How To Start A Business

Whizkins
Version 3.0
3
N
A Whizkins publication
O
I
S
R
E
V How to Start a Business
A Quick Guide to Starting and Running Your Own Creative Business
Topics Include:
Business Planning
34 Awesome Ways to Raise Money
Choosing a Legal Entity
Build Your Own Customer Profile
And More!
Millennial
MadeTM
100% Made by Millennials.
Photo Credit: Andreas Praefcke
Whizkins
How to Start a Business
Quick Question:
How do you see your life and business in 5, 10 and 20 + years?
Now, Think About These Stats...

9 out of 10 business failures in the United States are caused by lack of general management
skills and planning.
Source: Small Business Development Center, Troy State University.
1 out of 2 businesses will go out of business within 4 years of opening.

Source: Small Business Development Center, Bradley University, University of Tennessee Research.
Over 75% of business failures are caused by incompetence and a lack of managerial experience.
Common causes:
Lack of planning
Emotional pricing
Living to high for the business
Nonpayment of taxes
No knowledge of pricing
No knowledge of financing
No experience in record-keeping
Poor credit granting practices
Expansion too rapid
Source: Small Business Development Center, Bradley University, University of Tennessee Research.
Theres a lot work ahead of you, but...

by downloading this guide, you just took a giant step forward in ensuring youll be an exception
to these statistics, and were proud of you. So congratulations, but you cant stop here.
Welcome to
Whizkins
Affordable Business Resources for Creative Entrepreneurs.
Table of
Whizkins
CONTENTS
Were proud to be an avid supporter of

creative entrepreneurs everywhere.
01
Create a Business
03 Plan
Customer Discovery
04 & Validation
Financial
07 Projections
24
Determining
18 Financial Needs
25
Choose A Business
19 Name
26
Choose A Legal
26
19 Entity
Create a Business
Model
Hiring
Employees
Whizkins
Manage Payroll
Taxes
Please send emails with

comments or suggestions
to whizards@whizkins.com
Acquire Recordkeeping Tools

Conclusion
20
Permits, Licenses &
21 More
22
Acquire Insurance
23 Coverage
No part of this publication

may be reproduced in any
form without the express
written consent of the
copyright owner.
Proud
supporters
of creative
entrepreneurs
everywhere.
Get
Protection
Select
A Location
2014 Whizkins Corp.
Millennial
MadeTM
100% Made by Millennials.
ii
Whizkins
Well,Hello There,
You
Creative
Whizkins.com
Genius.
So youre interested in starting a creative business? Thats awesome, and were super excited for you. Congratulations
on taking the first steps towards turning your idea into a lucrative business venture (we hope) that will provide
your fans with plenty of smiles and you with comfort and security for the rest of your life.
In this guide, well cover starting a business at a very high level, so we can touch more businesses. This way, you
can get the basics that will most likely apply to your business, regardless of what you may be doing individually.
Youll then be able to add on specific tasks for your unique business at a later time. As you read, you can tweak
comments and tips here and there to fit your plans. When youre ready, you can always find more affordable
resources and professionals on our website (whizkins.com) to help develop your business idea even more.
Just one more small note to remember: starting a business is a marathon and not a sprint. Theres a lot of
material here, so feel free to take breaks, days off and naps, and remember to always ask questions. (You really
cant do it alone and without help.) No one expects you to know everything or to cross out your entire to-do list
in one weekend.
Now that we have all of that out the way, lets get started!!!
Step 1 - Create a Business Model

Lets create a business model. Sounds cool enough, but whats a business model, right? A business model, in the
simplest explanation, documents how you plan to create value, distribute that value and collect money for that
value and how to do all these things with consistency over time. Why would you need one of these? Preparing
a business model is a great way to see if your idea has any legs, i.e. will be worth your time, effort and money.
When you sit down to put together a business model, you might realize the resources you need are so expensive,
the plan wont work because at the price youll have to charge you wont have the number of customers available
in your ideal market.
01
Copyright 2014 Whizkins Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
The Business Model Canvas

KEY PARTNERS
KEY ACTIVITIES
Who are your key partners?

Who are your key suppliers?
Which Key Resources must you acquire
from partners?
Which Key Activities do partners
perform?
Motivation for Partnership
Acquire key resources and activities
Optimize business
Reduce risk and uncertainty
What Key Activities do your Value

Propositions require?
Distribution Channels?
Customer Relationships?
Revenue Streams?
Categories
Production
Problem solving
Platform/network
CUSTOMER SEGMENTS
CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS
Types
Mass market
Niche market
Segmented
Diversified
Multi-sided Platform
Examples
Personal assistance
Dedicated personal assistance
Self-service
Automated services
Communities
Whizkins
VALUE PROPOSITIONS
What value do you deliver to customrs?
Which one of your customers problems are you helping to solve?
What bundles of products and services
are you offering to each Customer
Segments?
Which customer needs are we satisfying?
Characteristics
Performance, newness, design, price, cost
reduction, accessibility, convenience, brand,
status.
KEY RESOURCES
What Key Resources do your Value
Propositions required?
Your Distribution Channels?
Your Customer Relationships?
Your Reveue Streams?
Types of Resources
Acquire key resources and activities
Optimize business
Reduce risk and uncertainty
COST STRUCTURE
CHANNELS
Through which Channels do your Customer Segments want to be reached?
How are you reaching them now?
How are your Channels integrated?
Which Channels work the best?
Which Channels are the most costefficient?
How are we integrating them with
customer routines?
Channel Phases
1. Awareness
How do we raise awareness about us?
2. Evaluation
How do we help customers to evaluate our
Value Propositions?
3. Purchase
How do we allow customer to purchase
specific products & services?
4. Delivery
How do we deliver our Value Proposition?
5. After Sales
How do we provide post-purchase support?
What are the most important costs

inherent in your business model?
Which Key Resources are the most
expensive?
Which Key Activities are the most
expensive?
Is Your Business:
Cost Driven? (lean cost structure, low price value
proposition, maximum automation, outsourcing)
Value Driven? (focused on value creation, premium value proposition)
Sample Characteristics
Fixed Costs
Variable Costs
Economies of Scale
Economies of Scope
Whizkins.com
What type of relation does each Customer Segment expect you to establish
and maintain with them?
Which one have you established?
How are they integrated with the rest of
our business model?
How costly are they?
For whom are we creating value?

