Though part of your overall plan, you’ll need to select a location, decide on a business structure, and obtain the necessary licenses and permits. In addition, determining which financing options will meet your short-term needs and long-term goals is crucial.

1. You are your own boss – Sick of your manager giving you a hard time in a job you loath? If you start up your own business, the only person you have to answer to is yourself. Being your own boss gives you the freedom to do things your way and implement your own plans. Of course, you live or die by your decisions, but that’s what’s good about it isn’t it?
2. Fame and recognition – It is the opinion of some that this is an important reason why people start companies.
3. You get to do what you’re interested in – If you are stuck behind a desk selling insurance over the phone to uninterested pensioners, the chances are that you would rather be doing something else. The good thing about being an entrepreneur is that you choose what kind of firm you start up, and where. So, providing that you’ve done your research properly and there is a gap in the market, you can turn a hobby or interest into a profitable enterprise.
4. You participate in all aspects of a business - there is nothing more exciting than to be broadly involved in the operation of a business. The entrepreneur helps conceive the product or service, helps design it, goes out and gets orders, makes sure the factory runs well, helps the customer put it into operation, and finally sees the effect that all of this has on the profits of the firm.
5. Meeting your own targets can be a huge motivation to work hard and drive the business forward. Start your own firm and you get to set and meet your own deadlines.
6. Get creative – If you have considered going it alone, you will have thought out how you would do things your way. Being an entrepreneur gives you the freedom to express yourself and develop your concept in any way you choose. Of course, there are always financial constraints, but the ability to be as creative as you like is far more appealing than a one-dimensional job that a monkey could do one-handed.
7. Joy of winning – Entrepreneurs are the ultimate achievers. They like to win. Starting a company is a good way to satisfy the achievement instinct. Starting a new company, working for a new company, being involved in any way with a new company is just plain fun. It is satisfying and exciting. We spend more hours at our job than at anything else we do. Why shouldn’t we enjoy it?
8. It’s not that hard to do – The news is full of stories about the amount of red tape and taxes that small firms have to face on a daily basis. However, over the past few years, several measures have been introduced that should make it easier to go it alone. From the Small Firms Loan Guarantee to various inner-city projects, the government certainly can’t be accused of doing absolutely nothing for budding entrepreneurs. With the Prince’s Trust, Shell LiveWIRE and other support organisations also up and running, you should be able to secure the help and funding needed to get you started.
9. Personal financial gain – business can be very profitable! If you think that it’s just large corporations that make big profits, you would be wrong. There are countless stories of entrepreneurs hitting on a great idea, exploiting it well and being well on their way to their first million by the end of the year. Although the startup process can be tough, with long hours and little money not uncommon, if you run your business well, the rewards can be huge. Gains can come more quickly and can be much greater than when working for someone else. For most people becoming an entrepreneur is the only way available to make a lot of money. And, from a purely selfish point of view, you will get most of the profits yourself.
10. You can have a second career – Of course, if you don’t fancy giving up a regular income, you can always get the best of both worlds and stay as an employee while running your own firm. Although juggling the two can be tricky, having a successful sideline should be very profitable option. Do something that you are interested in and go for it.

Whether you’re starting new business on the side while still employed elsewhere, a student or homemaker looking for extra income, or unemployed and trying to figure out what to do, there are plenty of opportunities for you to start up a side business inexpensively. It’s unlikely any of these will make you a living in the first few months, but they all have the potential to grow into full-time businesses. So what are you waiting for?

STEP 1 Business Ideas

To start a business you will need to choose or create a business idea. While this is an obvious step many people who want their own business don’t have an idea, just the desire to be an entrepreneur. For the budding entrepreneur, there are many options; buying a franchise or an existing business, or looking to others for ideas for a start-up business. Once you have decided on the business you wish to start, then the real work begins.

STEP 2 Business Plan

Writing a business plan is your next and most important step, this is how you and others will evaluate your business. When seeking financing the investors or lenders will want to read your plan before they supply you with funding. If you’re financing the business yourself, you will still want to have a written plan to develop business strategies and financial projections. A key element within the business plan is the marketing plan, which explains marketing strategies that will be used to advertise and promote the products or services. The goal setting steps of the plan will help you to analyze the success of the business in future years and clearly illustrate the capital needed to operate the company to break-even.

