Anatomy of a start up: How to get your own business

Anatomy of a start up: How to get your own business

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Anatomy of a start up is for people who want to start a business but don't know how. It written with a for us by us mentality. Meaning I dont give a fuck about buthering the King's English! Just know I will tell it like it is! If you want a well written book on how to start a business - then go get Wendy Beech's book! Without further ado, good luck and keep on reading!

It another new year another day another dollar being made and your ass is at work working slave’s wages. I know y’all were happy to leave the nest that your folks made. But reality is a bytch! College/Military was a nice phase but now is the time to reap the awards.

Grant under the current President’s administration the economy wasn’t as hot as the previous President’s tenure. Clinton was lucky and unlucky. The Dot.com boom was cranking out more millionaire than any other business era.

Bottom line, I, Duane Harris is going to help you achieve the America Dream. The American Dream is basically success and living prosperously and healthy and debt-free.

The American Dream is not living paycheck to paycheck and not having anything to
show for it. What I mean to show for it, when you own something outright it is yours and it can’t be taken away unless you owe tax to Uncle Sam. But to have the title to your car and deeds to your house or real estate is an example of the typical American Dream.

The ability to give generously to not so fortunate and for those in needs is a two-fold process. It is always good to give and it is tax deductible! Oprah isn’t dumb!

But before I proceed, keep in mind what works for me may not work for you. BGOL and it heirs isn’t responsible for your success or failure and the same disclaimer goes for me. I am just giving out information and sharing experiences. The only thing in my thread that I post that I will not reveal is anything that is consider confidential and a threat to my bottom line.

So welcome aboard! And don’t be a follower! Be a doer! Don’t let anybody hold you down and ignore the haters because they really want to be you!

All right, it is 2006 another year and another day. On this glorious 4th day of January 2006, I am sitting here in front of this computer wondering how I can help some of yall go to the next level.

Ok the first thing to do if you want to start your own business is to buy yourself a journal. Now we’re some technology oriented it is a shame to put all our John Hancock’s to waste. Get a cheap journal for yourself. Write legibility so ONLY you can read it. If you are unable to write, then using a popular word software program. And print it out and put it into a 3 ring binder. Your journal should be easy accessible to you. No you are not going to write about your daily adventure on BGOL and who got the biggest tits and the baddest ass on the planets. But you are going to write whatever pops to your mind. Ask yourself what would make you happy in life. It can be a yacht, a trip around the world, a Maybach, a million dollar crib, hospitals in third world countries, a trip to outer space, and so for. The point is the sky is the limit. Dream doesn’t have any boundaries.

The most important thing to understand about dreams and goals is their differences. Dreams aren’t necessary going to happen. I can dream for a day where nobody gets kills on this planet. Goals are often benchmarks and not the final conclusion of a project that you take on to make it happen. I can aim for a day of no murder on my street. That is a realistic goal but it has a variable. Time and People are the two key variables. Variables are variants. Variants are like a dice game. You can roll dices and you’ll keep rolling but you cannot control the final outcome of a roll. What goes… goes!

If you have any questions, feel free to email me at duanebharris@yahoo.com. Questions are in regards to this thread, anything outside I may have to charge you! Lol

Ok now what I am trying to stress about the important of a journal. You will never know when your AHA moment will occur. An AHA moment is known as an epiphany.

Also you may have an invention that could be beneficial to a certain segment of the population on the planet we call Earth. Keep in mind, a product WILL never appeal to the WHOLE PLANET. Unless it was water, air and gasoline! Not even everybody like the same water lol but water is water. This is debatable but the point is unless your product is the Fountain of Youth and can regulate the aging process then you could be the world first Trillionaire lol.

Through my research, I discover the successful business folks who are rich get rich by offering a service or a product to a segment of a market. They were able to expand to other areas of the business realm.

The business realm is a sector of different businesses and they are all fall under a different category and tax category and so forth. When I get the exact name I will let you know later.

Ok so by now I assume the majority of you are educated enough to have a business plan/marketing plan. If you don’t have one, please stop reading now and start on one. A wise man once said it bad to not have a plan because you are setting yourself up for failure already. And a business plan/marketing plan is an invaluable tool. Not only it objective is to raise money but to serve as a guide as for yourself as the HNIC of your own company. Well in the corporate world the HNIC is often regard as the CEO/Chairman/Founder/Managing Director/President. Sometime they have dual titles but wear many hats.

Ok, I will talk more about raising capitals later for those who aren’t at that level. Keep in mind my approach is to keep you motivate and the goal of this thread is to get your company start.

The most important thing you will do is to create a name for your business identity. The law on a local, state and federal level requires it. You need a business license in the area you are operating in. Home based business is legal but the law said you could operate from home as administrative office only. But you would have travel away from home and you couldn’t have any signage outside your house/apartment. Yet, friends came come over but customers can’t. Now I met some people whom in a bootstrap situation. My advice to them has always been meeting the potential client at a coffee café with a wireless high-speed connection. A PowerPoint presentation will do wonder. But often time not everyone can do this, so if you have to have your client meet you at your home office. Let them park in your driveway, and the room that is your showcase for your business is where you should let your client meet. But bottom line be careful because if you got crazy neighbors who don’t have anything to do but complain then you could have problems but if it done right you would realize the need to move to an office down the road once budget permits.