Who are our most important customers?
REVENUE STREAMS
For what value are customers really
willing to pay?
For what do they currently pay?
How are they currently paying?
How would they prefer to pay?
How much does each Revenue Stream
contribute to overall revenues.
Types:
Usage fee
Subscription fee
Licensing
Brokerage fees
Advertising
Asset sale
Fixed Pricing:
List price
Product feature dependent
Customer segment dependent
Volume dependent
Dynamic Pricing:
Negotiation
Yield management
Real-time Market
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license,
visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ or send a letter to
Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California 94105, USA.
02
Whizkins
Lets think about this scenario for a second. Wouldnt it be great to know an idea wont work before you spend
gobs of time, effort and money on your idea? Sure, a busted idea isnt fun, but neither is filing for bankruptcy
when the money youve poured in your business from your pockets, investors and fans disappears and you have
angry creditors waiting for payments. Finding your idea wont work doesnt necessarily mean your dream of being a business owner is over. It just means you have to break out the drawing board again and find a way to make
it work, and if you stay persistent, you will make it work.
So what goes into a business model? The content can vary, but there are generally 9 areas youll want to cover in
putting together a business model. On the previous page, you will
find a layout of the business model canvas describing the 9 areas
and some of the questions you may need to answer.
Whizkins.com
Business Model Basics
1. Key Partners
2. Key Activities
3. Key Resources
4. Value Propositions
5. Customer Relationships
6. Customer Segments
7. Channels
8. Cost Structure
9. Revenue Streams
You can answer these questions in a separate Word or Excel document. To further help with the business modeling, weve created
a worksheet called Eureka! Completing a Eureka! worksheet will
help you develop your business model too. Its an an instant ideato-paper worksheet that fills the gap between oh, I have an idea
and actually working on your idea. Its free, only 14 questions long
and you can download a version of our Eureka! form from our online store at whizkins.com.
So what does our Eureka! form do for you? It helps you quickly
add more details to your idea without getting you started on a full
business plan. So if youre just flirting with an idea and want to see
how it could possibly look, you can examine it more closely with
this form. Once youre finished with the Eureka! or preparing your answers to your own Business Model Canvas
(or both, if youre really adventurous), youll want to consider putting together your full business plan.
Step 2 - Create a Business Plan

If youre on Step 2, great work on completing your Eureka! and/or completing your business model canvas. So
whats next? We highly recommend creating a business plan. Yep, we said that word: plan. It wont be too bad,
though, because we have a lot of resources available online to help you complete your plan.
If youre searching for a business plan template, we have one available in our online store (and if youre a college
student, you can get one for free) [click here for business plan]. You can find business plan templates online and
at some university entrepreneurship programs. Some of these plans may be specifically catered to exactly what
youre looking to create, such as a restaurant or art class, and a specific plan might make completing it go faster.
So what does a business plan include? Here are a few items your business plan should include:
Executive Summary - Brief summary of everything youre doing.
Organizational Plan - Description about your business model you just worked on, information about your
purpose/mission and problems youre solving.
Services/Products - Description about the products or services you will be offering to solve your customers
problems.
03
Whizkins
Intellectual Property - These are intangible assets, such as patents, trademarks and copyrights.
Strategic Plan - Description about your vision and how you plan to achieve it.
Marketing Plan - Description about the goals you want to reach, such as sell 10,000 units, and a description
about how you plan to achieve these goals.
Financial Documents - This section might include budgets, financial projections and use of proceeds.
Today, theres a slight push for skipping the business plan by some groups and going straight to the customers.
We believe you have to do both, so you can have a business plan to document and detail how exactly youll
approach your targeted customers and what youll be sharing with your targeted customers, especially since
theyre going to have questions, and youll want to have thorough answers. How can you know what youre going
to talk to your customers about if you dont spend some time developing a well-thought out plan about solving
their problems? Remember, as our founder says, winging it is not a business plan.
Plus, business planning is critical for small businesses because it helps you think about various aspects of your
business in ways that might not have previously crossed your mind. Failure to plan is one of the leading causes
of why small businesses buckle (1 out of 2 small businesses fail within 4 years), and the fact youre reading this
says youre already on the road to success, and youll be different from all those other small businesses.
Step 3 - Customer Discovery

& Validation
Whizkins.com
Theres a good chance that once you finish your business plan, you might change it many times after you complete
it. Thats OK! Thats good because it means youre being flexible, and youre doing whatever it takes to succeed.
These two items (customer discovery and validation) form the core
of whats considered the lean start-up (yes, youre a start-up too). Its
a great way to evaluate your market potential before you start spending a lot of your time and hard earned money.
With customer discovery and validation, your business plan will
come into play, especially if youve included a buyer persona in your
business plan. (A buyer persona details your ideal customer. Its very
similar to a profile, except you might include specific details about
habits. Well touch basis on this in a second.)
With your business plan in hand, youll have a great understanding of the people who have the problem, the
problem youre solving and how you plan to solve it. With this information, you can talk to potential customers
(discover them) and try your idea out and change it as you go on until its a fan favorite (validation). [As a small
note, be sure to check the category below called Step 8 - Get Protection to learn a little about patents. In some
cases, you may need to file an application before publicly disclosing your idea with potential customers.]
As part of your customer discovery and validation process, you might also want to go ahead and build a
prototype, if you have a product youve created that might need to be manufactured. Not sure how youll make
04
Whizkins
your prototype? Weve got you covered. On Whizkins, we have a few business professionals who offer affordable
services for obtaining patents for your prototypes, and weve also located a couple of facilities for building your
prototype for almost pennies.
If youre interested in learning more about Customer Discovery and Validation, check out Steve Blanks book,
The Startup Owners Manual: The Step-by-Step Guide for Building a Great Company.
As promised, we said we would chat about the buyer persona. Lets go into what a buyer persona is and why you
need one.
If youre selling anything, you have (hopefully) already thought about your ideal customer/client. Youve done
this, right? So you probably have a good idea of this perfect customer/client in your head right now. Thinking
about your ideal customer/client is one thing, but actually putting this description down on paper is another,
and creating a documented picture of your customer/client can work wonders and help in your marketing efforts. We promise. How is this possible, you ask. Keep reading.
Whizkins.com
When you create a well-documented picture of your ideal customer/client, you force yourself to focus on exactly
these people and only these people, reducing your time significantly from being distracted by all the prospects
out there who might be looking with no intent to buy or arent even interested at all. To get you started, we are
going to share with you the buyer persona template we created and still use for Whizkins (see next page).
Before you go on some tear about how you dont need a buyer persona for your creative business (weve heard it
all), let us be quick to explain to you that you should know your customers exceptionally well - no matter what
youre selling. So if youre wondering if you should really spend time researching the heck out of your prospects,
the answers is a definite yes, (we relentlessly research ours). In summary, know your customers well.
Google, Facebook and the other tech giants know exactly what youre up to online (yes, even with all the nifty
private browsing) and probably offline. While
the level of detail you get on your customers
may not be as granular as what theyre extracting, you can still accumulate valuable information from prospects to help you create a buyer
persona.
To get answers for your own persona, you
can use a mixture of surveys, such as the ones
provided by SurveyMonkey and SurveyGizmo,
or personal interviews with people. Sometimes
you can find reports, such as those regularly
prepared by all the U.S. agencies, out on the
web that might have some of the information available. Just depends on your product/
service. Sure, theres a slight time commitment for this, but youll make it up on the time
saved from what you would be doing in the
alternative: taking a shot in the dark on your
marketing.
While we know money doesnt drive a lot of
05
Your Dream Customer
Solutions
Demographic Information:
His/Her Headaches
Youre Solving:
Common Objections
to Your Solutions:
Time per day (in hrs):
Age:
Income:
Level of education:
Relationship status:
Family size:
Location:
Vacation spots:
Hangouts & watering holes:
Leisure activities:
Prior employers:
Preferred form of communication:
Current Solutions:
Company:
Industry:
Role:
Goals & Challenges:
Information Sources:
At desk:
Online:
On mobile device:
Shopping:
Sleeping:
Exercising:
Eating:
Socializing:
Managing emails:
Working:
With customers:
With family:
Values:
Success means:
Biggest Challenges:
Preferred Social Media:
Desired Customer
Experience:
Whizkins
creative entrepreneurs, you will need to be cognizant of your time and develop an idea of how you want to live
now, 5 - 20 years from now and in retirement. Decisions today wil affect your business later.
Thinking this far ahead sounds like a stretch for a creative, but unless you plan to work for someone one day and
earn a steady pay check and lose your independence, you have to start actively thinking about your finances.
To get you started, youll need to complete some financial projections to get an idea of how your creative business might do financially. So, lets talk about financial projections now.
Step 4 - Financial Projections

