. Let's pretend the company I am researching has the
following:

DSL - 1.5 mbps down 384 kbps up for $24.95 a month
24/7 Tech Support
98.9% guaranteed uptime

obviously, I would not offer 1.5/384 internet service in the
same area for $40.00 a month; this is a sure way to lose
clientel.

Let's go one step further and assume that this ISP has the
customer majority in your area. One must ask, why are people
going to this ISP?

1. Higher Speeds?
2. Reliability?
3. Uptime?
4. Specials?
5. Price?
6. etc

Now use this small bit of data to add to your business
plan.

In essence; I have just created a small business model based
on data collected by researching this 1 company. Imagine what
I can find out by researching hundreds.


4. How much money will it take to get my business running?

Make sure to calculate the cost of facilities, monthly
services, first quarter payrolls, production costs,
advertisement, etc.

You will use this as your primary data for dividend/revenue
calculation as well as your fiscal presentation for investors.

Remember; investors could care less about opinion. When it comes to money;
the only thing trustworthy in this world is cold hard facts. Create a folder
based on the research you have done on competitors as well as projections of
your business model.

You will be creating two items based on this folder of which your business
could not survive without.

1. Investor Presentation
2. Media(Websites, Brochures, Commercials, etc)


Once you have completed this folder; it is sime to put your product into
phase 1; which is the next chapter.


Chapter 2. Product demonstration

If your primary product is a service; now is the time to create a live
demonstration of that service; or to setup that system all together.

If your product is physical; It is the time to get a sample made. For
instance; if your project involves USB drives; as one of my upcoming
projects does; you need to get at least 20 of the drives ordered.

Let's use the thumb drives as an example.

The first step is to contact the company that will be creating the hardware,
and establishing communication based on the details of your product.

It is good to go ahead and get your logo designed at this time; whether you
have a private designer or will be outsourcing. After all; what good is a
business product if noone knows what company it came from?

After slapping your logo on the USB drive; and ordering the first 20;
it is a good idea to get prices on large quantities; e.g. (My first official
order of drives will approximate 10,000).

Add this price to your business folder under the category of production/
manufacture costs. Once you have your product samples and your logo;
implement your program/service into it; and begin your website.

Your website should be informative and factitious to the product at hand.
Don't lie about your product, customers will catch on quicker than you
think. Setup your website just like it is a presentation to investors;
technically, it is. Tell them what your service offers that others don't or
can't; provide facts and figures. Give them a reason to choose your
business.

Next, begin your brochures; and get your designers working on the first
TV commercials and mass media for your product.

And you have to beat the street.. I once followed a crowd into a secure building and flashed my Amex.. Worked and the building manager agreed to let me work out of the lobby for free. That’s when I was in sales though. ~cough~ that was in Manhattan.. Now that I’m in DC you need a freak’n retina scan before they let you in.

I once followed a crowd into a restaurant and flashed my...

well,needless to say; I was shown the way out.

lol..

well, anyone that is serious about starting one google your state comptroller, and secretary of state website. Also look for your closet county court house.

business.gov
ccr.gov
sba.gov
score.org

is what you should look into as well...

from a person who has been there, done it... it's not that hard and you can save yourself alot of time and headache (as well as initial costs) doing it yourself. if you've got the initial startup money (in TX it's 300.00) do an LLC vs. a regular ol DBA. I'm in the middle of transition.

thats a good tut, thanx and also these are GREAT to visit.....

business.gov
ccr.gov
sba.gov
score.org