Hopefully you’re starting to see how critical energy is, and how you can use it to your advantage. Anyone who has watched a sports event where a team comes back from behind and then dominates knows exactly what I mean by momentum; you can feel it in the air. It’s one of the best sensations in business and life, and I highly recommend you use it to fuel your startup. Momentum supercharges energy.
So, how do we build momentum? As you are probably starting to realize, all these superpowers work together in many ways. As we’ll see later, having a great Vision and learning to Execute will create momentum, which is infectious, your team will naturally be motivated by your momentum, just like the sports team example above.
The reason why I separated it out as a superpower is that I just want to make sure you recognize the power of momentum and use it to your advantage. You’ll feel it typically as a gut feeling and possibly a rush of energy that may last hours or weeks. Use it! Sometimes, I’ll only hit a good surge of momentum once a week or even once every few weeks, but one thing I never do is waste it. I know when I’m in the zone and use that momentum to get a massive amount of things done, push big projects forward, get things done around the house, or even knock off a bucket list item. (You can use momentum for fun!)
One final tip I have concerning momentum is to try to preserve a little so you can reignite it the next day. I’m somewhat infamous to those who know me for being able to work 18 hours in a row on a project or idea. While that allowed me to get great things done when I was younger, there was always an inevitable crash afterward. The older, wiser me knows that I should cut out after the momentum begins to fall off a bit and simply reignite it the next day, letting my brain work on it and continue being excited while I sleep.
Energy Best Practices
Having plenty of Energy is usually a matter of doing some very basic things but I realize a lot of this goes out the window while doing a startup. Here are some best practices:
Good sleep. Prioritize sleep above all as your main source of energy and renewal. Sleep at least 7 hours (and more if necessary) and make sure you practice proper sleep hygiene (minimize blue light at night, cool room, no noises, etc.). There are many good sleep apps, trackers and even special beds and “light blockers” available to optimize sleep.
Clean diet. Most startups are run on a consistent supply of donuts, pizza and other junk and while this is fine occasionally, you’ll want to keep your diet as clean as possible to maintain an ideal weight and to provide plenty of energy. Consider intermittent fasting which is getting very popular among high-performing people as a source of energy and clarity.
Exercise. We all know we should do it so make exercise a priority. Even jogging around the block or bodyweight exercises at the office are helpful and a big key is finding an exercise routine you like doing. Realize that exercising actually gives you more energy, improves sleep and optimizes mood.
Purge negative energy. Negative people, thoughts (negative self-talk) and media should be removed from your life as much as possible. You want to remove anything that drains your energy including abusing alcohol or drugs.
Emotional self control. Work on becoming thick-skinned and “highly undisturbable”. I recommend a few books in the Chapter Resources.
Sunlight. More data is coming in every day about how important sunlight and your vitamin D levels are for overall health and energy. Get plenty of sunlight, have your vitamin D levels checked regularly and supplement or use a light therapy device to resolve any issues.
Supplement. Get a regular panel of blood work for the various markers of health and supplement accordingly. Apparently, vitamin D, magnesium, iodine, omega-3 and other nutrients are at historically low levels across the western population and can usually be resolved with simple supplementation. I list some tests in the Chapter Resources.
Meditation or relaxation. As mentioned, a huge percentage of highly successful people have a regular meditation or relaxation routine. There are many books, apps and websites that make this ridiculously easy to learn and I list some in the Chapter Resources as well.
Sense of humor. As discussed, it’s all a game and you can’t take any of it with you. Maintain a sense of humor, even in the face of bad situations and you’ll tend to get through things just fine. Laughter is a powerful cure to many problems.
Opening a business bank account is a simple four step process that can typically be completed in less than an hour, if you have prepared beforehand. You can open a business bank account either online or in-person, but doing so online will typically take longer and could require additional documentation.
Before you open a business bank account you’ll need to provide an employer federal tax identification (FEIN or EIN) and your legal registration documentation. If you haven’t yet incorporated your business, MyCompanyWorks can do this for you with a simple three step process that only takes you a few minutes to order online.
