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Last Updated on April 17, 2025
Key Takeaways
- Validate Your Idea: Market research confirms there’s a demand for your product or service and helps you avoid launching an unprofitable business.
- Create a Business Plan: A detailed plan guides your goals, operations, and financials—and is often necessary to secure
funding . - Choose the Right Structure: Your legal structure affects liability, taxes, and operations, so consult a pro to choose what’s best for your goals.
- Know Your Obligations: Understand tax, payroll, and regulatory requirements from day one to avoid fines and stay compliant.
- Build a Strong Brand: A clear brand identity aligned with your target audience drives recognition and improves marketing effectiveness.
You’re determined to start your small business. You’ve developed your idea, conducted market research, and secured financing—but is that enough?
Many entrepreneurs assume that’s all they need, but there’s more involved in building a strong foundation for success. Overlooking essential steps early on or rushing through them can lead to avoidable setbacks later.
Completing key tasks before launching your business ensures you’re better equipped to handle competition and positions you for lasting success.
Start Your Own Business will guide them through the first three years of business. They’ll gain the know-how of more than 30 years of collective advice from those who’ve come before them
What To Do Before You Launch Your Small Business
1. Research Your Business Idea
If you want to launch a
You need to ensure that there is a market need for your business idea. Can you make a living off of it? Will there be enough customers to generate a sustainable revenue stream for the company?
Making sure that the answers to each of these are positive is vital. If they’re not, then you might need to consider another business idea.
2. Develop A Business Plan
Do you know what you’re doing with your business? If the answer is anything other than a firm yes, then you could be in trouble. You’ll need to have a business plan.
As one of the most important documents for your company, it outlines goals, financial information, market research, and more. You’ll need this for multiple things.
Obtaining funding – either through a loan or from investors – will be close to impossible without it. In short, it outlines your resources, objectives, and the plan for achieving your business goals.
Small business consultant and author Michael E. Gerber, with sharp insight gained from years of experience, points out how common assumptions, expectations, and even technical expertise can get in the way of running a successful business.
3. Choose A Legal Structure
Your business structure matters much more than you’d think. You’ll need to ensure that everything is established in a legally compliant way.
Alongside that, you’ll need to ensure it’s the most suitable structure for your company. As you might expect, company formations can be relatively complicated. It’s often worth speaking to a professional about this.
You’ll have several options available to you, each of which offers its pros and cons. Take the time to consider each of these.
4. Understand Your Obligations
As a business owner, you’ll have multiple obligations. Many of these will be financial. You’ll need to understand what these are, which could be complicated.
Taxes and payroll will be the most apparent parts of these. You’ll need to understand all of your financial obligations from the moment you launch your small business.
Failing to do so could result in fines and other regulatory punishments. If you find these concepts confusing, it may be worth speaking with an accountant or a similar financial professional.
How to Start Your Own Business, Keep Your Books, Pay Your Taxes, and Stay Out of Trouble
5. Create A Brand Identity
Many entrepreneurs underestimate the power of a brand. While they’ll know of the importance of marketing, their branding is often overlooked. You shouldn’t do this.
You’ll need to do more than create a website and a logo for this. Create a brand that connects with your audience. That can take more work than you’d think.
Performing market research beforehand can be helpful. Targeting words, phrases, colours, and more that connect with your audience is essential.
Once you do, you should find that your marketing efforts will be more effective. Ensuring that your logo is easily recognisable is essential.
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Top Ways To Grow Your Small Business
It’s one thing to know how to launch your
Growing your
You don’t have to feel so overwhelmed because of this, however. Keeping a few tips and tricks in mind will help you grow your success.
Naturally, getting each of the above done first is a priority. Doing so will give you the foundation from which to grow your company.
Once you’ve done that, you should consider:
- Have A Sales Funnel: By implementing an effective sales funnel, you’ll take your business to the next level. Look at this as a way to understand and capitalise on the customer journey. By seeing things from your customer’s perspective, you can determine the best ways to encourage them to make a purchase.
- Focus on Customer Retention: It takes more time, money, and effort to get new customers than it does to generate repeat business. You should focus on customer retention from the start. By generating repeat business, you’ll maximise your return on investment per customer. It can also help with marketing through word of mouth.
- Launch an
Email Campaign: Speaking of marketing, you should have an email marketing campaign. It can offer a more significant return on investment (ROI) than you think. It can be incorporated into your sales funnel while being a great way to increase customer retention and sales. - Hire Top Talent: While you might not have the most money in the world as a budding entrepreneur, looking into talent that can help is well worth your time. Look specifically into candidates that fill gaps you can’t fill yourself. That’ll make every penny you spend on them worthwhile. Make sure you learn how to write a job offer letter correctly to ensure they choose your
small business to work with.
Once you know how to launch and grow your small business in the right way, you shouldn’t have a problem seeing results. You’ll need to have patience with this, however.
Rome wasn’t built in a day, after all. Neither will your business. Being patient and persistent will help you get there.
Bouncer will help you:
- Improve the quality of your data
- Increase Email Marketing ROI
- Protect your sign-up forms
- Protect your sender’s Reputation
Launch Your Small Business : Wrapping Up
If you’re about to launch your
Keeping each of the above in mind will ensure that you lay a solid foundation for your future success. By doing so, you’ll maximise your overall success rate.
That never comes easily; you’ll need to ensure that you put the effort in at the start to achieve it. Once you do, you’ll start seeing the results of your work.
Next Steps
- Download a Business Plan Template: Start drafting your strategy using a free, customizable template to outline goals, structure, and
funding needs. - Consult with a Legal Advisor: Schedule a session to choose the best legal structure and ensure your business meets all local compliance requirements.
- Set Up Your Accounting System: Choose software like QuickBooks or Wave to manage cash flow, track
expenses , and prepare for taxes from day one. - Design a Basic Brand Kit: Create a logo, color palette, and tagline that reflect your brand values and appeal to your ideal customer base.
- Sign Up for an EIN Online: Visit the IRS website to quickly obtain an Employer Identification Number—required for
hiring , taxes, and opening a business bank account.
This book covers the entire process of establishing solid accounting for your business and common financial scenarios.
Final Words
Starting a
How to Start Your Own Business, Keep Your Books, Pay Your Taxes, and Stay Out of Trouble
Mark Fiebert is a former finance executive who hired and managed dozens of professionals during his 30-plus-year career. He now shares expert job search, resume, and career advice on CareerAlley.com.
