Unknown Speaker  0:00  
Today we are talking about how to start your own business. Now, this is all too fresh for me, as just last year, my mother passed away. And leading up to her death, she had encouraged me to write a book. And I kept putting it off, kept putting it off. And the day that she passed, I told her Okay, Mom, I am going to write that book for you. So fast forward a few months, and I had reached out to my tax consultant, just to ask, okay, what is this look like? What do I need to be prepared for if I do follow through when I follow through on writing this book, and he told me, Holly, you've got to get your own business started at. And with that, the speaking engagements will follow. And of course, I had coaching opportunities already in place, as well as consulting. So while I came about my business, but there was not a lot of information that was cut and dried to me as to how to do that. And fortunately, I had some hand holding at the beginning with that, that tax consultant who handed me off to a lawyer who is fabulous as well. So today, I want to share with you just how to do that, that's going to look really different for you and and how you start up your business, and how to go about that. But first of all, do your research, that's going to be your your number one place to start, is you may have a bright idea for a new business. But before you invest that money and your great idea, do your research. So first is Is this an idea that's just an interest to you? Or do you have passion for the business? What are your future goals? And what needs do you have to provide for your family? think realistically here? So do you have time and monies to pursue this idea? And is this the time to begin for some it might not be a no for me, it was starting my business as my hours were cut back due to one of our locations closing down for a remodel. And then of course, just the illnesses of the pandemic and how that affected everything. And so I had the time to be able to go ahead and launch it. And I was so thankful to do that time. But is the time right for you, it is a lot of work to get started. Also look at what the competition in your area for the business is. So perhaps this is where I would suggest doing a SWOT analysis of your proposed business ideas, for those of you who may be unfamiliar with what a SWOT analysis is, is basically you're going to look at the strengths. So for me as an example, I had the ability to start up from home and and save costs on the overhead. I had less work hour work hours at at my current job. So that allowed for me to start this job, what are some of the strengths that you can look at to for for that possible business? And then you're also going to look at the weaknesses. So what is what is not in your favor right now, for me, new to this industry have to rebrand myself, insurance for family is more expensive, when you're self employed some of those things that you might need to look at, then you're going to look at your opportunities as well. So what are opportunities out there for your business such as for coaching, consulting, it's a growing industry and in the connections I've already established with being in the industry of marketing for over 20 years, I already have those decision makers that I can strengthen in those connections and utilize those connections as my target market. But then look at your threats as well, what what's going on the community pandemic, that could definitely be a threat to starting a new business. So for myself, again, local technology overload everyone using the zoom product or other type of teaching opportunities, and I was going to need to tap into that. Also competing resources. And that is in this industry. There are a lot of resources for coaching and consulting. So how am I going to stand out? Those are all different things that you're going to need to look at at your business to get a really well rounded grasping of your industry and what that looks like for you. So your strength of what the business can look like the weaknesses, the opportunities and those threats. After that, you need to come up with a business name. So name that business. Where do you begin? Where do you begin with that? Well, first of all, you need to go to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, that's U S pto.gov. And you're going to check to see if your name is even available. So some things to start with is just brainstorming those business names, and then go to check to see if those that name is available, but then you're going to need to research for similar names within that industry. So is there something that is going to be too close or it's going to cause your your customer, your guests your client confusion as to who they're calling or who they're reaching out to for for business. And before you get too far. You'll also want to check to see if that website domain name is available. So again, is it going to be something accessible that your viewers, your guests, your clients are going to be able to reach out to you or is it just going to be

