How to Start A Business in 2022: Step-by-Step Guide - YouTube

let's be honest starting a small business isn't  easy so i understand where the hesitation comes  

from i mean a lot of people think to themselves  whoa whoa whoa i don't want to go into more debt  

to start a business plus it's very risky 8  out of 10 small businesses fail right well  

here's the thing how to start a business in  2020 is easier than it's ever been before

you see back in the day you would have to go  out and get a loan so you can get retail space  

or office space just to set up your foundation  so you needed thousands and thousands of dollars  

just to get started and you need to hope and  pray that someone actually buys your products  

and your services well today you can start a  business without nearly as much capital and as  

the co-founder of two companies and someone who's  helped a lot of people get started i'm excited to  

share with you exactly what we learned about  how to start a business in 2020. hey i'm sean  

with life accounting the accounting company that  saves you from bad financial decisions and low  

profitability now there are so many things to  think about when you're starting a business  

so today we're going to make it super easy for  you and break down what you need to think about  

step by step but before i dive in make sure you  like this video and you subscribe to learn more  

about business and financial growth also you don't  have to follow this exact order but if you do  

then it'll make it much easier when you connect  all the dots all right let's go ahead and get into  

it with step number one build your business plan  now this step is so obvious so plain so apparent  

so okay sean we get it i mean a business plan  is like an idea right well as someone who has  

personally rushed through this stuff i can  tell you that it is a mistake to not fully  

think about your business plan now sure you won't  have it all figured out on day one but you should  

definitely ask yourself some of these questions  what problem does your business solve and who  

are the people who have this problem you want to  define your audience how big is it what are their  

goals what are their challenges and also think  about your competitors what are their solutions  

and how are they solving the problem what makes  you different and also how can you sustain this  

difference if you need to replace yourself and  also will you need a team will you need a partner  

what will be your initial cost these are just some  of the key questions that you need to ask yourself  

before you even decide to start a business think  of it like this you might decide you want to  

start a boutique burger restaurant you may get  so excited that you find your location you put  

together your digital menu you hire some staff and  you get ready for business only to find out later  

that there are eight other burger restaurants  with bigger menus more quality and lower cost and  

because you skip the business plan step you're  on a fast track to business failure before you  

even get started so plan plan plan and when you're  done planning plan some more let's move on to step  

number two choose your business entity ladies and  gentlemen boys and girls it's time for entity wars  

let's get ready to choose now there are five types  of entities that you can look at when you're ready  

to make it official so we're gonna look at some  of the pros and the cons of each one starting  

with sole proprietorship now sole proprietors  is someone who owns an unincorporated business  

for themselves which basically means that you  begin working at any time for yourself the pro  

here is that you can get started without fouling  any forms which require annual fees another pro is  

that you are in complete control you keep all the  profits and losses for yourself the kind of sole  

proprietors is that your financials and your legal  situations are tied together this means that you  

are personally liable for your company's actions  so if someone has a bad experience with your  

company and they sue you then they can go after  your personal assets which obviously could affect  

you and your family so i would only recommend  a sole proprietorship if okay i don't recommend  

a sole proprietorship let's move on to the next  business entity which is a general partnership if  

you want to go into business with someone else and  you want the same ease of maintenance and freedom  

that a sole proprietorship gives you then you may  want to consider a general partnership now the  

pros and cons of a general partnership are similar  to those of a sole proprietorship except you share  

control taxes lawsuits profits and losses with a  partner or partners so needless to say i'm not a  

big fan of general partnerships either because  you don't have liability protection now the  

third entity to choose from is a c corporation  which sounds so prestigious right well let's  

look at the pros and the cons the major pro of a  c-corporation is that they are legal entities that  

shield stakeholders from personal liabilities and  company debt so if someone sues the company then  

the only thing that person can go after are the  corporations assets another pro of a c corporation  

is that they can take special deductions such as  fringe benefits now the kind of c corporations  

are the strict guidelines on operations  oftentimes you have to hold broad meetings  

record minutes and meet trading requirements so  for most small businesses you will spend more time  

managing the corporation than actually growing  the business plus another con is that you will  

experience double taxation which basically  means the corporation will be taxed and the  

shareholders will be taxed on any income  that the company generates now this is an  

oversimplification of how c corporations  works but in short they're more complex and  

it can be a huge opportunity cost if you use them  the fourth business entity to choose from is an s  

corporation now at first glance the s corporation  and c corporation are very similar except that s  

corporation is limited to 100 shareholders however  the major pro of s-corporations is that you avoid  

