(no subject)

[aroraborealis]

Say you were giving pointers to someone considering starting a small business. Where would you send them, what book(s) would you recommend, and/or what tips would you give?

Comments

Having been involved in 2, utterly unrelated start-ups...

[harimad.livejournal.com]

Learn to be rational about your decisions - except for the one to open a business in the first place. No rational person would do that.

Plan for success as well as failure. What will you do if the biz takes off unexpectedly? How much time are you going to give it? How will you finance increased operations, which you'll need to do before the increased revenues start rolling in?

Get the elevator talk down cold: be able to explain what your biz does in under 1 minute. This serves two purposes. One, it means you've focused your business plan down HARD. No fuzzy-fuzzy about it. Two, you need a strong pitch to catch someone's attention, be it a buyer, an investor, or a journalist.

Don't max out your credit cards to finance your biz. That's even worse than tapping your HELOC or getting a second mortgage.

Re: Having been involved in 2, utterly unrelated start-ups...

[jacflash.livejournal.com]

...but if you do use credit cards to finance it, use ones that give you frequent-flier miles, and once the crazies have settled down a little, take a damn vacation.

Re: Having been involved in 2, utterly unrelated start-ups...

[harimad.livejournal.com]

Hah! That's good.

I knew people who put their grad school tuition on their cc, then paid off the cc with grant/loan money, to get the benefits. Ah, the lovely little window after everyone and his dog accepted credit cards but before everyone and his dog realized that the cc fees were too high to continue this.