BGtrepeneurs, Anybody own/owned a small business?

[ertyu]

I've got a friend who is trying to start a small business doing local home theater setup. I'm in my last year of college now as a Finance major and my friend came to me with a prospect of being partners in this new business. Now, from a numbers perspective, I know kind of what to do, but as far as starting up, doing all of the marketing, getting the proper billing and invoice structure setup, I'm completely lost.

So my question to any of you is, do you own or have you ever owned a small business and you have some tips you can share? I looked on google but 99% of everything wants you to buy their packet of information and I would trust first hand experience much more.

He's done a few jobs for people on his street and he made some pretty nice money, so now we're trying to figure out how to expand.

Halp!

[Furtwangler]

quickbooks is your friend

[ertyu]

Is this strictly accounting software? This seems pretty neat.

[Furtwangler]

never actually used it, seen commercials and a friend swears by it. guess it takes care of alot of your financial stuff from accounting things to invoices and whatnot.

[Ishido]

New branch of BG opening: BG consulting?

[Skjie]

I prefer Simply Accounting.

[Senoska]

Never done anything on that scale but I run a (very) small programming business out of my home. I do software and whatnot for people locally. I wrote software for most everything thats required (such as invoices and what not) however I have used, and really liked, quickbooks. I would suggest it if thats what you need.

[Tyche]

quickbooks is your friend

Open Systems Accounting Software is not.

[geno]

Quickbooks owns as far as I'm concerned. I think for personal accounting there are some other good options but I love how much it can do for small businesses.

[SephYuyX]

Excel is really more than enough for what you want to do.
I made an invoice system for a small business with just Excel, and theyve been using it for a year with no problems.

[_chuchu]

Quicken/Quickbook files can be exported to TaxCut for Business (TurboTax, because it's literally plagiarized into a different color.) You can do your taxes from it since it will export your expense data from quicken and quickbooks and probably ms money. You won't be able to e-file a business return as far as I know. Maybe the IRS will change that policy someday.

COGNOS is another financial reporting system that you can use. I forget the name of the company that helped create that, but they are pretty amazing.

Excel is the fucking shit because you can get and make sense of financial data dumps and make shit look pretty without power point.

[ertyu]

Well I wasn't worried so much about tracking financial data, but I'll use quickbooks for accounting purposes.

What do you all do for marketing? I don't even know where to start on this one.

[RakEx]

Start with a Business Plan.

Written down and in depth. Go over it again and again. Make it perfect.

[volcanicweather]

Well I wasn't worried so much about tracking financial data, but I'll use quickbooks for accounting purposes.

What do you all do for marketing? I don't even know where to start on this one.

As a marketing pro, here's where to start....

- Determine your competition in the area - I'm guess you'd be up again best buy, ultimate electronics, and other mom/pop small shops like what you want to do. See how they're doing; you may need to do a little market research here (which is what I do for a living). Go into the big shops and pretend to buy a system and ask them how business is. Find out what they charge and compare them to your proposed rates. Try to get referrals or talk with people and ask them how their installation went and what was important/not important to them during the installation process. If the market in your town is slow/flooded with competition you're screwed and should stop here or find a different market (i.e. city/town) and repeat this process. Doing your homework is the most important part.

- Figure out your selling points/competitive advantage, be it unique or something you do well (preferably both) - are you certified in something people aren't? Do you have a specific specialty? Often small businesses will market their customer support / relationship using testimonials.

- Understand your audience and how to target them... always remember a marketing plan is only as good as the sales force that executes it - you need a website for sure given your line of work, you could flyer, advertise on tv/radio/web, network, etc. Lots of options here, but being small, you'll get a ton of business off of referrals. So make sure you do a good job on-site and in follow-up.

There's more but that's the basics.

[wop]

Sage 50 Accounts

Sage 50 should probably fulfill your needs seeing that you're just starting up a small business.

[volcanicweather]

Sage 50 Accounts

Sage 50 should probably fulfill your needs seeing that you're just starting up a small business.

I hate Sage software so much, ACT! can go die in a fire

[Effluo]

I manage a small IT Repair shop and Computer Forensics company. We use QuickBooks to track all our financials, invoicing, payroll etc. It can do the simple stuff, all the way to the more complex, tracking expenses and all that. I would say go with QB, it's a good standard, and really not too hard to pick up; plus the online community is great when you're stuck.

[Cochise]

Its as simple as that... If you want to start a business, work for your competition and learn their weakness... Its the cheapest way to do it and you don't get burned making foolish financial moves...

It will also help you make a business plan and give you props when you take that plan for a business loan...

[Serif]

Its as simple as that... If you want to start a business, work for your competition and learn their weakness... Its the cheapest way to do it and you don't get burned making foolish financial moves...

It will also help you make a business plan and give you props when you take that plan for a business loan...

Work for your competition? They might require you to sign a non compete and then you is fucked for a period of time.

Go talk to other people in similar business in other parts of the state that won't be competition for you. Paying them an amount of money to sit down with you and go over their experiences isn't that difficult.

Will post some more later, I own a pool cleaning business but it is on a smaller scale than what you want to do.

[Quixon]

I PM'd you Ertyu. I work for a cable/fiber optics manufacturer. I might be able to help you out a bit and sell you your cable direct.