In the course of writing my business plan – which btw is NOT as easy as you would think – I have been doing tons of research on the net and discovered that although there is a lot of info on starting your own business, there really isn’t a lot of info on starting your own business.  What I mean by that is there are a TON of sites that offer you guidence on the steps that you go through to make this happen, but very little from people that have actually done it.  So, I thought to myself, why not blog about this as I go along through it…sort of a play-by-play of my experiences and hopefully you will get something out of it too.

First things first.  You have to write a business plan.  This is simply not a step to skip nor is it one to take lightly.  My first stop was to Microsoft Online.  There you will find a treasure trove of great templates that were put together by SCORE (if you don’t know who that is, you need to break out the google search asap!).  I got the template for my business plan, sales forecasting, p&l’s and cash flow all in this one place.  It made life so much easier.  The business plan template was great because it didn’t just tell me what I needed to include.  It is set up with a series of questions under each section.  You answer the questions then go back and compile your answers into paragraph form.  Here is why this rocks – because in answering those questions, I really was forced to think through each and every aspect of what I want this business to be.  I knew what I wanted, but I had to define in absolute detail what it was.  A great exercise because knowing it know, before I open the doors, will really give me a road map to follow when all the craziness of actually running the business sets in.

So, starting a business, lesson 1:  Write a business plan.  A thorough, well thought, well defined plan for exactly what you want the business to be.  This is the most involved project I have ever done but it is also the most rewarding.  I am 8 days in and not done yet.