Unknown Speaker  5:00  
Another step that is lengthened and where they might turn and go with someone else, or just drop the ball on furthering with you anyhow. So that would include your your domain name for your website, as well as your social media handles, try to keep it simple, try to keep it simple. So make sure if those are available as well, you can go into, for example squarespace.com, and have a domain name search that you can look to see what's available in your other social medias, Instagram, Facebook, you easily can go into there and see if your name is available as well. And if they are, that is when you're going to want to secure them, make sure that you can get them ready for you so secure and register those those social media contacts the website, but then, of course secure and register your business name, which again, you can do through that@uspto.gov, the United States Patent and Trademark Office pretty easy and turnkey to do so. But a very key step before you get too far in that process. Okay, so you have your business name, you know, what you're going to do research shows that this is going to going to fare well, then from there, you're going to look at the different business entities. So what entity is going to work well for you is that set up as a corporation is it set up as a limited liability company, which is a majority of like your home based businesses or your small, small business setups is going to be that otherwise known as the LLC. Also, you have your nonprofits and your your partnership joint venture entity and then your sole proprietorship. So making sure you take a deep look at each of these and see which one is going to match best with your with your business. And what that option is for you, you'll want to make sure to review to make the best decision for your business. But make sure to register your business with your state, there is a minimal fee for that and obtain your employee identification number so your EIN which that part is free, but you'll want to make sure that that is set in stone in stone. In some cases, in some cases, you may need to also register your business entity which as a DBA, which is doing business as that this mainly applies if the owner of the company is doing business under a different name. So they're not wanting to use their own name. Sometimes banks will require this of sole proprietorship. So be aware of some of that, if you've decided which entity is for you make sure that you go on to the irs.gov and file it file all the paperwork that you need to do so. Or you can just use a professional business

Unknown Speaker  7:38  
service, a Business Information Service, or even hire an attorney. They're they're great about doing it as well. So an advantage I'll tell you to hiring an attorney, though, is when you register the address on file for the business which which is made public. So be aware of that, that law firms will often let you use their address. And this will help you for security basis, especially if you're home based business, but you can use their address. So what is made public to everyone is not your home address. So that extra protective measure there. But again, to save money on on such legal fees, you can request a paralegal to do the filing instead of the lawyer. But make sure that that step is definitely done and secure before following on. Now following your registration of your business entity, as I mentioned, you're going to get that ein in the mail, which is your employer identification number. This is basically your tax ID number. And it's used to identify your business and it's a federal tax filing. So treat this number just as you would your social security number, keep it safe, and be cautious of where you share this number. Make sure to use your employer identification number so that EIN number on all business related items, don't use your social security number on business items. So this would be like when filling out a W nine. You will also need this before you can open a business financial account. So keep that in mind. Don't put the cart before the horse. Make sure you have that EIN number before you go in to set up your business account because again, that financial institution will want to see that first before they'll set it up for you. Okay, from here what's next? Finances, you will need to set up a business financial account. So before you make too many decisions in your business, which often costs money, you'll want to set up your financial system. And this helps keep your personal account and your funds separate from your business account and funds and and something you and your tax advisor will definitely be thankful for come tax time, so make sure this is a crucial step at the beginning. There are many options. This could include a bank, this could include credit unions, this could include online financial services, you'll want to basically research the option that's right for you and check out different offers that might be available in your area. So one advantage of a credit union is less or even no service fees. However, when your business might need a loan, a business loan, then more options might be available to through a bank