STEP 3 Financing

With your business plan in hand, you are ready to go find yourself some capital. Most small businesses have three options for financing: friends & family, investors or bank loans. Each of these options has different considerations for the business. Investors and even friends & family usually want ownership and control of their portion of the business. Bank loans burden the business with an additional expense of the loan payment, which can erode the business profits.

STEP 4 Getting started

You’ve got the plan, the money and the enthusiasm; you’re ready, right? Not yet, as with everything you need to take the legal issues into consideration. First you should choose a legal structure: Sole Proprietorship, Partnership, or Corporation. Your financing decisions will have an effect on what legal structure you choose. Now you can file with the state to incorporate and obtain a federal Identification number.

STEP 5 Opening the Doors

Okay, it’s time to get on the road to making some money; this of course means spending money. Where are you going to run your business? Will a home office do or is commercial space needed to service your customers? Do you need to hire employees to help you run the business? What are your bookkeeping needs, do you need an accountant? Finally, who could forget taxes, what taxes do you have to pay and collect? Now that your business is through the start-up phase, you can now look forward to the issues of managing a small business.

Sourse: businesstown

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need a huge outlay of cash – or any cash at all – to launch new business. Here’s how to start new business:

1. Stay at home. Renting office space is expensive and unnecessary during the first several months while starting new business. If your home is not conducive to concentration, create a movable office by working in coffee shops or other locations with free wi-fi. For professional meeting arrangements, pick a reasonably priced, but nice, restaurant for lunch. If you absolutely need an office, see if your town or city’s economic development office provides low-rent incubator space for new businesses.
2. Learn financials. It is helpful to know how to read financial statements even if you plan on hiring a bookkeeper or accountant when your business takes off. Self educate through the web. Learn the basics of balance sheets and income statements.
3. Hiring employees is another expense you can avoid in the start up phase of your business. If you don’t have cash to hire experts, but desperately need a graphic artist, writer or web designer, see if there is a pool of students you can draw from a local college or university internship program. Or, learn to do it yourself until you are making enough money in your business to hire a professional.
4. Once you have a website, let all your friends, neighbors and family know you have started a business (and include a link to your site); encourage them to forward the news on to their friends and business associates.
5. Become your own PR person. Learn the basics of writing a press release and send out an announcement to your local newspaper and trade publication about your new business. Post helpful advice (just don’t blatantly self promote) on blogs or online networking groups about your area of expertise.

And remember: being in business for yourself means starting early in the morning, working late into the evening most days, spending long Saturdays and busy Sunday afternoons with your new “baby.” It’s going without a vacation because there is no one else to operate and run the business when one is away.

Now, after reading all of this, is it worth it, this “going into business for yourself?” The answer is definitely “YES!” as long as you know what is needed, how to fill the need, and can fill it, and have the energy and desire to get the job done.

Forming a non-profit corporation is much like creating a regular corporation, except that non-profits have to take the extra steps of applying for tax-exempt status with the IRS and their state tax division. Here is a business technology about what you need to do:

1. Obtain nonprofit materials from your state’s corporate filing office.
2. Choose an available business name that meets the requirements of state law.
3. File formal paperwork, usually called “articles of incorporation,” and pay a small filing fee (typically $30 or $40).
4. Apply for your federal and state tax exemptions.
5. Create corporate “bylaws,” which set out the operating rules for your non-profit corporation.
6. Appoint the initial directors. (In some states you must choose your initial directors before you file your articles, because you must list their names in the document.)
7. Hold the first meeting of the board of directors.
8. Obtain licenses and permits that may be required for your corporation.

Contact your state’s corporations division

Your state’s corporate filing division, usually part of the Secretary or Department of State’s office, will often supply a packet of nonprofit materials that will be immensely helpful to you in forming your nonprofit.

This packet should include sample or fill-in-the blank articles of incorporation and your state’s nonprofit corporation laws. It should also contain a filing fee schedule, as well as forms and instructions for checking the availability of your proposed business name. Contact your state’s corporate filing office to obtain this packet.

Choose a business name

Before you form your nonprofit corporation, you need to decide on a name that complies with the rules of your state’s corporate filing office. The information packet you receive from the filing office should contain your state’s rules, but the following guidelines commonly apply:

• The name of your nonprofit cannot be the same as the name of another corporation on file with the corporations division.
• The name must end with a corporate designator, such as “Corporation,” “Incorporated,” “Limited,” or “Corp.,” “Inc.” or “Ltd.” (This is required in only about half of the states.)
• The name cannot contain certain words prohibited by the state, such as Bank, Cooperative, Federal, National, United States or Reserve.

