{"id":13936,"date":"2018-05-25T08:00:36","date_gmt":"2018-05-25T12:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/honeybook.site.strattic.io\/?p=13936"},"modified":"2022-03-23T16:36:18","modified_gmt":"2022-03-23T16:36:18","slug":"starting-a-business-what-you-should-do-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hbbadmin.dev.reliablepenguin.com\/blog\/starting-a-business-what-you-should-do-first","title":{"rendered":"When You Start a Business, What Should You Do First?"},"content":{"rendered":"

We’ve been there, many times: you\u2019re confused, overwhelmed by all the information out there, and suffering from analysis paralysis. You know what you want your business to look like, but you just don\u2019t know how to get there. You feel like you\u2019re not equipped to make decisions about things like building websites, becoming a sole-proprietor or an LLC, targeting niche markets, managing money and managing clients. It all feels so complicated, when all you wanted was to make money doing what we love.<\/p>\n

This is the most common roadblock we see people hit when starting a business: the question of, \u201cwhat needs to be done first?\u201d While the advice below may not work for everyone, we tell most business owners to tackle things in the following order.<\/p>\n

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A plan of attack for new business owners:<\/u><\/strong><\/h2>\n

1. Brand and target market<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Yeah, yeah, you\u2019ve heard it a million times: know your target market. Find your avatar (no, not the blue people in that James Cameron movie\u2013avatar is another word for \u201cideal client\u201d). But here\u2019s the thing\u2014if you\u2019re hearing it over and over, it might be worth taking to heart. We suggest this as the first step because you need a business name to become legal, and you can\u2019t choose a name until you know it\u2019s capable of supporting a strong brand. The quickest and easiest way to figure out your brand is to create a killer mood board on Pinterest. Think of your mood board as a concentrated source of information for what you want, what your style is, who you look to for inspiration, keywords that you would use to describe your business, and more.<\/p>\n

2. Getting Legal<\/strong><\/h3>\n

You have many options on what type of business you want to become\u201414 last we checked! But the two main structures chosen by creatives are LLCs & Sole Proprietorships. We\u2019re both LLC\u2019s. That\u2019s because we work with people in public spaces and wanted to keep the liability off of our personal property. But that doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s right for you. Once you decide what type of business structure you want to become, head over to your local Clerk of Courts website, your state\u2019s Department of Revenue site, and the IRS site to see what steps are required.<\/p>\n

3. Finances<\/strong><\/h3>\n

We know what you\u2019re thinking: can\u2019t I just skip this one and move on to the fun stuff? But wait a minute!\u2014if you\u2019re not tracking your expenses, you\u2019re going to have a really hard time building the cushion you need to quit your 9-5. When we started out, we were both guilty of spending way too much money on wasted marketing materials that we never used and \u201cbusiness dinners\u201d which, let\u2019s be real, we partly used as an excuse to eat lunch and dinner with friends. To track things, we highly recommend using Quickbooks Self-Employed\u2014it will help you take responsibility of your spending, start saving, and prepare yourself for success.<\/p>\n

4. Website<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The world wide web has its fair share of pretty awful websites. And we\u2019re not just talking about design. Ever visited a website looking for a phone number and couldn\u2019t find it? What about service-based businesses where you can\u2019t find a single testimonial online? We could go on, but we\u2019ve narrowed it down to five main things every small business website must have:<\/p>\n