Kyle, welcome to SCORE! First of all there is alot of good information out there about starting a business, but being an entrepenuer is more than just starting a business. I like to think that before someone can believe in your business, YOU need to believe in it. You didn't tell us what the business is or what you do, I for one would be interested in hearing. Your business may not need outside funding depending on what it is, if its absolutely necessary that you have funding to start then waiting is the worst thing you could do. You could start with friends and family and even strangers that you meet on a daily basis you never know who might just be looking to move on with their life and start something of their own. (PARTNERS). Bootstrapping your business will definately yield far more satisfaction then if it is given to you " Investors" Hope this helps please provide updates!!!

Regards edit

A service business is the least expensive to start and may require zero capital. It is also the type of business where you could recruit 'sweat equity' partners. Service business can also thrive on WOM (word of mouth) marketing and referrals which costs next to nothing and is very effective.
edit

well dude your way further than me im the same age but with out the business plans i never really got that into the writing things down if im not looking for start up capital and just going with ideas that cost next to nothing to start can no business plan come back and bite me?

my bad didnt mean mean to change the subject but i been a "scheemer" since i was nine not much of a waiter no patients for it but this is with little business exp. id say if its possible to pull it off do it dont wait unless there is no other options edit

thank you for responding, so to give a little more info of the business. it is a roof cleaning business that uses three chemicals mixed together to get rid of any black streaks (mold, alge, and liken) on a roof or building. to start of i will need a bucket truck preferably 40-45 ft. working ht. which a have a buddy that owns a small business and he can find a great deal on one of those for me. i will also need a trailer, a water tank. and other things like that. there are no other businesses like this for hours in any direction. anyone that i have talk to about it sayes that they have never heard anything like it before (good for me) i know the business works itself cause my friend in TN. is doing the same thing and he makes good money doing it and he is 65 years old and only been doing that business for two years so i know it works. the word of mouth will be my biggest markiting technique. and to Robert Ward i do believe in it and i believe in myself that i can do it
one other thing, is the "SBA" a good app. to look into when going to the bank? edit

You might consider renting/leasing the equipment for a landed job rather than buy. You’re going to need liability insurance. Some might want you to be surety bonded also. In some States (PA) you may need to register with the States Attorney General Office and the Municipality may require permits and license to operate. You may need to register your chemicals, process, and disposal with the DEP and the local water/sewer authority, streets, and the electrical utility if your going to be near power lines. Anyway, SBA is a loan guarantor ...your going to need collateral for conventional financing and figure your going to need to come up with 30% of what you need regardless. If you are Vet you might have some other options available. See your local SCORE office as they are resource provider for SBA. Forget about the guy in TN, you need to show what your market will yield. You need to come up with a realistic revenue projection, and that should be in your business plan. You might also consider working with a local contractor, where you would market your service, perform the service, manage the business, and the contractor provides his equipment and insurance rider for a cut of the revenue. The contractor could buy and store the chemicals etc. and store the equipment. Once the thing got up an running you could break out on your own, or sell your operation to the contractor. edit

Very good advice William wise and well thought out. Kyle William is right about doing your market research but don't give up on your friend in TN just yet as he may sponsor you and support you.

Regards edit

the renting of the equipment is a good idea but the only thing i would be able to rent is the bucket truck. i am going to need a trailer to haul my gear and my water tank, but then i would run into another problem, and that is, im going to need a slightly bigger truck to haul that kind of equipment, right now i drive an s-10 blazer ( not going to haul much ) so do i save up money to buy a slightly bigger truck, or do i cut my loan by 2/3 and get a truck with the loan then worry about the permits with the bucket truck. im already in the prosses of findding out about permits about the chemicals, so im going to have that taken care of plus these chemicals are water soluable so once they know that it will be a little better....right? if i just came up with a figure to loan from the bank without the bucket truck i would have to say i could get away with just under 40 thousand. whitch means i would have to save a wopping 12 grand with %30 up front...right? umm.....HELP!!!! edit

Kyle I'm in the maintenance business and Spring is right around the corner! What this means is people are gonna want to start cleaning and I'm pretty sure that youre gonna need a pressure washer or something of the sort. You might consider printing some inexpesnsive business cards Kyle's Pressure Washing :) or something, run an ad in the local paper. Your pressure washer should fit easily in your blazer add a bucket, long brush, and water hose now your all set! You can pick up the chemical at a local hardware, and it should work well and be safe. Now you can still have a job and pick up side work doing the washing and save up for that speacialty equipment. Go back up to Danny I believe that he started out like me BROKE but I'm doing well now and owe it up to doing whatever it took to survive. As your business grows then you can focus on acting as a bigger business just be careful and the first thing you should invest in is the General Liability. With your determination and a little blood and sweat I believe you will suceed! edit

haha robert a little off im still broke :) but cant break a schemers spirit edit

We're all broke just some (unlike me) can make more rational decisions on what and when to buy :) edit

well i guess i can get a smaller trailer and a small water tankthat i could carry with the blazer, the reason i need this tank is the chemicals come in 55 gal. drums and need to be mixed half and half with water to be used. it takes 1/3 up to 1/2 of a drum per house and needs pre mixed and checked for the right chemical to water mixture before use. a house that needs "new shingles" but really only needs cleaned. they would spend about $1500 up to $4500 to have new shingles put on. a drum of chemicals and the other to chemical additives will cost about $40 per house plus gas to get there. i could save a costomer thousands of dollars, lets say charge about $400 to $500 per house to do this and the guy in TN. guarentees his costomers that it will last 5 years. that would be about $360 to $460 of cash to put toward the business per house.