Your state’s corporations division can tell you how to find out whether your proposed name is available for your use. Often, for a small fee, you can reserve the name for a short period of time until you file your articles of incorporation.

In addition to confirming that another corporation in your state isn’t already using your proposed name, you must make sure your name won’t violate a trademark owned by another company (in your state or out of state). To do this, you’ll need to conduct a trademark search.

Once you’ve found a legal and available name, you aren’t usually required to file or reserve the name with your state — when you file your articles of incorporation, your nonprofit’s name will be automatically registered.

Prepare and file your articles of incorporation

After you’ve decided on your business name, you must prepare and file “articles of incorporation” with the corporate filing office. This document goes by a different name in a handful of states; your state may instead use the term “articles of organization,” “certificate of incorporation,” “certificate of formation,” or “charter.”

Your state’s corporate filing office will usually provide you with nonprofit articles of incorporation — either a fill-in-the-blank form or a sample on which you can base your articles. Although preparing this document isn’t difficult, you do need to include specific language to ensure that you’ll receive tax-exempt status. Your state’s nonprofit formation packet, if available, may include the required information. If not, or if you need help understanding the requirements, consult a good legal self-help guide such as How to Form a Nonprofit Corporation, by Anthony Mancuso (Nolo), to make sure your articles comply with your state’s nonprofit law.

Apply for your federal 501(c)(3) tax exemption

After the corporate filing office returns a copy of your filed articles, you can submit your federal 501(c)(3) tax exemption application to the IRS. (The IRS requires you to submit a copy of your filed articles with your application.) This is a critical step in the formation of your nonprofit organization since most of the real benefits of being a nonprofit flow from 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status.

To apply for your exemption, you must complete IRS Form 8718, User Fee for Exempt Organization Determination Letter Request, and IRS Package 1023, Application for Recognition of Exemption. For instructions on filling out these forms, read IRS Publication 557, Tax-Exempt Status for Your Organization. (You can obtain all of these items for free by calling 800-TAX-FORM, or you can download them from the IRS website.) If you need a bit of help deciphering the IRS-speak, consider downloading Nolo.com’s plain-English eGuide, Nonprofit Corporations: Qualify for Federal Income Tax Exemption.

After the IRS reviews your application, it will send you a letter indicating that it has approved your nonprofit status, or it might ask you for more information about your organization. The IRS can also deny your application outright. If this happens, see a lawyer who specializes in nonprofits.

Apply for a state tax exemption (if necessary)

In a few states (California, Montana, North Carolina and Pennsylvania), you must complete a separate application to get a state tax exemption. In other states, as long as you file nonprofit articles of incorporation and obtain your federal 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, your state tax exemption will be automatically granted. In still others, to get your state exemption you must send in a copy of the IRS determination letter that granted your federal exemption. Contact your state tax agency to find out what steps you must take.

Draft corporate bylaws

Next you must create bylaws, the internal rules that govern your nonprofit corporation. Bylaws contain rules and procedures for holding meetings, voting on issues and electing directors and officers. To create bylaws, you can either follow the instructions in a self-help resource or hire a lawyer in your state to draft them for you. Typically, the bylaws are adopted by the corporation’s directors at their first board meeting.

Appoint directors

Directors, who meet and make decisions collectively as the board of directors, have the authority (and responsibility) to manage and run the nonprofit corporation. Many states allow nonprofits to have just one director, but other states require at least three.

The directors should first adopt the bylaws and elect officers — state law usually requires a president, secretary and treasurer, and sometimes a vice president as well. Then, the directors should authorize the newly elected officers to take actions necessary to start the business of the nonprofit — for example, setting up bank accounts and admitting members.

After the meeting is completed, minutes of the meeting should be created and filed in your corporate records book. For more information, see Running your nonprofit corporation.

Obtain licenses and permits

Many businesses, whether operating as for-profit or nonprofit corporations, partnerships or sole proprietorships, are required to obtain state or local licenses and permits before commencing business. So, while you may not be subject to the kind of red tape that entangles profit-making enterprises, you should check with your state department of consumer affairs (or similar state licensing agency) for information concerning state licensing requirements for your type of organization. For instance, a local business license (sometimes called your “tax registration certificate”) may be required for your activities, and if you sell anything to consumers, you’ll need a sales tax permit.

