• Spend as much time as you can dreaming about what you want your business and life to look like five years from now. Then, write it down! The clearer your vision, the more likely it’ll happen.
• Choose a name for your business that is catchy and reflects your future vision. But beware! You might love your boyfriend today, but don’t name your company after him.
• Find a lawyer to help you choose the right entity for your business and get incorporated. Unless your business is a hobby, sole proprietorship is not the way to go, as it means you’re personally on the hook for all the liabilities of your company.
• Get a bookkeeper, CPA, or financial coach who will help you develop a financial record-keeping system that you can maintain. Monitoring your bank balance based on the ATM receipts from the cash machine may be okay for you personally, but your business needs a real-deal accounting system. I tried to cheap out on this when I started my business, and it bit me in the butt a few years later when I got audited. Ouch. Don’t make this mistake.
• Get professional photos taken to use in your print and online marketing campaigns. Why? Have you ever seen marketing materials from a successful company containing photos of women with bad-hair and shiny-forehead issues? No, me either.
• Get business cards made up that sell you and your service and don’t just list your contact information. White space is wasted space. And think ahead about what you’re projecting with your e-mail address. Yourname@yourbusinessname.com is far more professional.
• Either hire a copywriter or write your own core copy for online and print materials. Core copy includes a catchy headline and bullet points describing the benefits of your services or products. Nobody cares that I am Cynthia Bailey a headline that says as much isn’t going to grab much attention. But you might want to know more about me if the headline says something like, Get the Personal Guidance with a Trusted Entrepreneur. So You Can Make the Right Legal Decisions For Your Business and Family Without Spending Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars.
• Hire a Web designer who can design both your logo and your Web site. Even a blog will do, but you’ve got to make it look good. Do not mix your personal life with info about your business. You want a Web site focused solely on your company. Make it easy to navigate and full of useful information. Before the designer gets started, you should have thought about exactly what you want someone to do and feel when they come to your site.
• Set up a database or CRM (customer relationship management system) for keeping track of your leads, prospects, customers, and referral sources. Then, use it to begin communicating with your list by e-mail at least once a week and by mail at least once a month. Your house list is the most valuable piece of your business; start creating it now and nurture it as if it were your baby. Or, you could take a cheaper route by getting a big stack of index cards and a pencil. Your choice.
• Create a 12-month marketing campaign to bring in revenue and prepare some basic expense and revenue projections. Or, you can just wing it, and hope, and pray that clients come banging down your door and you don’t spend more than you’ve got. I’ve done it both ways, and while the outcome may be the same, the planning option sure feels a whole lot better.
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