double taxation because the tax liability  is passed down directly to the shareholders  

instead of the corporation and you still get  liability protections that c-corporations offer  

now the kind of s-corps is that you still must  have articles of incorporations and you must  

record corporate minutes like c-corps the entity  can be pretty complex and generally requires  

the help of an accountant for example an s-corp  requires that all shareholders within the company  

take a reasonable salary even if the company is  not making a profit now let's cover a fifth and  

last entity on my list which is the llc llc stands  for a limited liability company to me it's like  

the combination of a sole proprietorship  partnership c corporation s corporation  

all booked into one good flexible option the major  probe at loc is that it offers more control and  

flexibility while also providing that liability  protection also you can choose your tax structure  

from any other entities that we already covered  now the major con of llc is that you are required  

to pay an annual fee and this structure makes it  really hard for investors to contribute capital  

whereas a s corp or c corp makes it very easy so  in my opinion out of all these entities the clear  

winner here is the llc but hey maybe you have a  different opinion comment below which structure  

you think is best let's move on to step number  three register your business registering your  

business may differ between states but oftentimes  you will still want to file with your secretary of  

state office if you have partners it's important  to create an operation agreement between you  

and the other stakeholders this agreement will be  used to decide voting rights or control ownership  

percentage successorship and more many states will  ask you for your operations agreement when you're  

registering your business once you're registered  then it's time to move on to step number four  

get your ein ein stands for employer  identification number this is a simple step in  

the process where you need to make sure you fill  out a brief application so you can get a unique  

number for your business your ein works like a  social security number but for your business you  

will often need it when you're paying employees  applying for licenses or permits filing your taxes  

and paying your team you will also need it for  step number five set up your business bank account  

the cardinal sim when operating your business  is to mix your personal finances with your  

business finances because it can easily blur the  lines between your business profit and losses  

and your tax situation okay let's see 23  sales product cost shipping costs make a d  

tesla uh freeze irs okay so maybe the irs won't  show up at your door but you still want to make  

sure that you're relying on accurate information  so you can make strong business decisions all  

right let's move on to step number six set up  your accounting once you have your business bank  

account you want to make sure you're tracking all  your transactions with something like quickbooks  

and then hire an accountant to help assist you  with your bookkeeping your taxes and monitoring  

your finances closely this way you can concentrate  on growing your business instead of more reporting  

all right let's keep going with step number seven  get business insurance i know i know insurance  

can be boring and sometimes feel like a waste of  money earlier we talked about business entities  

and protecting your personal assets but if you're  serious about the success of your business then  

make sure your business assets are protected as  well step number eight protect your intellectual  

property if you have something that is extremely  unique and you spent a lot of time creating it  

then you should protect it that means opting in  for trademarks patents copyrights and so on but it  

needs to be extremely unique and important listen  whether you have a protection in place or not  

people will try to copy your success so remember  there's an opportunity cost to everything that  

you do you want to make sure you're focused  on your growth rather than protecting your  

trademarks against nobody especially because  your legal costs can get very expensive  

and time consuming and unfortunately sometimes  these copycatters will win their legal arguments  

with a small and simple modification so make sure  you stay focused and unfortunately sometimes these  

copycatters will win their legal arguments by  making small and simple modifications all right  

let's move on to step number nine start marketing  in advertising now when you got all your business  

stuff set up and you're ready to go to market with  your products and your services then you're ready  

to start marketing and advertising your business  if you're just starting out then you can check  

out my video on how to calculate your marketing  budget but the key takeaway is to make sure you're  

putting away at least a year's worth of expenses  that will be spent on your advertising which leads  

us to our last step step number 10 be patient  and prudent remember what i said at the beginning  

starting a business isn't easy but in 2020 it's  easier than it's ever been before and in 2021 it's  

probably gonna get even easier you can do a lot of  the things that we talked about by simply whipping  

out your laptop and hanging out on the couch the  most important key to your future success in my  

opinion is to be patient and prudent because  if you follow the steps outlined above there's  

no reason to give up after a few months and if  you're being prudent about your expenses and  

your financials then you will be able to build a  long-lasting company so in conclusion follow these  

10 steps number one create a business plan number  two choose a business entity number three register  

your business number four get your ein number  five set up your business bank account number six  

set up your accounting number seven get your  business insurance number eight protect your  

intellectual property but that's optional number  nine start marketing and advertising and number  

ten be patient and prudent well that's it for  this video guys if you enjoyed it tell us in the  

comment section below and as always thank you for  watching and i'll see you in the next video you