1. Use Your Salary as Funding

Gregory Moore financed his big idea one paycheck at a time. The opportunity was obvious: Gregory Moore wanted to create a company that would securely transmit patient and payment data between hospitals, doctors, clinics, and insurers. In 2000 he took the proposal to software maker TeraHealth, which then hired him to make it a reality. But TeraHealth didn’t pursue the effort, so Moore began building the business on the side. He used his salary to hire a coder and spent nights and weekends filing incorporation papers and creating sales brochures. He even set up a basic office.

The Monday after he left TeraHealth in March 2001, his new company, Harbor Healthcare, was open for business. Moore booked his first revenue about a month later. TeraHealth grumbled, but Moore had records proving that he’d hatched his idea long before he joined the company.

The key, he says, is “to use your salary to invest in the startup as much as possible before jumping ship.” After five years and several rounds of angel funding, he still owns a majority of the firm’s equity.

2. Turn Common Complaints Into a Business Plan

Jeff Gallino and Cliff LaCoursiere decided to give customers what they really wanted. You know that feature your customers are always asking for? If your employer won’t deliver it, maybe you should.

That’s what Jeff Gallino and Cliff LaCoursiere did. Back in 2001 the two worked for ThinkEngine Networks, a Boston-based telecom equipment company. Gallino handled relationships with software partners, while LaCoursiere ran sales. The two kept hearing customers ask for a way to digitally sift through recorded calls and analyze them.

Gallino and LaCoursiere brought the idea to their employer, but they received a halfhearted response. So the duo wrote a business plan during off-duty hours and left ThinkEngine Networks in 2002. They funded their new firm, CallMiner, for a year with money saved from their salaries.

Gallino wrote the first version of their software, which builds an overall picture of what’s being said through speech recognition, pattern mining, and signal analysis. The product attracted angel investment and a venture round, including cash from In-Q-Tel, the CIA’s venture fund. Today, CallMiner’s applications are used by airline, energy, and cable companies to categorize call-center calls, while government agencies are evaluating the technology’s ability to automate intelligence gathering.

3. Convert Your Employer Into a Business Partner

Jeff Hilbert spun a doomed division into a successful startup. In 2002, when Jeff Hilbert was managing the design services division of Coventor, a chip-design software company in North Carolina, his unit was slated for the chopping block. However, Hilbert noticed that he had recently been winning a lot of business from wireless chip companies, so he asked Coventor to let him spin off the unit as a stand-alone company.

The board went for it and gave the startup (now it is called WiSpry) $6 million worth of patents and other intellectual property, seven employees, several hundred thousand dollars, and an office in Irvine, Calif., all in exchange for shares in the company. Today, Hilbert is CEO of WiSpry, which is developing a special chip for cell phones that could improve battery life by 20 to 40 percent. His advice: Don’t rely too much on a parent company. Sooner or later, all startups must be able to fend for themselves.

The present research focuses upon new businesses which are started from scratch. The theories of reasoned action and planned behavior are used to formulate hypotheses concerning self-employment intentions and subsequent entry into self-employment.  The findings strongly support the theory of reasoned action, but provide no support for the extension of the theory represented by the theory of planned behavior.

According to Business 2.0 Magazine

Business plan

Also, the business plan determines the fate of investment from outside. Literate business plan and attract investors interested in your case their funds.

It is understood that not every business idea can become the basis for profitable business. If you have an idea for a business, it can be recommended to pick up a pencil and think about the basic key points. What is your experience in implementing such a project, how well do you hold information about the object of your project, about a license or certificate for this kind of business, whether your idea is a unique idea that makes it something special. And also you’re your project survive if there is competition, how long will take the pay off the idea of what it means you have to implement the idea (capital, premises, land, equipment, labor, etc.). When you will have the detailed answers to all these key moments, you can safely take on writing a business plan.

In your business plan you should think more about the costs of opening business. These costs are inevitable, therefore, thinking about them beforehand, you can try to minimize them.

You need the money for the registration of the enterprise. If you want to avoid the bureaucratic meat grinder, then be prepared for what you have to pay for services firms, who will undertake the registration of your future business.

You will also need money for rent, purchase of equipment and raw materials, the hiring of employees, advertising. Of course, each case has its own monetary threshold for entry into the business, but in your power to apply the know-how to optimize costs and increase potential revenues.