We know talking about numbers isnt a popular subject area, and spreadsheets (see example in picture below)
are probably about as likeable as preparing a tax return, but we have to talk about numbers for a bit. Using your
Eureka! form (or some other type of business model worksheet) and business plan you can make a list of the
items you will need to get started, such as materials and supplies, employees (if any), equipment, inventory,
marketing expenses, office space and any other key resources.
Whizkins.com
Lets talk about estimating revenue for a few minutes, as youll need this estimate for preparing financial
projections.
Prices
Estimating your revenue can be a little
tricky. Your revenue is directly related to
volume and price (price per unit times
number of units sold equals sales revenue). A good starting point for establishing a price is to check out your directly
competitive products and services. This
information will be available in catalogs
and websites. If there are no directly competitive products and services available,
you can use these methods to establish price:
Above: Excel Worksheets are

a great tool for planning &
analyzing your financials.
Compute sales prices at a standard markup percentage above cost or a

standard return on your investment.
Set your prices intuitively to reflect availability and value.
Set prices based on competitive prices in a similar market.
Whizkins Tip
To keep operating expenses

low, create a workspace in
your home or apartment.
If you restrict this space to
only your business, youll
also get a deduction for this
home office area.
07
Volume
Determining volume is a little trickier than determining price, especially if
theres no historical data for you to make an estimate. In determining the
reasonableness of your estimate on volume, you will need to evaluate market
demand for the product, the effect of existing products in the market already
and your ability to produce the estimated volume. Industry statistics and demographic data, such as the type made available by the U.S. Bureau of Labor
or U.S. Census Bureau, can also help you make an assessment on your tar-
Continued on Page 18
34
Special Section
Awesome Ways to Raise Money

for Your Creative Business
1. Crowdfunding
Historically, Crowdfunding has always been popular in nonprofit

arenas, but now that its mainstream, you can use it for pretty much
anything these days, such as financing for your new creative business.
There are countless crowdfunding applications for almost anything you can think up. While you undoubtedly
know the big names, there might be a few that might be better for what youre trying to do. Research never hurts.
Heres several other you might find worth your time. 20+ Crowdfunding Websites [click here for list].
2. Personal Sources
3. Partners
If youre already in partnership, you can always ask
for additional contributions from other partners. The consequence of asking, however, might reduce your ownership share, and you might be put through a wringer about why you need the extra cash.
4. Stockholders
Well talk more about stockholders later, but if you already have some investors on board with your idea, you
might want to consider issuing more stock to boost your cash reserves. Depending on the amount, you may
also have to go through your pony show to get the additional cash. When you turn back to your shareholders,
dont forget that you may end up giving up some of your control and diluting your ownership in the process of
issuing more stock.
5. Employees
While asking employees for money may sound out of the ordinary, it happens all the time, most noticeably with
reductions in compensation. You may also offer stock to your employees and allow them to buy a slice of the
pie too. Letting your employees purchase stock is a great way to get employees more involved with the growth of
the company. If you plan to give stock to employees, plan to spend time on preparing your financial statements
that youll need to share with your employee-shareholders.
Whizkins.com
Yep, this means going into your own piggy bank, i.e.
savings accounts, stocks, bonds, retirement accounts,
mortgages on residences, personal lines of credit
and loans against the cash value of life insurance.
Tip: If youre looking to take someone elses money,
its good to show them that youve ponied up some
of your own dough. In fact, they might even require
it, so be prepared.
Special Section
6. Social and Family Connections
Have a few friends and family members with a little extra spending money? They might be willing to donate or
provide you with a low interest loan. Be careful with these arrangements, however, as they can quickly turn sour
with misunderstandings and possible tax issues regarding interest. One way to prevent relationships from being
disrupted is to document the terms of the financing in a formal agreement. The agreement will help parties
understand the terms of the arrangement and any limitations.
7. Vendors
If you have been a loyal customer, a vendor may go over and above by providing you with a loan to help keep you
afloat during a temporary cash shortage so you can keep buying their products. Vendors can also offer products
or services on credit or with terms that are favorable. (Vendor financing is a great cash management tool!)
Whizkins.com
8. Customers
Wouldnt it be great to have a product in development
that is so awesome, customers are willing to throw
money at you for it before youve even built it? A lot of
crowdfunding campaigns have experienced the benefit of
this phenomenon: advance payments. Advance payments
typically come in the form of down payments but can also
be full purchases. Advance payments give entrepreneurs a
great way to prove validation of products and collect cash
to build the products.
NOTE: Its IMPORTANT to have your pricing near perfect because it will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to go back to your customers to ask for more money because you failed to price your product correctly.
9. Lines of Credit
A line of credit is an agreement where the bank agrees to lend you up to a specific amount of money. As a borrower, you only pay interest on the amount you actually borrow. There are 3 main types of lines of credit: seasonal, revolving and non-revolving.
Seasonal
Popular with seasonal businesses, such as retailers and farms. These businesses may need additional cash to buy
large amounts of resources during their peak seasons.
Revolving
You may be familiar with how revolving lines of credit work if youve taken out a home equity line. These are
great for businesses with fantastic track records and a lot of growth opportunity with uncertainty about how
much cash they will need in the future. As you use funds from a line of credit, you pay back principal and interest over a periodic basis, typically on a monthly basis.
Special Section
Non-revolving
A non-revolving line of credit will allow you to draw down on your line, but once you pay it back, you cannot
draw it down again without approval. Non-revolving lines of credit are popular with construction contracts and
large asset purchases, such as equipment and machinery.
10. Demand note