You can open your business bank account by following these four steps:
Step 1 – Determine What You Need in a Business Bank Account
There are many things you should consider before you move forward with opening a business bank account. First of all, what type of bank account do you need? While most businesses start with a business checking account, a savings account might also be a consideration if your situation dictates. The fees your bank will charge should also be a strong consideration on which type of account is right for you.
The most common types of business bank accounts are:
Business Checking Account: This is an account you can freely move money in and out of as your business needs occur. If you have lots of transactions that you need to make with deposits and bill payments then this is the account that is most likely right for you. This is also the most common type of business bank account.
Business Savings Account: This is an account that you can make deposits to where you’ll earn extra money every month for keeping it in your account. You’ll be limited on the number of withdrawals you can make though, so this is only for businesses not looking to make frequent payments out of the account.
Free Business Checking Account: This type of account operates just like a normal checking account but there are no maintenance fees and may not have a minimum account balance requirement. These accounts are typically online business checking accounts so it is right for newer businesses that don’t need a physical branch nearby.
Once you’ve determined the account that you need then you should determine how much you’re willing to pay every month for maintenance and security. Having a physical branch nearby is important for businesses that take on a lot of cash that needs to be deposited on a consistent basis. If you just need a business checking account to sign up for affiliate programs for your online business or to get your business off the ground then an online free checking account may suffice.
Step 2 – Find the Right Bank for Your Business
Now that you know the type of account you’re looking for, you can narrow down which bank you’d like to work with. Oddly enough, the bank choice is made by proximity more than anything else for the majority of small businesses. Most businesses just want a bank with a name they can trust that is close to their base of operations. This makes transactions easy in the event the business owner has to go into the bank.
While many business owners are satisfied with proximity, you probably should consider other things when choosing the right bank to partner with. There are a number of factors that should be considered when picking the bank, such as the banking fees and other costs. The factors we recommend include:
Bank Network: How convenient is the bank’s network to your operations? Are there plenty of free to use ATMs and deposit locations that meet the needs of your business? This is especially important to investigate if you’re opening a business bank account with an online provider without close proximity to a branch location because you need to know where you can withdraw funds from without paying a fee.
Online Experience: How easy is it to transact business using an online website or phone app? Considering how much business is transacted online these days, this should be an absolute must that meets the demand level of your business needs.
Costs: How much are the fees? Are you going to be paying a maintenance or security fee, and if so how much do you pay? Do your fees increase if your balance dips below a certain amount? These are all important things you should ask before signing on the dotted line and making your first deposit.
Integrations: Small businesses typically use an accounting software like Quickbooks. Your bank should make your life easier, not more difficult. So, you should make sure that whatever accounting software you need, it integrates with your bank. If it doesn’t then you, or your accountant, will likely regret it later.
Once you’ve taken these things into consideration, and all other important aspects of the banking relationship that is important to you, then you’ll be ready to make a decision. Remember, the right bank doesn’t need to have a big name to be the right partner for you. For example, many credit unions and online banks have been great partners for businesses of all sizes.
Step 3 – Gather the Right Documentation
Before you open a business bank account you’ll need to make sure that you’ve correctly incorporated your business. The bank will ask for your corporate documents before you’re able to make your first deposit. Having the right documentation with you at the time of application will speed up the entire process, and enable you to walk away with a business bank account the same day you apply, in many cases.
The documentation that you’ll need to gather could include (call the bank before you visit to make sure you have it all):
Employer Identification Number (EIN)
Social Security Number (if you’re an unincorporated sole proprietorship)
Business Licenses
Business Name Filing Document (if applicable)
Partnership Agreement (if applicable)
Articles of Incorporation or Organization (and appropriate banking resolution)
Explanation of Your Business
Funds to Deposit
Some online banks may require more documentation to verify your identity
You can obtain most of this by incorporating your business ahead of time. MyCompanyWorks has been trusted to complete more than 60,000 business formations and counting. In just three easy steps you can be on your way to receiving all of your documentation so that you can immediately open a business bank account.
