Archive for the ‘Articles’ Category
1. Should you start a small business?
Starting a business is hard work. There is no way we can fool ourselves into thinking otherwise. It takes the right kind of personality and dedication to run a successful small business, as well as a certain amount of business skills.
There are many self-evaluation surveys on the internet a person can take to assess your skills and also your business idea. I believe the first thing you have to do is believe in yourself and your product. You must be passionate about what you are doing before you can succeed.
2. Business Structure
Sole Proprietorship: you are the only employee as a self employed individual and as such as responsible for all aspects of the business including insurances, taxes, responsibility, etc.
General Partnership: you have one or more partners and share all responsibilities either equally or as pre-agreed upon prior to creating the partnership.
Corporation or limited company: this may be beneficial if you want to expand your business within your own country or internationally. Legal advice is advised prior to determining if this is beneficial.
3. Research your Market
Has the market been saturated with the same type of business? Is there a need for your service or product? Who will your competition be? What are the current and future trends that can impact your business?
By researching your business idea and potential market you will have an excellent understanding of who your customers will be, who your competitors are and what the industry trends are. This information will be needed when writing your business plan.
4. Business Plan
This very important written document shows the details of what your business is, what you will do, how you will operate it and what your business goals are.
This document can be used to arrange for financing. In fact you probably will not receive any financing if you do not have a business plan.
I struggle with writing a business plan myself but I know it is necessary and work my way through it and I use it as a guideline to follow, making changes as necessary. It is like a blueprint of your business.
5. Financing
You will not be able to operate your business if you do not have enough money to develop your business and operate it daily during its early start up days. You will also need to have enough money for your personal expenses until you are able to draw a wage from your new business. Be prepared – this could take up to 2 years before you see any extra money come your way.
Obtaining financing can be through your bank, personal lines of credit, loans, family or other sources of funds. You will need to provide your business plan to your potential lender so they will see how you have planned for your business – development, growth, etc.
6. Choosing a business name and registration
This isn’t as easy as it seems. If you are using your personal name you probably don’t need approval but if you choose something else you will need to have it approved and registered. Check on your local business laws as to the requirements for registering and how to protect your business name.
For example: In British Columbia, Canada, sole proprietorships and general partnership names are not protected and can be used by anyone who chooses to. The only way of protecting your business name is by incorporating it.
Please do some checking prior to requesting your business name to ensure it isn’t already being used. Also give some serious thought as to a name that will fit your product or service. It can be very expensive to change after your business is up and running and you decide you don’t like the name.
Register your business following your local legal guidelines whether you are a sole proprietor, partnership or limited company.
7. Domain name
It doesn’t matter whether you are a traditional “bricks and mortar” type business or an online business you will need a domain name to identify your internet website. By choosing your domain name, researching whether it is available and buying the rights to that name you can sell or market your products or services online.
I have used the services of Register.com $9.99 Domain name plus email only at Register.com!
to register my domain names and find them very good.
I use Hostgator ( use coupon Loracvs10Tips and get $9.94 off your package price) as my hosting company. I like to keep them separate but it’s just a personal preference. You can use either provider for both registering and hosting your domain. Do take advantage of the coupons these two companies have let me give you – they will save you money.
8. Taxation
Check with your provincial, state or federal taxation agencies to ensure you are charging and paying the appropriate taxes.
9. Research for other Legalities related to your business
This will depend upon the type of business you are operating. Considerations regarding the applicable laws, taxes or restrictions you should be aware of if you plan to export goods to another country, sell products or services to other businesses, manufacture good, or hire employees. Do you need to purchase a business licence for the location you are operating from? Even home based businesses must have an operating licence and work within the legal guidelines.
10. Receiving Advice
You can’t do it all. No one can. It’s important to know that not everyone can take care of every detail relating to your business. Get advice from a lawyer to ensure your business is operating legally within the laws of your area. Hire an accountant to help you establish a book keeping system or to take care of your accounting for you. If you are not experienced or sure of yourself in different areas of your business – get advice! That’s the best advice I can give you. Don’t be afraid to ask for help.
All the best,
PS: The next step is to develop a marketing plan for both offline and online targets. For learning everything you need to know about online marketing you must join Lynn Terry’s Elite Group. I pay my monthly fee and am grateful for all of the mentoring I receive for that small amount. It’s like receiving a marketing degree for free! Sign up today!
Why successful women are starting their own Virtual Assistant businesses.
Virtual Assistants (VA) are very often savvy women and men who use their highly developed skills, training, and experience to assist other businesses virtually. Smart business people wishing to reduce business costs and make better use of their own time are hiring these new entrepreneurs and utilizing their professional expertise.
By taking advantage of modern technology VA’s perform many tasks using the internet and email, fax, telephone and courier services all from their own home offices.
Just what services can you provide as a VA?
Actually the list of what VA’s can’t provide is much shorter than what they can do for their clients. One very successful VA boasts that she can’t make her clients coffee but can arrange to have it delivered to them every morning. Nothing is impossible.
Many take care of their client’s daily administrative needs such as correspondence, email management, answering inbound phone calls, book keeping and client follow-up. The list is endless ~ it just takes a little imagination and creativity. There are VA’s who design web sites, logos, stationery, forms, newsletters and power point presentations. Remember all of this is done from the comfort of their home office. Each has their own unique capabilities and talents and depending upon how they market themselves is how successful they will be.
What does it take to become a Virtual Assistant?
A few of the suggested skills and experience from a potentially unlimited list are:
ü Highly skilled in computers
ü Secretarial or administrative experience
ü Legal or paralegal experience
ü Medical background
ü Real estate knowledge or experience
ü Bookkeeping knowledge and experience
ü Insurance background
ü A strong work ethic along with excellent customer service skills
ü A strong attention to detail
ü Strong communication skills
ü Organizational skills
It really doesn’t matter what your background. By using your skills and knowledge to assist your clients with their businesses you can develop your own special niche as a Virtual Assistant.
Training and Certification
There are some excellent courses and programs that will assist anyone who is interested in starting their own Virtual Assistant Business. Tawyna Sutherland, founder of Virtual Assistant Networking Association has developed an excellent program entitled Virtual Business Startup System (VBSS) which provides all of the tools and resources needed to start a Virtual Business within 30 days. Another excellent resource for interactive and self guided courses on social media marketing, blogging and event planning is Vaclassroom .
Where to find clients?
The client list is just as long as the list of those who are qualified to become Virtual Assistants. Clients can be found anywhere! A short list of potential VA clients is only limited by the imagination:
ü Realtors
ü Lawyers
ü Authors
ü Speakers and coaches
ü Small business owners
ü Accountants
ü Insurance Agents
Use skills and experience to become self employed.
Why work long hours for low pay when you are more than qualified to use those same skills to operate your own successful business. Use your skills and professional experience to start your own business as a successful Virtual Assistant who offers professional expertise to other professionals. By working from home as a private contractor you determine who you take on as clients, your rate of pay, hours of work and type of work you will do. Don’t limit yourself to being an employee if its’ self employment you would rather have. Become a successful Virtual Assistant since it is definitely achievable.
All the best,
PS: Attend a free workshop with Dana Parkinson – “How to ensure your business cards and email signature are sending the correct message”.
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Fires! Floods! Harrison Mills had it all. Step back in time and read about a once thriving community ~ http://www.rvwest.com/vancouver/stepbackintime.php