A demand note is a loan without a definite term, which means the loan can be called at anytime by the lender.
Your rates may also float to allow the lender to take advantage of prevailing rates for however long your loan may
be outstanding. If youre funding a company, you can also lend money to your company through a demand note.
11. Advances Against Receivables

While you may be able to find individuals to advance cash for your accounts receivable, commercial financing
companies typically make these advances. In a nutshell, these companies give you money upfront money that
you expect to receive from your customers. This type of financing arrangement will require you to pledge your
accounts receivable as collateral for the loan. Advances can be given on a notification or non-notification basis.
Notification Basis
Non-notification Basis
Your customers are not informed of your potential financing arrangement with your lender, and as a result, they
will send payments to you, and you would make payments directly to the lender.
Under either basis, the the borrower is on the hook for uncollectible accounts and may be required to remit
invoices and A/R aging schedules to the lender on a periodic basis.
12. Factoring
Factoring is the process of selling your accounts receivable at a discount to a bank or financing company (the
bank or financing company is called a factor in this arrangement). Once sold, you create a base of value that you
can borrow against. Generally, accounts receivable are sold without recourse, which means the bank or financing company will be responsible for uncollectible accounts (this is different from the advance against receivables
above where you still own the accounts receivable, and it will be up to you to make sure you collect payements).
Occasionally, accounts receivable are sold with recourse, which means you, the borrower, will be on the hook for
uncollectible accounts. If you sell with recourse, you may receive a lower discount from the factor, which means
you get a higher value attached to the amount you sell.
Factoring can be a great option for startups without a strong track record because the factor analyzes the
Whizkins.com
Your customers will be required to remit payments directly to your lender. If your bank is a lender, your
customers may not suspect cash flow issues, but if theyre sending their payments to Cash Now Financing Co.,
they might start to wonder how business is doing. So be wary of this possibility of notifying your customers
about your cash situation.
Whizkins.com
Special Section
As an entrepreneur, youve probably had one of these days...

creditworthiness of the customers instead of the borrower. Factoring is also good for companies that are
expanding so quickly that accounts receivable grow at a faster rate than cash collection.
13. Credit cards

The use of credit cards in this instance is different from what you might be used to hearing (i.e. you just buy all
your stuff on your personal or business credit cards). In this financing arrangement, you can receive financing
from the banks that have issued credit cards to your customers. For example, if you have a large customer base
that uses cards issued by Bank A, you may be able to obtain financing from Bank A by discounting the amounts
owed to you from Bank As customers. In other words, if the bank will ultimately end up paying you (as an
example) $15,000.00 in credit sales, and you borrowed $10,000.00, theyll only need to return $5,000.00 to you.
14. Inventory Financing

Similar to accounts receivable, some banks and finance companies will provide financing based upon your
inventory. If youre wondering what the heck inventory financing is, Ill share some example in a few seconds.
There are 3 common ways inventory financing takes place: (1) public warehouse, (2) floor planning and (3) field
warehousing.
Special Section
1. Public Warehouse
With this inventory financing arrangement, the lender works with the warehouse in monitoring the coming and
going of your inventory. Generally, you will be unable to remove inventory without the lender being notified.
2. Floor Planning
Floor planning is common with car dealerships, but it can be uses for other types of inventory. In this financing
arrangement, the lender retains title to the inventory and provides a percentage of cost of the inventory to the
seller/borrower. When the inventory is sold, the seller/borrower informs the lender of the sale so title may be
transfer and portion of loan repaid.
3. Field Warehousing
Field warehousing is common with manufacturers. With field warehousing, theres a secured area on the manufacturing floor. In this secured area, there is inventory with title held by the inventory. As inventory is used or
sold, the lender is notified of the use or sale of the inventory.
15. Construction Loans
16. Commercial Paper

Trying to sell commercial paper as a small business is extremely difficult. Large corporations are the typical
issuers of commercial paper. Commercial paper is a short-term debt instrument, a loan with a very short term.
Investors buy the commercial paper at a discount, and the issuer simply repays the face amount of the commercial in the future. For example, as issuer, you may issue $1,000,000.00 in Commercial Paper Notes to a large
bank for only $900,000.00. Youll have to pay the $1,000,000.00 to the bank at later period.
17. Asset-based Lending

What if you dont have accounts receivable, an asset, to cover the amount of financing you need? Asset-based
lending might be another option. If you have valuable equipment or property free from liens and other types
of security instruments, you may be able to offer these assets as collateral for financing. Asset-based lending is
great for companies that lack strong cash flows but have valuable assets to offer as collateral.
18. Letters of Credit

Letters of credit are popular for international transactions. Letters of credit offer both parties the ability to
transact with each other and ensure one party is receiving what they ordered and the other party gets paid. In
transactions with letters of credit, the bank issues a document on behalf of a borrower that promises the bank
will pay a third party a specific amount. Before this third party can receive payment, the third party must comply
with the terms listed in the letter of credit. Some of the terms may require delivery of specific documents, such
Whizkins.com
Construction loans are temporary loans that provide builders of commercial property with funds for
construction. Once construction is complete, builders obtain a takeout loan, or permanent financing, to repay
the temporary loan. Unless youre building new construction property, you probably wont ever need to check
into construction loans.
Special Section
as invoices or carrier information. When the third party delivers as required, the bank will release the funds and
the borrower/buyer will be on the hook for repaying the bank.
19. Equipment Financing
Whizkins.com
Equipment and machinery financing is a popular way to manage cash flow. Some suppliers/manufacturers will
sell their equipment and machinery with extended payment terms. This way, you can obtain the equipment and
machinery you need to continue producing inventory for sales and the supplier/manufacturer ensures a sale of
their own inventory by offering favorable payment terms.
Im so cool I dont even need oven mitts.
20. Leasing
The alternative to purchasing your equipment or machinery is leasing. Leasing is popular because it can reduce
the costs of maintaining and repairing equipment and machinery.
Some of the benefits of leasing include cash conservation, small down payments, fewer obligations and
responsibilities and protection again obsolescence. Computers are great examples of equipment where you want
to have some protection against obsolescence, so often times, computers and other high-tech equipment are
leased.
21. Sale and Leaseback

If you have fully-depreciated equipment thats in good condition, you may be able to sell this equipment to a new
buyer and lease it back. In this scenario, the buyer gets the benefit of depreciation and you would get to maintain
the use of the equipment and receive an influx of cash.
Special Section
22. Term Loan
Term loans are loans that are paid in installments over
an agreed upon period of time. Terms loans are typically
secured by collateral, such as equipment or machinery.
Payments are made monthly or quarterly.
23. Mezzanine Financing

Weve included mezzanine financing, and theres a slim
chance you will ever encounter it. Knowing mezzanine
financing may be good to know in case youre on Jeopardy If you look right here, this is where we can take
one day. In a mezzanine financing arrangement, the everything.
lender usually offers an unsecured and subordinated debt
in exchange for a higher interest rates and possibly equity in the form of warrants, preferred stock or debt
conversion privileges. Mezzanine financing is popular with companies that are highly leveraged or seeking
financing to acquiring a business. The typical term for a loan in a mezzanine financing arrangement is 5 to 7
years.
The Small Business Administration offers a variety of loans for small businesses for a variety of purposes, e.g.
working capital, equipment and machinery and real estate. The Small Business Administration guarantees these
loans made by banks.
25. Other Government Agencies