Step 4 – Deposit Funds With Your Bank
Once all of your documentation is verified, the bank will process your application and open your account. To finalize the account opening process you’ll be required to deposit funds into your new business bank account. Many banks will not require a certain deposit amount while others will require up to $1,000 as the minimum opening deposit even if they don’t require a minimum balance during the life of the account. It’s important to check with your bank before going through the process so you’re prepared to finalize this portion of the process.
Once your funds are confirmed into your account then you’ll be able to immediately access them through the checks that your bank will provide. Some banks will immediately provide a debit card while others will send them in the mail within 7-10 business days. The length of time it takes for your funds to show up in the account will depend on the bank you choose and the method you choose to deposit your funds with. For example, cash will be available a lot faster than a wire transfer from another bank (even if it’s your personal bank).
Benefits of Opening a Business Bank Account
There are many benefits for both you, as a business owner, and for your business when you open a business bank account. The most important one is that you should always keep your personal and business funds separated. This can protect you from personal liability in the event that something goes wrong in your business. For example, if your business files for bankruptcy in the future then mixing your personal funds with your business funds could put your personal assets at risk and attainable by the business’s creditors.
Other than the legal ramifications of opening a business bank account, you can also benefit from being able to easily pay your business’s bills and making it easy to pay your employees. It keeps your money safe and allows you to start building a banking relationship that you could utilize for needed loans to grow your business in the future.
Getting Started
If you’re ready to take advantage of the benefits of having a business bank account, you can get started today by registering your business. MyCompanyWorks will do this for you and you can get started immediately with our simple three step process. All you have to do is select a company type and your state, fill out a quick online form, and then you’ll receive the needed documents to open a business bank account.
One of the most popular ways to protect businesses from potential legal liability is to use multiple business incorporations. This typically entails a business putting assets in different LLC’s or corporations. The biggest benefit to business owners is that if you have a big mess up, or financial loss, in one part of your business it doesn’t have to impact all of your assets.
How Multiple Business Entity Strategies Work
A multiple business entity strategy typically includes two different types of entities. The first is an operating company and the second is a holding company. The operating company as access to, and typically possession of, the assets but doesn’t have ownership of them. The holding company owns the assets but does nothing else.
This is beneficial because if the operating company takes on legal liability during the course of their operations, it is very difficult for anyone to get access to the assets the holding company owns. So the business can continue to operate after surviving a lawsuit since the assets are protected because the operating company takes all the risk.
Typical Holding Company Structure and Setup
For example, retailers use this multiple business entity strategy on a per location basis. This is often done by retailers to protect each physical location as its own business, with its own assets. So if one location has a massive slip and fall lawsuit, the results are limited to an impact on that individual entity.
It’s important to make sure that your holding company doesn’t actually do any business outside of creating and funding any needed operating companies. If the holding company starts doing day to day operation activities then the corporate veil can be pierced, causing the holding company to be liable for many wrongdoings.
If the operating company needs to purchase additional assets after operations have begun, the holding company can act as a lender in order to fund the activity. This should be done with a lien that runs back to the holding company to show the loan, and paid back in the same manner any other business loan would be. This is done so that it doesn’t look like the holding company is responsible for operating activities.
How to Create a Multiple Business Entity Strategy
The first thing you need to do is to create a holding company. This can be an LLC or a corporation (but not an S-Corporation which is not able to own or be owned by other entities), depending on your personal situation. After consulting with your attorney and/or accountant, you should create and fund your holding company. We recommend using an industry expert to get your business incorporated.
Once the holding company is created then that company should create and fund the operating company, as needed. This way the operating company is directly owned by the holding company so that the holding company can maintain the most important assets.
