15 Tips For Business Start-Up Success - From The Chicago Black Pages 1994-1997

[Pierre Clark]

Writer's Note: This column - "15 Tips For Business Start-up Success" was probably the most widely circulated of all my columns in the 1990's - because it was printed in all three editions of Arnette French's Black Pages Business Directory in Chicago, Kansas City and Dallas, which in total had a circulation of more than 1 million copies.

By Pierre A. Clark, From The Black Pages, 1994-1997. Copyright 1995-2010 Pierre Clark. All Rights Reserved.

The keys to starting your own business are desire, will and knowledge. It doesn't take a great deal of money, just a great deal of desire. Following are 15 business startup tips we offer as practical advice on business start-up based on our own entrepreneurial experiences:

IDENTIFYING YOUR SKILLS

1. Find the skills and talents you enjoy and learn to market them. Identify the talents, skills and activities you really enjoy and that are useful to others.

2. Identify other people's problems and how your skills can solve them. Analyze your skills and identify ways of applying them to solve problems.

3. Develop attributes that define your skills and talents. Cultivate the personal attributes that distinguish your business from competitors.

ORGANIZING YOUR RESOURCES

4. Here are five ways to raise startup capital even if you don't have any right now.

a. Sign a contract with a potential client and get an upfront deposit. Use the deposit to pay your start-up costs and establish a bank credit line (See "Financing Your Startup").
b. Produce a series of free seminars at a local library. Design a seminar to present your knowledge and expertise. Distribute flyers and business cards. If your talk is informative, many people will call to contract you for services.
c. Sell stuff you don't need; use the proceeds to finance your business. If you have books, clothes, electronic equipment or stuff you don't use, sell them; reinvest the cash in your enterprise.
d. Enter your business idea in a contest. There are organizations that award grants up to $25,000.00 to innovative new enterprises.
e. Market bridge skills and talents that can earn cash to finance your main business objective. For example, your computer skills could earn you $150.00 to $300.00 per week by typing reports, letters and proposals; use the proceeds to finance other business enterprises, such as computer consulting. (I once earned $800.00 for typing a single 200 page doctoral thesis; that's $4.00 a page! It took me about 20 hours to type, so I earned $40.00 per hour).

WRITING A BUSINESS PLAN
5. Use low-cost or free assistance in writing your business plan. This is the key organizing document for your enterprise. And for most startups, it's something you should write yourself. Check out: The Small Business Development Centers at several local colleges, the counselors at SBA's SCORE program, or non-profit business development agencies.

CREATING A LEGAL BUSINESS
6. Creating a legal business doesn't cost thousands. In most states, you can create a corporation, open a bank account, obtain a business license, mail box address, phone number, fax number and website for as little as $600.00.; in Chicago and many other locales, you can operate a licensed business from your home.

7. Incorporating Your Enterprise - Do It Yourself. For many businesses, you can complete the legal paperwork without a lawyer. Check the laws in your state. (On Saturday, November 21, 2009, we'll show you how to do it in a single afternoon. Register now at http://7hourbizstartbootcamp.eventbrite.com.)

DEVELOPING A CLIENT BASE AND PROMOTING YOUR ENTERPRISE
8. Deal with business or business owners whenever possible. Business-to-business selling is much more lucrative for a small entrepreneur.

9. Keep in touch with your clients through periodic mailings. Send your clients something every month - a newsletter, flyer, plugger or referral form.

10. Create a big business image on a small budget.

a. If you don't have a computer or laser printer, you can use the ones at FedEx Office (formerly Kinko's), UPS Store (formerly Mail Boxes Etc.) or your local library or copy shop to design and typeset a great flyer. The cost can be as little as $12.00 for an hour's computer rental and one laser printout; copies are generally $.05 to $.09 each in bulk.
b. Mail postcard-size pluggers or sales notices to promote your business; you can mail 100 cards first class for $44.00 (not including the cost of printing the postcards).
c. A news/press release is a very effective publicity tool; here's how to get it published: (1) Put key details in the 1st paragraph (that's all most editors read); (2) Keep the news release to a maximum of two double-spaced pages. (3) Put "News Release" in bold at the top. Include a release date and summary headline, and 24-hour phone and fax numbers and an e-mail address (most editors and writers communicate now by e-mail). Check out Thom Clark's Community Media Workshop and his great "Making Media Connections" Directory for the best list of media outlets and contacts (go to http://www.newstips.org to order).
d. Find different ways to sell your skills and products. One example: an electronic catalogue on CD or DVD for the 150 million U.S. PC users. 100 CDs cost about $25.00; 100 DVDs cost about $40.00 total. Each CD can hold 650 mb of photos and data; DVDs hold 8 times as much, or 4.7GB. You can design your presentation in Microsoft Publisher or Open Office Presentations and save it to DVD. Microsoft offers a conversion program that allows you to publish your presentation to a website. And speaking of websites, Microsoft offers a free one at http://office.microsoft.com.

FINANCING YOUR START-UP/MANAGING YOUR INCOME
11. Use your business income to open a bank account and line of credit. Instead of depositing your revenues and drawing them out, put them in a CD and ask the bank to establish a secured credit line. For a nominal interest cost, you'll develop a great credit history. This technique works no matter what your credit history.
12. Get a deposit from every customer, at least 33%.
13. Open an asset management account. Merrill Lynch, Charles Schwab and others offer asset management accounts that pay interest on every dollar you deposit; many banks and brokerages now also offer sweep accounts that place your unused funds in an interest-bearing account. You can open these accounts now online with as little as $1,000.00.

GENERATING NEW IDEAS
14. Pick up on hot trends from specialty trade magazines and regional publications. Magazines that coer specific industries and other regions of the country alert you to emerging trends, new products and money-making ideas.
15. Ask people for feedback. Many high-profit ideas come from customer suggestions. Customers know what they want; you can learn from their comments. The Big Mac was created by a franchisee who thought the original McDonald's hamburger was too small; the Big Mac has been McDonald's biggest seller for more than 30 years.

The ideas and strategies for jumpstarting a new business are limited only by your imagination and creativity. Try these 15 tips; there's no excuse for not getting started right now on achieving your entrepreneurial dreams.

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WRITER'S POSTSCRIPT: The great Arnette French, a bear of a man with a heart twice as big, was a pioneer black businessman who founded the first Black Pages in Chicago, published not one, but three Black Pages (in Chicago, Kansas City, and Dallas) and spawned the national Black Pages Association with 64 members. Sadly, he died two years ago, and his brother, Greg, who took over the Black Pages when Arnette passed, also died last year. (The publications are still going under http://www.theblackpagesinternational.com).

The Black Pages popularized the promotion and marketing of Black businesses to black consumers. At its height in Chicago, a half-million copies of the directory were delivered to homes and businesses in Chicago and the suburbs. Many successful African-American businessmen generated their first clients through this book, which at one time carried 300 pages of advertising.

This column is dedicated to three champions of black/African-American business development: Arnette French, Azell Mance (father of poet Ginger Mance) and Webb Evans, still holding it down at 96 as founder-President of the United American Progress Association. They championed "shop in your community" when it was little more than just a catchphrase.