Unknown Speaker  10:00  
So those are some different considerations to take. Some financial institutions will even offer a bonus for opening a new account, such as a gift card or cash deposit in your account. So check into those options as well. And especially those competing factors, that if it's doesn't matter which one you go with, if one is offering a little bit of a bonus, might want to take them up on that. So think long term, how many checks? Are you going to be writing a month? What will be your minimum balance kept in your account? Will you want a debit card for your business? Is there a minimum maximum amount of money you can put in each month? All of these type of questions are things that you need to consider before setting up an account. Because they will vary and where you go as to what fees fines, charges that you have or what minimums maximums can be reached as well. So complete your Entity Filings before this step again, as you will need that ein that tax number in order to open up your business. So from there, you're going to look at, okay, now I know where my money is going to be and where it's coming out of that, how will you what's gonna be your payment resources? How will you pay your bills? Will you be a cash only company, there's some people who will be very proud of you, if you are you going to use a debit card, or do you need a credit card to keep on hand, maybe you're gonna be doing a lot of traveling and you're not going to have that cash flow up upfront. So you're going to need that credit card, be mindful of your personal spending habits. Because what basically, that's going to carry over to your business. So however you are with your personal money, that is definitely going to carry over to your business. So make sure that you don't set yourself up for failure. If you're if you're horrible with spinning and putting stuff on the credit card, the credit card might not be the best idea for your business, you might want to do a debit card, or you might want to at least initially start with that cash only, if at all possible. So just make sure that that you are aware of your personal spending habits and that they will carry over. Although having a debit card does keep your spending to what you actually have in the account. Having that business credit card can help you start building your business credit history. So keep that in mind. And it may also be helpful in raising the needed capital later on in your business. So again, there are pros and cons to either that you decide to go with, do your research is different credit cards offer different perks, they offer different fees, minimums and all those types of requirements. So don't just find the best one, the first one that you come to and think it's going to be the best. Again, make sure you do your comparison between those. Now once you know how you're going to pay for things, now you're going to need to set up your accounting system, you're going to need to start tracking your expenses as soon as your business is established. And some of the best accounting software for small businesses include a lot of free options, as well as some that are just a minimal fee. But those could include QuickBooks Online, those could include Intuit FreshBooks, or Zoho books, WAV, probably, there are a lot of them out there. Some of those such as WAV are free. And then of course, others are going to cost. Also note that there may be different versions applicable for your business. So instead of QuickBooks, QuickBooks, I'm sorry, online, you may want to do QuickBooks Online self employed that version. So keep in mind, there's different versions of those accounting systems to make sure to pick a solution that will grow with you and your business so that the accounting software account for maybe sales reps if you're going to have them or product growth or large clientele scale, but just again, think long term, what are the costs involved in the software? Is it free? Is it monthly fee? Is the annual fee? Is it a one time setup? How safe and secure is the software? Think through the overall needs in the software? such as Do you need payroll? Do you need automated tax filing and user friendly data payment entry? Do they offer branded Invoicing is that a need for you? Can you connect it with your business financial account for that automatic bank reconciliation which could come in quite handy will allow you to accept credit card payments or doesn't offer payment reminders. From there, just make sure to set time aside on a weekly basis to enter in your receipts to send out those invoices and to account for payments received. So find out what that accounting system is going to look like. And then make sure you take time to actually follow through and do it. It doesn't help if you have a stack of receipts, receipts, or even overdue invoices or invoices that never went out that are piling up on your desk. So make sure you account for that in your time. All right, well, after you have all this financial debt, it is time to get started on that website and really getting social promoting it. So that first step, as we mentioned, is going to be that website where you hopefully already got your domain name to see if that's available. One of my favorites is Squarespace but again, you can do Squarespace, Wix, GoDaddy, even Google domains, just to name a few of them that you should be able to find. I suggest registering your domain with the host site. You want to have your site your website on, as sometimes you'll receive bonuses for having a domain name registered and a website hosted by the same provider. So

