10 Practical Steps to Start Your Own Business

How to Start Your Business & Get it Off the Ground:

I've started 2 businesses from nothing.

It was like rubbing 2 sticks together, trying to make a spark that would eventually grow.

It was hard, I'v taken some kicks in the teeth, but overall, I've come out with 2 Uber successful service businesses, and I want to help you get started.

Whether you're trying to start a construction business, bookkeeping firm, or you've left your old employer to start your gig, I'm going to share with you the most helpful tips I have to start out.  

Starting is scary, but I've done it twice, and both have become super successful small businesses.

The first business I started was a tax and accounting firm that grew to over $1 million in revenue in about 24 months.

The second business is Feedbackwrench, and we've developed incredibly strong revenue and results for our small team, and created massive growth in scores of businesses.

I know how to start a business and I know how to grow it, so let's talk about what's the practical advice you should actually pay attention to.

‍

Watch the Youtube Video or Download the Podcast:

‍

10 Practical Steps to Start Your Own Business:

This is all about how to get unstuck and actually get your business rolling.

#1 - Pick a Business Name

You should spend some time thinking of a really clear, simple company name.

THe most important part of this is to get feedback from people.

Short, clear, and unique is what you're shooting for, and if you share your company, get some honest input from other people you respect - DON'T RELY ON YOUR OWN WISDOM HERE.

You can read and watch the video that teaches you how to select a good business name,.

Jump into Google and start looking for large companies that will make it hard to stand out.

You don't want to choose a business name that's crowded by large companies, or that's shrouded by vagueness.

#2 - Buy a Domain Name

The next hting you want to do is find a short, succinct, and unique domain name for your business.

I prefer to buy domains on Google Domains, which is cheaper, more private, and easier to use than the typical domain registrar company like Godaddy, Ionos, etc.

Choose something that when you're reading it to someone, it's easy to type.

Make sure it's simple, clear and easy to remember.

You'll be asking customers and other people to check out your business often, and if you're wise on the front end, your domain can work in your favor.

I would also check for domains that are similar to your ideas, and avoid confusion.

It's good to make things easy to spell, short, and unique.

Remember, there's not really any benefit to having an exact match domain anymore, and there's no reason you should use multiple domain names.

 Avoid buying domains and business names that are similar to other large companies.

Get an Official Business Email

Seriously, Google Workspace is $6 to $18/month, depending on what email you end up going for.  

Check out Google's business email solution here called workspace.

‍

#3 - Setup Google My Business Profile

Few things area s important as your Google My Business.  

Whether you're looking to grow as a remodeling contractor, or if you're an accounting firm or bookkeeping firm, the Google My Business is absolutely critical.

Google My Business is for local businesses, not necessarily national ones.

If your core services shows the Google Local Snippet, and you're primarily a local business, then you need to setup and invest heavily in growing your google my business page.

You will want to get more google reviews than your competitors, and you'll do that by sharing your google review link with customers and folks that trust you, so they can leave a review.

Google Reviews Result in:

• Closing more deals
• Driving more traffic
• Closing larger deals
• Taking more market share

I touch on this all the time when we're helping people with search engine optimization, because Google Reviews on the Google My Business are uniquely important.

In fact, for some sectors, your GMB is your primary marketing tool.

You'll also want to invest into your website as well, becasue Google My Business takes qeues from your website

Start Bing Places

Another thing you'll want to do is setup a bing places, which is Microsoft's version of Google My Business.

Bing places doesn't have it's own reviews, it aggregates from Facebook reviews, so make sure you don't totally neglect those either.

#4 - Setup Services and Pricing

Now you'll want ot sit down and attempt writing a list of services, pricing and scope of work.

Write down what you want to do , what would be included, and what the official name would be.

What should it cost and what's the core value proposition?

You need to get perspective and define your service menu.

Spending time developing this is a really great thing and I think you should find a mentor or someone you can interview that would either be a competitor or potential customer.

Write all this down.

Business Name

Menu

#5 - Create a Website

You can start small, but you'll want to develop a website.

We love helping people design and develop a website that's built to convert, and we'll even help folks that are just getting started.

‍

#6 - Start Doing Some Reps!

You should start your business by finding folks that will let you help them for free or cheap, as you build credibility.

You need to prospect too!

When your starting your business, theres' nothing more helpful than getting some reps and actually doing something.

The best way to build confidence, build credibility, and

#7 - Get Reviews & Show You're Trustworthy

Get reviews and show off your work, providing evidence that you're getting results.

You need to show off proof that you're actually

#8 Command Market Share with Paid Search Advertising

You don't need to sit around and wait for customers, when you can pay Google to jump to the front of the line with paid search ads from Google Ads.

It's often scary to take the plunge and invest into paid advertising early on, but there's often a strong case to do so.

Search ads allow you to get in front of the right people, with the right need, at the right time.

Nothing is more helpful for sales than paid search ads.

#9 Content Marketing for SEO

If you write authoritative content on your website, you'll see that your business will show up in search engines more often, and it will rank higher. Here at Feedbackwrench, we provide SEO & Content marketing services for small businesses, and we'd love to help you out.

Starting a business is hard, and it's hard to write excellent content as well.

Take the time to at least write authoritative answers to all the FAQ's and topics that would be relevant to your potential customer.  Whether your an accounting firm trying to improve your SEO for your bookkeeping business, or you're trying to get better at niche marketing, you'll want ot invest in great written content on your website.

As you write great content, Google and Bing will eventually serve that content up to people and see if they like it.

If your content is engaging, marked up well, abides by the principles of great SEO, your business will increase it's organic traffic.

#10 - Build Authority to the Content & Make Videos

Last, you can start building up the authority of your articles and building complimentary videos that help people consume your content really easy.

Besides that, you should try to find ways to collaborate with other websites and develop a way to build up authority through backlinks.  Backlinks are votes of confidence from other websites in the form of a hyperlink.  Backlinks have always been important for SEO, and they'll continue to be so for a long time.

Write for other websites, write for organizations and be helpful in your relationships with other publications so that you might have the opportunity to attract a backlink.