Starting A Business Checklist – 10 steps to achieve success

Now that you are having an idea for a business, that you could choose from our previous article 4 Great Halal Business ideas, it’s time to build a starting a business checklist that will be your guide on how to achieve success in business.

The business starting process needs to be organized and well planned if you want to succeed in business. Statistics show that you can register your business for less than $ 10,000 because 64% of small businesses started with a smaller amount than that. Be determined that you can obtain your spot on the marketplace, write a business plan of action, and give your best to follow it.

Business Startup Checklist

A startup checklist is a part of your business plan, a list that you create needs to be followed thoroughly. It’s time to set all requirements together to have a neat structure that will be the skeleton of your business plan. We decide to determine what are the most important steps for you to start your personal business. Let’s go through this startup checklist.

Starting A Business Checklist in 10 steps

1. Do detailed market research to get to know your potential customers
2. Make a thorough business plan
3. Create a unique business name
4. Pick your business location – decide if it is going to be a local business or online business so you can prepare office space or website.
5. Register your business entity by your state law regulations aand determine what legal structure of the business you will choose
6. Get your Federal Employer Identification Number
7. Open a business bank account and establish an accounting system
8. Get your business license – make an application for licenses and permits
9. Prepare funds for your business and adjust your business to that amount
10. Invest in marketing to get to your customers, use social media full potential

1 – Perform market research

If we are asking ourselves what is that unavoidable move needed to set up a business, the first thing that we should do is analyze our future customers. Let’s not waste resources and let’s dedicate to a good quality market validation plan.

From market validation, we can learn about our target market and decide if it is worth it to launch our product or see if our business is going to be needed and searched for by people. We can gather a lot of details through campaigns, analyzes, research, and interviews where social media can be very helpful to ask people questions and determine whether the marketing environment is desirable for the business.

Begin your business with methodical research to ensure that your business plan of action is going to work. Before you register your small business and acquire your licenses and permits, you should be well prepared. Being methodical and careful is a reflection of a good Muslim, and if you want to start your halal business right, be sure that all sides are perfectly planned.

• A Simplified Business Plan
• An Extensive Business Plan (done via software or web)
• A Professional expert Business Plan

Research analysis about different business plans and also you can find our previous article helpful about the importance of creating business plans.

3 – Create a unique business name

Why is a business name so important?

The business name you select will represent your business idea in the market, and with this, you should be very creative. Making sure to create an attractive and easy-to-remember business name you are doing the first step in the marketing operation, having a good brand name is already one part of the marketing job done.

You should pick a distinctive business name that shows your uniqueness and your type of business. There is a difference between a business name and a domain name. A domain name is for your website, and your email address, whereas your business name is the name of your company or your product brands.

4 – Pick your business location

You need to pick a business location. To set our business adequately, the location needs to be accessible for customers. If we want to be available for our customers, we need to make sure that they can reach you.

Is it going to be an office, shop, or online business only, it’s depending on business ideas and brand. If you can reach an attractive location, set a marketing strategy to make your business more desirable. Even if you choose to open an office or a shop, you still need to have an online presence via a website, or a local Google business listing.

5 – Register your business entity

You need is to register your business as a separate entity from your personal life by making it subject to legal regulations so you can create a protective veil for your business and brand. This article explains why this is a crucial step in setting up your business.

In case that a person is doing business under a name distinctive from his or her own, then the registration process is needed with the federal government or maybe the government of the state in which the person is living.

What’s going to define a sort of business is its structure. You can decide to choose from 4 different structures, and those are:

• Partnership kind of business
• Sole Proprietorship type
• Limited Liability based Company (LLC) and
• Corporation or S-Corporation

This step is definitely related to the country of residence and place where the business is operating because business actions depend on state legal regulations.

7 – Open a Business Bank Account and Set Your Accounting System

You should start a business bank account that is separate from your personal bank account. Pick the business bank that most fits your business needs. Every business bank is different with its specific requirements when it comes to opening a checking account, so you should pick one with simple requirements.

You can also use some accounting software systems that can help you with automating the accounting process. This is very helpful if you have a medium or large business, but for small businesses, you can use a simpler version.

8 – Licenses and permits

Start your business legally by getting all licenses and permits you need. Ask authorities in your country what are the requirements for starting your business. Follow the steps they advise you because having the license will help you to avoid further problems. Apply for a license if you are starting one of these business ideas:

• Advising about investments
• Manufacturing of the drugs for medical purposes
• Making food products
• Radio or television business
• Transportation

You will need to check with you local state authority for the type of license you need for your business, as it differs by state and country.

9 – Fund your business

The benefit you have from writing a business plan and validating the market is that you can estimate how much finances you will need to start a business. You will need to figure out how to fund your business ideas in order to make it possible to happen and grow as a successful business.

Decide to borrow money from a friend or to adapt your business idea with smaller funds. If you want a blessing from Allah and a successful business, make sure to run your business in a halal way. Make sure to track your funds and keep them halal.

You can also start a small business with as little as USD 100, which we have listed 15 businesses with low startup costs.

10 – Marketing to your customers

Marketing is is the necessity of business survival and success. Whether it is a small or a well-established brand, getting to the customer is key to a business’s progress, existence, and survival in the long run which requires marketing, including advertising. You can read about how to get free advertising for small businesses here.

SUMMARY

Every step is important for your business accomplishment, make certain not to skip any of it from this listing. Stay motivated and organized, track your business growth constantly so you can improve it.