Now that you have completed all of the paperwork in setting your company up, it is important to have the tools you need for success.
Some space to call an office that you can shut out from the rest of your normal life. It doesn't have to be a leased space; it can be in your home, but it should have 4 walls and a door. This is not only important for tax purposes (home office deduction), but for your sanity. It will help you focus, give you a place to call "work" and a place to leave at the end of the day so that it doesn't bleed into your personal space.
Computer. You should have at least one. I love Apple, but in the end, most of the software is done on the PC, so I still begrudgingly opt for a windows-based machine. Ideally at least a Intel Duo Core 2 processor with 2 gigs of memory and a 200+ gig hard drive. Ensure there is a network adaptor on it so that it is already set up to plug into your high speed internet connection, or a wireless adapter if you have a wireless network. ~ $1,000
Separate Phone line and High Speed Internet. Simply put, get it. Not a question of whether but what kind. Ensure that the download speeds are at least 5MBPS, and uploads are at least 2MBPS. Cable and Verizon FIOS both have burst levels that will exceed 10MBPS, and for what it's worth, I use cable and am very happy with it. Comcast for example has a great plan that provides phone, internet and cable all in one bill and saves a lot of money in the aggregate. ~$60 / month.
Routers. Simply put, also get one. This takes your internet connection and splits it into usually 4 connections. I think Linksys is the best and they easily work with Windows based machines. Ideally get one that has both hard connections and wireless. The wireless is great to expand into other areas that may not be accessible to a hard connection. Be sure it has at least a wireless G, and preferably wireless N. If you get the wireless N, make sure the computer you have has wireless N capability before you buy it. If it doesn't you will need to buy a wireless N card to connect wirelessly and install it in your computer. ~$80.
Multifunction Printer with Copy/Scan/Print features. I recommend Cannon products and prefer the laser to the inkjet. I steer away from color inkets in particular as the quality isn't as good as you can find in a Kinkos or Staples and it's easy to print to a disk ~ $350
4 Gig USB flash drive (allows you to take large files off of your computer to a local printer or copy center). ~$50
Blackberry - I really like the Curve model. Get this with wireless and internet access from any of the providers. They work great with many of google's free services and will help you address e-mails and view web files while on the go. Any internet friendly phone with a full keyboard will work, but for what it's worth, I've found the BB Curve to be the best after trying most of them.
Software - Prices will vary but you can usually find low priced versions on ebay.
Windows XP Professional (or Vista Premium)
MS Office 2003 or later (or for free Open Office you can download off the net)
Adobe Products (buy a suite together to save money)
Photoshop - for image resizing and for exporting photographs for your website.
Illustrator - although photoshop can be used to create brochures and postcards, this is a much easier program to do this type of work. Generally, I outsource new graphic designs (logos, advertisements, etc.) but frequently there will need to be small tweaks (change of address, etc.) and it save a lot if you can do that yourself.
Business Plan Pro - You can use any business plan software, but I've used this and think it's a worthy piece of software. (See my next blog on writing a business plan)
Quickbooks 2007 (or higher) - this is the perfect solution to your bookkeeping needs. Spend a few hours with your accountant to set up the accounts and vet the structure (see below on accountant needs).
ACT 2008 (or higher) - this is a good sales tool to help organize all of your contacts, sales opportunities, e-mails, documents, etc. Once you start selling it will be imperative that you keep yourself organized, and I think this is one of the best software packages to do this without needing a full time IT person, computer network, and presuming you have a sales staff of 5 or less.
Swishmax - this is only if you are doing a website in flash. I believe for companies with products, this gives you the best look on the web and image is everything. You sacrifice a bit on who can view it, but in the end I think it's worth it.
Panthercart - again presuming you have a flash-based site, this gives you a good and easy way to jazz up your shopping cart (if you are going to sell online) in flash. It integrates well with google checkout and other checkout services (see later). I recommend either Panther Cart (not jr.) or storefront (use this if you are not good at or have flash 7 or better).
Adobe Flash CS3 - will be needed for Panthercart (unless you get the full storefront).
Coffeecup google sitemap - easy way of setting up a site map to help better your results on a google search - especialy if you have a flash-based site that won't otherwise be recognized by the search engine crawlers.
Coffeecup password wizzard - flash based way to keep viewers from accessing sensitive files on your website like pricing info.
Coffeecup flash forms - flash based way to create forms for registration and ordering.
Coffeecup photo gallery - flash based way to show your photographs in a slick way.
Adobe Acrobat Professional - for manuals, line sheets, order forms, and other files you will want to send digitally to customers that have photographs.
thelogofactory.com - create your corporate logo, letterhead and envelopes artwork.