Unknown Speaker  15:00  
Don't name names typically can be registered on one service and your website hosted on another site. But again, there might be some bonuses for you if you keep them all on the same spot. So research everything, before even making one decision on on one or the either. Once you've registered your domain name, you'll need to purchase a website host package. So again, there are many from Bluehost and Wix to Squarespace and Google and make sure you get a feel for the sites. So see example websites hosted on on those services and and do your research on what service and look fits best to your business. So is that going to represent you? Well, this is where I've wasted a lot of money and time, I'll be totally honest with you. I went with a well known service. And I ran into issues of the templates downloaded on that service not working properly. And it drove me crazy. It one whenever I launched that was the number one complaint or just comment that I had was, this part isn't linking and it's like I know, but I can't get it fixed. And then I found that cut my losses because I actually had to pay to have it fixed a template that never worked to begin with. And so I finally just cut those losses. And I bought the professional package through Squarespace, and I love it, I am so pleased. And there should be some free typical options with with any website provider you go with. But definitely look into that to make sure if again, it's a good investment for you. Or like I mentioned, you can purchase the upgrades like what I did on Squarespace and was very well pleased. There are also graphic design companies who can design your templates for you at a cost and then they simply, you edit it, but they just simply put it over onto your site. And you can add in your own copywriting and personalized photos. Or of course, there's businesses that will even do that for you do the copywriting, copywriting and inserting your photos that you send to them. So a lot of different options depending on what your interest is, what your availability and skills are in in your in the technology field as well. But just make sure you put together that Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions and any disclaimers to go on your website. Also, this is important as websites could be shut down for not having such listings. Or even worse, you could face some legal issues, which is not fun. So make sure that you have that all set in stone. Don't wait for your website to be perfect before you launch it. Do not wait for your website to be perfect before you launch it, get it live so that people can start finding you and make your additions and edits along the way, there's always going to be something you're going to want to update. But don't wait, just get it out there. With that said though, you do want to make sure you start building trust and competence in your brand. So make sure you have a professional look with easy to find information and services provided and contact information and all of that fun stuff with all that you need to put on there. Also be careful not to overcomplicate so one of the biggest advices that I received, when starting my business is narrow your niche, make it obvious to readers from the first glance at your site, what you want to do, who your target market is and the benefit of using your services, narrow your niche. This is a like I mentioned another area where I didn't get off on the on the great foot for that is I had too much going on. I have my passions in my website, as well as my business and my website. And when people went there, it was a little too confusing of, okay, why are you doing travel reviews and book reviews. And then you have your coaching and your consulting and your speaking. And then you have your blog and and it was it was just too much. So make sure you narrow it and find out Yeah, I love all of this. But what is my niche going to be for my business versus what is going to be my passion that I can do separately. So for myself, I have two different websites, I have one that is just for my passion. I love to travel. And my sister and I love to do girls trips. And there is not much information out there as far as where to go for girls trips, ideas, suggestions for like little weekend getaways. So I still have that up there just to be able to help people because I again, it was just a passion of mine. However, then my business site is focusing on my services of coaching and consulting and speaking and I was able to actually incorporate my book reviews as more of a resources for that personal and professional growth. So that became one on my business site, which was very nice. So just make sure to narrow that niche. Now you will need to secure an email domain. Not everyone does this, a lot of people will just go with whatever their current one is at Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, whatever it might look like. But you don't have to rely on just free email accounts. It does look professional and gain competence from your clients by purchasing a domain email. So your name at your business name.com. And this can be done through your website host so you'll need a domain email though a domain domain email address rather, if you choose to set up an email service provider on your website. So for example, if you're going to have a subscription page where you're going to email out to your your subscribers, you know one

Unknown Speaker  20:00  
To week, once a month, whatever that looks like, you will need a domain email for that. So keep that in mind. Again, another area where I didn't go well is I just kept my, my personal, not my personal but I kept my at Yahoo. And then when I decided, oh yeah, I want an email subscription list, I needed that at Holly kirby.com. And for me, now I have these multiple email addresses, one I primarily use, the other one is more contact, and they can filter into each other. But again, it just makes it a little bit more simple. And especially user friendly for you in the long run to know what email you're receiving stuff and sending things if you just do it right the first time. So yeah, secure that email domain. Now, hopefully back when you did your website security, you also secured your your media accounts, or your social media accounts. So just make sure that you have those handles, hopefully, they're all the same handle. That doesn't always happen. So for me, my facebook.com one is at Holly's highlights, whereas my instagram.com Is that Holly Kirby, Holly Kirby wasn't available on Facebook, sweet little girl has that already. But Holly's highlights was. And so again, just try to simplify, make sure that your social media is all have the same handle. But if not at least try to get them as close as possible to what that that might look like and helping your your viewers or your guests. And efforts to develop the award. organic reach is also recommended to post on social media accounts on a daily basis. Keep that in mind. So your website, as we mentioned, you're just going to edit kind of ongoing as needed. But that social media, you're really going to want to make sure that you're keeping up with a daily basis, if you cannot keep up on a daily basis with social media, or whatever that platform is requiring. And and I don't mean requiring by them, but requiring in the norm of to really play in the industry, then don't start it yet. So for example, I started Twitter, it just wasn't something I was going to keep up with. So just get rid of it. So make sure that you're going to set up your social media platforms and where you're going to have your strength and be able to really play in the industry. Otherwise, if you can't keep up with them, why haven't because people are gonna get bored looking and seeing that you haven't posted any updated