Outside the SBA, there are other governmental agencies that may offer financing for businesses that help these
agencies fulfill their purpose. For example, you may be able to obtain financing from the Department of Energy
for a business that develops a more efficient way for using solar energy to supply homes with power.
26. Long-term Financing

Long-term financing is a difficult road for entrepreneurs to ride. Most banks do not offer long-term financing
outside of mortgages for real property. For banks, there is too much risk to provide a long-term loan to
entrepreneurs when the future is unpredictable.
27. Equity
Equity is a much more affordable way to obtain capital when compared to long-term financing. Equity financing
involves issuing shares of your stock to private investors or other companies. The key benefits are no interest
costs and no principal to be repaid. Giving up equity, however, means more hands will be stirring pot, which
can lead to power struggles and conflicts in vision. Issue shares also dilute the ownership of existing holders.
Whizkins.com
24. SBA Loans
Special Section
28. ESOPs
ESOPs, or employee stock option plans, allow employees to own some of the company in which they are working. The share of ownership allows employees to feel directly responsible for the appreciation of their stock value.
29. Venture Capital

Venture capitalists (VCs) typically invest in companies with great ideas but have a lot of risk. VCs buy stock with
an expectation to cash out their positions within 3 to 7 years from date of investment. VC firms can cash out in
several ways:
Sell stock to other shareholders in the
company.
Sell stock an acquiring company.
Take company public.
Set up additional financing from another
source to buy out their stock.
Whizkins.com
Advantages for VCs

VCs may be more willing to contribute to
an opportunity than any other potential
sources.
VCs are less risk averse.
VCs may require a lower, initial out-ofpocket costs for obtaining funds.
VCs usually come with a strong network of
contacts.
Disadvantages for VCs
VCs may require a large stake in your
company before investing.
VCs may require you to give up control over
management decisions.
Valuing your company for the purpose
of obtaining venture capital is a difficult
process.
VC firms typically invest in the following types of
industries:

Hardware & Software

Electronics
Telecommunications
Biotechnology
Healthcare
Pharmaceuticals
Special Section
Information Technology
30. Angel Investors

An angel investor is an individual, or group of individuals, who provides startup capital (seed money) to early
stage companies with the hopes of earning a high return. Angels also enjoy helping entrepreneurs in a new
venture.
Typical characteristics of an angel:

Successful businessperson
Earns over $200,000 per year
Has a net worth in excess of $1,000,000.00
Prefers to invest locally
Prefers high-growth ventures
How angels differ from VCs:

Considers seed or early stage companies
Investment is typically $25,000 to $500,000
Less extensive due diligence
Typical time to close deal is 2.5 months (VCs average 4.5
months)
Expects cashing out between 5 10 years (VCs prefer 3-5
years)
Investment funds are from personal assets rather than a
fund with multiple investors
31. Public Offerings

Public offerings occur when shares of stock are made available to the general public for purchase. While
publicly offering shares can provide a company with more capital and liquidity for shareholders, publicly traded
shares dilute ownership and increase reporting requirements for the public company, and when there are more
reporting requirements, you know there will be more professional fees.
32. Mortgage Loans

Mortgage loans are loans based upon the value of property and potential income streams from the property.
Loans can range anywhere between 15 to 30 years.
33. Private Placement Loans

Private placement loans are long-term loans made by large institutional buyers, such as banks or insurance
companies. Generally, these loans are only available to large corporations.
Whizkins.com
Special Section
34. Layered Financing
Sometimes you may need to obtain your financing from various sources, which is called layered financing. A
layered financing arrangement uses several different sources to cover your financial needs. For example, a bank
may only cover a small percentage of your needs. In such a case, you may be able to obtain the difference from
crowdfunding, angel investors and family members.
Before you begin rounding up parties for your layered financing arrangement, it is good practice to do a thorough analysis of the potential financing sources and prepare a financing proposal for each prospective investor
or lender, disclosing your plans to obtain financing from various sources and who they sources might be.
Whizkins.com
Your Face Here!
Whizkins
geted market.
With your estimated expenses (collected from business plan and business model) and revenue (what you just
calculated), you can create a prospective profit/loss statement to help you visualize how your business might
do when operating. When youre done with these projections, you will have a tool to help you determine if the
potential market youre trying to capture will make your venture worthwhile. Plus, youll also get an idea about
how much startup and pre-operating costs might run.
We have some financial templates available to get you going on your financial projections, and as a Whizkins
member, you are always free to ask a professional online for advice or tips about putting together your projections.
Feel free to share your projections with a professional member online and receive feedback.
Step 5 - Determining Financial Needs

Once youve gotten a projection together of what your expected expenses and
revenue might look like over the next
year or two, you can begin to look into
how you might fund your venture.
Whizkins.com
With your financial projection, you can

figure out the amount needed to get
started and begin operations and subtract from amount needed what you already have or might be willing to contribute, and the remaining amount is
what you need to get funded.
There are several routes you can go to
find additional financing for your venture: partners, shareholders, employees,
social and family connections, vendor
financing, customers, angel investors,
venture capital firms, banks and
microlenders.
For more information on which
financing alternative might be best for
your business, you can search our articles, blogs, documents, forums, professionals and business directory for
potential options, or check out the Special Section included in this guide.
Congratulations
If you have made it this far and completed Steps 1 - 5, good job! So what do you think of the picture so far? You
have your business model, a business plan, customers discovered and validated and a set of financial projections.
Once youre done reviewing your work, you might be ready to rock and roll towards the next steps or you might
be thinking, hmmm, I dont know about this just right now, which is fine. Dont stop just yet. Find out what has
18
Whizkins
you rethinking the idea, and take a few minutes to go back over all of your hard work, and see if you can tweak
it just a little. Need some help on ideas? We know of a website that can help. (whizkins.com, duh!)
Step 6 - Choose a Business

Name
Sole Proprietorship
Unlimited Liability
Income Taxable to Proprietor
Whizkins.com
So heres a fun part of this whole startup process: picking a business name. If
you already have a name picked out, great! If not, thats OK too. Here are a
few tips to get you started:
Partnership
Unlimited Liability (GP)

Limited Liability (LP)
Income Taxable to Partner
Choose a name that clearly communicates the product or service for

your business.
Try to avoid using your name in the title if you think you might sell
your business. For example, a potential purchaser named Dave might
not want to own Bobs Bicycles.
Check with state and federal trademark registries first because we
would feel bad if you found an awesome name, filed your documents,
ordered shirts and cool promotional products and then found out the
name is protected from use by law.
Feel free to have a business name different from what you plan to
name a legal entity, if you decide to choose one. For example, Bobs Bicycles might actually be the business name for Robert International,
LLC. If you do this, search for fictitious business name and [your
county] on your favorite search engine.
LLC
Limited to Corporate Assets

