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Hello,
I was laid off nearly a year ago from a nonprofit specializing in promoting entrepreneurship. I did marketing and event planning and I loved it. In addition, I currently write for a start-up web magazine and am doing some pro bono PR work. I would like to combine this experience, plus experience I plan on gaining with getting a law degree, into a business. How would you suggest I go about incorporating, and building my business plan?
Kristen,
Great CareerSOS question! Let’s “save the ship” with a three part answer:
1. You’re on the right track by exploring your options based on your experience, plus your passions. You might ask yourself which part of the previous job was the part you loved. Was it the helping aspect of working for a non-profit organization that made you feel good? Is it witnessing entrepreneurship’s many forms that excites you? Or, is it simply that you have a passion for event planning and marketing? I would say you need to explore specifically which aspects of your previous job got you going and start exploring businesses that leverage those passions and strengths (Hint: Our self-assessment and Premium Report will give you tons of insight into these things, plus some goal-setting tools and more).
2. You don’t necessarily need to “incorporate” a small business. A Limited Liability Company often provides enough legal protection for the individual business owner or a small partnership. There is a site, http://www.myllcagreement.com, that let’s you create an LLC agreement for free as long as you don’t need any support from them. The questions you have to answer are a little confusing but probably a little easier for someone getting their law degree. Then, just file this with the state and city to get your Employee ID Number. If you need more information, check with your local Chamber of Commerce.
3. Writing a business plan is an important exercise. There are tons of sites that have sample business plans with tips on what to write, how to write it, etc. At the end of the day, this should come long after you’ve figured out what kind of business you want and researched the size of the market, your competition, potential pitfalls and more. There is a lot that goes into starting most businesses and you’ll want to educate yourself before you spend a lot of time writing your business plan. Your plan usually alerts you to those last few things you didn’t think of during your research.
I realize that this information is a little vague but it sounds like you still have some thinking to do about exactly which kind of business you want. Some quick ideas for combining your experience and passions might be to create an events planning company for non-profits; to start a non-profit that provides pro-bono legal services to other non-profits; or, to create an annual event for entrepreneurs with prizes from all your legal buddies, such as patent filing, incorporation, pro-bono work and more. No idea is too crazy to explore. Once you find one that you LOVE, then it’s time to start developing your plan.
Best of luck and be sure to come update us as you progress in your quest.