Small Business 101: How to Get Started
Take a good look at that store on the corner. There is a 10 percent to 12 percent chance it will not be there next year, according to the Office of Advocacy for the Small Business Administration.
“If you’re new you have about a 50-50 chance of surviving five years,” said Brian Headd, an economist with the Office of Advocacy, which tracks small businesses and examines the impact of proposed regulations on them.
Still, such odds do not seem to damp the desire of entrepreneurs.
An estimated 671,800 small businesses with employees opened their doors in 2005, the most recent year with statistics available, even as another 544,800 were expected to close theirs that year.
“Starting a business is actually easy. You can get business cards and an address at Mailboxes, etc.,” said Bill Morland, chairman of the Orange County chapter of Score, a nonprofit association that works with the S.B.A. to educate and assist entrepreneurs. “But you’re not really in business until you sell something, and that isn’t easy.”
Success comes with education, careful planning and adequate cash flow, specialists say. And it has never been easier to lay the groundwork for starting a small business. Many tools are available on the Internet and at libraries to aid aspiring entrepreneurs. Whole magazines are devoted to the subject.
But where to start? The Small Business Administration Web site is an excellent place to obtain information easily. It provides everything from details on characteristics important to run a business to information on writing a business plan to links to local centers offering assistance to start-ups.
The site’s “getting ready” section runs through a series of questions intended to help aspiring business owners gauge whether they have the qualities needed for the job: Are you a self-starter? Can you get along with different types of people? Are you risk-tolerant? Flexible and self-disciplined?
Need someone to hold your hand? Score, short for Service Corps of Retired Executives, has a network of more than 10,000 volunteers, working and retired executives, offering free guidance on the Web, through their offices across the country and at workshops. Small Business Development Centers, a partner of the S.B.A., also provide guidance at centers across the country.
Gillian Murphy, director of the San Joaquin Delta College Small Business Development Center, said she quizzed her clients about their reasons for going into business on their own.
“I tell them ‘I know you have something in your heart that’s telling you you’re going to be incredibly successful. My job is to get in your head and balance your head with your heart,’ ” Ms. Murphy said.
To do that she has them create a basic business plan, including a financial statement.
“Understanding the industry is key,” she said. “If someone is going to start a floral shop and they do a projected profit-and-loss statement and I don’t see spikes in February and May, they have no idea what they’re doing.”
Eunice Green, who owns a health food store in Stockton, Calif., turned to the development center at San Joaquin Delta College when she thought about buying a second store. With the help of the center, she took information on the types of customers at her existing store and did what Ms. Murphy calls “economic gardening.” After applying the demographics at various distances from the store, she decided against opening a second store.
“It’s kind of intuitive, but the S.B.D.C. gave me so many great concrete tools,” said Ms. Green, owner of Green’s Nutrition.
A number of online resources have also grown up in recent years geared to providing small-business owners with a wide range of information. They include sites like Work.com, which has more than 1,700 how-to segments covering a multitude of issues confronting small businesses; E-venturing, run by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation; and About.com’s small business and entrepreneur sites. (The New York Times Company owns About.com.)
StartupNation, a Web site founded by Rich and Jeff Sloan, offers advice through video segments augmented by written information and provides forums and groups where entrepreneurs can share information.
Other sites, like Bplans, owned and operated by Palo Alto Software, publisher of Business Plan Pro, have taken a more focused approach. Bplans offers more than 100 free sample business plans (more can be purchased) and they offer advice and other planning tools. When it comes to sorting through financial information, CCH Business Owner’s Toolkit has templates to help examine financial issues as well as other model business documents, checklists and government forms.
Still, any business or financial plan is only as good as the information it is built on. Finding that information may seem like a daunting task, but there are many free resources to turn to. A good first stop is the Census Bureau, which has detailed information in many areas including population, income and economic indicators for business. If the breadth of the Census Bureau’s information seems overwhelming, check out CensusScope, an Internet site that breaks demographic information down into manageable segments.
Another source of free statistical information online is FedStats, a site that provides a range of information produced by the federal government. And don’t forget you can still do your research the old-fashioned way by visiting a public library where a librarian will be able to provide a range of information, including industry publications.
The Library of Congress has compiled The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Small Business Information, a listing of books and directories helpful in establishing and running a business.
Ms. Murphy, who has been counseling small-business aspirants since 1989, says careful planning is essential to creating a successful business. Knowing the product, the market and the costs while having enough capital will go a long way toward getting through lean times.
“People who fail to plan have really not given themselves an opportunity to succeed,” she said.
A BETTER METHOD IS TO NOT START A NEW BUSINESS, BUT TO BUY AN EXISTING BUSINESS THAT HAS ALREADY GONE THOUGH THE GROWING PHASE AND IS NOW ESTABLISHED.
An established business provides you the owner with an immediate cash flow and allows you to not struggle though the growing pains.
Contact us to get some more ideas: www.sterlingcooper.info
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