You’re a working mom, with a thriving career but want something more. You’re a stay at home mom and want to do something while you’re kids are at school, besides their laundry and tidying up. Are either of these you, or some variation of you? Chances are you’ve considered at least once to start your own business. Starting and running your own business can be full of exciting challenges, rewards and opportunities to explore and share your creativity, grit, determination and passion about an area or view of life. While there are a lot of very complicated activities that come with running a business, especially if you’re performing specialized services, there are some basics that are quite a bit daunting to some, especially if you’ve never done them before. Let’s take a look into a few of these business necessities:

#1 Create a website: While this can be outsourced to someone that does it often, there are also a lot of resources and helpful tools that can guide you through an easy path of doing it yourself. If you have a website in your mind, with colors and your unique messaging, it’s as easy as simply sitting down at your computer to put it all together. The most common websites contain a few basic pages: services or product offerings, a blog page, about section and contact information. It’s fancier than a business card, and provides visitors the necessary information to know what you’re offering, how to get in contact with you, and how to book or purchase your services or products. Some providers include a shop page and the ecommerce portion of your site is nicely tied into the rest of it. Purchasing a domain is often the first step, then going through the first draft of your design on your site, and you can easily make edits anytime, anywhere!

#2 Setting up basic and essential infrastructure like your business license, business structure, bank accounts and getting a place for your mail to go to are some of the first acts of business, pun intended. The cost for another mailing address aside from your house, if you’re running a home based business, is minimal in comparison to what it provides to you: peace of mind. For some types of businesses, it can cause safety concerns to have a home address as the main contact, so getting a PO box can mitigate those risks. Getting a PO box is as easy as checking out https://ipostal1.com/how-to-get-po-box-3-reasons-not-to.php and choosing the location best suited for you, filling out an application and paying the fee. After that, checking your PO box regularly for incoming mail is easy and can be done daily or as infrequently as you’d like. 

#3 Choosing your business name. Many people that spend time dreaming about being a business owner often have their moniker in mind for years before it comes time to fill out the paperwork. Sometimes it’s clear and simple, and clearly includes your industry or specialty. Other times, business names are vague and indiscreet. If your ideas are taken when you register with your state, you can usually land on a variable of your original idea. Some people use their initials and add a name like industries or corporation or technologies or consulting to the end for stability and structure and officiality. Lean into your creativity here and explore what looks and feels right for your business!

These few things are only a small part of the initial setup, especially if your business idea falls within a regulated industry such as alcohol producers, bars, nightclubs, or other licensed establishments. These types of businesses come with specific rules around permits, service requirements, and operational standards, so getting the right guidance early on can make a significant difference. Speaking with a liquor lawyer can help you understand what licenses you need, how to stay compliant and what steps to put in place before you begin serving customers. A bit of legal clarity at the start can save you from costly delays and make the rest of the journey much smoother.

There are endless amounts of books, websites, videos and classes on how to run a business, and all of the underlying requirements of what goes into it. Relying on professionals that are more experienced than you are in most areas to get a peek into their knowledge and experience is perhaps one of the safest and most sound routes to success. It’s also quite complex if you allow it to be! If you’re unsure on what you need, or how to go about it, do some research and ask around to learn from others, and like other things in life, the best way to figure out how to do something is to just to take the first step and begin!