The First Few Steps are the Hardest of a Start-Up

[i3ond]

The First Few Steps are the Hardest, but the momentum makes it easier to keep going.
Objects in motion tend to stay in motion.




What does it take to be an entrepreneur?

I think a willingness to take risks. A willingness to endure chance. Persistence, a determination, a sticktoitiveness, self-confidence. I think if you have all of those things, you have a real good chance. But you have to welcome new ideas and creativity, and you have to entertain a thousand ideas for every good one that you get. But if you start turning them down just to turn them down, because you can’t be bothered and don’t have time, you never get a great one. Herb Kelleher:

The focus is on low cost value but without limiting reliability and simplicity. The LLC offers a online service and will start with one owner/employee with a possibility to expand.

1. Creating a Business name.
First find if it's being used.

• Google LLC/corp Search for your state:
• Florida: Florida Incorporator
• California : Business Search - Business Entities - Business Programs
• Arizona :Ariz. Corp. Comm. -- Corporations Division
• Texas: https://ourcpa.cpa.state.tx.us/coa/

2. Than find if there are any registered trademarks with it.

Federal:
TESS -- Error

This is to keep you from going to court over infringement and possibly losing your company name/website.

3. Register your business as with your state/fed.
You can do this yourself or hire a local lawyer that specializes in business/corp law. You can always call the lawyers with a question or your state agency. This is a good way to get free help.

See here for reg details: Search for Business Licenses and Permits | SBA.gov

Safety First.
If you do not have a business address/location Get a UPS box that gives you an address. Make that address your business address. Also get google voice number and forward the calls to your real number.

4. Liability insurance.
Depending on the type of business you have this may become very important if someone decides to sue. Make sure to increase the amount insured as your business scales. Also look into other types of insurance and state requirements. You can talk to a local insurance agent for info. Like Statefarm or Farmers. Get quotes, build relations with local agents. They can sometimes give you deals.

5. Creating a Domain.

This part was a pain in the a$$ for me. :bgh: I couldn't find any good ".com" domains. I used godaddy.com as a domain availability tool.(not as host) They show if its available and any alternatives. Make sure your domain doesn't infringe trademarks or you could lose your website down the road.
What I did to come up with a name ...

• Step 1. Have a couple beers to loosen up. Not too many. :nono:
• Step 2. Write down key words of what your company does. The positive and negative of the company and start working with those keywords until you come up with something. It starts getting easier once you find the first name.
• Step 3. Check the domain availability.
• Step 4. Check for infringements and corp/llc
• Step 5. Check to see if the site was used in the past by a simple google search.
• Step 6. Buy it with your hosting to reduce cost.

6. Who to host with.

• Godaddy is not very good. But they are good for buying affordable bulk domains.
• Hostgator has well priced packaged deals, decent support , unlimited storage/bandwitdh/domains and fairly reliable.
• Liquidweb gives limited storage/bandwitdh/domains at a higher price. But they excel in support, speed, reliability and expandability.

I went with liquidweb for my start-up and used hostgator for my SEO projects.Hostgator and Godaddy have coupons to reduce the price. Google for them. Liquidweb does not.

7. Building a website:

Options:

• Outsource to a 3rd party or 3rd world country. With risks of course. At a risk of them becoming competition and giving them control..
  
• Hire an employee with these skills or find a partner with them. Still Risky
  
  Make Sure you are the registered domain Owner!
  
• Learn to do it yourself.
  You can learn here : Learn to code | Codecademy
  
  Or simple wordpress site: [video=youtube;8Jv47_VIBOQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Jv47_VIBOQ[/video]

8: Learn SEO (search engine optimization)

Google has changed its search algorithms recently and because of this some famous websites that where listed on the first page feel through the pages. This was due to bad SEO practice. Note Dish networks website. Use google to search for SEO forums. Study the basics, then the latest and find a mentor or ask questions on SEO Forums. Makesure what you learn is accurate and current.
OR find a experienced and up-to-date SEO for your site.

9. Market your business.

To be continued ...






Let me know if you have something you would like to add or remove.







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This is what I understand to be good business practices.

• Offering a product or service that is unique that would be useful and add value or
• Offering a product or service that is improved or gives a greater value than your competition can provide
• Maintaining a product/service value without sacrificing reliability, simplicity, support and quality
• Understanding the customers needs and uses for your product/service and adapting it accordingly
• Listening to your customers feedback and prioritising according to importance, popularity, energy required and cost.
• Responding quickly, efficiently, and effectively. While showing understanding, importance, value and actions to the customer.
• Constantly look at ways to improve, expand and adapt.
• Understand that you work for the clients and your employees

What have I missed? where am I wrong? what can I improve? What should i remove or forget?

Can you recommend any good books that answer some of these questions in detail?

I truly appreciate the investment of time and energy that you took to read this. Thanks

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Threads like these are not good for the forum as it shows a lack of diligence on your part.

Second, your thread is a classic case of entrepreneurial masturbation and circle-jerking analysis, or I should say, paralysis.

This is why no one bothered to respond.

To put it into perspective, your questions are likened to me asking what color yacht I should buy after I make my first billion. What yacht builders are recommended? Where are the best overseas marinas?

If you expect entrepreneurship to be a lighted path with all the challenges lighted from beginning to end, you will be sorely disappointed.

If you wait for all the right answers before getting started, you'll never get started.

My take...

Welcome aboard.

 

[i3ond]

To put it into perspective, your questions are likened to me asking what color yacht I should buy after I make my first billion. What yacht builders are recommended? Where are the best overseas marinas?

Thanks for the reality check. I updated it and refocused. Ironically, I work on big yachts. So I can answer your yacht questions if you like.

Thanks again.