its just really har to just sit on here and explain every detail that i have figured out allready so if something isnt explained to the fullest im sure i have all these details writen down

you guys aree really helping oiut in a big way so...dont stop! hahahaha edit

Kyle I started my first business when I was 16 so believe me I understand where your coming from. Not all business needs a business plan but a plan helps you stay focused I have learned this the hard way. The plan also helps you determine your goals and give you an idea how to manage your priorities. As for your equipment just starting out I would try and save or borrow from a friend so you dont have to worry about interest. A 100gal water tank should work fine according to your description. Water weighs about 8lbs per gallon so we are talking 835 lbs. easily pulled by your blazer. To start off with I would only get a small trailer they are light and will be easy to get on and off of properties. You could watch for equipment auctions in your area, your are gonna be able to get some good equipment at about half the price of new.

Regards edit

you know, im glad ive been talking to you guys. ive been putting all this hardship on my mind for no reason. i have to have all of the best, new, and top of the line things to start a business this size. i know were i can get a nice used trailer real cheap, a 100gal tank on ebay is cheap also. a chemical transfer pump wont be hard to come by also.

so i have one more thing i need advice for. in the first message i said something about being 5000 in debt and being able to pay of that pluse a little extra left over so should i take one of my bills and pay a good payment on it and buy these things that i mentioned above with that money or pay it off and wait till next tax time cause the job market is so bad i wont have much to save on a weekly basis, which means it will take a year to save that money up anyway. im ready to start handing out business cards today if i could. im raedy to go. im not scared get my feet wet and make some people happy and getting that word of mouth rolling. so let me know your opinion thanks guys again i really enjoy getting your feedback on this it really helps......really helps me get off my high horse hahaha edit

Well Kyle theres another thing that you need to think about. If you are not recieving a W2 from an employer that means no one is holding your taxes out for you, and you will more than likely be paying in taxes. I would suggest saving about 25% of profits to cover taxes and insurance. It sucks I know, but one year I was hit with nearly a 40k tax bill that I wasnt prepared for. If your plan is to be out of debt then pay your debt off, but if you're going to turn right around and take out another loan (which may be hard to do), using the money for equipment may be a good option for you.

Regards edit

ok how would i pay taxes through the year, do you HAVE to just save the %25 and do it at the end of the year so i dont get into a bind. im not saying it would be hard to do just asking if there was a way.

i just realized that i alrady have a trailer, its a little bigger than i need but it is useable, i just need the little things and i will be set to do some marketing and get my chemical permit and little things like that. Right? edit

Federal/State/Local taxes are paid on quarterly estimates. I think your getting close to getting started based upon your ideas and comments. edit

Way to go Kyle now thats the kind of thinking that will serve you well throughout all of your ventures. Good Luck its good to know that there are sites like this to help people like us.

Regards edit

if it wasnt for a site like this i really dont think that i woiuld of made it very far at all and would have been years just to get the loan i was going to get in the first place. how do i add you two to my profile incase i have any other questions for you guys? i thought that i felt good about having everthing down on paper and thinking that it would work while paying a loan and for insurance for a large truck like i was wanting. now i am perfectly happy with starting out with the blazer i have now and the fact that i dont have to pay on a loan and all that unneeded expence that i was going to face. so again i would like to thank you guys for everything! edit

Good day! have you considered getting involved with a network marketing company? I have an opportunity that involves very little money (if anyone tells you you don't need money - run - they don;t know what they are talking about!) Fortune Hi Tech Marketing is a company for this milennium! High commissions, no inventory, and best of all everything is done via computer so you have very little paper work to take care. Also, you get paid for services and products that you already use - cell phone, dish network, travel, dining out - the list is endless. Share the opportunity with your friends and reap teh benefits of your own business - plenty of support materials and existing members willing to share, mentor aned nurture.
review the opportunity at http://www.thefortunedreamteam.com

good luck
justine edit

Only start a business if it has these four characteristics.
1. Make sure you are involved in a fast group industry. Don't get involved in something that has seen better days.
2. Make sure you have unique consumable products or services. Unique so you aren't just competing on price and consumable so that when people use them up they need to come back for more.
3. Your products need to be in tune with the trends. You got to have what people want.
4. You need to have the ability to duplicate your efforts. No matter how good you are at what you do, there is only one of you and only 24 hours in a day.
~If you want to own a business, but don't what your business to own you. Make sure your business have the above 4 characteristics covered.
* If you're motivated and really looking. Contact me. I can help.

