Does anyone here own a business?

[Trainer Monkey]

Do you rent the facility or are you buying it?

In my case own,lock stock and barrell,depending on what your trying to set up,if you have the funds to buy,your just better off. Im looking at buying a larger facility,but Im also looking at buying a new break down ring,so there's only so much money in the kitty.
Honestly,having a landlord is a ball pain,not only do complaints not get redressed quickly,as far as heat water leaks etc,you allways have to worry at the end of your lease that maybe your landlord doesnt want that type of buissness in his building any more and you find yourself scrambling to find a new roof over your head in a hurry.
If you can buy,buy

How did you initially capitalize your business?

Hate to say it,a loan and the card,the debt is mainly paid down now, but it was a swing at it, at the time.
Just had to have faith in myself that I knew what I was doing when I started,I figured I did,but the first few months are pretty scary,you find yourself saying to yourself constantly,"You know,punching a time card wasnt THAT bad"

[Scrap]

Im the Chairman of two Companies, how can I Help.

[killersheep]

Im the Chairman of two Companies, how can I Help.

I have an idea for web-based business, I won't need a physical location other than my house at first. The real cost will be that of a website, I can do all the HTML/CSS and php myself, but I need to pay someone to make a clean shopping cart system. Furthermore, I will need to spend a lot of cash advertising.

Other than that, because I expect to be doing a lot of transactions, I will need good bookkeeping software, there is no way for me to track this with pen and paper.

So what I need are the following things:

*Help with a business plan
*$20,000 for startup costs, web development, equipment, shipping supplies, accounting software, barcoding software, microsoft office suite etc.
*I really need help with creating a system to maintain daily business and transactions.
*Any guerilla marketing ideas would be welcome.

PS I am not asking for cash here I will be funding most of this out of pocket.

[Scrap]

Have not got a clue but will ask my people, leave it with me. Ill pm you might take a few Days.

[Julius Rain]

well im from seattle, the capitol breeding ground for entreprenuers.

I run a small business but i keep my day job. I do own my very own dot com, but thats not a big deal around here.

[Von Milash]

Sheep,

you can access all kids of b-plans for all kinds of businesses off the web.

Your best bet is probably to talk to an accountant, who can advise you on many of the issues you raised... books, financials, start up capital, etc. You might be wise to also spend $15 on a simple entrepreneurial how-to book from borders, especially one that pertains to your state. It'll help you understand exactly what you need to do, the implications of forming a sole prop, LLC, subch. S corp, corp, etc, and the legal and tax implications for converting at a later date. with a sole prop, once you say you're in business, you are, pending any required licenses for the trade or taxes. Chances are if you think you'll make more than about $30k in revenues, you'll need a tax number. And chances are if the company is called anything other than your name as it's written on your birth cert, you'll need to register that name with the state so you can cash chaecks and stuff like that.

That said, you can also google your state and the word business start up or entrepreneur or whatever. Chances are it'll be a dot-gov site. If you have some business training, that might be enough. Otherwise, like I said, a consultation with an accountant or even $50 on a lawyer to get you going might be wise.

One more thing, your local bank probably has a division dedicated entirely to guys like you, small business. you can likely raise the cash you need that way. But you'll probably need a pretty solid plan in place, with complete proforma financials for the first 3 years. But maybe not, if the amount you need is relatively small. You might want to book an app't with someone at your bank to ask some preliminary quaestions.

I can give you a lot more theory if you need it, but the only way for you to know for sure is to get your hands on the rules and regs governing small business starts in your state. ie, the how-to stuff like naming your biz and tax stuff.

[RP33]

Im the Chairman of two Companies, how can I Help.

I have an idea for web-based business, I won't need a physical location other than my house at first. The real cost will be that of a website, I can do all the HTML/CSS and php myself, but I need to pay someone to make a clean shopping cart system. Furthermore, I will need to spend a lot of cash advertising.

Other than that, because I expect to be doing a lot of transactions, I will need good bookkeeping software, there is no way for me to track this with pen and paper.

So what I need are the following things:

*Help with a business plan
*$20,000 for startup costs, web development, equipment, shipping supplies, accounting software, barcoding software, microsoft office suite etc.
*I really need help with creating a system to maintain daily business and transactions.
*Any guerilla marketing ideas would be welcome.

PS I am not asking for cash here I will be funding most of this out of pocket.

i help my friend run his tanning salon but that's not nearly as in depth as you're going considering the business was just bought and not built.. anyway, good luck sheep.. Von Milash had a great idea with going to a bookstore and buying a "how-to" book for small business.. i used to work at Borders and we had a whole section on small business.. definitely worth the trip even if you don't purchase anything and just stand there and read some stuff..

[Scrap]

Listen to Von, thats more or Less what Ive been Told

[Scrap]

Thats what my accoutant told me, and He is Billing it to me Bastard. Oh Ive got 3 companies I dont know Fuck All

[Trainer Monkey]

Check your credit raiting as well,my promotion company had a loan fall through because of a couple of late payments on a credit card. It wasnt even that it didnt get paid,but with the market the way it is,anything will send out a red flag,it wasnt even me, it was my partner, but still it was a setback that could have been avoided.

[Andre]

Business plan is the go for the loan for sure.
If you can project all the figures even with a bit of twigging and bullshit involved, it proves you've sat down and projected the outcomes etc.
Make it work on paper and your speaking their language straight away.
Saddo is the man to ask about web sites and pros and cons,he's been through enough of them to know some shortfalls.

[Spicoli]

At time it sure feels that way,working on a share.Running it on the H.R front,dealing with the head aches and listening to everyones drama and excuses.Hard to be a nice guy in spots.A bad sign is when I go to lock the front door and try using my house key,wondering why it wont work .Ironic as it gets.As far as Web start up....can not tell you a thing Greg.Dumb as a box of rocks with this technology.