Your Business Blueprint Welcome to your step-by-step guide to building your business! PH A S E 1 Name Business Plan PH A S E 2 Legal Location Insurance Business Structure Finance / Accounting PH A S E 3 Email Systems Hosting Merchant Account Web / Brand PH A S E 4 CRM System Sales Tracking Project Management System PH A S E 5 Social Media Sales Marketing
PH A S E 1 Name Business Plan I Found A Foundation! Okay, you ready? Go! extra love! You won t regret it further on down the line. WHAT S IN A NA ME? Make sure your name tells a story. It s important for your brand to be meaningful with a great story behind it, and you want your name to be an invitation to tell that story. Make it evocative, something tied to your origin and your reason for being. If you ve thought of a killer name, chances are someone else has beaten you to it. Use Google resources to make sure the name you chose isn t already being used. If it is, move on. If it s not, snag it. WHAT S THE PL AN? foundation so that you can speak about your new business in great detail with the folks who hold the money-bags. Who are you, what are you, and how are you going to make money? A simple search on Google for creating a business plan will lead you to some great resources that will start you in the right direction.
PH A S E 2 Legal Location Insurance Business Structure Finance / Accounting L AW YER UP! Contracts. Contracts all over the place. Contracts for your clients and contracts for your Employees and Independent Contractors. to be an LLC, Inc, Sole Proprietor, etc. He will know what is best for you. (To save money, you can also research these details via Legalzoom and have Legalzoom LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION Open up a UPS Mailbox with your new business. It s important to establish a professional address (don t use your personal home address). Even if you open a physical location, it s always good to have a general mailing address that is separate from everything. You will need a business EIN number or proof of your new business name. You already set up your business structure by following earlier steps in this document, right? If not, make sure to go back and do so, Ruler of Impatient-land! Setup a phone line so you can accept business calls. You don t want people calling your house! I m a big fan of Ring Central (www.ringcentral.com). You can setup
PHASE 2 Legal Location Insurance Business Structure Finance / Accounting UNCOVER SOME COVER AGE When you setup a business, initially your Social Security is tied to the process. In order to protect you and your business, you need to make sure you re well insured. Schedule a meeting with at least three insurance companies. Talk about your options and types of insurance with each, and then E&O option is always great, but please consult with an insurance agent to talk about what your business needs. PUT THE CHECKBOOK DOWN! - 5184 Caldwell Mill Rd Suite 204-102 (800) 780-8388 hello@solamaragency.com www.solamaragency.com facebook.com/solamarmarketing
PHASE 3 Email Systems Hosting Merchant Account Web / Brand Techno-Lust south.net email address when you re promoting yourself, communication with people, etc. It s super lame. - IT S MAIL TIME You know when we were talking about URLs? You ve purchased them, so now what? Now you need to setup email addresses to match. So yourname@yourcompany.com. I always setup it back. Use Google Business. It s important that everything be accessed from anywhere just in case your computer is stolen or it dies. When everything is setup online, you will never lose a thing. Google Business is my ace card. Do it. THE HOST WITH THE MOST While you re playing around with URLs and email addresses, let s move on to hosting. Hosting can normally be found in the same place you purchased the URL. Some of our favorites are godaddy.com, site5.com and mediatemple.net. Make sure you have a really solid foundation when it comes to hosting, because you re going to be spending a lot of money on a 5184 Caldwell Mill Rd Suite 204-102 (800) 780-8388 hello@solamaragency.com www.solamaragency.com facebook.com/solamarmarketing
PH A S E 3 Email Systems Hosting Merchant Account Web / Brand SELL SOME STUFF people to either pay you online or buy through a shopping cart on your site, you need a merchant account. I m a big fan of Powerpay combined with Authorize.net. Note: when you setup a payment processer like Powerpay, they will automatically combine it with a credit card processing (merchant account). In this case, PowerPay combines with Authorize.net. Even if you don t think you re going to use a merchant account right away, be sure to proceed with the process. Financial institutions are in crackdown with small businesses, so it s like pulling teeth these days. Most likely, you ll get approved and get the proper setup in place, but sometimes it takes a long time to complete the process. Be prepared to provide them IT S TIME TO GET BR ANDED! Invest your money into a company that will take you to the biggest level possible in terms of a website and branding design. Make sure you take a good look at a cheap solution, your business will also look cheesy and cheap. Trust is everything online, and most times people will only give you one look. You need to look legit. Act like a real business. Don t go for a presence that looks like it was built in a basement twelve years ago. cards. Make sure they are unique and consistent with your brand. You ll be utilizing these babies a lot in the next few steps. Please, please Call SolamarAgency.com for your branding and design needs :)
PH A S E 4 CRM System Sales Tracking Project Management System Tracker Keeper CR M SYSTEM SALES TR ACKING know anyone that is contacting you and what stage they are at in the process. Everyone that contacts you is a lead. If they are good, you convert them to an opportunity and so on and so forth. Let me tell you, being able to see the state of your sales pipeline at any given time is totally awesome! PROJECT MANAGEMENT is a serious system that will only allow you to build and grow. You need to have your shit together by organizing the heck out of everything you do. We use Basecamp. It s awesome. We have 20 people on the team, but 2 or 20, it s great and has grown with us from the start. Get organized peeps.
PH A S E 5 Social Media Sales Marketing Get out there! Let s focus on some free opportunities before you start investing in expensive advertising and marketing. TWEET, POST, IT S ALL GOOD! good for you to get out there and start using this free service, I promise. IT PAYS TO PART Y will turn into paid gigs eventually. MARKET YOUR BUTT OFF Alright, it s been a blast! I know if you follow these steps you ll be well on your way to building a successful, modern business that can stand toe-to-toe with the best. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. You can reach me at chelsea@solamaragency.com. Ciao!