Hi Kayla,

Starting business can be a daunting task. But it should also be exciting and fun.

First things first. Do you have a business plan? While not trying to be negative - many young businesses fail because they don't have a plan. It doesn't have to be a 500+ page phone book like publication to be effective, but its preparation will take you through many of the things you need to think about and be aware of (such as marketing, financing, operating) before embarking on your adventure. There are many resources on the web that can help you in preparing one (here's one http://www.sba.gov/starting/indexbusplans.html).

Broadly speaking, the approach for any business start up would be to undertake the following:

1. Business Plan (research and analysis)
2. Set up (Complying with regulatory requirements eg. business registration, tax registration, business licences, insurance. Putting in place order fulfilment which will mean setting up physical premises or virtual premises online - setting up production and/or suppliers. Preparing sales/marketing resources. Employing staff.)
3. Start operating (Promotion and sales to secure orders, fulfil orders, collect payment)
4. Measure/monitor (this is critical, it will tell you what is working, what isn't and how to improve your business - of all the things to measure, most important are your marketing and sales activities, next cashflow - no business can survive without sufficient sales and cashflow)

If you've started your business, then you've likely gone through the initial set up phase. Next, as indicated above, you'll need to start getting the word out to your target market (which means preparing marketing materials if you haven't done so already - business cards, advertising, signs, directory listings etc and then getting them out where they can be seen).

That's it in a nutshell - a very small nutshell.

To check you haven't missed anything (as Stephen Covey said) begin with the end and work backwards. In this case, making the sale, collecting payment and delivering the product. Think of all the things you need to have and do before this can happen. List them out as a checklist and you will know what needs to be done.

Enjoy the journey.
Brian

> Hi,

> I just started a speciality gifts
> retail/wholesale business and I have been
> trying to get it off the ground and running
> and I am so totally lost. I know there are a
> lot of things that I need to be doing like
> getting my website set up, getting my
> message out to my target audience, etc, etc.
> I'm just so overwhelmed by all of the things
> that need to be done that I dont know where
> to start.

> I want this business to be profitable but it
> just seems like im spinning my wheels and
> going nowhere. Do you guys have any advice
> on how I should go about getting this
> business off to a good start????