How to Start a Business
1) Conduct Market Research
Conducting market research before opening your business is essential to understand your target audience, competitors, and industry trends. It helps you identify potential customer needs, assess demand, and refine your products or services to meet market expectations. By gathering insights through surveys, focus groups, and competitor analysis, you can make informed decisions, minimize risks, and develop a strategy that ensures your business stands out in a competitive market. You’ll also need this information when applying for funding. Show potential investors or lenders that there’s a gap in the market – and that your company is the one to fill it.
Use analytical sites like ESRI to help you determine the need for your type of business in your area.
Find Market Research Tips Here!
2) Write Your Business Plan
A business plan is a document setting out a business’s future objectives and strategies for achieving them. There are many reasons why developing a formal business plan is helpful. Here are just a few of them:
- To clarify your ideas. Writing something down gives it structure and substance. Your ideas will be clearer on paper than in your head.
- To discover and solve problems. The business idea you have in mind may have some holes – you might not have covered everything. This will become much more apparent when your words are on the page.
- To get feedback from others. A properly written business plan can be shared with trusted people to get their advice.
- As a formal document. Banks, investors, accountants and lawyers will want proof that you’re serious about your business. A written plan will provide that proof.
- To guide you as your business grows. A good business plan will keep you on track and focused, even as day-to-day work becomes a distraction.
Helpful links to help you design your business plan:
How to Create the Perfect Business Plan in 10 Steps
How to Format Your Business Plan
Contact the Chamber office if you need more help developing your business plan!
3) Fund Your Business
Funding a business is a crucial step in turning your startup idea into reality. You’ll need to determine how much funding you’ll need. The right funding option depends on your business model, industry, and financial goals.
Below are some common funding options:
- Fund your business yourself with self-funding. Self-funding can come in the form of turning to family and friends for capital, using your savings accounts, or even tapping into your 401k.
- Get venture capital from investors. Venture capital differs from traditional financing in a number of important ways. Venture capital typically focuses high-growth companies and have a longer investment horizon than traditional financing.
- Get a small business loan. To increase your chances of getting a loan, you should have a business plan, expense sheet, and financial projections for the next five years. These tools will give you an idea of how much you’ll need to ask for, and will help the bank know they’re making a smart choice by giving you a loan. Once you have your materials ready, contact banks to request a loan and compare offers to get the best possible terms for your loan.
More Resources:
Small Business Association Funding Options
10 Point Checklist to Decide if You’re Ready to Seek Funding
Talk to the Chamber of EDGE office to discuss more funding solutions.
4) Pick Your Business Location
If you are looking for commercial real estate in Falls City contact Amber with the Falls City Chamber of Commerce at 402-245-4228 to find out available options and to be connected with a local realtor!
5) Choose a Business Structure
There are six types of business structures, offering different levels of legal protection, administrative simplicity and tax exposure.
Different types of business structures:
- Sole proprietor: a single individual owns and operates the business. The owner is personally responsible for all debts and liabilities, and business income is reported on their personal tax return. It is the easiest and most common form of business ownership
- Partnership: two or more individuals share ownership, profits, and responsibilities. Partners contribute resources and share liability, with taxation typically passed through to their personal income
- Limited Liability Company (LLC): combines the liability protection of a corporation with the tax flexibility of a partnership or sole proprietorship. Owners, called members, are not personally responsible for business debts, and profits can be taxed as personal income
- Limited Liability Partnership (LLP): partners share management responsibilities while protecting their personal assets from business debts and liabilities
- S-Corporation: provides limited liability protection while allowing profits and losses to pass through to shareholders’ personal tax returns, avoiding double taxation
- C-Corporation: a separate entity from its owners, providing limited liability protection. It is subject to corporate taxation, meaning profits are taxed at the corporate level and again when distributed as dividends to shareholders (double taxation)
Get advice from experts like Falls City accountants Robert Aitken, CPA (402-245-5566) or Julie D. Bauman CPA (402-245-4040) before deciding which option is best for your business.
6) Choose Your Business Name & Logo
Choosing a business name and logo is a crucial step in building your brand identity. Your business name should be unique, memorable, and reflect your company’s values, products, or services. It’s important to check for trademark availability and domain name options to ensure consistency across online platforms. Your logo should be visually appealing, professional, and easily recognizable, as it represents your brand in marketing materials and online presence.
Register your business name to protect it. There are four different ways to register your business name:
- Entity name protects you at state level
- Trademark protects you at a federal level
- Doing Business As (DBA) doesn’t give legal protection, but might be legally required
- Domain name protects your business website address
Find More Information on Registering Your Business Here
7) Get Federal & State Tax IDs
Your Employer Identification Number (EIN) is your federal tax ID, and you need it to pay federal taxes, hire employees, open a bank account, and apply for business licenses and permits. It’s free to apply for an EIN, and you should do it right after you register your business.
Your business needs a federal tax ID number if it does any of the following:
- Pays employees
- Operates as a corporation of partnership
- Files tax returns for employment, excise, or alcohol, tobacco, and firearms
- Withholds taxes on income, other than wages, paid to a non-resident alien
- Uses a Keogh Plan (a tax-deferred pension plan)
- Works with certain types of organizations
Get a federal tax ID number: Internal Revenue Service
The need for a state tax ID number ties directly to whether your business must pay state taxes.
- To know whether you need a state tax ID, research and understand your state’s laws regarding income taxes and employment taxes, the two most common forms of state taxes for small businesses.
Get a state tax ID number: Nebraska Department of Revenue
8) Apply for License & Permits
Applying for the necessary licenses and permits is a critical step in legally operating your business. The specific requirements vary based on your industry, location, and business activities. It’s best to check with Nebraska’s Secretary of State and Department of Revenue offices to confirm specific licensing requirements for your business.
Professional & Occupations Licensing
Remodeling or opening a business in a new building? Be sure to visit with the Nebraska State Fire Marshal
9) Open a Business Bank Account
Opening a business banking account is an important step in separating your personal and business finances. It helps you manage cash flow, track expenses, and maintain accurate records for tax purposes. Other reasons you should open a separate business account:
- Protection. Business banking offers limited personal liability protection by keeping your business funds separate from your personal funds. Merchant services also offer purchase protection for your customers and ensures that their personal information is secure.
- Professionalism. Customers will be able to pay you with credit cards and make checks out to your business instead of directly to you. Plus, you’ll be able to authorize employees to handle day-to-day banking tasks on behalf of the business.
- Preparedness. Business banking usually comes with the option for a line of credit for the company. This can be used in the event of an emergency, or if your business needs new equipment.
- Purchasing power. Credit card accounts can help your business make large startup purchases and help establish a credit history for your business.
Links to Falls City banks: