Articles Index

Obtaining Business Licenses and Permits - The Paper Chase
You’ve made the decision to start your own business. But before you open your doors or make your first sale, you’ll need to make sure everything’s legal. This means obtaining the proper business licenses and permits. These vary by city, state and country, as well as according to the type of company you’re operating.

Calculating Startup Costs
You’re confident you’re sitting on the next million-dollar idea. Whether you’ve already secured funding or just trying to figure out what it will take to get started, an accurate estimate of start-up costs is necessary to reasonably predict financial performance in the first few quarters. Of course every business and every industry have different cost requirements, but these steps can help you start the number-crunching.

Choosing a Location for Your Business
There are many factors to consider in choosing the location for your business. In addition to cost, you must consider whether your location is important to your customers, your employees, and even potential investors. Each of these groups has different concerns about the location: convenience, safety, prestige, traffic, and more. Determine your priorities, keep an open mind about your options, do your research, and get ready to make one of the most important decisions about your business.

Passive Income
Do you want to continue working 50, 70, 100 hours a week the rest of your life? Good! Neither do I. Do you want to be able to take time off whenever you want to, without worrying about what's going to happen to your business? So do I! In order to do that, you're going to have to start creating income streams that do not require your direct involvement. Passive income will allow you to earn more and work less.

Sole Proprietorship Startup Costs
So you want to go into business for yourself? Run your own show? Being a sole proprietor is the easiest way to get started in business, but there's still more to it than just getting business cards printed and sticking up a web page. You may not need a formal business plan, but this checklist will help you make sure you've at least given some thought to the many complexities that may arise.

Guy Kawasaki: The Art of the Start
I had the privilege of attending a presentation by Guy Kawasaki on his latest book, "The Art of the Start". He's a tremendously entertaining speaker - funny, irreverent, and above all, insightful. He built his presentation around his top ten tips for anyone starting anything - entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs, non-profit ventures. I share them with you here, along with a few of his choice quips that you won't find in the book.

Choosing a Business to Start
The traditional approach to entrepreneurship has been to research the market, identify a need, and create a business to fill it. In recent years, the mantra, "Do what you love and the money will follow," has become increasingly popular. While the latter sounds great, millions have gone broke pursuing that approach. On the other hand, many others have created businesses using the first approach, only to end up bored and burned out. But there's an approach that combines the best of both.