It is expensive to start a business, whether it’s a brick and mortar downtown or a small business out of your home. Yes, you need stationery, business cards, and the like, but there are six things you should do before anything else: Get legal, get a mentor, get knowledge, get a program, get a telephone, and get started. Let’s explore each with the idea of minimizing costs.

GET LEGAL
Your city, county, state, and federal government loves you. Really! If you are successful, you will be a source of money for them, and they know and appreciate this fact. Ask someone at SCORE (see next topic) what licenses you need. DO NOT CALL LICENSE BUREAUS UNTIL YOU TALK WITH SCORE!

GET A MENTOR
A business mentor is someone who either is or was successful in the same business as you are in or who has been a success in a related business, and who is willing to give you one-on-one guidance during the critical start-up part of your business. I can think of no greater group of mentors than the Service Corp of Retired Executives (SCORE), a sub-set of the SBA. Look them up in the phone book, at www.score.org on the net, or ask the operator to connect you with the government switchboard.

GET KNOWLEDGE
Books have the basic knowledge you need. When I talk about books I’m not talking about how Sam made a fortune in seven days and you can do the same, I’m talking about the books that make a difference in life: “How To Win Friends and Influence People”, “The Magic of Thinking Big”, “Developing The Leader Within You”, “University of Success”, and the other motivational books that will keep you going when the going gets tough. Of course there are the technical books as well.

Books are expensive. Used books are not expensive. Maybe you have a source of quality used business books in your neighborhood, but chances are, they don’t have what you want, and by the time they find your request, you don’t need it anymore. Cindy Heath at the Title Wave Book store in Albuquerque, NM is my supplier of books (505-294-9495 or twavebks@swcp.com), so check your local store first, and they don’t have what you want, contact Cindy. Mention my name, and you will receive superb service at a great price.

GET A BUSINESS-MARKETING PLAN
You don’t need a business plan unless you are looking for money from outside sources, and your chances of getting start-up money these days is small to none. What you need is a marketing plan. A marketing plan helps you determine where you are going to be in three years (Vision), helps you determine exactly where you should be along the way (Goals), and then outlines what you personally have to do to make everything happen (Tasks). Of course, if you need both, you need both.

I recently reviewed several market planning software packages, and can only recommend three: If you want a terrific business plan as well as a marketing plan, “Business Plan Writer Deluxe” by Nova is your best answer. For a separate marketing plan “Marketing Plan Pro” by Palo Alto software and “Marketing Builder Version 2.2” by Jian are your best answers. Any of these three will do an excellent job. Palo Alto has an excellent companion “Business Plan Pro” package, but the two are not integrated. The software for “Marketing Builder Version 2.2” is great, but Jian needs to upgrade the manual a bit.

GET A TELEPHONE
All you need is a single line into your home to have a three line system. Here’s a four-step explanation.

1. We begin with your present telephone line, the same phone number and line you’ve always had. No additional charge or changes needed. Ask for a distinctive-ring line from your local phone company that rings on your home line. This is a real second line. ($2.50-$10 month.)
2. Obtain a toll-free (plain or vanity) line from www.phonecallsavings.com that piggybacks onto your new distinctive-ring line. (Call Richard at 1-800-419-8939 and mention my name.) There’s no charge for setup, and the cost is approx 4.9 cents per minute in and out for most states. There’s also a program where you can call out anytime to anywhere in the U.S. for any length of time for $49.95/mo.
3. Advertise your distinctive ring and your toll-free line as your business lines. When the phone rings with the distinctive ring, it’s your business line, otherwise it’s a personal call. How about that!
4. As you grow you may want more lines, but keep the same concept for your toll-free number.

GETTING STARTED
Now just DO IT!

(NOTE TO EDITORS: PLEASE INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING.)
Paul Tulenko is a Small Business Success Consultant based in New Mexico. Additional tips and suggestions are available at www.tulenko.com or call (toll-free) 1-866-TULENKO.