Checklist for ‘Going out on your own’

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

1. Determine your service or product and what’s your Unique Selling Proposition
2. 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
3. Develop your pitch
   1. Power Point presentation, but only 10 slides. Read advice on this
   2. You need to have a 30 second pitch
4. Build a simple business plan to confirm that you can be profitable (unless you are just doing it for fun, non-profit)
   1. If you put in 40 hours a week, what do you need to charge to be feed yourself and your family.
5. Find a mentor or advisor
6. Incorporate your company to keep business expenses separate from person
7. Open up or establish a unique bank account
8. Establish separate finances
   1. Set up a Paypal account so you can keep your work expenses separate from your work expenses
   2. Have a credit card just for business expenses to also keep them separate from personal expenses.
9. Establish a goal for new customers while in Stealth mode (why Partners)
10. Get a tax ID or Employment ID here
11. Register Federal, State and Local Taxes
12. Make a list of your network members and let them know your plans
13. 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.
14. Start with a few social networks, don’t try and boil the whole social media ocean. Maybe LinkedIn and Twitter.
15. Get insurance  – even the most basic
16. Make a list of your tax write offs
    1. Office space
    2. Internet access
    3. Phone
    4. Car Expenses
    5. … other expenses you can write off
17. Find your local SBDCs or Small Business Office to get assistance and advice
18. Establish backup process for your computers and other devices
    1. Consider having a cloud based backup service, like Backblaze
    2. Harddrive
19. Figure out what apps you will use (Google Docs, MS 360 Live)
20. Purchase and set up accounting software
21. Idnetify someone to provide legal advice (Findlaw.com)
22. Set aside 6 months to prove concept
23. Identify the type of person for your first employee (compliment your skills)
    1. You are a good selling, get operational person
24. Make a list of future partnerships (focus first on getting customers)

What else do you need a checklist for?