This also gives the business owner the added personal protection from any potential debts the business way accumulate. With the holding company funding the operating company, there won’t be any personal guarantees on any debt that is required. This is a huge benefit to owners looking to create and fund businesses without wanting to personally take on debt.
A Common Legal Mistake With Multiple Businesses
One common mistake that many businesses make is that they only consider the tax consequences of how to set up their businesses. There can be a nice tax advantage in creating a single LLC and then registering different DBA’s (doing business as) instead of creating a unique legal entity for each one. The problem with this is that you don’t get the same legal protections so if one struggles then you could be risking the assets of all the others.
Assets the Holding Company Should Own
The most basic answer to the question on what assets the holding company should own is that it should own all of the important ones. If you have something you don’t want to lose if everything were to go wrong, then those things should be owned by the holding company. Below is a list of things that you should consider the ownership for.
Real Estate – Office buildings, investment properties, or land.
Proprietary Software – Software you currently sell, or would like to in the future.
Patents – Patents for any product you’ve established can be leased to the operating company.
Websites – If the websites are vital to the process or existence of your operating business.
Trade Secrets – Anything that may give your business a competitive advantage and be considered an asset.
Trademarks – You don’t want to have to rebrand your business if your operating company loses the ownership rights to a valuable name.
Any asset that doesn’t have to be owned by the operating company
Thinking about the legal structure when you’re setting up the company assets could save you a lot of unnecessary headaches later. The key thing to remember is that even if the operating company needs an asset in their day-to-day work, it doesn’t mean that entity has to own it. you can always set up the holding company on a consulting or leasing basis to provide the other entities for what is needed.
Who Should Use a Multiple Business Entity Strategy
A multiple business strategy is typically right for entrepreneurs or businesses with assets from multiple operations. While this isn’t an all-inclusive list, there are a few specific types of situations that will find this strategy to be helpful. Those who should consider using a multiple business entity strategy include:
Serial Entrepreneurs: Chances are if you like to start businesses pretty regularly then you’ll have a holding company to house your ownership in each of the businesses. As a serial entrepreneur, most of your businesses likely won’t have anything to do with one another so it wouldn’t make much sense to house them all together. This strategy is a natural fit with this situation.
Businesses That Own Real Estate: Regardless of what your core operation might be, owning real estate is a nice way asset to have to secure the future of your business. If something were to go wrong, you wouldn’t want to lose the real estate that has grown in value since you purchased it. Instead, keeping the asset in a holding company and leasing back necessary space to the operating company is a much safer strategy to protect your real estate as the value continues to increase.
Businesses Selling a Proprietary Asset: Many businesses are only operating in order to sell something that they’ve created. These days, that routinely means a piece of software that they’ve developed. Keeping the ownership of the software, or other asset, in the holding company instead of the operating company can mean better overall protection and decision making since you know that your most important asset isn’t at risk. Sadly, many businesses have lost those assets during rough times because it was the only asset the operating company could monetize to pay off creditors.
Businesses Wanting to Start a New Product or Service: Sometimes businesses decide that their customers have a need that isn’t being met by anyone else. This can result in a new product or service offering. For example, a software company that decides they can adequately consult with the same customers they currently target. These businesses should separate the two operations, as they are different businesses. This is a good operational strategy and a good legal strategy.
These are the most common instances where you’d want to use this multiple business entity strategy, however there are more. You should consult with a lawyer to know how your legal setup will impact your business strategy going forward.
Multiple Business Entity Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
The multiple business entity strategy can be complicated but if you’re planning on owning multiple types of assets or businesses then it is a vital one to adopt. We’ve put together a few of the most common questions to help you better understand the process so that you can better use it to protect your assets.
What’s the primary purpose of a multiple business entity strategy?
Asset protection. If you own assets then you want to have a holding company that has no liabilities other than to you personally, and that has no direct interaction with customers of your operating company.
How many LLCs are too many?
There isn’t a limit to this legally, but you should use as many as you can operationally and financially manage. We’ve seen retail businesses use an LLC for every single one of their hundreds of locations because that’s what makes the most since for them.
