Starting a small business is an exciting but frightening venture. Approximately one-fifth of all small businesses fail within the first year, and two-thirds fail within 10 years. Though the long-term odds are not in your favor, it may still be possible for you to beat them. This involves careful planning beforehand to make sure you have everything you need to start your business. You need to secure not only equipment but funding, licensure, insurance, etc. Here are a few of the essentials.

Start a Business

1. Business Plan and Funding

When you get an idea for a new business, you have a notion of where you want to go with it. Therefore, think of a business plan as a roadmap for how you are going to get there. The business plan isn’t just for you; it’s a tool that can show other people exactly what you want to accomplish. This may be necessary to obtain the necessary funding, which you can seek out from investors and business lenders.

3. Insurance

Business insurance resource protects businesses from losses that can occur during normal business operations, nearly every state requires businesses insurance.

2. Licensure

The business plan also describes the structure you want for your business. This is important because the laws of your state may require you to register and obtain a business license to operate your company.

3. Premises

You need some space to devote to your business endeavors. Maybe this means buying or leasing commercial property, but many businesses start out in the home, especially at first.

4. Communication System

When you first start out, you may be able to conduct most business on your smart phone. As your company grows, however, you may find you need a corded phone system for intra-office communication as well as reaching your business contacts outside the office. Note that just because a corded phone system looks traditional doesn’t mean it is antiquated. There are cloud-based phone systems that run over the internet and leverage the power of technology to offer more features.

Making up 99.9% of all companies in the U.S., small businesses are crucial to the economy. Therefore, the success of your business is not only important to you but to your community, state, and nation.