Now you can’t call yourself Nike or BGOL or Microsoft. One trademark infringement is a serious offense. First warning is using a nice stern cease and desist warning from the company’s lawyers. After that first warning you better cease and desist pronto unless you are 110% sure you have the name before the other party does. The biggest thing with sole proprietorship is that they tend to name the business after themselves and there isn’t anything wrong with that. And it doesn’t cost that much. But once money start coming in, you need to protect your brand name. Think about it, your folks gave you a name and nobody else can take it. Grant there are 1000 John Smith and Does but they are protect by their unique social security number. Treat your business name like a social security number once it blows up. But if you can afford to save a grand for an indemnity down the road then it would be worth to invest $1000 for a good trademark attorney. Instruct them to do the research.

Ok now the first thing for any business owner to do is to get a business license!

The law requires a business license to be acquired by you, because it establishes your business as a revenue producing entity. After all you are trying to make that money too! Uncle Sam and her sister bka the county and states want their cut. That’s the American way! But don’t sweat because if you have a good accountant, the IRS and State got to cut you a check when tax time comes. More on that later.

Ok how you get a business license. Well the key to make this task simple is first where are you going to be based at. If you going to do the bulk of your business from home at first then get the business license from your county’s finance office or licensing office. Thank God for the internet, it makes the search process much easier.

So for my new company which is DBH ENTERPRISES COMPANY. It is consider being a sole proprietorship at this point. I live in good old DeKalb County in the state of Georgia.

Do yourself a favorite, make google a favorite place and bookmark this site. Google is the shyt when it comes to search engine. And no I am not a compesentated endorser.

I typed in Business License Requirement DeKalb County Georgia and hit search. Boom it return a whole bunch of stuff. Now grant there will be sites that will offer to set it up for you for a fee but you can save a lot of money if you could be a patient and I will walk you through. But if time is a factor and money isn’t an issue then go away and let somebody else do it for you. But you want to establish accountability for your own business decision-making and be in the know.

Ok I linked to the DeKalb County Business site. Now if you in the boonies don’t despair it is going to take a little more investigation. Now keep in mind down the road when you expand, wherever you establish shops you must get a license for that shop. Example if I decide to add another location to my business DBH ENTERPRISE to downtown Hotlanta in the future. I must also register in Fulton County to get a license to establish my 2nd location.

That is why they said location, location and location is a very important decision. But I say if somebody can sell you crack on the corner for $10 then shyt it doesn’t matter as long your products/services speak for yourself!

Ok the beauty of the internet, you can print out forms that you will need. And if you’re unsure what you need, you can call them up. Most of the time they won’t answer but they will return your call if you left a message or if the licensing place isn’t far from you, pay them a visit and ask the questions you need to ask. They won’t tell you wrong because they are the government. Liquor licenses on the other hands is a pain in the behind to get but a corner store isn’t hard to set up and it a shame that there should be more Black owners owning a corner store than the Asian/Far East owners. I aint got nothing against them owning a store but the customer service could be better.

Ok you are going to spend $100 to $200 for a business license. It really varies from town to town. Just understand what you are getting into first most!

DBH Enterprises Company is going to be billed $110.00 but there is always a catch with this license.

There is a line for DeKalb plus Gross Receipts, Employee Fee, Flat Fee of $50.00, and Administrative Fee of $60.00 and for those who are a professional (doctors/dentist/lawyer ~ jobs that requires you to pass the state bar/board of medicine/jobs that are regulated by the state will have to cough up $400).

Damn, I’m already in the red lol but it takes money to make money! I will get back to yall later with the final fees.

PLEASE DO THIS ASAP – GET AN ACCORDION FOLDER. PLACE ALL ITEMS RELATED TO YOUR BUSINESS IN THE MONTH THAT THE EXPENSES OCCUR. IT CAN BE A BUSINESS LUNCH…GAS (I will double check with my accountant) DINNER…Books… clothes…computer related items… anything that you spend is a BUSINESS EXPENSES if it business r elated and can be justify. A good accountant will tell you whether or not it is deductible or not.

The other important thing is you will be require to fill out a HOP form if you use a room in your crib as a business at home. HOP is county zone commissioners speak for Home Occupation. A HOP means an occupation carried by you at your dwelling unit. Your dwelling unit is your crib. And is operated in accordance with applicable provisions of Zoning Ordinance. In DeKalb County, a home occupation supplemental registration form is obtainable from the development department.

Now before I go to get my license. This is step one in making your business a legal establish reality. Congrats you just hired yourself as CEO/President/Founder/HNIC!

Ok before I go, homework time! What you think I just going to let yall wait and do nothing. Go do something to make your dream of becoming a business owner a reality.

1) Research on Trademark Protection for your business. List the pros and cons.
2) Review this article and give your honest opinion on how it could affect your business. http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/...314762,00.html
3) Write down key obstacles that are either holding you back or delaying your venture from employee to employer.
4) Look at your resume, and give yourself an honest assertion of your skill sets and how much would you pay for someone with the exact skill sets as yours.
5) What is the key to any business’ success?

You don’t have to do this homework. But it will enrich your knowledge and expand your grasp of how things are done in the business world.

If you want to participate, just respond in following format:

HOMEWORK for 1/4/06
1) Pros are …. Cons are ……
2) It WOULD affect my business….
3) Key obstacles in my way are…
4) I am worth $200 an hour
5) The key to any business success is or are…

The homework deadline is this Friday, which is Jan 6, 2006 at noon. Get to cracking!

A follow up will be posted for Step One, which is Getting a Business License.
The next step after step one will focus on Business Structure Type ~ if you want to wait till Friday BEFORE you get your business license that is fine. Remember everybody thinks and do things differently.

HAVE A GOOD DAY! AND GO MAKE THAT MONEEEEEEEEEY!