Can I use this strategy to protect my personal assets?
Kind of. You can use something very similarly personally where you put your personal assets into LLC businesses to protect yourself, but this strategy is designed to protect business assets more than personal ones.
How does my operating company get access to needed assets in my holding company?
The holding company can lease assets to the operating company so that proper access to run the business is established. For example, if your holding company owns your office building then the operating company can rent out the space.
Getting Started
Now that you can see how important it is to protect your assets from any potential liabilities, you can start the process today by either starting your LLC or corporation from scratch or by adding a second entity to make the strategy work. Either way, you should use a business you can trust to get these set up. Use the source over 60,000 other businesses have used and follow our simple three step process today.
“I see entrepreneurial efforts often fail but good entrepreneurs don’t fail.” – Naval Ravikant, founder of AngelList
Why do we start with the founder habits, skills, and traits that I call the Founder Superpowers? Because these have proven to be the most obvious determining factors of success in starting a business. Highly effective founders can make even mediocre ideas work and bad teams more effective. It’s why venture capitalists and others keep shoving piles of cash at the same people over and over: These people have a set of skills that continually deliver results.
Habits and skills, however, can be learned, and through my research over the years, there is a core set of skills that will definitely improve your odds for success. Don’t worry if you don’t have all of these right now (and I would never insinuate I have all of these). People succeed all the time without some or even most of these skills. However, they are usually very good at one or more of these and have a cofounder, team, or at least an assistant that compensates for a lack of any of these skills. (Or they simply learn them on the fly like most of us.) Think of all of these as a “talent stack” as Dilbert’s Scott Adams likes to say; the better you get at each one adds value because they all work together.
The Superpowers
I group these superpowers in four broad categories:
Energy:
Superpower #1: Health
Superpower #2: Perseverance
Superpower #3: Optimism
Superpower #4: Momentum
Vision:
Superpower #5: Clear Vision
Superpower #6: Clear Goals
Superpower #7: Product Obsession
Execution:
Superpower #8: Agency Mindset
Superpower #9: Resourcefulness
Superpower #10: Personal Productivity
Superpower #11: Good Decisions
Superpower #12: Problem Solving
Leadership:
Superpower #13: Good Communication Skills
Superpower #14: Accountability Mindset
Superpower #15: Team Development and Motivation
Superpower #16: Courage to be Disliked
These categories might sound like an oversimplification, but think about it—if you have enough Energy, you can work very hard on whatever you put your mind to for as long as necessary and persist through tough times. If you have a clear Vision, then you can imagine a clear future and something great that people will want. If you are great at Execution, then you can get things done, including implementing your Vision. Now combine all this with Leadership and the ability to get a team to go along and get things done, then you’re basically unstoppable in life (not just business).
Note that these could also easily be called the Employee Superpowers in many regards, so developing these skills in your team is a great way to build a great company. You can make a team of highly competent, entrepreneurial, mini-CEOs.
In Part Three, I provide a checklist for you to rate yourself (and your co-founders or team might consider doing this) on these Superpowers, which should help you not only improve in areas where you are weak but focus on areas where you are strong.
Imagine the perfect business for you. Imagine that you could take that vision and systematically, in clear simple steps, make it a reality while saving time and avoiding the mistakes that destroy most startups.
Creating a business is the greatest source of personal freedom, wealth and progress in the world. Nearly three-quarters of the Forbes 500 Richest People are on that list because they own a stake in one or more businesses. And the majority of those people are “first generation” – they didn’t inherit the wealth, they created it.
I believe the future of humanity’s progress will be led by entrepreneurs. Think of all the entrepreneurs working on everything from space exploration, renewable energy, easier ways to get a cab, or even a better or faster meal. These people are making the world a better place through their business. This is the power of entrepreneurship: You can create fantastic wealth while helping people and even help solve the world’s problems.
