Becoming a small business owner can be very exciting! Keep in mind that it’s not an “overnight” accomplishment, and it takes some thought and planning before-hand, as well as persistence and patience in the first several years.

Before you start your business, you need to decide on a name…..and maybe design a logo (that can be saved for later, if you want). The name will be the most important. Think about what your business will offer, and what kind of first impression you want to give. Write down ANY words that come to mind when you think about your new business….the name you choose will come from those words. Use nouns and adjectives, use words that have caught YOUR attention when you’re shopping.

Don’t try to put your business in a category just yet. Name it first, call it retail for now, and you can specify a more direct target market later, after you’ve been out there a bit.

Next important thing…..VERY important thing…..write a business plan. It can be simple to start, that’s fine….but the important thing that this does is it puts your goals and ideas down on paper so you can refine them, and LOOK at them! I didn’t do this when I started, and I regretted it TERRIBLY. You don’t have to write a plan that’s suitable to present to banks, or anything like that (at first), just something to organize your thoughts! Your business plan should include a Marketing Plan. If you don’t sit down and think about how you’ll advertise and market your business, you won’t succeed.

Remember that it’s easier to add products than it is to take away….so start with a small inventory of favorite items (use friends and relatives to determine what those are…they won’t mind) and then add products as you go. Once you have an established website for your products, you can create polls for new items…to see what’s most desirable.

Choosing Your Business Name 

You’ve taken a very important first step…you’ve decided to become a small business owner and start your very own business.   The very first thing on your “to do” list is to name your new business.  By taking your time in this step, you will increase your chances of having a successful business.

Choosing a name for your business is a very big deal.  It takes some thought, and a bit of creativity.  When selecting your name, here are some guidelines to set the process in motion (make sure you have some time on your hands, this step-as it is an important one-is time consuming):

On a separate piece of paper, make a list of any words that describe or pertain to your new business, keep the list to the left of the page.

One of the greatest tools a writer can own is a Thesaurus.  In it, you can look up almost any word and find MORE words that have the same meaning!  If you have a Thesaurus, then you can use it, if not you can very easily use the online version: http://thesaurus.reference.com

Next, type in (or look up) each word on the list that you made.  As you read through the words in the Thesaurus, that have the same meaning, if any of them are appealing to you, write them down next to your original word on the right of the page.

Once you have finished, read through the words on the page.  Circle each word that really stands out and seems “inviting”.  Move these words to a new piece of paper.

For this exercise, it’s important to think like your potential customer…..pretending not to know exactly what your new business provides.  Using these words, create combinations that describe your business. If new words come to mind, use them, too.  Sometimes, it takes a process such as this to really get your creative juices flowing!