So, you have an idea, now what?
Mentors
After all the hoopla and excitement dwindles, you might come to the realization that you have absolutely no idea how to capitalize on your new idea.
Is it a good one? Will it make money? How do I actually get it off the ground?
Take a look at some of these mentors. They will help you with your business plan, marketing plan, and take your business to the next step; whether you need to incorporate or new business, or find a manufacturer for your product.
- SCORE - http://www.score.org/ : This is a free service that is “Counselors to America’s Small Business“. SCORE is a free way to get one-on-one counseling with a retired executive.
- SBDC – http://www.sba.gov/aboutsba/sbaprograms/sbdc/index.html : The SBDC (Small Business Development Center) is an extension of the SBA. They provide management assistance to current and prospective small business owners.
- NBIA - http://www.nbia.org/ : (National Business Incubator Association) Advances business incubation and entrepreneurship. An incubator is a great way to get cheap office space and business infrastructure while garnering the advice of a seasoned entrepreneur.
- Businesscoach.com : A paid coaching site. The mentors will offer you more attention than the free sites, however, this comes with a cost.
- Actioncoach.com : A paid coaching site. The mentors will offer you more attention than the free sites, however, this comes with a cost.
Patents and Trademarks
Do you need to file a patent or trademark? There’s really only one place to go. However, you might want to seek legal counsel.
Grants and Funding
Now that you have a business plan and patent, you are ready to try to get some initial startup capital. The government does give grants, however, due to contrary belief, they aren’t waiting to give you billions. Grants are extremely competitive and some such as the SBIR grant are dedicated to commercializing scientific research. Your state most likely has some funding that I did not include.
Building your product
Outsourcing your product is sometimes the way to go. If you need software or a website built, then rentacoder.com is the site for you. Manufacturer.com and alibaba.com will prototype your product fairly inexpensively. They are primarily Chinese manufacturers. Not that this is a bad thing, but check out my article on a failed outsourcing project .
- www.rentacoder.com
- www.elance.com
- www.manufacturer.com
- www.alibaba.com
- www.freelancernow.com
- www.guru.com
- www.getafreelancer.com
Distribution
If you are selling your product and aren’t sure you are ready for the retail environment, you can easily create a storefront using any one of these sites. This will enable you to sell your products directly to your customer without having to rent office space. A great alternative to the bootstrapped entrepreneur!
- www.amazon.com
- www.ebay.com
- www.ecrater.com
- www.cafepress.com : This is a limited storefront. Cafepress offers a wide range of goods that you can customize.
- http://www.online-storefronts.com/
- http://www.americommerce.com
Collecting your money
You will also need to collect money for your orders. No longer are “checks“ the way to go about business. (Most of)These sites will enable you to sell your product from your website.
- www.paypal.com
- www.billmelater.com Offers your small and medium size business customers instant credit at point of sale, without the expense of an in-house business credit program.
- eCharge offers an alternative payment method by allowing Internet users to “charge” purchases to their local phone bill. With eCharge, items priced low as $1 can be processed. Low charges make this method suitable for purchasing services such as memberships, subscriptions, and digital goods.
- iTransact.com has two products that allow payment through a checking account. To accept e-check and EFT payments using this system, neither you nor your customers require special software or hardware.
- Qpass.com provides consumers with a monthly bill for digital products purchased online.
- InterCoin enables registered account holders to accumulate small charges from participating merchants.
- Microsoft Passport helps users reduce the number of steps necessary to purchase items online by allowing customers to create a single sign-in name and password to use at participating web sites.
- RocketCash is an online shopping service that allows parents to create an account that their children can access to purchase goods from RocketCash-affiliated merchants.
Online Publications and Blog Posts
Congratulations, you have just launched a business. Now, keep reading! The marketplace changes so fast that it is a full time job to keep up with the latest trends. There are millions of blogs on business, and even more in your particular niche.
This list doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface.
- www.inc.com : An extension of the magazine. Provides useful stories of startups and how the founders became successful.
- www.entrepreneur.com : An extension of the magazine. Useful features include an online community, and an “Ask Entrepreneur“ section.
- www.onstartups.com : This blog is geared towards software startups; but there are practical tips for other small businesses as well. The only bad thing is it is not updated often.
- Seth’s Blog : Great blog on small business marketing.
- www.fortunesmallbusiness.com : An extension of the renowned magazine Fortune and is dedicated to small business.
- www.escapefromcubiclenation.com : Are you looking to leave corporate America to start a business? Pam shows you how to do it.
- www.amorningjolt.com : A touch of self promotion. I think it’s pretty good and will get better with time.
- www.morecaffeineplease.com : Ditto Above
startups.alltop.com : A listing of the top entrepreneur blogs.
If you think this list will help someone get started, or point them in the right direction, please share it freely! Also, please list your favorite sites as well.
{ 1 trackback }
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Very helpful post Mr. D. You can bet this one will be running its course today.
enJoy,
bonnieL
triiibe on!
Thanks for the shout-out, Greg! Let me just add that business incubators are much more than cheap office space (in fact, many incubators charge market rates or above). The heart of a true business incubation program is an array of entrepreneur support services targeted to start-up and early-stage companies.
And business incubation works. Historically, NBIA members report that 85% of their graduates remain in business after leaving the incubator. But don’t just take my word for it. The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration — a leading funder of new incubation facilities — recently released a report that found that its investments in business incubators created more jobs for less money than any other infrastructure project. Learn more about that at http://www.nbia.org/works.
Another great resource for entrepreneurs is Code-Roller. Code-Roller is a collaborative software development project life cycle management solution. Code-Roller is a community where entrepreneurs and engineers get together to create great applications for the web. Use of Code-Roller is free.
http://www.dynamicalsoftware.com/cr/demo/entrepreneurs.php
Dont need no person create applications for me has I can develop it myself
and do not want pay them if I can do it myself.
Here’s a new singles site I saw on TV. Which launched last year and they interviewed the owner of the site who created the site. He started from his own idea and been skyrocketing. Great techology communication features on this website. He mostly doing it at his Home. Check it out at http://www.searchforawoman.com