(from The Basics)

Did it all?

Congratulations! You have come a long way. If haven't done all of these things and you still made that first sale, don't get cocky. Soon there will be no more corporate safety net. You're learning how to sell to survive. And, hopefully you are discovering how quickly you can replace your old income while you "enjoy" the process of building your business.

If you have only been on this step and you have not taken the little quiz and read the first chapter of Beating the Odds, please check out those pages. Even though you have come this far, these two references will still give you some insight into your inner self and your motivations.

If you think you might work from your home, review this episode of the show.

If you already have that home office set up, you will need support groups. Join, join, join. Introduce yourself to the local Chamber of Commerce. Look up your regional small business association. Make yourself known to your local Small Business Administration. Many businesses on the show have been helped by the SBA. If you are near any university, there is a strong possibility that there is also Small Business Development Center at the school. Please do not be afraid to share your ideas or ask for help. Nobody has as much passion for your ideas as you do.

CASE STUDIES:
Review some of the show tapes that talk about support groups, home offices, and the backbone of a successful start-up:
Opportunity Knocks. Go inside a group that incubates start-up as well as existing businesses. You will meet many small business owners and see how they are helping each other to grow.
Flap Happy. Laurie Snyder takes you from her original idea -- to create a product to protect her newborn son from the sun-- to her current effort to fulfill orders for LL Bean.
On Target Supplies & Logistics. Albert Black shows you the depth of a compelling idea and how it carried him through his second job for ten years before he could go full-time.
The Enterprise Network (TEN). The Enterprise Network is without a doubt one of the best incubators in the country. Take your idea here; once accepted you will be on track for professional advisors and deep pockets of venture capital.

2. Your community. Support the first sale; learn more about your target market, and begin looking for a home for your business.

The most important decision that you make is your choice of the people with whom you spend time and even just hang out.

Keys to go on to Step 4. You need a place from which to work and you have four basic choices:
(1) a home office,
(2) an office within another business,
(3) a small office, or
(4) incubator space.

Make a list of ten business owners who are similar to the people within the business that bought your product/service. Prioritize that list based on who you believe would buy your products/services most readily and try to get an appointment to see each of them.

Ask them to help you position your new company to become one of their suppliers. You are doing market research.

In the process, you can also find a home for your business. When you find a company where the environment and chemistry is speaking to you, ask that person if they might want to do a trade for space and initial infrastructure for the cost of goods plus a little margin to keep yourself alive.

You have to risk hearing a "NO," before you will hear, "Yes."

If you have decided that you cannot work from your home: You can find an incubator or create your own. To find an incubator, enter the word in your favorite search engine "Business incubator + (your state)", and follow through on the leads that most interest you, or go to the National Business Incubation Association. They are chartered by the SBA to help incubate newly started businesses. Again, please do not hesitate to ask any of these people for help.

3. Structuring your time: Time management is an art. Continue learning all you can about managing it, your money, and resources. If you want to work through a systematic program for business development, go to your local office of the SBA; they may direct you to their local offices of the SBDC or to someone within SCORE.

The next key step, a major hurdle for most of us, is to begin to sell consistently. A business is not a business until something is sold.

Ethics. Especially during this incubation period, we recommend that you do not give up your full-time job. However, be sure when you sell something, there is no possible conflict of interest with your current employer. Unless you have signed a non-compete employment clause, it does not mean that you cannot be in a similar business. But you must be sure that you do not use any proprietary information and you do not abuse the responsibilities you have to your current employer. If there is a shade of doubt, resign and find another job to sustain yourself while you build your business.

Be ethical. Integrity will always reward you. Someday you will have employees and you will want them to be ethical and responsible.

Work on your new business after you finish your regular work hours. Work on weekends. Work on holidays. Be honest. Be fair.

If you know you are on the right path, you will need no other motivation to build an infrastructure to do your special work full time.

4. Project the day of the Flying Leap. This is a magical projection. You are looking out on the horizon to the day you give that notice to your current employer and you start the next day on your own. You are talking about the day you become a Sole Proprietor. Every one of the 25 million small business owners has been here. You can do it.

If there is an intuition that is holding you back, check it out with your advisors. Go over your financials. You are making sales. You have a working business model. Articulate that model within your business plan. Build confidence.

Also, be careful checking out resources for investors. That can destroy your confidence. Great small businesses hear, "No" every day, even with great financials and a track record!

Work through our page about money. You are going to be learning a lot about equity, liquidity, leveragability, and sustainability. We have not met one small business owner who does not need more working capital than they have, and we are out to change that!

Put up that web site. Yes, even now. You have a product and a customer. Now you have a reference. These pages become part of your sales cycle. Even if your business is just in your local community, that website will serve you in the following ways:
1. Knowledge Management. Starting with your mission and vision statements, the web becomes your dynamic area to define and develop your uniqueness. You will be stimulated to differentiate yourself.
2. Infrastructure. It is your cost-effective way for customers to pay you and for you to pay suppliers, order materials and services, and even do inventory!
3. Marketing. Let all your people know of any price change instantly from anywhere where you have a web connection.

Every story in the show listings is a valuable source for you, but we especially recommend reviewing those stories in your industry type. Please be sure to review each of the Case Study Guides as you watch the shows.