Unknown Speaker  22:27  
current topic or posts. Along with that it really helps in your search engine ranking formula. Although the ranking formula isn't quite known, it does appear that it's heavily weighted on content. And so make sure to use fresh words post off in other words, and use your personal photos versus stock photos as often as possible. In order to increase your search engine, make sure you use those personal photos and updated content information information. Also, meta tags are really helpful. So anytime you can add anything as far as like the title tag or keyword attributes, description attributes, any of that those are really going to help with that search engine. It may feel overwhelming at first, it is okay. Social media can be overwhelming. But don't worry about it. Just take a little bit at a time, get your credibility within your field, establish that and then open up that engagement. And hopefully you're replying to each of those comments that helps us well. But keep in mind, there are some trolls out there too. So develop some tough skin and know when to simply read and move on. Okay, no one to simply read and move on. So again, develop that tough that tough skin. Now we've touched a little bit earlier on legalities and just making sure that we have some things in place that protect us. A few other things that you want to do is check in to obtain your permits and licenses. That's very important. And is there a special business permit or license your business needs, signage permit health permits, whatever it might be, you can usually get those at your local city office or you can use a professional service. There's CorpNet, biz filings, InCorp all of that they can research and find whatever permits or licenses you need for just a minimal fee. So that's an option as well. Insurance. If you are a brick and mortar, you're going to want to protect what you're building. So you're going to want to protect your your actual company there. If you are a home based business, you are going to want to protect whatever product you keep on hand. If you are a influencer, you're going to want to protect your image as well as what you say and topics covered all that type of stuff. So you can pursue an insurance coverage through your current personal insurance company or through a private company or even a broker or depending on your type of business again, coaching public speaking whatnot. You may want to pursue a legal representation such as legal shield or Legal Zoom. Those are both options as well. These companies charge

Unknown Speaker  25:00  
to a monthly fee in in return for their document review, email communication, even discounts on legal representation if you were to end up in court, but that helps protect you as well. Your line of work will depend on what your coverage needs. And then of course, the costs associated with those insurance coverages. So you'll also need to factor in the nature of that business and make sure you take that into consideration. So again, do you have a business property such as an office or a vehicle? Do you have an employee who you need to plan for? Or do you work with subcontractors? Where is your business located? Do you have sensitive material, you need to protect all of those things, you're going to go into the various types of insurance that you're going to want to look into. There's business auto business interruption, business, professional liability, cyber home, product liability property assets, workman's comp, all of those are going to be considered into what business you have. Then from there, you're gonna get ready to actually do business. But before you can launch in with your first gas, you need to create those contracts for your services. So Communicate, communicate, communicate, one of the best ways to avoid issues down the road is to make it clear to your clientele what you provide, what will you charge, when will you expect payment, any fine print details such as refunds, cancellation timeframes, all of that, there's templates you can purchase per your industry, or you can create your own or you can even hire a legal aide to prepare such documents for you. If you are creating your own or you're purchasing templates, companies such as I mentioned earlier, that LegalZoom and legal shield, they can review those documents for you for a minimal fee. Just keep in mind, if you make sure everything is legit, and clarify, it may save you time and money in the long run. So it's not a bad way to go.

