Write a Business Plan

Have you written a business plan? Our Business Plan Generator makes writing your business plan easier than ever; just add your business’s information and you’re done!

A well-crafted business plan doesn’t just help you get organized while you start your small business. Business plans are used to obtain business funding and help you reach important milestones.

Here are some of the main components of a well-written business plan:

• Product Development: What problem does your business solve? What will set your product or service apart from the competition?
• Sales & Marketing: Who are your potential customers? How will you get their attention and convert them into buyers?
• People and Partnerships: What roles will you need to hire, and what professional relationships will you need to form in order to succeed?
• Financial Planning: How many clients or sales will you need in order to break even? How much money will it take to get there, and where will you get the funding?

Step 4: Get Funding

It’s no secret that you need funding to start a business, but before you can secure the money you need to cover startup costs, there are a few things you need to do first. Calculate your business costs before seeking outside funding. This will help you choose the right funding source for your business’s needs. Next, be smart with your spending and get organized by creating a detailed financial plan.

Explore Business Funding Options

• Bootstrapping: This is the do-it-yourself approach to business funding which means you provide the capital for your business through personal savings as well as your current income. Once your business is in operation, profit is reinvested back into the business to continue its growth.
• Friends and Family: Financing your business through friends and family loans can be a great way to get the capital you need to start your small business. When mixing business with family and friends, it’s a good idea to establish a written agreement and repayment plan.
• Small Business Grants: Small business grants are essentially business funding for your business you don’t have to pay back. You can obtain a small business grant by completing an application process with a grantor.
• Small Business Loans: You can typically apply for small business loans through a bank or other lending institution. This funding method requires repayment but will provide you with the capital to cover startup costs or more.

Learn how to plan, raise, and manage your funds by visiting our guide to Small Business Finance.

Step 5: Set up Business Banking, Credit Cards, and Accounting

Using dedicated business banking and credit accounts is essential for personal asset protection.

When your personal and business accounts are mixed, your personal assets (your home, car, and other valuables) are at risk in the event your business is sued. In business law, this is referred to as piercing your corporate veil.

You can protect your business with these three steps:

Opening a business bank account:

• Separates your personal assets from your company’s assets, which is necessary for personal asset protection.
• Makes accounting and tax filing easier.

Getting a business credit card:

• Helps you separate personal and business expenses.
• Builds your company’s credit history, which can be useful to raise capital (e.g., small business loans and small business grants) later on.

Setting up business accounting

An accounting system helps you track the performance of your business and simplifies annual tax filings. Quality accounting software lets you download your bank and credit card transactions, making accounting fast and easy. Learn more about the importance of accounting and how to get started with accounting today. Or, hire a business accountant to help you navigate all your business accounting and tax needs from payroll to sales tax.

Step 6: Get Insured

Business insurance helps you manage risks and focus on growing your business. The most common types of business insurance you should consider are:

• General Liability Insurance
• Workers’ Compensation Insurance
• Professional Liability Insurance

We recommend that all small businesses, including home-based businesses, purchase a general liability policy. Businesses selling professional advice or services, such as consulting and accounting firms, should also consider a professional liability policy.

Each state has its own workers’ compensation requirements and often depends on the number of employees a business has.

Step 7: Obtain Permits and Licenses

To operate your new business legally, you will need to comply with federal, state, and local government regulations. In many cases, this involves obtaining one or more business permits and/or licenses. For example, a restaurant will likely need health permits, building permits, signage permits, etc.

• Learn how to obtain the necessary licenses and permits for your business
• Use a professional service to help you obtain required licenses

Step 8: Define Your Brand

The strongest and most memorable businesses are built on a solid brand.
When developing your brand, you should consider:

• what your business stands for
• what are your core values
• what will earn customer trust
• A business phone service

Last but not least, try our Free Logo Generator to get a unique logo for your business. Our logo maker is free (no sign-ups or email address needed) and it comes in all social media sizes. It’s easy and hassle-free–with no design experience required! Or, if you want to explore your options, you can also use this free logo maker by Tailor Brands.

Step 9: Hire Employees

For any business (unless you plan to be your business’s sole employee), building a strong team is a crucial next step in starting a successful business. But it isn’t just about finding the right people; you need to ensure you stay compliant with requirements for hiring employees legally. This includes ensuring that you are registered with the IRS for employee taxes.

Once you’ve built your team, we strongly recommend utilizing a payroll service to issue paychecks, track time, and make tax season more manageable.

Step 10: Build Your Business Website

You can have a professional website development service , or you can take the DIY route by following the steps below:

After defining your brand and creating your logo the next step is to create a website for your business.

While creating a website is an essential step, some may fear that it’s out of their reach because they don’t have any website-building experience. While this may have been a reasonable fear back in 2015, web technology has seen huge advancements in the past few years that makes the lives of small business owners much simpler.

Here are the main reasons why you shouldn’t delay building your website:

• All legitimate businesses have websites – full stop. The size or industry of your business does not matter when it comes to getting your business online.
• Social media accounts like Facebook pages or LinkedIn business profiles are not a replacement for a business website that you own and control.
• Website builder tools like the one on Hostgator have made creating a basic website extremely simple. You don’t need to hire a web developer or designer to create a website that you can be proud of.

Using the website building guides, the process will be simple and painless and shouldn’t take you any longer than 2-3 hours to complete.

Step 11: Promote and Market Your Business

Promoting Your Business

You can have a our Social Media Management Team do it for you, or you can take the DIY route by following the steps below:

There are many different methods to promote your business, but the most effective methods are:

1. Press Releases
2. Facebook
3. YouTube
4. Google My Business

Press Releases

Press releases are a great way to promote your brand and are one of the most cost-effective strategies as they:

• Provides publicity
• Establish your brand on the web
• Improve your website’s SEO, driving more customers to your website
• Are a one-time cost in terms of effort and money
• Have long-lasting benefits

Facebook

A Facebook page is a great, free way to interact with your customers. But, it does require ongoing effort to be successful.

A Facebook page can be used to:

• Establish your local business presence
• Showcase your business products and services
• Communicate with your customers
• Get and share reviews from customers
• Promote your business through ads, though this may not be suitable for your business.

YouTube

With billions of global YouTube users, there is a giant customer base looking for content your business could be producing. A YouTube channel for your business can be used to:

• Improve your SEO by boosting your Google ranking and conversion rate.
• Drive social media engagement and create stronger bonds with your customers.
• Provide detailed explanations about products and services.

Google My Business

Google My Business is a helpful tool that allows businesses to manage how their business appears on Google’s search engine results page (SERP) and Google maps.
Google My Business can be used to:

• Link to important information about your business such as your website, physical address, hours of operation, phone number, and customer reviews.
• Increase brand awareness by improving local SEO and driving traffic to your website.
• Engage with customers and increase credibility.