David edit

I like the last post on this thread.
Q: On #4 in your statement, Would part of that include social networking, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc?

What are some good ways to duplicate your efforts? edit

1- Why not revolutionize an industry or product or service
2- The next big thing? I smell failure as soon as the new wears off. Don't start a business thats not a candy bar?
3-Of course there needs to be a demand for your product or service, but it doesn't have to be the latest trend. You need to be able to justify your idea and be safe by avoiding other peoples mistakes
4-Anything you can do I can do better, thats how it goes!
5-Whether you like it or not you can't own a business without it owning you, if you truly want indemnity and freedom get a 9 to 5 and it will only own you for a little while everyday.

Only start a business if you are truly passionate about what it is that you're doing and are ready to put alot of blood, sweat, and time into it. If you are ready to make a commitment like that then there is no reason for failure.

But if you're the get rich quick, fly by night, here today gone tomorrow kind of person then David is correct.

Regards edit

Kyle, William (way up the page) hit it on the nose. One of the easiest (meaning least expensive to start) businesses is a service business. There is usually very little overhead, but you need some type of service to sell. Think about partnering up with someone looking to do a startup using their knowledge...a consulting business...and you would handle the management and sales, while your partner would handle the actual consulting service.
Another really good way to approach this is by getting started with affiliate programs. Al you need is a website, cheap, you can sign up for affiliate programs that match up with your topic, make money from the affiliate sales. You don't need to know anything about the topic of your website either since you can get FREE content on the internet from content directories on any subject you can think of. You can actually set up a business on the internet this way spending as little as $!0/month...or less. In a very short period of time, usually about a month or two, you should be at least breaking even and moving upwards. The reason I mention this, is it is a great way to generate cash flow while starting out developing your main business. Then while your main business gets moving, the affiliate business keeps growing as well...on the side.
This is how I started a long time ago and it still works well today...even better with the growing social media options.

Joe Villeneuve
www.3venterprises.ws
http://socialmarketingeducation.blogspot.co edit

Joe, are you saying I pick a "topic or subject" not necessarily something I know anything about. Make myself a presence on the internet i.e. website, wordpress page, go to a content directory so it looks like I know my stuff, and then find other people with the same product/service or is connected in some way (affiliate) and get them to advertise on my site? Then all I have to do is make sure people find me and go to the affilitates so I get "commision" ?

I am not too savy with marketing and SMM so please don't take me the wrong way I'm just trying to get a better understanding of what you are talking about.

Regards edit

Kind of. You combined a couple of directions together. First, you can find someone that has an expertise that is also looking to start a business as a consultant. They supply the product/service, that you will be a partner to. They supply the knowledge/consulting, you supply the management/marketing.
Another option, and there isn't anything that says you can't do both as separate businesses, is to start an internet business that is based on information. You supply the information for free, this can be based on your knowledge, a partner's knowledge, or FREE downloadable knowledge that is available in content directories. This means you don't need to be an expert on the topic of this site, just be associated with others that are experts. In other words, if you don't know, know who does.
The affiliate side is simply a way of making income from these sites. Add an affiliate link from say an office supply or a book store on your site. When people read the free info you provide, they will want more info, so they may want to buy a book on the subject. If they are going to buy anyway, why not provide a link (coded to you) to that book so when they buy it through your site, you get a commission from the bookstore. There are many other examples of this system, but it is all passive in every way.

Joe Villeneuve
www.3venterprises.ws
http://socialmarketingeducation.blogspot.com edit

Thank you for clearing that up for me Joe! I enjoy your posts and admire your wisdom.

Regards edit

Hi Melissa,

Regarding #4 - Duplication.

Traditionally duplication is accomplished through the employees of your company or through the franchise system. It all about leveraging. You need to get outside of you own ability to perform is you want to get ahead. Most would agree that having employees is the worst part of owning a business. Employees never treat your company like you do. In traditional franchising there is only one person that is leveraging. That's the franchisor. A franchisee has many time just bought him self a job and can never clock out. I am involved in the private franchising industry. In private franchising we wear two hats. We are franchisees and franchisors. This allows us to capitalize on the duplication of the franchise process. Email me if you want to learn more. FelberMarketing@yahoo.com edit

Hi Melissa,

Regarding #4 - Duplication.

Traditionally duplication is accomplished through the employees of your company or through the franchise system. It all about leveraging. You need to get outside of you own ability to perform is you want to get ahead. Most would agree that having employees is the worst part of owning a business. Employees never treat your company like you do. In traditional franchising there is only one person that is leveraging. That's the franchisor. A franchisee has many time just bought him self a job and can never clock out. I am involved in the private franchising industry. In private franchising we wear two hats. We are franchisees and franchisors. This allows us to capitalize on the duplication of the franchise process. Email me if you want to learn more. FelberMarketing@yahoo.com edit

Kyle, In your initial post you mentioned you had a business plan already. I assume this means you already know what business you are wanting to start. The answer to all of your questions really depends to some extent on what that business is.

Joe Villeneuve
http://socialmarketingeducation.blogspot.com/ edit