Starting a business requires doing many things, and this can be hard to keep track of. Read this checklist to make sure you are doing everything you need to do for your business.
Check if your business is doing the following things:
Sales and Marketing
Develop selling skills and system
Always define the next step – phone call, meeting, etc
Qualifying prospects
Closing
Courses in selling
Set up a way to track prospects and next steps – sales funnel
Remember people want to business with someone they know, like, and trust
If you’re on a roll, keep selling, people will notice your enthusiasm
How to “package” loans for presentation to lending sources
Standard information – tax returns, financial statements, etc
Presenting each borrower’s unique story
Identify types of influencers
Bankers Real Estate Agents – Residential
Lawyers Real Estate Agents – Commerical
Real Estate Investors Business Coaches
CPA’s Commercial Insurance Brokers
Develop referral network and figure out how to stay in touch
Email campaigns – decide frequency and content
One page brochure to give to prospects
Give away items with logo and phone number – pens, coffee mugs, etc. Use quality items
Give brief presentations to groups
Decide which organizations to join. Examples:
Chamber of Commerce
Women’s Investors of Real Estate in Maryland
CrewBaltimore(Commercial Real Estate Women)
Networking Events
Free – Lorraine and Sharon – once a month, no fee
Paid (do web search)
Decide if worth the effort, can be hit or miss
Join Networking Group? – fixed groups of business owners who meet regularly
Website and Blog
Identify target customers and needs
Real Estate – long term loans
Real Estate – short term for house flippers
Working capital loans for receivables and inventory
Equipment financing
Business Acquisition Loans
Brokering bank loans – helping customers find the right bank
Determine if specific industries should be targeted or avoided
Know who the competition is
Define your strategic advantage – Rate? Speed? Flexibility?
Legal
Determine if any licenses or registrations are needed in any of the states you are operating in
Determine what legal agreements and contracts will be needed
Between your firm and lenders
Between your firm and customers
Get a good lawyer
Source of Funds
Plan B if course provider’s sources don’t fit your needs
Education
Understand “Banker’s Spreads”(ratios and analysis of financial statements)
Understand the three standard business financial statements
Income Statement
Balance Sheet
Cash Flow
Learn about intangible assets and how lenders view these
Prepaids Patent Costs
Goodwill Financing Costs
Understand that CPA prepared financial statements don’t always reflect market value of assets
Different types of legal and tax structures for businesses
C Corporations pay taxes
S Corporations don’t pay taxes, shareholders pay the taxes(pass through)
LLC’s don’t pay taxes, members pay the taxes(pass through)
Partnerships don’t pay taxes, shareholders pay the taxes(pass through)
Sole Proprietorships pay taxes
Learn types of deals your funding sources like to make
Credit Card funding
Daily draft of bank accounts
Factoring(and all the fees that go with it)
Asset Based Lending
Understand earnings to be derived from different types of deals
One time commission
Ongoing payments for life of deal
Learn how SBA financing works
Course in financial statement analysis
Legal
Determine if any licenses or registrations are needed in any of the states you are operating in
Determine what legal agreements and contracts will be needed
Between your firm and lenders
Between your firm and customers
Partnership Agreement
Define roles of each partner
How will income be shared?
Exit strategy
Formalize agreement
Understanding Taxes for your business
LLC is a “pass through” entity
Salary with taxes withheld will require employment taxes paid as well
Need tax planning to decide right mix of salary and distributions
Get all tax deductions you are due
Be aware of Nexus rules – will your business operate solely in Maryland?
Administration
Figure out how you will deal with computers when issues arise
Daily backup of computers
Record keeping/Bookkeeping
