How to Start a Business Step by Step

Want to know how to start a business step by step? The best place is to start with my How to Start a New Business Startup Planner.

I have helped hundreds of businesses get started, including three of my own. It can seem like a daunting process, but you really can get things going quite quickly, as long as you take things step by step.

Table of Contents

Where to Begin Step by Step

Before you start setting up Instagram accounts and creating logos, you have to firmly and decisively answer the following:

What Do You Want to Sell?
Who Do You Want to Sell It To?
Where Do You Want to Sell It?
When Do You Want to Start Selling It?
Why Do You Want to Do This Business?

What Do You Want to Sell?

If you have already decided on the product and or service, then it is a matter of doing research to see how many other people are selling, what they are selling it for, and how is your offering going to be better.

Google Trends is a great way to see how people are searching for your type of product, and looking at the 5 year graph to see if demand has risen or decreased.
Google Keyword Planner is helpful to see the number of searches, so you know the demand. You can even tailor those searches just to your area, if this is a local business.
Reading reviews on places like Amazon and Yelp can help you determine what customers do not like about current offerings.

Who Do You Want to Sell It To?

You have to know your customer – age, gender, city, income level, education level, hobbies, interests, where they shop, what they read, the social media sites they are on and so forth. The better you know your customer, the easier it will be to focus your marketing efforts on reaching them, since most PPC ads ask you to select demographics such as these.

Where Do You Want to Sell It?

You have to make sure you are selling it in the right place. If you are targeting GenZ for example, are they more likely to buy on a certain marketplace or a retail store or off of social media or all three?

If you sell in stores, or through a third party, you will have much smaller profit margins, so can you afford that?

If this is a brick and mortar business, as you know location, location, location, but you also need ample parking and accessible hours of business.

When Do You Want to Start Selling It?

Creating a launch timeline is critical to your success. It has to start with the product. Do not start designing logos and the fun stuff until you have nailed down the product / service, and lined up any needed suppliers, materials, inventory, equipment and so forth.

Why Do You Want to Do This Business?

Starting and running a business requires a lot of time, money, willingness to fail, so make sure you are doing it for the right reasons.

If you are desperate for money, this will not be an immediate solution as it takes time to earn revenues, especially profits. Forget those “get rich quick stories” you hear on the Internet. You would be amazed at how many people “buy” their sales and then try to use that to look successful to get actual sales.

If this is something you are truly passionate about, and are willing to put in the time, money, effort and personal sacrifice, your business has a better chance at success.

Initial Steps in Starting a Business

If you have confidently answered the questions above, then you start with the basics:

You need a business name.
You need to secure the business name.
You need to decide the type of business legal structure.
You need to determine how you will finance the business.

A business name should be short, descriptive, memorable, easy to pronounce, easy to spell. Customers will not find you easily in Google, if they misspell your name. For more advice, read my post My 8 Most Important Tips on Choosing a Business Name.

What kind of business structure will you set up? A sole proprietorship, a partnership or a corporation? I always recommend the latter, as there is so much less personal risk.

Some businesses require very little start up costs, whereas some will need substantial funds in the beginning for an establishment, supplies, equipment, staff and so forth. Luckily there are a variety of funding options including small business loans, grants and angel investors, to name a few.

Now You are Ready to Start a Business

Once you have those items above decided, you are ready to move on to the four P’s, which are:

Product – every detail including market research, competitive research, what is needed to create the product and so forth.
Price – what you are going to charge, based on costs and competitors’ pricing.
Place – all of the locations you plan to sell the product/service.
Promotion – how you are going to get the word out via social media, advertising, SEO, publicity and more.

My Business Startup Planner

Just updated for 2022, my 34-Page Business Startup Planner is a printable download, that will walk you through all the major decisions of how to start a business step by step!

34-page printable PDF.
Each page 8.5 x 11 inches.
Created by a long-time marketing and small business consultant (me).
Planning pages for business name, branding, legal structure, product, pricing, financing, start up costs, location, supplies, equipment, licenses, fees, insurance, market analysis, competitive analysis, product specifications, staffing, first year sales goals and much more.
Also includes detailed start up checklists.

Save yourself so much time and effort starting a new business with my planner as no detail is left uncovered! Download today!

Need Business Mentoring?

If you need one-on-one advice on starting or growing your business, set up a phone consultation with me 📞. If you want to start a business, but are stuck for an idea, I can help with that too.

Now, if you just want to start an exclusively online business, be sure to read my How to Start an Online Business post.