Income Taxable to Member
C-Corporation

Income Taxable to
Corporation
To protect your awesome business name, learn more about trademarks below
(or in our articles, blogs and documents). For even more tips and ideas on
choosing a business name, here are a couple of blogs weve written:
S-Corporation
20 Tips for Picking a Kickass Business Name [Link]

How to Pick and Protect an Awesome Business Name [Link]

Income Taxable to
Shareholder
Step 7 - Choose a Legal Entity

Now that you have your idea locked and loaded and ready to go. Its time to
think about how you will structure your business from a legal point of view.
Trying to choose a legal entity can be confusing, which makes sense because
there are several to choose from, and all of them have their own crazy dos and
donts, but well break it down for you. Heres one short blog weve prepared:
A Description of Legal Entities in Under 5 Minutes [Link]
Want more interaction and conversation? As a member, you are always
welcomed to chat with a professional to find out which entity suits you
best and have them work with you on filing your legal documents with the
appropriate state government office.
19
Learn More
about Legal
Entities by
Signing Up for
Whizkins!
Whizkins
The choice of entity is important because each provides various benefits (such as the few we listed to the right)
that might be beneficial for the type of business you might want to run. There are 5 basic options:

Sole Proprietorship
Partnership
Limited Liability Company (LLC)
C-Corporation
S-Corporation
Its not that one legal entity is better than the other, generally speaking. Some are better suited for different
purposes. For example, if you want to have a large company with global growth, you might need a lot
shareholders for capital demands, and a C-Corporation might be the best option. The more complicated the
legal entity, such as a C-Corporation, the more fees that will be required to maintain that legal entity status. As
an example, California as a minimum franchise tax of $800.00 (yikes!) for Corporations and LLCs. This is a tax
regardless of how much money you make.
With a C-Corporation, you will also have board meetings, board minutes and incorporation fees that are generally higher than the fees for other entities.
Once you decide on a legal entity, check out your respective states corporation division for filing the right organizational or incorporation paperwork. You might, however, have to file a fictitious business name statement.
As an example, Bobs Bicycle might be a fictitious business name, or trade name, for Robert Smith, a sole proprietor of a bike shop. Registration of the trade name Bobs Bicycle will let customers and local government know
who is behind the business.
Whizkins.com
There are also certain tax implications involved with selecting a legal entity. So while youre thinking about
which type might work best for you, please feel free to check with some of our legal professional members online
who can help you set up your legal entity.
After registering your legal entity, you may consider filing a Form SS-4, Application for Employer Identification
Number, for tax filing purposes. Th employer identification number (EIN) acts in a very similar manner as
your social security number and will be used for communicating with the IRS and certain other public agencies. Whats great is that now you can file your Form SS-4 for FREE on the IRSs website (so you dont have to
pay other services to get this number.) Click the following link to learn more about Form SS-4, filing it and
the requirements for obtaining a new EIN. [http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Employed/
Apply-for-an-Employer-Identification-Number-(EIN)-Online]
Step 8 - Get Protection

Trademarks, copyrights and patents are legal devices for protecting your efforts. Navigating the waters with the
United States Trademark and Patent Office and Copyright Office can be tricky, but there are a lot of resources
and people available on Whizkins to help you, such as attorneys and patent agents. Trademarks, copyrights and
patents can work together to protect brands, written and film works, products, processes and designs.
Youll need these forms of intellectual property to keep your competitive advantage against competitors. Intellectual property can help set up barriers of entry, which will make it more difficult for competitors to close in
on your market. Just think of how great it would be to have a product that no one else can build without your
20
Whizkins
permission and everyone on the planet wants to buy it. Awesome,

right?
U.S. Copyright Office
Trademarks/Servicemarks
Trademarks and servicemarks are used to identify a good or service
from a particular origin. The value in these marks come from the
goodwill associated with them. For example, think about Nike and
wherever you see its name or Swoosh logo. What type of image does
it portray in your mind? Wouldnt you like your name or logo associated with a particular value in your customers minds? When you
get that value, youll want to protect it from others who will try to
make money off all of your hard work in building that brand name.
Trademarks and service marks help protect you from infringing
people and companies.
101 Independence Avenue, S.E.

Washington, D.C. 20559-6000
202.707.3000
www.copyright.gov
U.S. Patent &

Trademark Office
P.O. Box 1450
Alexandria, VA 22313-1450
800.786.9199
www.uspto.gov
Whizkins.com
Patents
Patents are rights granted by the federal government to an inventor. For a specific number of years (20 years
to be exact), the federal government permits you to have a monopoly over your invention, giving you permission to license it or to not license and take legal action against anyone who makes, uses or sells your patented
invention during the patents lifetime without your consent. In short, to get a patent, it must be novel, useful
and unobvious.
Copyright
Copyrights protect creative works that are literary, dramatic, musical or artistic, such as poetry, novels, movies,
songs, software and architecture. Copyright law protects creative works by preventing other from reproducing,
reprinting or copying the creative works without permission of the author. Copyright protection is granted as
soon as you put your work in a tangible medium of expression, which is fancy talk for putting your work on
paper, canvas, disk or hard drive. the author puts the works into a tangible form. For added protection, we suggest you file an application with the U.S. Register of Copyrights - see blue box above. Here are some common
questions weve gotten about copyrights.
Q: When is my work protected?
A: Your work is protected as soon as it is created and placed in a tangible form that can be easily seen or read
by a machine.
Q: Ive heard I can mail my work to myself and keep it sealed in order to protect my work.
Does this work as copyright registration?
A: This is referred to as the poor mans copyright. Copyright law does not address this practice whatsoever, and
it isnt a substitute for a formal copyright registration.
Q: Do I have to register my work with the copyright office?
A: Nope, but it is in your interest do register your work. A copyright exists the moment you create it and place it
21
Whizkins
in a tangible form as described above. If you plan to litigate against any infringers, you will need to register your
work with the Copyright Office. (As of the date of this publication, online registration for a single application is
$35.00 and a standard application is $55.00. If you want to register by mail, the fee is $85.00.)
Q: Why should I bother with copyright registration?
A: Copyright infringement is a strict liability tort, which is fancy lawyerspeak for you can nail someones ass
quite easily for infringing your work. You can only have this power IF you register. Plus, registered work may be
eligible for statutory damages and attorneys fees in successful litigation. So not only could you easily sue them,
but you can also collect the fees your attorney will unquestionably charge you.
Step 9 - Permits, Licenses & More

