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

Michael,
Developing a value proposition and business strategy will help you align a lot of the moving parts. I'd be happy to give you some insights if you are interested. Feel free to ping me at brian@VetLaunched.com

Brian Richardson
www.VetLaunched.com

Jim Rohrbach ⋅ Evanston , IL ⋅ 22 years experience

Hi Michael!

First step: Read Napoleon Hill's book Think and Grow Rich. This article of mine will answer the question of why you need to read it:

http://www.successskills.com/blog/why-you-need-to-read-think-and-grow-rich-and-keep-re-reading-it/

When you get finished with the first 4 chapters get in touch with me and I'll help you craft a goal-based Mission Statement.

Jim "Da Coach" Rohrbach
Coach@SuccessSkills.com

Paul Trejo ⋅ Austin , TX University of Texas at Austin ⋅ 40 years experience

Hi Michael; thanks for your years of service. John Green is right; your business plan is your next step. Also, consider this -- to run your own business means managing the eight distinct departments of business: Stockholding, HR, Advertising, Sales, Accounting, Production, Distribution, Marketing.

Do you have experience in all of these? If not, then you'll be relying on professional managers to do this for you -- which isn't the strongest position; very expensive. To manage your own company lightest and fastest, be the General Manager who makes all the decisions based on experience in all eight departments.

Here's a tip: Marketing and Advertising are very different: Advertising is for Raw Public, while Marketing is for Past Customers who can fill out surveys on the Quality of your product.

Here's another tip: The normal flow of the eight departments vis-à-vis the Public is this: It starts with Advertising, when the Public first becomes aware of your product. Then to Sales, to answer all questions and verify a good fit on both sides. Then to Accounting to get the money agreement; then to Distribution to obtain the Product; and finally to Marketing to fill out a survey of satisfaction or suggestions. If the Public likes your Product, they go back to Sales, Accounting, Distribution, Marketing, in a continual loop. When you have a regular buyer in this way, they are called a Customary Buyer, or just a "Customer."

Here's a tip about the internals of your company. It starts with Stockholding -- that's you and your investors; then it moves to HR, managing the employees with payroll, benefits and policies; then to Production, that is, the so-called factory floor. The best friend of the Producer is the Marketing survey -- feedback from the Public to help us tweak Production.

You're embarking on the Great American Dream, Michael, so best wishes!

All best,
--Paul

John Green ⋅ Cary , NC Information Technology ⋅ 40 years experience

The very first step is to prepare your business plan. You can peruse templates here :

https://www.score.org/resources/business-planning-financial-statements-template-gallery