61. Conduct a complete asset inventory. Include everything that you have placed into business use. You will need this for business taxes, insurance purposes, and more. It's a good idea to augment the inventory with pictures or videotape.
62. Develop a business plan. Enlist the help of the web, software programs, books, and SCORE to help you do this.
63. Consult with government agencies for business startup funding. The U.S. government offers loans to women and minorities who want to start their own businesses.
But you MUST have a solid business plan before you even approach these agencies. See if you meet the criteria ONLY after you have your concrete business plan in hand. Otherwise, you are wasting their time. Your time isn't wasted if you develop the plan, but don't meet the criteria. You need the plan anyway!
If you have every thing you need to start your business before you even have one customer, you will get customers that much faster. This is how regular businesses get started.
Most indexers want to "pay as they go" but that thinking and action limits how far you can go and how fast you can grow, especially since most indexers don't have startup funds of their own.
64. Some find it handy to categorize what they need to do. This list is categorized into five areas. Categorizing might help you see where you weaknesses are.
65. Check out to see if your home zoning allows for a home business. Some do not. You could have problems. You may need to request a special rezoning of the property.
66. Do you need a business license in your county? How much? Do you need to file a notice in the local newspaper?
67. Check into various insurance. First, your home. Ask about "permitted incidental occupancy." Look into health and disability insurance.
68. Earlier it was mentioned to have a Quality Control job procedural manual for the indexing part of your job. You should also create a step-by-step manual for invoicing, paying bills, checking mail, subscribing and unsubscribing to listservs, researching companies, and more. Remember, this is priceless if anything happens to you, and accidents do happen. Anyone can pitch in to help if you have done your work in advance. It also helps if you forget how to do something, such as run the invoicing software.
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