Estimate your expected net profit or how much money you will actually make.

Learn to how to estimate the costs of starting a business aka creating a startup budget and review our list for typical business expenses.

Learn about the importance of purchase orders, invoices, payment terms and sales receipts and create an invoice template that meets your business needs.

These steps are naming the business, creating a tagline, figuring out how to talk about the business to other people, creating a logo, designing how the business looks (i.e. colors, style, etc.).

Make a list of the most important tasks you need help with, things you don’t have the experience or don’t know how to do, and things you simply don’t want to do.

A job description is a useful, plain-language tool that explains the tasks, duties, function and responsibilities of a position.

Having an established process for interviewing candidates will help you identify the best candidate quickly.

A value proposition is a short sentence used to explain the benefits (or value) of a business, product or service to customers.

If you’re writing your initial ideas or you’re using it for yourself (and potential partners), the One Page Business plan version is right for you!

If you to create a very detailed business plan or you’re going to use the plan to search for potential bank loans or equity capital from a potential investor, then the Business Plan Outline is right for you!

Understanding your customer’s problems will greatly impact what business to build and how well you build it. Start a business that will solve a real problem people actually have to increase your chances of success.

Learn to group your customers and assign characteristics that distinguish them from one another.

Your target audience, or customer types, defines the market you want to enter. This foundation will help you prove that a market exists for your product or service and narrow the range of potential customers to the ones who are willing and able to buy your product.

Find people who you think have the problems your business will solve. Reach out to these people and set up a time to either call or meet face-to-face for an “interview”. This information is crucial to how you develop your product or service!

In order to keep track of your customers and their feedback, it’s helpful to have a central database of information in something like a customer relationship management, or CRM.

Many people express fear at the prospect of asking a total stranger for help as a prospective mentor. But by asking a prospective mentor for help, you’re letting them know you admire them for what they do and that their career is in demand.

Rejection is an almost unavoidable aspect of being human. In this article, we highlight some powerful personal strategies for how to deal with rejection.

Use these guidelines and tips to grow and strengthen your mentor-mentee relationship!

While some entrepreneurs are blessed to have a team of investors lined up around the corner or an aunt with deep pockets, not having money is no excuse. By knowing your product or service, understanding the basics for your business, and knowing where you’re headed, you can bootstrap your way to a successful business.

Loans are exactly that, money you borrow from someone else in the form of personal loans and and bank loans. Learn several small business loan options and the advantages and disadvantages for each!

A pitch deck is a brief presentation used to provide your audience with a quick overview of your business plan. You will usually use your pitch deck during face-to-face or online meetings with potential investors, customers, partners, and co-founders.

Social capital is the network of relationships and connections between people that allow individuals and societies to be more successful. It is sometimes called human capital or social network.

Your target marketing plan is a plan of action designed to promote and sell a product or service, reach customers, and build brand awareness and loyalty.

As you look at the 16 Ways to Sell your product or service, think of which ones you would use, and when. We’ve also created four key steps to help your marketing and sales strategy succeed.

An elevator pitch is a short explanation of your business, which you should be able to complete in the span of one elevator ride. It includes a basic description of your business and what makes it different and special.

There’s a high chance that you will need some sort of permit or approval from the federal government. At the local and state level, there may be more specific requirements for permits, like for restaurants or retail vendors.

Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements - your business is a project

Communications management describes the methodology that will be used for managing communications, in this case, within your business.

We’re going to learn a method for helping you set specific goals for yourself as well as a method for how to achieve them - SMART goals and the SPAR Goal-Attainment Process.

SWOT analysis is study undertaken by an individual or business to identify its internal strengths and weaknesses, as well as its external opportunities and threats or those of competitors.

Competitor research is the backbone of a strong marketing strategy. After all, if you can’t identify your competitors and their marketing tactics, you’ll struggle to differentiate yourself and your product from the crowd.

Competitive analysis is the act of analyzing your competitors’ behavior and actions.

A grand opening is a social event that is intended to introduce the community to a new business.