Where do I Start?

You are thinking about owning your own business. What do you need to consider?

This Start-up Guide will take you through assessment tests to help you decide whether becoming an entrepreneur is for you. Topics include: choosing a business, feasibility of your business idea, research tools and financing.

Obtain Small Business Training – Note: online training, training calendar  and other workshop links.

Look through the SBA Business Guide: Plan and Launch your business web pages. You will find an abundance of useful information and tools.

Training, counseling, and resources for Start-ups

You are going into business and you are ready to begin taking the steps to launch your idea.

This Going into Business Checklist will help you think about the big picture and determine the feasibility of your idea based on your aptitudes, market, product, operations and finances. The start-up assessment in “GO”  is taken from a portion of this document. The remainder of the ‘Going into Business Checklist” will provide talking points.

Prepare a draft plan. Use our Business Resources: Market Research; Business Planning Resources; Business Plan Video

Look at the SBA Launch and Manage your Business for more information

You have done your research, tested the feasibility of your idea, drafted a business plan, know approximately how much capital you need, have some finances to get started and you are ready to launch.

Take our Business Readiness Survey. This covers the four most critical areas of: Market, Product, Operations and Finance.This will help you and our advisor effectively determine your next steps. Answers are emailed to you to share with an advisor and remain confidential.