BusinessHABOpen Cycling School: Once you’ve decided you want to start a small business.
Formulated your business plan, lined up financing, and secured a site.
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The time will finally come to actually open up shop.
While planning a business may present challenges.
The actual act of opening a business.
And bringing the business concept to fruition has its own set of difficulties.
To have a better chance of long-term success, you need to get your business off to a good start.
Here are a few tips on how to legally establish your business.
Hire your first employees, spreading the word, and organizing a grand opening.
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Open Cycling School
1. Get the business background
Year in year out pre – teens and teens and even adults alike.
Who don’t know how to ride bicycle approach cycling schools to learn how to ride a bicycle.
If you are looking for a steady source of income from a bicycle related business.
Then one of your options is to open a cycling school.
A place where you can teach people how to ride bicycles.
It is important to state the before starting a cycling school.
You will be required to obtain a license, permit.
And approval from the appropriate authority in your country.
Aside from the little stress involved in securing approval, permit and license.
It could be fun teaching people how to ride bicycles especially if cycling is one of your hobbies.
Open Cycling School
2. Ensure you have a business plan.
A business plan is critical to the success of a business.
And can be seen as a plan that describes your business, products/services, market.
And describes how your business will go about expanding for the next three to five years.
It is essentially a “road map” for your business to follow going forward.
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3. Determine the legal structure of your business.
Before starting your business and filing the necessary papers.
It is important to decide on how your business will be legally structured.
Generally speaking, you will be establishing either a sole proprietorship.
Partnership; corporation; or limited liability company (LLC).
There are important legal and tax implications for each.
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4. Register your business name.
Unless you are running the business under your own name.Such as “John Smith Painting,” most states require you to register a “Doing Business As” (DBA) name for tax and legal purposes.
Registering a DBA is done with your state government or county clerk’s office.
Search the specific requirements of your state online.
5. Obtain a business license.
The city or county which you operate within will require a business license.
Typically, these forms can be found on the website for your city.
- These forms will require your business type, address, # of employees, EIN, and possibly information regarding revenue (estimations will work fine here).
- Keep in mind that licensing requirements often apply to online and home-based businesses as well as typical brick-and-mortar businesses.
- Requirements do vary according to location.
- So be certain to contact your local and state government to determine specific requirements.
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Open Cycling School
6. Identify your customer base.
In your business plan, you need to identify who you think will buy your product or service.
Why would these individuals need or want your service?
The answer to these questions should help to determine all other aspects of your business’ operations.
Outline your finances. In your business plan, you need to address key questions about your business’ fiduciary situation.
- How will your product or service generate money?
- How much money will it generate?
- How much does it cost to produce your product or service?
- How do you intend to pay operational costs and employees?
- These, and others, are critical question you need to answer in planning your small business’ financial future.
7. Project growth.
All successful small businesses need to grow their customer base.
And production capabilities over the first few years of operating.
Make sure you have identified how your business can and will respond to growth potential.
- Be realistic with your growth potential.
- Keep in mind that growing your business requires a growth in investment capital as well.
- Projecting too much growth in too short a time period can quickly deter potential investors.
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8. Make your bank work for you.
Run your small business with financial efficiency by exploring all the options that banks offer small business owners and choosing the right bank for your business’ financial plan.
Many financial institutions offer accounts with low fees.
Loans with discounted rates or free direct deposit programs for small business account holders.
Banking with the institution that gives you the best deals will help you stretch every dollar.
Open Cycling School
9. Secure a loan or other type of investment.
Successful businesses need capital to get off their feet.
Be sure that you have arranged and secured enough fiscal backing to cover all of your small business’ operating, production, and marketing costs until your business is in a position to generate and operate on its own profits.
- Be sure to investigate the various interest rates applied to small business loans.
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Open Cycling School
10. Stay organized.
Organization of your time, employees, finances and inventory is one of the keys to successfully run a small business.
Develop a spreadsheet that helps you keep track of all the important details.
So you don’t have to keep them straight in your head, and make time.
At least once a week — to review everything.
11. Delegate responsibilities.
You can’t do everything yourself, so delegate the various jobs and responsibilities to qualified employees.
Small businesses often require employees to take on many tasks.
And responsibilities that may not fall firmly in their areas of expertise.
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Open Cycling School
12. Network as much as possible.
Gain the support of other local small businesses by networking with other small business owners.
Join small business associations and participate in community events to raise awareness of your business. Participate in community functions so potential clients will be aware of the services you offer.
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13. Know your business.
Stay on top of what’s new or trendy in your business so your small business can stay competitive within the industry.
Subscribe to periodicals or online newsletters to stay informed about current events in your small business’ industry.
Staying at the cutting edge of your industry will help you draw customers away from competing businesses.
14. Offer references.
Compile a list of satisfied clients that are willing to serve as references to potential clients.
This will give future customers the ability to verify your work and customer service.
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Open Cycling School
15. Be accessible
Make sure potential clients and customers can get in touch with you and your business whenever they may need to.
The best way to grow your reputation as a respectable business is to be responsive to your customers’ needs.
Open Cycling School
16. Deliver what you promise.
Your small business will need to offer a product or service of some kind to be successful.
However, if you want to grow your business by growing your customer base.
You have to give people not only what they want, but what you promised them.
If your product or service does not match what you advertise consistently.
You will have incredible difficulty in growing your customer base.
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Open Cycling School
17. Start early.
Don’t wait until opening day, or even until you know when opening day will be.
Be proactive in establishing brand awareness and generating anticipation.
A “coming soon” sign on your in-preparation storefront is a good start, but not enough on its own.
18. Guarantee a positive customer experience.
Plan ahead and do whatever you can to ensure that attendees walk away from your Grand Opening with a positive first impression of your new business.
Oversights as simple as inadequate parking, long food lines.
Or running out of paper products in the restrooms can sour an otherwise enthusiastic reception.
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19. Establish a marketing budget.
The run-up to opening and first few months of operation may very well make or break your new small business.
So make sure you give your initial marketing push a strong effort.
20. Use traditional media.
If your marketing budget allows, consider using traditional media like radio or newspaper.
If you can manage television advertising as well, it is always a good idea to diversify your ad presence.
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21. Involve the community.
Establish your connection to the local community from the very start of your business.
Let people envision your business having a positive community impact for years to come.
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