Even a 1099 or a Freelancer needs to think of his brand and the services he offers. Here’s a quick checklist to help you get started
- Determine your service or product and what’s your Unique Selling Proposition
- Create a simple business statement — not a plan, but basically a statement about what you want to do, what you can do and how how you plan to find work
- Develop your pitch
- Power Point presentation, but only 10 slides. Read advice on this
- You need to have a 30 second pitch
- Build a simple business plan to confirm that you can be profitable (unless you are just doing it for fun, non-profit)
- If you put in 40 hours a week, what do you need to charge to be feed yourself and your family.
- Find a mentor or advisor
- Incorporate your company to keep business expenses separate from person
- Open up or establish a unique bank account
- Establish separate finances
- Set up a Paypal account so you can keep your work expenses separate from your work expenses
- Have a credit card just for business expenses to also keep them separate from personal expenses.
- Establish a goal for new customers while in Stealth mode (why Partners)
- Get a tax ID or Employment ID here
- Register Federal, State and Local Taxes
- Make a list of your network members and let them know your plans
- Build a website – even if it is an information site. Recommend WordPress.com because it will enable you to easily add other features and content over time.
- Start with a few social networks, don’t try and boil the whole social media ocean. Maybe LinkedIn and Twitter.
- Get insurance – even the most basic
- Make a list of your tax write offs
- Office space
- Internet access
- Phone
- Car Expenses
- … other expenses you can write off
- Find your local SBDCs or Small Business Office to get assistance and advice
- Establish backup process for your computers and other devices
- Consider having a cloud based backup service, like Backblaze
- Harddrive
- Figure out what apps you will use (Google Docs, MS 360 Live)
- Purchase and set up accounting software
- Idnetify someone to provide legal advice (Findlaw.com)
- Set aside 6 months to prove concept
- Identify the type of person for your first employee (compliment your skills)
- You are a good selling, get operational person
- Make a list of future partnerships (focus first on getting customers)
What else do you need a checklist for?