
Art Exhibition: "Out of Touch" by P. Kloczkowski Luberda and Wesley J. Cox
If you're planning on starting a new business, you probably have questions. The Entrepreneur & Business Center (EBC) at JJC can help! Available to assist your business with one-on-one advising sessions and through influential workshops, the EBC is a no-cost resource - and anyone can take advantage of it.
Have general questions about best practices for starting a business or about the services offered at the EBC? View our frequently asked questions.
JJC has developed a "5 Staged Process to Follow in Developing your New Business or Expanding Your Existing Business."
It Includes these 5 Stages which we can Assist you with:
I. Idea/Concept Stage
II. Product Design/Test Stage
III. The "Company" Stage
IV. Business Planning Stage
V. Go-to-Market/Operational Stage
In this Stage of your Business, a buyer profile or ‘need’ is drafted and the product or solution is designed to meet this targeted need.
As part of the process the Test Stage is where the product’s viability is evaluated’ - What ‘issue’ are you solving? What ‘need’ are you fulfilling?
Consider working with early customers that can help you to develop your offering and adjust the ability for it to meet the user’s needs.
The majority of businesses start as sole proprietorships. This is because you can report "business income" as "personal income" for tax purposes. The major disadvantage, however, is that as the owner, you are also the business. That means you assume all liabilities for the actions of the business and put your personal assets at risk.
Other types of business structures are partnerships, Corporations and Limited Liability Companies (LLC). Each has its advantages and disadvantages, depending on the type of business you are starting and protection you seek.
The EBC can work with you in making this important decision, but we encourage you to also seek legal guidance.
Absolutely, you can begin with the ‘basics’ but eventually your potential financiers and investors will want to see this detailed…
In this phase, one should have or develop a formal business plan which would be used to present the business to potential investors, lenders, grant writers, etc.
You may wish to start with a basic Business Plan and advance to a detailed version…
Covered within the Business Plan:
A marketing plan is quite important as it helps you put all of your research, ideas and plans in one place.
When you go through the process, you can:
Without an official marketing plan, it's likely that your business will have a lot of ideas, opinions and plans floating around without much cohesion.
There are different sources of financing to start or expand a business.
Some of the most common include:
JJC can help sort out the best sources of funding for your business using your business plan.
The key areas contributing to small business failures are:
JJC can assist you with starting or growing your business in these key areas at no-cost: