Do + Make: The Handbook for Starting Your Very Own Business

By Angela Lussier

Do+Make: The Handbook for Starting Your Very Own Business is the second book in a two-part series. Following up book 1, Who’s With Us? From Wondering to Knowing if You Should Start a Business in 21 Days, readers get the opportunity to build their very own business as they journey through the pages of each interactive chapter.

While millions of people are thinking about starting a business each day, brave and curious dreamers who read this book will be given the tools and steps needed to make their vision a new way of life. In these pages, Angela Lussier expertly shares her experiences, teaches you what you need to know to get started, and leaves you with an entire business blueprint created by, and for, you.

No longer wonder what business ownership might be like. Stop waiting and start creating your new future by picking up this book.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Nov 21, 2015
• ISBN: 9781329746268

Book preview

Do + Make: The Handbook for Starting Your Very Own Business

Introduction

My first business was a mini barbershop I set up in my dorm room during my freshman year of college. I was somewhat of a pro after spending the previous year cutting my boyfriend’s hair. He was a perfectionist and required the tightest fade in town, so I felt I had adequate training. However, the barbershop wasn’t entirely my idea. It kind of just… happened.

One day my boyfriend came by for a visit and I left the door open as I gave him a routine haircut. A shaggy-looking guy poked his head in and asked if I could cut his hair next. Confused and curious, I said, sure, why not? While cutting his hair, he said his roommate needed a haircut too, and asked if I could help him out. Again I said, sure, why not? As I was cutting his roommate’s hair, he said, hey, you should charge for this. You could make a ton of money. A lot of guys on campus don’t have a car and would probably pay you. I realized this was a great idea and told him to send his friends my way.

News spread like wild fire.

I used an Ultimate Warrior fabric wall hanging as a cape, a standard desk chair, a pair of clippers I got in high school for $30, and a simple broom and dustpan to clean up. I started giving $5 fade haircuts (which took around 15 minutes) and each customer got a 30-minute warranty. This meant they had enough time to get back to their room, take a shower, check out their hair in the mirror, and come back if they wanted something changed. Otherwise, I wasn’t responsible for anything that didn’t quite look right. The price and the warranty were the only two things I worked out.

I didn’t do any marketing.

I didn’t create a schedule.

I didn’t buy any fancy materials.

I didn’t even have a sign.

Yet customers kept pouring in through word of mouth. How could my target customer (guys in my dorm with no car) pass up such a great deal? A $5 haircut right in the same building where they lived was the perfect solution to their grooming needs.

By junior year, I had moved from a small dorm of about 175 residents to a tower of 500. My list of customers shot up and I was cutting hair constantly. I even started scheduling appointments and had set hours of operation that worked with my school schedule. I was also the Resident Assistant in my dorm and my residents became such big supporters of my business that they made me a red, white, and blue striped barber pole with a sign that said Angela’s Barber Shop to hang outside my room. Even the custodian on my floor became a customer in exchange for cleaning up the hair! It was a great business and I was having the time of my life. In all honesty, I didn’t even realize I was doing something entrepreneurial. It just happened and evolved organically as I went with the flow.

When I think back to that business, I realize that all of the makings of success were right in front of me. There was consumer demand, a target audience, limited competition, and I had a desirable solution that people were willing to pay for.

When it comes down to it, this is how businesses are born. You can’t invent a problem and then coerce people into needing your offering. You have to know who you are serving and why, how much they are willing to pay, and be willing to step up and say, sure, why not?

My own ignorance at the time was a bit of a savior because I never would have done it if I knew I needed special permits, that all of my income needed to be taxed, that a dorm room isn’t actually an acceptable hair salon, and that sanitizing my tools was a real priority. (Oops!)

When I started my career consulting firm in 2009, I realized it couldn’t be run like a dorm room barbershop, it needed to be done right. Except, I didn’t know where to look for what I needed. Heck, I didn’t even know what I needed. I was in lawyer’s offices, accounting firms, calling business consultants, attending workshops, reading countless books, and asking everyone with a business what in the world I should be doing. All of this frantic running around and researching eventually offered me the guidance and expertise I needed, but it took a lot of time! Looking back, the thing I could have used most was one central resource that tied everything together and made it simple to understand what needed to happen in order to transform my idea into a legitimate business. So that’s what I created for you in this book.