Depending on the type of business you plan to operate, you might have to register for fire permits, business permits and special other licenses to operate. The easiest way to find out about the permits, licenses and certificates
youll need before you open your doors is to take a few hours out of your day and go down to your city hall with
your checkbook. Sounds like a nasty time commitment, but its best to get this stuff out of the way all at once.
Staff wont be able to dodge your questions and all the forms youll need will be printed and available for you.
If you really dont have the time available, you can check your states, countys and citys websites for finding the
right applications or you can ask some of our professional members on our website.
Whizkins.com
Please be mindful however, that your state and, sometimes, federal governments might be responsible for issuing
permits, licenses and certificates before you can operate. For example, a CPA license is issued by a state board
versus a local office. Additionally, states generally issue sales tax certificates, and for some states, they might be
responsible for collecting county and local sales and use taxes too, but be sure to check to see if the county and/
or local offices dont administer their own sales and use taxes.
As an employer, you will most likely have to register for a state employer identification number with your
state department of labor and/or department of revenue. This number will be used for communicating with
respective state offices for purposes of filing information and remitting certain payments. Lets take a look at
some of the common federal agencies and offices that might want to hear from you.
Internal Revenue Service

We mentioned these guys earlier when discussing your employer identification number. In additional to income
taxes, youll need to file payroll taxes with the Federal government as well. Click here, to find your local tax
office. [http://www.irs.gov/uac/Contact-Your-Local-IRS-Office-1]
U.S. Department of Commerce - International Trade/U.S. Commercial Service

If youre looking to become a global player, youll need to learn more about international sales, requirements
and restriction. The U.S. Dept. of Commerce is a great resource. You can find your local office by clicking here.
[http://www.commerce.gov/about-commerce/services]
U.S. Customs & Border Protection

The U.S. Customs & Border Protection are responsible for enforcing hundreds of laws regulating what and who
22
Whizkins
can and cannot enter the U.S. borders. If you plan to import and export goods, you can expect to also communicate regularly with this agency. For their contact information, click here. [http://www.cbp.gov/contact]
U.S. Food & Drug Administration

This agency is responsible for ensuring the safety of food for human and animal consumption; drugs, vaccines,
other biological products and medical devices; cosmetics and dietary supplments and assuring these products
are honestly, accurately and informatively represented to the public. [http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/ContactFDA/FindanOfficeorStaffMember/]
Step 10 - Select A Location
Whizkins.com
Depending on the nature of the business, you may or may not need a place of business away from your home.
A home studio or workspace can work perfectly well for our creative business.
Before you make a final decision on a home office versus another location outside your home, you should consider proximity to your targeted market, availability of labor, traffic flow and possibility for congestion, availability of signage, presence from the street, proximity to competition, zoning and building restrictions, compliance
with various federal laws, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act, governmental restrictions and proximity
to mass transit hubs. As you can imagine, these are only a few items to consider. Here are a few other tips to
consider when looking for space for your business:
Retailers
Services
Manufacturers
Visibility
Traffic Flow
Proximity to popular stores,
such as anchor stores, i.e. big
department stores
Proximity to competitors
Proximity to complementary
stores, such as locating an active
wear store next to a gym
Proximity to customers
Accessibility to properly skilled
labor
Image the location gives
Availability of storage capacity
Proximity to transportation
networks, such as interstates,
rails or waterways
Accessibility to properly skilled

labor
Accessibility to raw materials
Proximity to transportation networks, such as interstates, rails
or waters
Capacity
Affordable land or space
So once youve figured out a location (yay!), there are some other items you might want to review about your
location:

Will it accommodate expansion?

Does the layout work with your business?
Will the facility meet your utility demands?
Does it comply with the Americans with Disability Act?
If it does not conform with ADA, will you have to make the changes?
Is there adequate parking?
How close will you be located to police and fire protection services?
Who manages waste?
While researching your awesome location to make sure its perfect for you, your business, prospective customers
23
Whizkins
and employees, here are a few over items to pay special attention to while youre evaluating your options:

Potential lease term, if leasing

Total cost (annual and monthly)
Actual rentable square footage
Tax responsibility
Maintenance responsibility
Insurance responsibility
Flexibility
Exposure to risk
Require insurances, permits and certificates
Step 11 - Acquire Insurance Coverage

A must have in any business is insurance. Insurance not only protects the assets of your business, but it also
protects your customers from any unfortunate accidents. The key is to get enough insurance, which can be a bit
tricky. You dont want to underinsure, which will expose you to risk of paying out of pocket for what your insurance does not cover, and you dont want to overinsure where you are paying more in premiums than you need
to pay. There are are several types of insurance (not all are required) that you might encounter:
General liability
Workers compensation (mandatory with employees)
Business interruption
Product liability or malpractice
Car insurance
Key person insurance
Health insurance
Disability insurance
Fidelity
Whizkins.com
With Whizkins, our website will help you avoid one of the major pitfalls that accompany obtaining insurance:
the failure to shop around for the best insurance value. Send us an email, and we can find a way to help you find
affordable insurance.
Another common pitfall to watch out for is spreading yourself across several carriers. Many insurance providers
offer price discounts for carrying all of your insurance needs with them. Plus, having one or two, instead of four
or five, insurance providers helps reduce the risk you are purchasing insurance coverage that overlaps. Having
24
Whizkins
only a couple insurance carriers mean you wont be paying twice for the same coverage.
Evaluating your risk can be a tough task for an entrepreneur, but no need to fear! Here are a few things to keep
in mind:

Identify your exposures.

Determine the magnitude for each exposure.
Identify the coverage you will need for each exposure.
Try to lump coverages together by similar events, for example, general liability and automobile
property might be one carrier and business interruption and property might be for another. This will
make the claim process easier.
Evaluate deductibles and premiums with potential insurance providers that might cover your exposure.
Evaluate the prices and stability of the insurance providers.
Make sure the exposure with the largest risk of loss is covered first.
Step 12 - Hiring Employees
Whizkins.com
Once you move from non-employer to an employer, the business game changes a bit in terms of responsbilities
and legal requirements (drastically change). Here are a few items you might need to keep in mind as you start
your hiring process:

Preparing job descriptions

Advertising available jobs
Reviewing applications
Interviewing prospects
Checking with references
Complying with the American Disability Act and citizenship requirements
Informing new hires of personnel policies
Informing state government of new hires
Budgeting costs of new hires (including training, equipment, etc.)
Fortunately, we have a lot of resources on the Whizkins platform to help you manage the hiring process. We
have personnel policies, such as Drug and Alcohol Policies, Equal Employment Opportunity, Vacation Policies
, Disciplinary Policies and more. Before you begin saying you wont need any of these, if you plan to grow your
business and hire people (even friends), you definitely will.
Hiring can be a fun and exciting process, but youll have to handle it with care because a lot of laws (stated and
federal) cover the process of hiring and working with employees.
So with employees the game changes. The game also changes with contractors. Fortunately, if you take a few
precautions upfront you can protect yourself and your business when working independent contractors. Either
you or your independent contractors should have some sort of independent contractor or service agreement
that explicitly lists out responsibilities and obligations of your agreement to receive services. Contractors are less
of an administrative burden, but you generally will not have much control over how they go about doing your
work. If you do control how they work, you might accidentally categorize them as employees.
As a creative entrepreneur, when working with contractors, you always have to keep in the back of your mind
who is going to own any works of art at the end of the projects. Its best to discuss these items at the very
25
Whizkins
beginning before money exchanges hands so there is absolutely no question at the end of your arrangement who
retains or owns rights to whatever work is created.
With hired help, contractors or employees, you know youre going to need to shell out some money. So lets get
straight to that headache known as payroll.
Step 13 - Manage Payroll Taxes