Vistaprint - line sheets, fliers, postcards, letterhead and envelopes
48hourprint.com - hangtags and catalogs
google talk - great way to instant message and transfer larger files from and to another location.
google grand central
kodakgallery.com - will allow you to print out 16x20 and 30x20 photographs for display purposes.
swishzones.com - inexpensive web templates for swishmax.
google checkout - least expensive way of selling online.
google analytics - great way of tracking where you are getting traffic from
aplus.net
gmail DNS with IMAP
google calendar
google sync for blackberry
google maps for blackberry
A good accountant. Don't pinch pennies here. You will need your books
a good photographer
a decent lawyer
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Monday, January 21, 2008
Step 2 - A Business Plan
Although starting, branding, and running your own business can bring a lot of satisfaction to your life, do not forget that your success will require your recognition that it is also a daily war filled with small battles. Going into any war requires an overall strategy and individual battle plans to help navigate through to victory. I know, a bit of an extreme analogy, but it helps to push the point that in your excitement to get your business moving, it is easy to overlook planning as a waste of your limited time, but your business plan will be the cornerstone and building blocks of your organization and without this solid foundation of business focus, your efforts can easily become scattered. This plan should be revisited often, and reassessed.
There are a number of software programs out there that can help you with this. One example is BusinessPlan Pro, but there are templates in Microsoft Office via Word or Presentation that help you create a business plan as well. The point is you need one, so find some solution to help you creat it. You should have at least some basic business plan before starting on your day-to-day operations. Generally, it will describe your specific business endeavor in detail, and address where and how you expect your business to grow over the next few years. Revisiting the plan will allow you (and others financially interested in your business) to gauge whether you on track. It is important to note that it is unlikely you will exactly land where you have planned, but that is what the revisting is for. Think of it like climbing a mountain. You plan your assent, but there are externalities like weather, areas that are too dangerous to cross, your own endurance, the tools you have access to, that all affect changes in your plan as you go along. But as you make those changes you need to keep in mind the ultimate goal you set out to accomplish to ensure that those changes are still bringing you to that goal.
"Tools" are a key element. Tools can be reduced to financing, your (and any partners you might have) own expertise, and the weekly aggregate time you have to spend on your business. Where "you" are limited, you can use that financing to compensate - whether that be with additional people, equipment or services. Because your financing at some point is always limited, the decisions of how you spend that financing is material in your potential for success. Staying"lean" is always a mantra in any start-up business, but you can't expect much in results if your only funding enough to stay on life support.
At the beginning employees and rent are two of the more expensive areas that create monthly financial stress against sales and investment capital. In some businesses, this is mandatory. In some other businesses you can go a long way before even needing to consider these; as a result there is a lot of savings that can be redirected in other areas that can better impact your sales. Generally, manufacturing, wholesale, and online retail businesses in this world of global commerce and outsourcing can be done almost entirely virtually. That means no overhead (employees and rent) and low start up costs. We liked the baby manufacturing business because a) we were parents and had a great understanding of what was needed and what was lacking, b) it was a market boutique niche that had lower barriers to entry, c) the baby market was growing in size and had global potential for us, d) our entertainment and celebrity access lent well to the branding growth, e) it was a season-less business in that babies were being born all year long, and f) marketing to the luxury end of the baby products demographic limited sales impact in the event of a recession.
There are a number of software programs out there that can help you with this. One example is BusinessPlan Pro, but there are templates in Microsoft Office via Word or Presentation that help you create a business plan as well. The point is you need one, so find some solution to help you creat it. You should have at least some basic business plan before starting on your day-to-day operations. Generally, it will describe your specific business endeavor in detail, and address where and how you expect your business to grow over the next few years. Revisiting the plan will allow you (and others financially interested in your business) to gauge whether you on track. It is important to note that it is unlikely you will exactly land where you have planned, but that is what the revisting is for. Think of it like climbing a mountain. You plan your assent, but there are externalities like weather, areas that are too dangerous to cross, your own endurance, the tools you have access to, that all affect changes in your plan as you go along. But as you make those changes you need to keep in mind the ultimate goal you set out to accomplish to ensure that those changes are still bringing you to that goal.
"Tools" are a key element. Tools can be reduced to financing, your (and any partners you might have) own expertise, and the weekly aggregate time you have to spend on your business. Where "you" are limited, you can use that financing to compensate - whether that be with additional people, equipment or services. Because your financing at some point is always limited, the decisions of how you spend that financing is material in your potential for success. Staying"lean" is always a mantra in any start-up business, but you can't expect much in results if your only funding enough to stay on life support.
At the beginning employees and rent are two of the more expensive areas that create monthly financial stress against sales and investment capital. In some businesses, this is mandatory. In some other businesses you can go a long way before even needing to consider these; as a result there is a lot of savings that can be redirected in other areas that can better impact your sales. Generally, manufacturing, wholesale, and online retail businesses in this world of global commerce and outsourcing can be done almost entirely virtually. That means no overhead (employees and rent) and low start up costs. We liked the baby manufacturing business because a) we were parents and had a great understanding of what was needed and what was lacking, b) it was a market boutique niche that had lower barriers to entry, c) the baby market was growing in size and had global potential for us, d) our entertainment and celebrity access lent well to the branding growth, e) it was a season-less business in that babies were being born all year long, and f) marketing to the luxury end of the baby products demographic limited sales impact in the event of a recession.
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