To really get a handle on business-ownership, there are certain steps it would be wise to follow. In this book I’ll provide you with instructions, exercises, and worksheets that will gradually guide you in building your own business from idea to execution. I have made it extremely easy to start at step 1—deciding what type of business you want—and then go on to talking about business partnerships, marketing, funding, how to get it all done, and more.

Each chapter is short. I cut out the fluff in order to keep you focused and save you precious time. It’s likely that you’ve already passed the dreaming phase of figuring out IF business ownership is for you, now let’s begin the doing and making phase so you can make it happen!

I hope you will take your time with each exercise while also moving swiftly through the chapters. Momentum, focus, and clarity will be your best friends as you launch and grow your business. Don’t get discouraged and don’t worry if you don’t have all the answers yet. Just keep track of what you still need to figure out and keep going. Even if only 80% of your business is built by the time you read the last page, you’ll have 80% more than what you started with, and that’s pretty good.

This is an experiment, a chance to learn, and a chance to challenge yourself. It is an exciting, scary time you will never have again (at least not in the same way). This moment, right now, is your opportunity to stop struggling and wondering if business ownership is the right choice and just start building something.

Enjoy it. Laugh at yourself. Cry if you need to. Wear a cape and give yourself a super hero name. Whatever it takes to create the business of your dreams. I’ll be there to share my stories with you and help you get through it all.

Let’s get started with the doing and the making. It’s your turn.

Angela Lussier

Holyoke, Massachusetts

October, 2015

Dedication:

To 2014

SECTION 1: The Steps to Create Your Very Own Business

Chapter 1: What You Know Now:

20 Questions Before Starting

If you’re reading this, it’s because you’re in go mode. You have decided you are ready to explore the possibility of business ownership and this book has just become your new best friend. But, before we get into how to start a business, this chapter is your opportunity to answer twenty questions before you start so you can outline what you already know today. It’s okay if you don’t have all the answers just yet; fill in as much as you have. This overview will serve as a starting point for what you will learn in this book.

Worksheet #1:

20 Questions Before Starting

1. Why am I starting a business?

2. What kind of business do I want to have?

3. Who is my ideal customer?

4. What products or services will I offer?

5. Am I prepared to spend the time and money needed to get my business started?

6. What differentiates my business idea and the products or services I will provide from others in the market?

7. Where will my business be located? Is it online, or will I need an office/retail space?

8. How many employees will I need? What will they do?

9. What types of suppliers do I need? Where are they?

10. How much money do I need to get started? Where will it come from?

11. Will I need to get a loan?

12. How soon will it take before my products or services are available?

13. How long do I have until I start making a profit? How will I pay my bills in the meantime?

14. Who is my competition? How am I different?

15. How will I price my product compared to my competition? What value does my product bring to the customer?

16. How will I set up the legal structure of my business?

17. What taxes do I need to pay?

18. What kind of insurance do I need?

19. How much time can I give to my business each week?

20. How will I market my business?

This worksheet, along with the rest of the worksheets in this book, is available in my online community for business owners,  under BOOK. Type in the password Creator to get started. You can also access your bonus Business Blueprint to fill in as you go through the book. This blueprint will hold your findings from each worksheet and your secret master plan for your new business. Download it now so you can complete it at the end of each chapter.

Chapter 2: Common Types of Businesses

Roughly 600,000 new businesses start annually in the U.S. That’s bonkers, right? According to the Small Business Administration,[1] About half of all new establishments survive five years or more, and about one third survive ten years or more. As one would expect, the probability of survival increases with a firm’s age. Survival rates have changed little over time.

Um, yikes. A number of factors contribute to the 50 percent survival rate, including topics we will cover like failure to plan, lack of research, poor execution, micromanaging, and stagnation. But there’s one other possibility: the entrepreneur simply started the wrong type of business to begin with.

You’ve already got something you want to offer the world. Now you need to find the best way to classify it, organize it, and present it. Will your great idea look like an Internet business? A bricks-and-mortar shop? A food truck? Will you have business partners, hire a team, or work by yourself? Defining the structure of your vision will help set you up for a proper launch because you’ll be working in the right designation.

There are many ways to go about running a business. To choose the best way for you, think about