Freelance Home-Based Small Business Business Start-Up Checklist

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Home > Articles > Getting Started >Start Your Freelance Career > BUSINESS START-UP CHECKLIST

How to Start a Small, Home-Based or Freelance Business : Business Start-Up Checklist

Congratulations on your decision to become a business owner. The checklist below will help you get started. As a business owner, you'll be doing everything your boss and coworkers were doing! However, you don't have to do it yourself. Ask for help. In fact, plan to get help and you won't end up burned out and exhausted.

Checklist For Starting a Freelance or Home-Based Small Business

Get Ready - Make Sure You are Ready

Check your personal foundation to make sure you are ready - or become ready -- mentally, emotionally and financially to begin your new venture.

	Make the time. Start with 5 hours per week research time.
	Get out of debt.
	Start saying "no" more and create boundaries that work for you..
	Create balance in your life.
	Be honest about your strengths, weaknesses, top 5 values, needs and wants.
	Begin to bring family members in on your plans.
	Fix any errors that exist in your credit report.
	Choose your ideal business and make sure there is a need for it.

Get Your Small Business Ideas Organized including legal advice to insurance.

Any new business venture will go more smoothly if you know right from the start what you have to offer, who you want to offer it to, and how you want your business to be organized. From support to legal advice, starting your own business is never something you do all by yourself.

	Budget your income to include at least 8K of business start-up expenditures (for a home business).
	Read a few books on business start-ups and marketing.
	Check the need for your services locally and/or globally.
	Prepare a business plan and an ideal client profile.
	Decide on the type of business structure that is best for you (sole proprietor, corporation, etc.)
	Develop a customer service policy.
	Create an Operations Manual for your business.
	Plan for your office - location, supplies, utilities, and setup fees.
	Build a reserve of assistance, potential employees, and independent contractors.
	How many of these will you need? Licenses, contracts, trademarks, copyrights, patent.
	Create a Center of Influence (COI) all the people who are really supporting your endeavor.
	Decide on health, home, car, income, liability, risk, disability, & loss of pay insurance.
	To start, you'll need to know about these: taxes, accounting, banking, billing, cash flow, and loans.

Create a Small Business Marketing Plan:

A new business often doesn't have a huge budget for marketing. A plan can help you save money and this list will help you get started!

	Price your service or product.
	Market to your Ideal Client Profile, you can expand this later.
	Create a marketing program with your integrity in mind. Do the things you enjoy first.
	Develop print media (business cards, stationary, forms, advertisements, newsletter).
	Find people with complimentary businesses and form some collaborative marketing efforts.
	Decide if online marketing will be part of your plan (website, newsletter, ad's, etc.).
	Practice describing the benefits of what you do in 30 seconds and 2 minutes
	Join local networking groups, and online ones, too.
	Read through two marketing books and your phone book for marketing ideas that work for you.
	Brand your business. Choose a logo and colors to use on all your marketing tools!
	Reevaluate your plan every 3 months and adjust where necessary.

© Copyright 2002 All Rights Reserved. Maria Marsala, Business & Life Coach-Consultant. Maria works with successful individuals as they take their success to even higher levels. They're designing their lives - professionally and personally - around what they love to do. Subscribe to "Helping You Grow Professionally" our free weekly online newsletter. http://www.CoachMaria.com

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