This book is a guide to take the entrepreneur from an idea to a real, profitable and systemized company (one that allows you to take a real vacation) as fast and easy as humanly possible. My intention is to make this book the best and most concise guide for entrepreneurs starting a business in the real world; especially for those without a lot of resources and connections.
This book deals very little with pitching investors, going to conferences, or other things that are popular with “wantrapreneurs” who seem to do everything but actually build a business. My focus is on the bootstrap entrepreneurs that start real businesses every day. In reality, less than 1% of startups get venture capital funding.
Silicon Valley types like to disparage these small businesses as a “lifestyle business” with “only” $1 million dollars per year in revenue or less. It’s amazing; they’ll congratulate you for raising $1 million in funding but not actually making $1 million in revenue. However, most of these small business owners work damn hard and deserve the freedom that a well-run business can provide.
Silicon Valley also seems to be obsessed with writing books, articles, and more about best practices that only seem to apply in hyper-competitive, well-funded businesses that basically have a monopoly (Google, Microsoft, Facebook, etc.). Many of these companies are nothing like 99.9% of businesses in the real world. For example, most small business owners just need good, reliable employees that show up on time. These small businesses cannot afford stock options, catered lunches, free daycare, massages, personal development training and the many other things required to compete in the ultra-competitive job market of Silicon Valley and other tech hotspots.
There are also literally thousands of small business books available on Amazon and other places, but what I’ve found is that the vast majority of them 1) over-complicate things, usually so they can sell you their consulting or other services, and 2) should not be books at all. They should be articles because the concept is simple and the author has padded the information with endless stories and examples to make it book length.
These are huge pet peeves of mine, so I hope to avoid both issues in this book by presenting the information clearly, minimizing fluff and filler, and providing clear and simple action steps and checklists every step of the way because I assume you’re as busy as any CEO. Minimizing wasted time and unnecessary risks for a startup is the entire point of this book. This is the book I would give my friends and family to most ensure their success.
Why Listen to Me?
I founded MyCompanyWorks, Inc., from my apartment with less than $1,000 in 2001. This was in the middle of the “dot com crash” and one month after 9/11, so the economy wasn’t exactly what I would call optimal. Since then, we’ve helped over 50,000 entrepreneurs start their business. In that time, we’ve never taken a loan or venture capital, never had an unprofitable year, and have been honored to make the Inc Magazine INC5000 fastest growing companies in America list.
More importantly, I’ve made almost every mistake in the book (and continue to make mistakes!). There’s nothing special about me except perhaps my intolerance and embarrassment over screwing up so much. I’ve left millions of dollars on the floor and have damaged relationships and my health because of the many poor decisions I have made through the various phases of my company. I don’t want you to make the same mistakes.
I also personally know many successful entrepreneurs and have spoken to thousands of them as our clients about their successes and failures. I consider this topic to be my wheelhouse and constantly devour any information I can find on startups and small business management.
Let Me Be Your Guide
This book contains the distilled wisdom from my experience and that of many others. More importantly, I’m obsessed with what makes a startup succeed and how to simplify this into a system that can be replicated.
There are many companies that are much larger, make more money, and have a greater impact on the planet than mine. But, one of the things I emphasize in this book is that you want to start the perfect company for you, not what others expect or want. It’s silly to want anything else.
I’m perfectly happy with my business the way it is and would hate anything much more complex or “corporate.” I don’t like constant meetings, complex business models, or a difficult-to-manage business. But that’s just me.
Today, my business is systemized, requires little supervision, and grows consistently. I choose when to work or go on a vacation when I want, and I’m in the best shape of my life.
The business continues to generate income and wealth while I am free to work on the big-picture projects or not work at all, depending on my mood. In my opinion, wealth, freedom, and making an impact or helping other people via your business is a peak life experience, an experience I’d like to help others attain.
