If I knew then what I know now. A famous quote and many have said and lived. The truth stands true in my situation as well. If I knew I could have saved myself weeks on knowing what to do to get started. I am a rule follower (most of the time) so when it came to me starting up my small business I wanted to make sure I did everything right and I didn’t leave out anything.
I had dreamed and talked about starting my own business for as long as I could remember. I’m not sure if it was a suggestion from a friend when I brought up the subject “I need to start my own thing” for the millionth time or that my working for someone else for the rest of my life or the worry of how I would bring in money when we started to have a family that really pushed me over the edge. Maybe it was all of it.
None the less I had made it up in my mind that I was going to start, it was time to rip the band aid off and just get started. Mind you I do have a few degrees and work experience but absolutely not in “business”. I had no idea what I was doing, how to get started, the rules, where I go to find these answers out, and I didn’t just want someone opinion and what they felt what was important but I wanted to abide by the rules.
I had already had a separate Facebook and Instagram page for my passion already going. And after talking to my friend who was also in the process of starting her own business she mentioned setting up a website and how you could do it “free” on Wix.com, she also gave me a name of a business women that she had been listening to and that I should give her a listen. So, I did that very night, I looked up this business women on YouTube because I am obsessed with YouTube just like much of the world. This lady was laying it out. Words of wisdom, motivation, important things to think about in starting a business and not to put all our eggs in one basket. I was fired up, I couldn’t wait for the weekend to be able to spend some time setting up this thing up that I have been dreaming about forever. After listening to this motivational business women, I decided I was going to do it all. Services, selling, blog, eBook anything and everything. I didn’t want to put all my eggs in one basket. I was going to brand myself as she calls it because the world changes and changes fast then what will you do if you have closed yourself into this small area.
So that weekend I started a website for free on Wix.com, well I really had no reason not to do it now or to at least work on it since it was free, right? That very weekend I got started. I began answering the questions asked when setting up my website. What is your website for? Does your website need, Sell online, take bookings, get subscriptions, create a blog? I checked all of the above. The next question was What do you want the name of your website to be? This one was easy I have had my business name picked out for almost two years before I had the guts to really get started. As I got further into the setting the site up more and more questions and then the questions became more serious. Then there it was, because I wanted to set up a portion to sell, there came the tax questions and what is your state business tax number? It just got real, should I back out? No, I decided I was going to do this and no matter how long it was going to take me I was going to make this happen. For the next few days I just piddled on the website with the look, colors, layout etc. you know the fun “easy” stuff. Then as the look started to come together, the voice in the back of my head about the state business license number was ringing in my head.
I googled “How do I start a business”. Many things popped up, what do I choose? I was excited so I choose the most fast to the point post of bullet points of steps to take in starting a business. And so it began.
To be continued…
