During my sophomore year of college, the corporate 9-5 job I was destined for became increasingly less alluring. By that summer, I was fully resolved to start my own business but did not know where to start. With very limited capital and wanting to avoid debt, I could not be too ambitious. However, I still wanted to start a business with good revenue and growth potential. With these parameters, I found the best business type to start was a sweaty startup.
There are many potential paths to take when starting a service-based business. To find what is best for you ask yourself these questions – what is something I can do that other people either can’t do (by lack of know-how or equipment) or don’t want to do (too laborious, nasty, etc.)? For me, the answer was junk removal. At that time in my local area, junk removal was not yet saturated and all you needed to start was a truck and trailer. My business partner had a truck and I had the $900 for the trailer. Whatever you choose – be sure it has good margins, isn’t overly saturated (in your local area), and is viable with the starting capital you have available.
Once you find a niche that interests you and meets those criteria, start researching. Consume every YouTube video, article, and book you can find. At the end of your research period (don’t take too long researching) you want to be as knowledgeable as possible about that specific business. If you are still content with your choice after your research phase, go into planning mode. Creating a simple business plan will help to figure out things like your service offering, service area, pricing, and other critical components of your operation. (This is more for your reference than an official document.)
For most businesses, at minimum, you want to have an LLC. Operating under a limited liability company offers some protections as well as other perks. If you have business partners you will want an operating agreement that irons out every detail of the partnership before starting your first job (more about business partners in another post). For everything else, I say wait. You are still trying to figure out if this is the right business for you so there is no need to go too crazy just yet.
After you have your LLC and all the equipment you need – go out and practice. For many services, there is a learning curve. Experiment, learn, and refine your skills with family, neighbors, and coworkers before you attempt to complete paid work. After you feel confident in your abilities – post on social media, nextdoor, neighborhood Facebook groups, and anywhere else you can to generate traction to get your first few paid jobs, feedback, and social proof.
After you have decided that you definitely want to pursue this business full time – begin taking the steps to fully commit. Requirements vary state by state but typically you want your EIN (5 minute process), any business licenses from the counties you will work in, a business bank account (to separate personal and business finances), business name, logo, insurance, softwares, phone number, etc.
It’s really that simple. These are the steps that I took to take my first business from concept to reality. Don’t let all the options and paths available stop you from starting. Make a choice, set deadlines, and go with it. In the next post, I will go over the supporting infrastructure (websites, social media, marketing, Google My Business, etc.) you need to make your business a success.
Good Luck!
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