Ok, we will admit it: payroll taxes arent the most fun part of the operating process. Guess what though! There
are plenty of payroll processing companies that take out all the headaches of withholding state and federal
payroll taxes and filing the respective returns on time.
If youre going to try to manage payroll taxes on your own, we salute you! Fortunately, there are a lot of web applications out there on the web that can help you with the payroll process (see the next section, Step 14- Acquire
Recordkeeping Tools, to learn how you can find out about some of these helpful web applications).
There is a significant amount of information about withholding and filing returns out there. Weve tried to
condense some of that information on our platform with our articles, blogs, documents and forums, if youre
really serious about trying to tackle payroll solo. Here are the items youll need to know:
Form 941 (employers quarterly payroll tax return)

State and local quarterly payroll tax returns (check to see if
you are required to file monthly)
State unemployment returns.
Note: some states have other tax requirements, such as employment development and training taxes.
Whizkins.com
Quarterly Returns
Annual Returns
Form 940 (employers annual federal unemployment tax
return)
Form 944 (employers annual payroll tax return)
Forms W-2 (employment wage and tax statement)
Form W-3 (transmittal form)
Forms 1099 (these forms are required for specific types
of payments above certain minimum amounts, e.g. above
600.00 for contractors)
Form 1096 (transmittal form)
State and local annual payroll tax returns
State annual unemployment tax returns.
Quite a bit to keep in mind, right? Plus, there is an assortment of penalties for filing late or not filing your
required returns on time. Consistent failure can easily land you in jail. Yikes! So you definitely dont want to
neglect payroll taxes.
26
Whizkins
Step 14 - Acquire Recordkeeping Tools

For all that work youve done and will do, youll want to make sure you keep up with the revenue youll be
generating from it, the assets you use to generate that revenue and, of course, the expenses. There are a variety of
programs available to help you keep track of recordkeeping, such as an accounting software. Heres a free guide
for finding accounting applications: 14 Accounting Applications + Prices [click here for accounting app guide].
Before you start operating, youll also want to have in place procedures and policies surrounding inventory,
other assets, cash and other assets that are critical to your operations. These are key resources that will need
protection.
This recordkeeping may seem like a total pain, and at times, it is, but to measure the return youre earning on
your efforts and to keep the tax man off your back, youll want to make sure youre keeping track of everytime
you sell a cupcake, album, cool new toy, design or whatever!
Whizkins.com
Conclusion
As you can see from this guide, there is a long list of requirements and tasks that have to be done to successfully
start and operate your business. These items are in addition to your regular day-to-day operations and the activities you enjoy doing. Its so easy to run your business on hope, or by winging it, but its an extremely dangerous way to operate, especially considering all those statistics we talked about at the very beginning. Running a
business is hard work, and we want you to be successful.
Now, knowing the amount of work thats required to be an entrepreneur, we specifically built Whizkins to help
lighten your workload by providing an assortment of shortcuts, tips, resources, guides and professionals - all
within a few clicks of the mouse.
If Youve Enjoyed this Free Guide. Get More

Awesome Goodies at Whizkins.com
Whizkins
whizkins.com
Disclaimer: Our solutions are designed to provide you with quick, reliable and affordable information in regard to accounting, finance,
law, management, marketing, tax, technology and other business areas. We are neither a public accounting firm nor law firm and, as such,
we are prohibited from providing both public accounting services and legal advice. If the services of a public accounting or attorney are
required, please seek the assistance of a licensed CPA or CPA firm or attorney, respectively. Some information provided on our website
may originate from third parties. Such information is not guaranteed by the owners, operators, administrators or otherwise of this site to
be accurate, complete and compliant with statutes, guidance, best practices, rulings or any other form of regulation. Content provided on
this site shall not be deemed to be tax, legal, financial or other advice and we encourage you to confirm the accuracy of the content. By
your use of this site and any of our products, you hereby accept and understand the foregoing statements. For more information on our
terms and policies, which are incorporated herein by reference, please refer to our privacy policy and terms of service. LDA #167, Exp.
Date: July 3, 2015, Santa Clara County, CA
27

How To Start A Business - Short Guide

Transféré par

Informations du document

Titre original

Copyright

Formats disponibles

Partager ce document

Partager ou intégrer le document

Options de partage

Avez-vous trouvé ce document utile ?

Ce contenu est-il inapproprié ?

Droits d'auteur :

Formats disponibles

How To Start A Business - Short Guide

Transféré par

Droits d'auteur :

Formats disponibles

Whizkins

Photo Credit: Andreas Praefcke

Now, Think About These Stats...

1 out of 2 businesses will go out of business within 4 years of opening.

Theres a lot work ahead of you, but...

Affordable Business Resources for Creative Entrepreneurs.

How to Start a Business

Were proud to be an avid supporter of

Please send emails with

Acquire Recordkeeping Tools

No part of this publication

2014 Whizkins Corp.

How to Start a Business

Step 1 - Create a Business Model

Copyright 2014 Whizkins Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

The Business Model Canvas

Who are your key partners?

What Key Activities do your Value

What are the most important costs

For whom are we creating value?

How to Start a Business

How to Start a Business

Business Model Basics

Step 2 - Create a Business Plan

Copyright 2014 Whizkins Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

How to Start a Business

Step 3 - Customer Discovery

How to Start a Business

Copyright 2014 Whizkins Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Your Dream Customer

Time per day (in hrs):

Goals & Challenges:

Preferred Social Media:

Copyright 2014 Whizkins Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

How to Start a Business

Step 4 - Financial Projections

Above: Excel Worksheets are

Compute sales prices at a standard markup percentage above cost or a

To keep operating expenses

Copyright 2014 Whizkins Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Awesome Ways to Raise Money

Historically, Crowdfunding has always been popular in nonprofit

10. Demand note

11. Advances Against Receivables

As an entrepreneur, youve probably had one of these days...

13. Credit cards

14. Inventory Financing

Copyright 2014 Whizkins Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

15. Construction Loans

16. Commercial Paper

17. Asset-based Lending

18. Letters of Credit

19. Equipment Financing

Im so cool I dont even need oven mitts.

21. Sale and Leaseback

Copyright 2014 Whizkins Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

23. Mezzanine Financing

25. Other Government Agencies

26. Long-term Financing

Copyright 2014 Whizkins Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

24. SBA Loans

29. Venture Capital