Why Businesses Fail
Unfortunately, the statistics for new business startups are pretty grim. Depending on the source of data, you can expect at least a 50% failure rate within a few years (these statistics are more or less the same worldwide). Some sources place that number as high as 90% after 10 years. In addition, 96% of businesses never break $1 million per year in revenue. These startups never get past a few employees because the entrepreneur is in their own way and doesn’t plan, communicate, or systemize.
One thing I’ve noticed is that there are many ways to succeed in business. You can succeed via a good plan, lots of funding, a great idea or product, luck, good timing, good economy, connections, or many other things (usually combinations of those things). However, it seems that one big key to success is simply not making the big mistakes that seem to be common among startups.
So, instead of focusing so much on what you need to do to succeed in your startup, we’re starting to find out that a lot of doing well in business (and life in general) is simply avoiding the bad habits, decisions and situations that have continually proven to lead to bad results. Basically, it’s easier to learn from the mistakes of others than it is to make all those same mistakes yourself. This concept is called via negativa (popularized by the book Antifragile by Nassim Taleb) and I use it frequently throughout this book to make you aware of the well-known startup and small business management mistakes.
Personally, I’ve made a number of huge mistakes that have wasted a lot of time, energy, and money, literally millions of dollars as I’ve mentioned. Sure, I’ve learned from them and they were valuable lessons but some were easily avoidable with even a basic amount of planning and preparation.
If you’re going to start a business, you might as well do some quick planning now to save you hundreds of hours of heartache down the road. Don’t over-plan, but don’t go into the process blind. The great thing about business is you can attempt as many times as you want, but you only have to succeed once to be set for life.
Don’t Believe the Hype
There are a lot of misconceptions about startups these days. For example, did you know that the average age of a successful startup founder is 45? From all the hype you see in media, you would assume all the successful founders are barely out of high school or in their 20s. As I’ll show you in Part One of this book, there are founder skills that are critical to success and older people tend to have acquired more of these skills over time.
Or did you know that of those 90% of businesses that failed, up to one-third of those businesses were actually profitable? Yes, just like anything else, a founder can become tired of their business and might have simply closed it, sold it, or moved on. This dramatically changes our perception of the 90% failure rate mentioned above. The reality now seems to indicate a real failure rate of a bit higher than 50%, and I’ll take a 50/50 shot every time.
Armed with those facts, a startup doesn’t look so daunting now, does it? What I want to do is add valuable planning, skills, and habits to the equation, and I believe this will dramatically improve your chances for success. Merely being aware of some of the landmines and best practices for startups should be incredibly helpful.
Why Planning is Important
Here’s the nightmare scenario: You’ve started your company, it’s making money, you’re working hard, and decide you really need a vacation. The problem is that the company is entirely dependent on you; you couldn’t take a vacation or even a sick day if you wanted.
Suddenly, you realize that you haven’t created a company, you’ve only created another job for yourself—with no paid time off! Even worse, you are 100% responsible for everything and your customersare now your boss. You now have more pressure and stress then you did when you worked for someone else and are probably wondering what the point was. Trust me, I spent years like this.
This is not an uncommon scenario. The vast majority of entrepreneurs are stuck in their business working on the day-to-day, and they work, on average, well over 50 hours per week. They don’t realize that they’re actually the bottleneck in the growth and systemization of their company. Whether you’re just planning or have already started your business, I will show you a clear way out of this trap.
Many books like the E-Myth and others have covered this topic, but the basic truth is that most people know a skill or craft but don’t know how to build or manage a proper business with systems. Franchises like McDonalds and 7-Eleven almost always succeed because they have a system and an operations manual for each new franchisee/owner to follow step-by-step and has been proven to work.
Systems = Freedom
System is the key word here. Systems are the key to your freedom and will multiply the value of your company because it will not be completely dependent on you. I not only show you how to do basic planning from the very beginning, but how to lay down a framework for you to eventually replace yourself as your business grows—not to mention that systemizing a business is an incredibly valuable skill to learn and apply elsewhere.
