Starting a new business is a lot of work, planning and usually a large monetary investment as well.  Hopefully are you starting a business doing something you love, something that is your passion.  The problem I most often see with new businesses is that the new entrepreneurs don't know how to do all the other tasks necessary in starting and running a business.  Here is where a problem usually develops.  Most start-ups are limited on cash, so they tend to try to do as many things themselves as they can.  This is fine if it is something not critical to your business, but for critical items, my advice is to hire someone who is an expert to do the things you don't know how to do.

My advice is always to do the things you are good at, and hire someone to do the rest.  No one can be good at everything and I think it is best to focus on what you know.  I had a client I worked with who was a surgeon.  She was constantly disappointed with herself that she could not seem to get her accounting right.  I told her I could never do what she does, so if she would stick to operating, I would handle the accounting.  I think this is one of the most important things any business owner can learn, and a key to the success of your business.

Through my years working with small businesses, I have assembled a list of professionals in almost every field that I know, trust and work with regularly.  I am always happy to refer these individuals to my business clients.  I know I personally would rather have a referral than to just find someone in the phone book that I don't know.  I also feel confident that if you experience a problem with any of the services, I can call my contact and make sure it is taken care of for you.

My advice would be that if you feel you cannot afford to hire qualified professionals to help you with your business, you might want to wait to launch it until you have more cash available.  Cash flow crunches are common with new businesses, but you don't want to sacrifice getting the important parts of your business set up just because you are low on cash.  Sometimes, it will cost you more later to get something fixed or set up that you thought could wait.

Here are a few of the critical items that you want to make sure are correct from the beginning:

1.  Payroll
2.  Sales tax
3.  Accounting system
4.  Legal documents for set up, licenses, permits, etc.
5.  Banking services
6.  Merchant account to accept credit cards (if applicable)


This is not a complete list by any means, but the ones that come to my mind that seem to be sometimes overlooked or put off until later.  I welcome any questions on this topic.  Please see the Resources page on my website for links that may be helpful on these topics (Winning Edge Website).