• Refer to the entrepreneurs’ support. There are governmental business programs for small business support. Following those programs there are benefits in rent, purchase of office equipment, and also the help in organization of new business for entrepreneurs-beginners is provided. Information on this issue may be requested from local government, because the assistance program for small business are of regional and sometimes even of urban level.

• Start a business from scratch. Such an option is fraught with difficulties. It is rather difficult to promote your business idea into reality. Be prepared that this will take you quite a lot of time, money and other resources. May be you’ll need to find some investors. However, everything is in your hands, and the success of your new business depends entirely on your persistence, perseverance and diligence. There are many cases known, when people achieved great success in business, starting from scratch and without any investment.

• Buy ready made business. To buy a ready business is much easier than to create it from scratch. Buying a business, you get rooms, warehouses, trained personnel, existing contracts; this in general is a ready operating system. It only depends on you what to do next: to develop the business and eliminate competition, or you may sell the business for a better price.

• Buy a franchise. This is quite a convenient way of starting a new business on the business arena. Franchising means that you sign a contract with a famous trademark (the franchisor). Then the franchisor gives you the right to use its technology, name, licenses.

Before you appear for the interview,  collect some information about the company you will be interviewing with to know the industry they are dealing with to match yourself with the universal business dress code or try to know what current employees wear there.

If you are appearing for an interview for a white color job like banking or law or for some executive post, you must wear a suit and tie. You must wear plain black, grey or navy blue suit with matching tie and either brown or black leather shoes. Take care about the fittings of the suit. Your belt and shoes should be matching and wear socks that are darker than your pants.

If your position doesn’t allow you to wear suit or the company is little informal, then wear some light colored button down shirt and black pant neatly ironed. You can also wear a tie.

Remember that interview techniques involve accessories that are strictly professional. You should either carry a brief case or leather office bag or portfolio for resume and other documents. Do not carry folders that are usually carried by college students.

Business dress code limits wearing of jewelry (chains, rings), you should wear only a watch and cufflinks. Avoid wearing excessive perfume, cologne or after shave lotion.

The best way to dress for a job interview is the conservative way but if you can gather some information about your potential employer, you will be on the safest route. Proper dressing will help you to fit into the organization. If you are overdressed or under dressed, your prospective employer may find you unfit for the job. Use the right busines dress code as an interview technique and you’ll pass the interview and get the job of your dreams!

Are you ready to become an entrepreneur?

First of all, to see whether your decision to start new business is a good idea, and whether you will become a good businessman, ask yourself the question: would you like to have a partner in business, like yourself? Try to answer this question objectively. If the answer is ‘yes’, then start your own new business. Even at the zero level of your business you must understand that you shouldn’t rush, because rushing you risk to fail in the beginning. Before you start implementing your idea, you need to conduct a marketing research, create the business plan, and keep attention to all the details.
Try to choose from all fields of activity the one you have an idea about. Remember that starting a new business you’ll have to learn a lot of things.  It is very important to know the essence of your business on a professional level. Thus you can control the whole work process from the start to the implementation of the product.
It is observed that if you have such knowledge, then the uniqueness of your type of business will help you to take a sure place under the sun and avoid the serious competition the old-timers of this business.

Dollar risks losing status as a world reserve currency, warns in a new report by HSBC. Situation of the dollar is painfully reminiscent of the pound after the First World War, said the head of foreign exchange manager of the bank, David Bloom, which refers to the Daily Telegraph. “The whole picture of risk-reward for emerging market currencies has changed. It is not so much that they have risen to our standards, it is that we have fallen to theirs. It used to be that sovereign risk was mainly an emerging market issue but the events of the last year have shown that this is no longer the case. Look at the UK – debt is racing up to 100% of GDP, ” said Bloom.
Meanwhile, China and other emerging economies in Asia, had reached the point where they can no longer be artificially low rates for their currencies to maintain export because it creates chaos in their own economy, maintaining inflation of the bubbles, the newspaper said. “Mercantilist” mentality that prevailed in Asia in the past few decades looses its position because of inflationary expectations.
This problem was already evident at the last stage of the credit boom, but the financial crisis at the time smoothed the effect. But this pressure will increase as developing countries will maintain solid growth, leaving the U.S. behind.
Thus, the newspaper says, we are witnessing an epochal decline in economic power and wealth of the old G10 bloc of rich countries against the backdrop of growth in the new world.
According to Bloom, the regional currencies will become a kind of anchor for smaller trading partners in developing countries, and the role of the U.S. would assume China, Brazil or South Africa.