Getting help to start a business doesn’t have to be a mind-numbing endeavor. As a matter of fact, you’ve stumbled upon a gold mine of information here. The obstacles you’ll face, such as finding startup assistance, business planning, branding strategies, and building your support network are important parts of creating and maintaining a successful business. This article will help you overcome those obstacles.
Startup Assistance and Entrepreneurial Support
Great ideas are free, but, unfortunately, executing on those ideas are not. There is a myriad of different sources for startup assistance such as grants, programs, and business development centers, to name a few. The good news is that there are business grants for almost every kind of business, and though obtaining one is usually a competitive venture, it is possible.
Regarding grants, you have many options. If you know what your business is, you can start applying for grants immediately. However, the process for receiving a grant varies from program to program. Here are a few well-known companies that offer grants to business owners:
- FedEx
- FedEx offers a fiercely competitive grant competition every year.
- Grant award: up to $30,000.
- Economic Development Administration (EDA) Grants
- The EDA offers the Build to Scale Program, which is designed to help fund scalable startups.
- Grant award: varies.
- The Second Service Foundation
- Their objective is to support military entrepreneurs.
- Grant award: $4,000-$15,000.
- Operation Hope Small Business Empowerment Program
- This program is for minority business owners, and it offers eight- and twelve-week entrepreneurship training programs.
- Grant award: varies.
- Amber Grant Foundation
- This grant is for women entrepreneurs.
- Grant award: $10,000/month
- At the end of the year, $25,000 is awarded to one woman.
Click here to see a comprehensive list of funding options.
Business owners may also seek out business loans from a host of financial institutions. Keep in mind that while grants do not have to be paid back, loans do.
In addition to grants and loans, crowdfunding through sites like Kickstarter and GoFundMe are viable options as well, especially if you are offering something to your donors in return. You can also fund your business by selling a service or piece of online content. No matter how you fund your business, get creative, and don’t be afraid to put yourself out there.
From the start, you will want to decide if you want entrepreneurial support. There is nothing wrong with seeking to obtain that knowledge for yourself, from the right people. Choosing the right mentorship program to help to start a business is a matter of business needs and the industry you’re entering. A great place to start looking for the right mentorship program is SBA.gov, the website for the US Small Business Administration.
Market Research and Business Planning
Now that you know your funding options, it’s time to do some market research and business planning. Market research is finding out how the industry you’re going into is already doing, who your potential customers are and what they like, and how you can separate yourself from the sea of saturation and standout from the crowd (looking at you, speedo wearers).
There are a lot of programs you can use to conduct this research, but the easiest, most readily available, and most affordable way to do it is through social media. Using social media, you’ll get real-time feedback on ideas, speak to your potential consumers directly to see what they already like, and you’ll see what your competitors are doing.
The table below is from the free business planner on HubSpot, which has a lot of free tools to help you start and grow your business. Knowing your competition goes a long way in carving out your space in the industry.
(Example)
| Competitor Name | Comparative Strength(s) | Comparative Weakness(es) | Counterpoint(s) |
| Competitor A | Large X following.
Uploads regularly on YouTube. |
Not on TikTok.
Poor search quality rank on Google. |
Consider working with an established TikTok content creator who has a younger audience.
Optimize SEO on website. |
| Competitor B | Ads get a lot of traffic. | No video content anywhere. | Include video content in marketing to gain attention of younger consumers. |
| Competitor C | Price match.
Free delivery. |
Poor reviews, due to shipping delays, over the last 90 days. | Offer free delivery, but also offer shipping for a fee for faster delivery options. |
The platforms used to conduct your market research will depend on personal preferences, as well as where you’re going to be conducting most of your promotion, but ultimately, social media will always be a strong tool. Here are a couple other platforms outside of social media that could also help with market research:
- Google Forms
- Easy and free to use.
- Familiar to many online consumers.
- SurveyMonkey
- There is a free plan, but they offer affordable paid ones as well.
- Paying for a plan unlocks some advanced features, such as branding options and more data analytics.
Business planning can be exciting as you bounce ideas off a wall and keep the ones that stick. However, disregarding this stage completely will almost certainly doom your business. Do you really want help to start a business? Your business plan is the helper you create and keep with you for the entirety of your business’s life, and when (not if) your business does great, your business plan can be tweaked for business expansion and take you to heights unseen.
HubSpot business planners are completely free to download at any time. There are other websites that offer templates for business planning as well, so you never have to feel limited to one platform. However, HubSpot is very thorough and trusted by many. It’s a fantastic starting point, and when planning your business, fantastic is what you want. Free also doesn’t hurt.
Financial Planning and Legal Considerations
The hate for taxes isn’t exclusive to businesses, and financial planning is often a bore to the more creative brains of the world. Depending on your type of business, you’ll want to outsource the financial planning process to a professional in the accounting field or hire an accountant to work with or for you. In any case, knowing the basics of what this process entails will serve to help you when you start a business.
