James Mingey ⋅ Oregon City , OR Veterans Business Services ⋅ 25 years experience

On Capital Google Kiva. Streetshares and SBA Micro with your City or State and call them
to discuss your 2 pages and their processes

James Mingey ⋅ Oregon City , OR Veterans Business Services ⋅ 25 years experience

All the previous advice is well founded. I believe you start with an idea that motivates you and you think will create a passion to get out of bed in the morning

After the idea is I'm your head write a one page summary it and why it's a great market opportunity. Sell yourself first and then go the resources above. On a
Second page or Excel sheet do a simple projection on what your sales and expenses will be for 30,60,90 and 1 Year. Give it to a SCORE or a VBOC ask them to comment without mercy

Deb Yeagle ⋅ Tampa , FL Plan To Win, Inc. ⋅ 39 years experience

Jason-
Thanks for your service!
Have you contacted your local Michigan Small Business Development Center (SBDC) office?
http://www.sbdcmichigan.org/

I have worked with a couple of the Florida SBDC offices and they provide great assistance to small business owners who are just starting out.

Best of luck!
Deb

Brian Richardson ⋅ Columbus , IN U.S. Army, Sergeant ⋅ 8 years served

Jason,
Start reading books on leadership, marketing and industry related topics. Start to get some ideas on how things work in the business world. Nothing will replace actual experience, but you do need to start somewhere. (Books: Art of the Start, Good to Great, Platform)

Start designing a business plan/strategy. I suggest the Business Model Canvas. If you need help with that, let me know. What can you do NOW that is smaller scale, or a lite version of your intended business? How can you test your services or product to get feedback from customers?

Depending on what your company does and how it works, I would try and avoid having inventory until you KNOW you can sell what you have. Inventory can be a huge "money-hole". That is why Dell does not order parts until a computer is ordered.

Feel free to reach out to me, I help vets start and grow businesses and have additional info on my site you might find helpful.

Brian Richardson
www.VetLaunched.com

Ronald Carvalho ⋅ Avon By The Sea , NJ Marketing Resource International ⋅ 40 years experience

Jason,

Recommend you contact your local SCORE organization. It is a free service under the aegis of the SBA (Small Business Administration). They have mentors that will help you develop the tools you need to not only start a business, but help you find ways to finance your business.
Ron Carvalho

Doug Hill ⋅ Kearneysville , WV PC Construction ⋅ 20 years experience

Jason,

I offer this sound advice for anyone thinking about starting a small business. Contact the SBA, they have tons of resources and can guide you through your process. They will know how to direct you to money sources and most importantly at this stage...free training. Good information is required to make good decisions. I wish you the best.

Joe Paschall ⋅ Madison , AL nLogic, LLC ⋅ 26 years experience

Jason, I would advise pauing a visit to your local Chamber of Commerce - they often have a Small Business Office to advise folks on things like this. Local advice is key because they will have visibility on the local market for whatever you are thinking of selling. Applying for a Small Business Loan is the way to fund any assets required to start. Of course, to qualify for a loan you will likely need a business plan which will entail doing a lot of research that you may not have yet begun. It's a long hard road to get funding, but it is supposed to be that way to deter folks from taking out loans who don't know what they are doing, and then lose everything... but the debt.