Back when I worked as a lawyer, I answered cold calls from prospective clients who just had their Big Idea. I’d teach them how to take that idea and start their own business.
After many years of helping inventors and working for international corporations, I should be able to start my own business with my eyes closed, right?
But no. Sure, I understood the big picture, but I didn’t know a lot of the actual details. I didn’t know details like whether I needed to file estimated taxes in the first year of my business. Or how to start my own website. Or which is the best bookkeeping software. I didn’t know the real details of how to start a small business.
I researched my questions on the internet. But I couldn’t find articles that directly answered my questions on these missing details. I’d have to piece several articles together to get the answer.
Hence the idea for this website.
This Website Is for Those Who Want to Know How to Start a Small Business
If you have a great idea but no business experience and don’t know how or where to start a business, this place is for you.
If you’ve had a hobby business for a while and want to use that to start a small business full time, this place is for you.
Even if you’re an experienced businessperson, you might still have questions as you expand and adapt to new business environments. This place is for you.
Every business is a little different, but at the start of the journey, many things you have to do and think through are the same. I will use starting and running my freelance writing business as a roadmap on what to write about for this website. But I’ll also cover topics appropriate to other types of businesses. No matter the topic, the underlying theme will always be how to start a small business.
This Website is Organized into Blogs and Articles
There are two parts to this website: the blog and the articles. The blog is a narrative—the story of starting and running a business. This is also where I’ll talk about strategic considerations as you make your business decisions.
But there will also be stand-alone articles on many subjects like how to pick a good hosting company for your website. You can jump around as you wish. My goal is to find and answer the details missed by other how to start a small business articles on other websites.
We’ll Go Over How to Start a Small Business of Any Type: Blogs, Webstores, or Physical Stores
My writing business is a service business, so I don’t have to build a webstore to sell merchandise. But you might need to build such a webstore. Don’t worry. We’ll cover this too. I’ve worked in the past with many businesses that sell goods too. I know what you might need.
We’ll even go over issues you might encounter if you plan to open a physical store. You’ll learn about things like how to understand a commercial lease or how to find a good credit card processing machine.
I’ll Gradually Add More Detailed Articles on How to Start and Run a Small Business, so Come Back Often
I built this website fairly quickly because I know that you need enough information to start your business as soon as possible. So, a lot of the steps for starting a business will be covered with just a few sentences, even though the subject is complex and can be expanded into full articles.
I will circle back and write about various subjects in greater detail, after I’ve given you enough information to get your business started. I will also take suggestions on future articles from readers. (You would have to become a patron. Here’s how.)
I expect to publish one long blog or article per week. Sometimes, you’ll get a long blog but no new article. Other times, you’ll get a short blog paired with a longer article. Or I might even edit the last blog to add a link to a new article.
So, welcome to my blog! Here’s the next blog entry. It’s on how to decide if you really have a great business idea.
Let’s get your new business started.
Questions? Comments?
