11 Simple Steps to Start Your Business in 2024

1. Business Concept

You need to calculate what resources you have at hand. Make note of how much time and funds you have available. Decide if you want to have business partners. Gage your interests and pick a business idea that you are truly passionate about.

2. Competitors and Market Research

Conduct primary research, secondary research, and a SWOT analysis. Primary research consists of you conducting questionaries and surveys, and interviewing your friends and family about your idea. For secondary research, you can collect data and analyze it.

3. Business Plan

This is a plan that will not only help you to organize your thoughts, and will be a useful document for pitching your business to potential stakeholders such as investors.

4. Select Business Structure

There are 4 main plans that you can pick from, LLC, LLP, sole proprietorship, and corporation. Each plan has pros and cons, therefore it depends on your requirements according to your business and which one you choose.

5. Register business to get licensed

The first thing you need to do is select a company name or DBA. Next, you should register your business and get an employer identification number (EIN). Then, get the licenses that are required according to your country and state.

6. Organize finances

Open a bank account for your business and provide your tax identification number (TIN). Hire a bookkeeper or get accounting software to ensure that your finances and recorded properly. Calculate your break-even point, to determine when profit will start generating.

7. Business Funding

There are 2 main types of funding internal and external. Internal funding includes personal savings, credit cards, and funds from family and friends. External funding consists of small business loans, small business grants, angel investors, venture capital, and crowdfunding.

8. Business Insurance Application

To ensure that you are insured properly you can contact a business agent. Some basic types of business insurance are liability insurance, property insurance, business interruption insurance, product liability insurance, employee practices liability insurance, and workers’ compensation insurance.

9. Collect Business Tools

Having the right business tools for your venture will help you to be more efficient and improve the quality of your work. Some useful tools are accounting software, customer relationship management (CRM) software, project management software, credit card processor, point of sale (POS), virtual private network (VPN), merchant services, and email hosting.

10. Business Marketing

Create a website to make a professional domain for your company. Ensure that your site is optimized according to SEO standards. Create engaging and relevant content on your website. Register your business on online directories such as Yelp, Google My Business, and Facebook. Develop a social media strategy for engaging with customers.

11. Business Scaling

Use hiring platforms such as Indeed and Glassdoor to find potential employees. Job boards and platforms like Craigslist, LinkedIn, and Indeed will allow you to post job openings free of cost. Freelancers can be found on Upwork, Freelancer, and Fiverr.