Unknown Speaker  26:43  
Another thing to look at is, okay, now I'm all set up my entity, I have my accounting setup, I know my insurance and coverage and contracts and all that type of stuff. And now you got to get the word out there, right. So you have got to heavily promote this business, you can set up email subscription service, connect it to your website, to encourage people to go and sign up there. There's all different types of companies that do this ConvertKit, MailChimp, Constant Contact, so many options to choose from, some are free, some have a minimal monthly fee. So once again, look into see what tool is going to work for you and down the road as well. Are you going to need a lead magnet? Or you're going to have potential sales revenue come in through that? What does that look like? Make sure to order business cards. No business cards are not extinct, we still exchange them. So make sure you have a business card so that people know how to reach you. When you're out and about you're going to be able to have those word of mouth opportunities as opportunities just to speak up and promote yourself. But make sure you leave something in hand with that business card. Testimonials, consider doing some of your first businesses, whether it be

Unknown Speaker  27:55  
consultation coaching a product offering whatever that might look like. But consider offering your service complimentary to maybe five people in return for their testimonial. Start building your testimonials. They're great for your website page for landing pages for social media promos, print distributions, flyers, everything that you can imagine you're going to need and want testimonials. So those are very helpful for you. Then you're going to market your business in so many different avenues of the community. So what associations can you take part in and memberships? What networking groups are their Chamber of Commerce, the business networking groups, there's international mastermind groups are your local Convention and Visitor's Bureau Rotary Clubs, offer those those memberships to help get you in front of the decision makers take advantage of those memberships to get in front of those decision makers rather, and and then get to know him get to know the local people and build that rapport build that trust and, and that referral base. And hopefully that word of mouth will get out. And those referrals will come flooding in. There's also the Google profile register for local Google profile podcasts, put out feelers out to podcasters, who cover topics in your line of work, they always need people to interview, you can find them online or even community groups and just offer your services, your trade. review sites are another way. So create accounts on review sites such as Google review, and Yelp so that people can leave those again, testimonials for you and rate you, then you're going to of course want to come up with so many different things that are going to help you in your business. This is just the start to actually get you launched. But some other things that might include a marketing plan. Make sure that you're ready to promote your product and your services to that target market. Who is your target market, make sure that all of that is ready to go with a marketing plan and make money. Of course you want to start making money but the clients aren't going to flood in day one. So perhaps that is affiliate programs or perhaps you're going to come up with a product or a service to sell. So make sure that you have

Unknown Speaker  30:00  
Have some sort of way some sort of plan for that making money. So along with with all of this are so many other tips and tricks, there's different services you can use, again that are free, such as Canva, to come up with some of your images to be able to put on your social media or even on your print distribution. There's great programs such as Trello, that will help you come up with organization for your business and what your day to day looks like how you can track information and so forth. Another thing to consider is things like tiny ping, where you can compress your images so that it's not going to eat up so much on your webs on your website, or on your social media pages to where things can download quickly. So so many tips and tricks that you can do, I actually have a a product out, which is called starting your own business what I wish I would have known this is available on my website, Holly kirby.com. Again, starting your own business, but I wish I would have known Holly kirby.com. And for this month as a special for this podcast is we're going to offer that for only $10. So feel free to check it out Holly kirby.com, it's underneath the products available, click on that and and after payment, it's immediately available to you as your download right there on your computer, it's going to cover those tips and tricks, that's going to go into more of what the different entities and insurances look like so that you know if they're applicable to you or not, it's going to go over referral programs, what those affiliate links look like, perhaps you're going to be starting a webpage, great suggestions there. So again, it's going to offer that there's also going to offer some more additional contact information such as perhaps you want to look into getting an editor or a tax accountant or insurance agent, things like that. It's going to give you some tips, it's going to a month to basically four weeks to be able to plan out your business. So what does that look like every day? What can you be setting as your priorities and it also talks you through how to set priorities when you're starting your business and how to get things done so that again, you are making progress goes into your quarterly goals and how to break that down for that quarter. So again, you are making achievements. Overall, it's just going to help you in what I wish I would have known in starting your business so you can set it up with success. So again, Holly kirby.com, and I'm so pleased to be able to share this with you. I hope it helps your business and that you get off on the right foot

Transcribed by https://otter.ai