The legal considerations for your business will determine the route you take on your taxes. Will you have multiple employees, or will it just be you? If it will be only you, you can work as a sole proprietor. While this does serve to simplify your taxes, you will have to be careful as you make sure to keep your personal expenses separate from your business expenses. If you choose to create a legal liability company (LLC), it will be easier to separate your business expenses and personal expenses, but it is recommended that you hire a financial professional to help you with your taxes as things become a bit more complicated to navigate. Your LLC will also allow you to choose how you want to be taxed.
An LLC provides you with safety and security should something go wrong with the company. The company will take the hit from whatever legal issue arises, and your personal assets will generally be safe because the company is a separate entity from you. A sole proprietorship doesn’t provide this safety net, and that is a key difference between the two business types.
If your goal is starting a corporation, you will be expected to meet several requirements before your business becomes legal. While it’s not difficult to meet the requirements, a corporation costs more than an LLC to start, is more difficult to start than LLC, and means you will have to offer shares, even if you’re the only employee, but a corporation also allows you to gain capital through selling shares of your company. Whether you start an LLC or a corporation, it is recommended that you hire a legal advisor who can help you through any legality that may arise.
Forbes has a comprehensive list of legal considerations that new business owners should consider. It’s an excellent guide for help to start a business, but be sure to keep a learner’s mindset as your business grows.
Branding and Website Development
Branding is a crucial step to getting your business off the starting blocks without a hitch. The advancement of the internet and innovation of social media has made it easier, but a substantial amount of brainpower and time still go into this aspect of a successful business. Everything discussed earlier comes into play during the branding process, and if you have all your details ready, this shouldn’t be the worst thing you have to do.
Your logo should be unique to your business and what you do. There are likely hundreds, if not thousands, of businesses in your industry already, and if your logo looks like fifty of theirs, you get lost in the sea of saturation (while the speedo wearer sashays on by you, all eyes on him). It’s important to take your time on your logo, and even outsource it if you’re not the artsy type. There are a lot of websites you can visit to find affordable but great artists to do this work for you with just a simple description of what your business is, such as Fiverr, Upwork, and other freelance sites.
You’ll also need to put a lot of focus on website development and treat it like it’s the business itself because it is, in a way. Your website will serve to tell people if you’re a legit business, if you can be trusted, and it will allow people to get a glimpse of what your work is and how good you are at it. Once again, the freelance sites have plenty of strong designers who specialize in creating clean crisp websites, and some of them handle all the website development for you.
Customer Relationship Management and Building Your Support Network
With your website in place, you’ll need to see how many people visited it and what they did while there. Some website builders have these analytical tools available on them, but a dedicated customer relationship management tool (CRM), such as HubSpot’s CRM, is a much more thorough data analysis tool.
Building your support network is a part of your business that is as important as any other. The people you connect will serve as support for ideas and issues, word of mouth marketing, and potential customers. Once again, social media is a powerful tool in this arena. Sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and X are all great platforms to network on as they all have search bars that allow you to easily find people who are interested in the same things by typing in the keyword.
Conclusion
Now that you have your business plan in place and are signed up for a mentorship program, start applying for funding and building your brand. This article is to serve as a guide, but every business owner’s journey is different, so putting more focus on some areas than others is normal. Take your time, do your market research, and take the pulse of the consumers.
Once you’ve created your website and started building a strong support network, you’ll find that other things come easier. LinkedIn’s introduction to the business world enhanced the networking game, so taking full advantage of the platform will serve you well. The support of your peers will be a part of the engine that drives your business development from an idea to a sole proprietorship, LLC, or corporation, and they will be the best help to start a business on the right foot.
Grab your business plan, take your notes, and bring that idea to reality. All it really takes, is starting.
Share your business startup success story or questions down below!
FAQ
Question: Which social media site should I put my focus on?
Answer: The truth is, the social media site you choose to put most of your focus on depends on the content you want to share with the world. You have a lot of options, such as video content, content writing, photos, and even audio content. Here’s a quick list of good starting points:
- Video Content: TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook (Meta)
- Content Writing: Facebook (Meta), LinkedIn and X
- Photos: Instagram, X, and Facebook
- Audio Content: YouTube, Soundcloud, and Discord
Question: If I’m a sole proprietor, will I need legal representation?
Answer: The answer to this question is, it depends. In short though, if you can afford legal counsel for your business, you should probably have it. This is especially true if you are selling physical products, as there can be accidents that lead to bodily harm. Even if you’re offering a service, you may want to consider legal counsel just in case certain situations, such as a client ghosting you without paying after you’ve provided the service. You’ll want to be covered in any case. Upcounsel and RocketLawyer are both great starting points to find the right legal counsel for your specific business.
Question: I don’t know how to code, which website builder is best?
Answer: You’re in luck. The most popular website builders don’t require you to code. Two platforms that are easy to use are Wix and Squarespace. They each come with their own benefits, and both platforms will give you a professional-level website in the end. Wix has recently implemented AI into their platform, and all you’ll have to do is feed it information and watch it create your website, step by step. Wix also allows you to have a free website for as long as you want, though you will need to pay for the subscription if you want to use a custom domain name without the, “wixsite,” second-level domain in the URL. Squarespace offers a free trial, but after a certain amount of time, you will have to pay the subscription fee to use the site.
