Overview of major steps critical to planning and starting a business People start and operate businesses for many reasons. Regardless of why you are interested in starting and operating your own business, you want to be successful. The act of forming a business is not particularly difficult. However, planning for and developing a profitable, growing business is a complex, ongoing process. Adequate planning, attention to details, and realistic expectations are critical to your success, especially if the business grows rapidly.
step 1:
Examine your motivation for business ownership
Although hundreds of businesses are started each day, owning and operating a
business is not for everyone. Many businesses are started without a realistic evaluation
of personal objectives, individual talents, and personality traits. If you open a business
without an honest evaluation of your motives, you may find yourself unhappy and
disillusioned.
step 2:
Choose a business suitable for you
A question often asked is "What kind of business should I start?" No one can answer
this question for you. Your choice is a highly personal matter. Businesses of all types
are both successful and unsuccessful. A particular business generally succeeds or fails
based on the customer market, the skills of the owner(s) and workers, and the quality of
the products; not because of the type of business. Personal Areas To Consider When
Choosing Your Business: your experience, your talents and your interests.
step 3:
Evaluate the feasibility of your chosen business
At this point, you have examined your personal motivation for business ownership and
chosen an interesting possibility. Most likely, you are anxious to run to the bank, get a
loan, and open your business. STOP!
A common mistake made by many individuals is to blindly pursue business ownership
without adequately evaluating whether their idea is actually feasible. Before you go any
further, you need to examine your idea for feasibility. A good feasibility evaluation
involves a detailed examination of financial, personal, and market realities
step 4:
Consider start-up requirements and common pitfalls
Become aware of the legal forms of organization you may choose. Learn which permits,
licenses, rules and regulations are applicable to your proposed business. Determine the
types of records you will have to keep for local, state, and federal tax purposes.
Determine the types of record keeping and control systems you will need for internal
management purposes. Determine the steps you must take to establish a legal Checklist for Starting a
business entity. Consider your professional needs, such as marketing and advertising, legal,
accounting and tax, insurance, and banking.
step 5:
Develop your business plan
Many people talk about a business plan when they really mean a financing request. If
you are seeking significant private investment, the two documents will require much of
the same information. However, if you are going to seek traditional commercial
financing, which is much more likely, the financing request will usually be less
comprehensive.
• A Business Plan Is: The strategic plan for the development and operation of your
business for your internal management use.
• A Financing Request Is: A document you prepare for raising capital based on
information in your business plan.
• A Business Plan Is a Management Tool You Should: Use to help you think
through the development of your business and ensure that you have considered
options and anticipated potential difficulties; Use to evaluate your progress
against your planned business goals; Update and modify for operational and
strategic planning purposes as the business environment changes; Use in the
development of financing proposals.
step 6:
Develop your financing request and obtain initial capital
In reaching this step, you have determined you have enough personal money to cover a
"down payment" or the "full cost" of starting your business. If should do an honest
analysis of your financial position, without doing so you could invest a lot of your
personal time only to learn that you are not going to be able to borrow the money
necessary to start your business.
Facts you should know about borrowing money to finance your business:
• Most businesses are started with money from personal savings, family, or
friends.
• Only approximately 20% of new business owners start their business with money
borrowed from commercial lenders.
• No conventional lending source, private or governmental, will make a commercial
loan for 100% of the funds you need to start your business.
• As a rule of thumb, your personal investment will need to approximately 25% the
total start-up costs of your business. If you have less than this, your chances of
obtaining outside financing are not as good.
• Your "sweat equity" will not be considered relevant by the lender. As a general
rule of thumb, you will need $1.50 in quality collateral for every $1 you want to
borrow. Checklist for Starting a Business
Although you may think your collateral's true worth is its appraised value or its original
cost, its worth to the lender will be far less than either of these values. Your financial
projections must show that any loan proceeds plus interest and other business
expenses can be repaid from business revenues. The assumptions that you base your
financial projections on will be examined carefully for reasonability. Simply having
adequate collateral will not override the business's inability to generate positive cash
flow when the lending decision is being made.
Acquiring a loan will be more involved and time-consuming than you think. In the best of
circumstances, it will normally take 60-90 days to close a loan. If you have a complex
situation or if the lender needs additional information for any reason, the time span may
be significantly longer.
Caution:
Do not assume your loan request will be approved. Be realistic. Lenders are in
the business of making money, not buying ideas.
step 7:
Finalize all start-up requirements. You have completed your planning and have acquired the funding
needed to start your business. Now is the time to sign contracts and lease agreements, pay various
licenses, permits, and fees, obtain utility services and complete all other requirements.
1 comment:
While starting a new business you need to have enough finance for your business. Sometime it might be difficult for you to get loan from the banks as it required to show your financial credits.
commercial finance | commercial loans | commercial mortgage
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