Eight essential guidelines for getting a new business up and running

1. Guidelines For Getting Your New
Business Up And Running
Business Start-up Toolkit

2. Step #1-Determine what type of
business you want to get into
 Sources of Business ideas:
 Friends/Relatives/Colleagues
 Your own recognition of a need to be satisfied
 Ability to solving other people’s problems
 Something that you may be passionate about
 A special skill that you can market

3. Step #2: Research your business
ideas
 Informal Research – information can be gathered
from discussions with people whom you believe
have a problem to be solved or an unfulfilled
need to be met
 Formal Research –
 Gather Primary Information via Questionnaires,
Surveys, Observation
 Gather Secondary Information via Magazines,
Local Newspapers, Tradeshows, Government
Statistics… library

4. Step #2: Research your business
ideas
 Types of information to research
 Market size – Revenue, Customers and Projected
Growth
 Competitiveness of the market -how many
businesses are already operating in that space?
 Target Audience – Mass market or Niche market
 Demand –What are customers looking for?
 Where are vast majority of the target audience
located?
 How would you serve your customers? –
distribution strategy
 Your main suppliers

5. Step #3- Decide your Business
Structure
 Sole proprietor-this a business where there is a
single owner. It is sometimes referred as a one-
man•business. You are the business and the
business is you. As the owner of this type of
business you have the responsibility for making
all decisions. You receive all the profits and
accept all losses.
 Partnership -this is an association between two
or more persons who joint themselves together
to form a business. You and your partner
contribute to the business equally and share
equally in the profits and losses. A limited
partnership may have some different

6. Step #3- Decide your Business
Structure
 Corporation- a business structure, where the
business has a legal identity that is separate and
distinct from its owners.
 The owners of a corporation are referred to as
shareholders. In some countries a corporation
can be started by a single person.
 A key distinction between a corporation and the
other types of business structures is that the
owners (shareholders) have limited liability, in
that they are not personally liable for the debts of
the corporation. They share in the profit of the
company through the receipt of dividends and
stock appreciation.

7. Step #4 Register your
Business
 Registration Process
 Decide on a name for your business
 Do a search on the local database of registered
companies to see if the name is available
 Register your business name with the relevant
authorities.
 Note: If you are a sole proprietor and you are using your
name as the business name you do not have to register
yourself, since you and the business are one

8. Step #5- Calculate your start-up
cost
 The guidelines used here are focused on a home
based business that may not have some of the
typical expenses of a business operated outside the
home
1. Start-up expenses- examples- business cards, flyers,
promotional expenses etc.
2. Assets to be purchased- examples could include- desk, chair,
filing cabinet, computer, software licences, printer, inventory
etc.
3. Ongoing monthly expenses- example website hosting fees,
other online fees and charges, subscription services fees,
business telephone, advertising expenses, distribution cost
etc.
 Tip multiply the monthly expenses by six (6 months), since it may
take approximately six months to breakeven or realize a profit.
4. Add the figures in 1+2+3 to get your total start-up cost

9. Step #6- Forecast your
Revenue
 To calculate your breakeven revenue
divide your ongoing monthly expenses
by the number of business days to get
your daily revenue. Anything in access
of that is your profit.

10. Step #7- Prepare your Business
Plan
 The key elements you want to cover in your
business plan are as follows:
 Business Concept– Description, vision and
mission, goals and objectives
 Operations and Management– Owner
background, location, staffing, inventory, suppliers,
delivery and distribution etc.
 Marketing – products and services, customers,
competition, pricing, promotion and advertising etc.
 Financing– assumptions, operating expenses,
asset requirements, operating expenses, sales and
revenue forecas

11. Step #8- Get Financing
 Just to re-state the focus here is on the sole
proprietorship and partnership business
structures. Depending on your business structure
and the size of your business, there are other
ways that you can secure financing:
 Personal Savings– you may have adequate
personal savings set aside to start your business.
In a partnership, partners would contribute to the
financing of the business based on the partnership
agreement
 Line of Credit– you may have a decent personal
line of credit from you bank which you can use to
finance your business

12. Step #8- Get Financing
 Credit Card– depending on your credit limit, your
credit card could be a good source of short term
financing. The interest rate on this could be very
high.
 Borrowing from friends to supplement your
personal savings you may borrow from relatives
or friends
 Institutional Borrowing- you may approach a
financial institution (bank, credit union or private
lender) for business financing, and this is where
your business plan will come in handy. Your
financial institution would only lend you money

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