How to become a start up founder with 500 bucks!

How to become a start up founder with 500 bucks!

So, I thought I should just type up some of my random thoughts in my journey. I don’t know anything and am constantly learning how to do EVERYTHING. So anything that I’ve learned from others, I’m more than happy to pass on to others so that they can be helped!

So here’s a quick 1-2-3 on how to start a business with about $500 without really knowing  what you’re doing!

  1. Pick a Business Name
    1. The crazy thing is that you might not even know what you want to do yet. This is not really recommended, but you can do this if you really want to. Hopefully you have some idea of what you want to do with your business and hopefully the name has some semblance to what you’re doing. It can be confusing to customers initially.
    2. You might be too visionary and want to do too much with your business and pick some weird generic name and that might hinder you when you’re starting off.  (this was me…)
    3. When I started Sunrise Energy Solutions, I was not exactly thrilled with the idea of starting a window tinting company and didn’t think it was sexy. So I wanted a cooler name with the possibility of growing into something all energy related! We would do window tinting because it helps to lower your energy costs by blocking heat. We would later on get into the LED business! But my eyes wanted to bite off more than my tummy could handle.
    4. Plus, the name I chose was a bit weird for window tinting. People would think that we were some oil or energy company or solar panel business.
    5. But as I’ve stuck with it, the business has slowly grown and people are not as weirded out by it now haha. Praise Jesus.
  2. Find an Accountant
    1. Find someone you can communicate with and understands your business and your needs. This person will make sure you’re not in trouble with the law and IRS and that’s the last thing a business owner wants to think about.
    2. Also find someone who has some idea of the accounting software you’re thinking of using, or at least the basic ideas of how to navigate it. This will come in handy later on when you need to report your finances to the government.
    3. There’s services out there with online CPAs taking care of your stuff but I like having someone I can go to and talk to in case I don’t understand something. This has happened many times.
  3. Incorporate it!
    1. Hopefully you have some money because it costs around $500 bucks to legalize your business!
    2. Most accountants will offer the incorporation service to make a bit of money. This can take a lot of the headache away of you figuring out all this stuff yourself. The good thing about this option is you can ask your accountant which entity would be best for your business and what you are looking to do. Hopefully this person is trustworthy and can give it to you straight with your best interest in mind.
    3. Or you can do it yourself through some online service.  You would just do a bunch of research and do it yourself. Some people love this and it’s totally cool.
      1. You can use LegalZoom or some online service.
      2. Hopefully they have good customer service and not a business that only answers their phone after you press 1,2, or 3,  for ten minutes!
  4. VOILA!
    1. You’ve done it! You’re a start up founder and all you needed was a unique business name and about $500 bucks!
    2. You might not have sold a single thing, not have a product, no employees, nothing, but you have yourself a business!
    3. Hopefully you come up with the other stuff soon because you’ll have to start thinking of business insurance, taxes, etc soon!
    4. Now you can tell all your friends that you’re the founder of a start up with a cool name that you came up with. You can also be super vague with what it actually does so it makes it seem even cooler and mysterious!