A business that does not have systems is in a difficult place. This “owner dependent” type of business usually hits crisis when the founder gets sick or needs to retire or sell the business. So, even if you don’t intend to be more than a one-person company or don’t intend to sell your company, I make the argument that you should at least have basic systems in place, if only for your own sanity. At the bare minimum, keep everything in the same place and some basic instructions for loved ones if there is some kind of emergency.
Worst case scenarios aside, one thing I want to emphasize is that by “planning,” I don’t mean a 50-page business plan and a 200-page operations manual. Modern business planning focuses on speed, simplicity, and testing your idea before you do an enormous amount of planning – the plan I give you fits on one page.
In the real world, most companies are started with more of a shotgun approach to validate the idea and get moving. Someone starts a website, a person starts charging for their shirts or consulting, etc. This has largely replaced complex business plans because the focus is on getting quick market validation so you can correct course quickly and not spend months and lots of money on a bad idea.
Also, we won’t be building out a huge operations manual but will instead simply start documenting things in one document and let you organize things organically and systematically from the start. If you already have a business, then we’ll show you how to begin organizing things as well.
Using this system, you should be able to grow your business to $1 million in revenue and potentially a lot more depending on the complexity of your business. Every business is different. We keep the system simple for people at that level and below. Once you exceed several million dollars in sales, then the complexity of your company will grow and may require additional systems, but I want to emphasize again that, while you should plan, there is no need to overplan and over-optimize things until you get to that level.
Overview and How to Use This Book
This book has three parts. Part One covers what I’ve found to be the skills and habits of great founders that I call The Founder Superpowers.
In Part Two, we dive in to the system, which has six steps:
Imagine it. Whether you have a business idea in mind or not, this section will help you brainstorm and clarify your idea. We also work on a vision for the perfect business for you. Having a clear vision of what you want is the first step to making it real.
Plan it. Using a simple one-page plan, we begin laying out what you need to test this business idea and then get it off the ground as quick as possible.
Start it. An overview and simple checklist of things to do to get your business registered and legal. We also cover picking the business name, entity, taxes, and more.
Grow it. Using another simple plan, we lay out the steps to help you identify your ideal customer to build your “sales machine” and grow your business.
Manage it. We cover the five things you need to master to have a well-run business: the plan, process, people, tools, and routines.
Systemize it. We put it all together and systemize your business into one simple system and continue simplifying and improving your business until it is essentially self-running.
Part Three contains two scorecards to assess your skills as a founder and assess your company as a whole. I recommend you complete them after reading the book to get a baseline score. Everything in the first two parts should help you dramatically improve in these areas.
Feel free to skip around if you are in a hurry or already have a business and need specific help in any area. Otherwise, I believe the book is brief enough to go from beginning to end, skimming what you already know. I use bullet points and checklists extensively and each section or chapter has resources for implementation.
Now that you know what to expect, let’s dive in and keep the following tips in mind:
Take the time to go through the book and do the action steps. These things done properly should save you many hours of painful “make up work” later. It’s amazing, but most people will put more planning into their wedding than their life or business! Do a few hours of planning to massively clarify your thinking and build a business right, a few hours to save hundreds later. Thinking through important things for a few hours will put you ahead of 99% of the population on earth.
My writing style is very direct and informal and can sometimes come across as “tough love” or even a bit harsh despite my best intentions. This is because I’d rather give you the real truth about business instead of some motivational nonsense that should be on a business poster (which is what I see a lot of in business books these days).
Note that the Imagine it step can be applied to a new business or to reimagine your existing business (I’ve done this a few times, and we’re on our third company name!), to brainstorm a new product or just solve some problems you have at your company or in life.
We’ll start with one document I call the Startups Made Simple Planner. We’ll work with this planner from idea all the way to systemization. This document will be a godsend later in business, trust me. Download a free Startups Made Simple Planner at www.StartupsMadeSimple.com and make sure to keep all of your company startup and planning documents, plans, and notes together in one folder (either a real folder/binder or on your computer).
