Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Im new to this site im 21yrs old and am in the process of brainstorming to start up a huge business with one of my friends. We are in the beginning stages and i stumbled across this website and thought to my self this can do nothing but help our progress. We are looking into various businesses to open including day care being the biggest. When i get more settled in on this site i will be sure to post alot of questions and get you guys input..

Hi there :-) Welcome to the community.

Can you summarize what this huge business will be? It sounds as if you`re developing something along the lines of daycare, is that right?

Try not to get too caught up in secrecy. It`s true that industrial espionage takes place, where inventions with promise do get stolen. But for the most part, among the top 5 reasons businesses fail to get started is the entrepreneur not wanting to get any objective analysis of the idea.

Nobody here is trying to steal ideas---the bigger problem is people having too many ideas, but not putting them into place. Everyone here has their own big idea, and we`re all trying to help out, looking objectively at the realities, costs and benefits, and marketing possibilities.

:-) Hope to see your thoughts and analyses here---everyone has something to contribute.

Thanks alot man, yeah that was one of my fears a stolen idea...basically we want to open a day care/recreational facility for children with a lot more to that.We are just organizing the ideas and trying to see what the next step is..Thanks for the welcome man i will definatly get more specific as soon as we progress on our project because right now its just a bunch of notes and brain storming....

If you guys can assist me i`d be very appreciative.  As stated in my first post I am in the process of working on a recreational/day care facility for children with a friend and I want to spend much more time on this project. It is a tough task fitting time in for this being that I work Monday through Friday 3pm-11pm. This leaves me only the weekend to work on my project. I feel as this should be my number one priority being that i envision lots of income and am very passionate about doing it.  What my real quesiton is are there any online/stay at home jobs out there that I can start within a short period of time that can bring me a livable income now so that I can further more be at home for the day and have more time to work on my business? I know there is a section for this and i actually found something interesting yesterday but can no longer find that post. Also note livable for you guys and myself can be very different as i live at home and dont really have any bills. Any input will be appreciated.

One thing you might want to start working with, is a business plan. Lots of people think that brainstorming is a lot of just tossing around ideas, but what you want is to capture those ideas. You want to see whether or not they make business, financial, and personal sense.

Here`s a link that gives the basics of putting together a business plan, which is basically a really big To-Do list. :-)

Another major benefit is that you can begin to lay out the "parts" of your idea. That offers the capability to work intensely on one minor aspect, then work a couple of days at your job, then come back to the part in the plan and remember where you`re at.

So for example, one of the big issues is going to be licensing. You can have a section in the business plan about "Applying for Licenses." Then another section, "Forms for License Applications." As you find out the answers to each individual question, you can put it into the "plan." It`s like....notes, but in an organized way.

A business plan is much more for you and your friend, at this point. When it`s all done, you then can start to re-work it, getting it more concise, organized, structured, and so forth. But most importantly, as you work through the plan, it`ll help show you what`s realistic and what`s not---what you can really make happen, and what`s not going to be so easy to accomplish.

As for working at home, with hundreds of thousands of people trying to find any work at all, you`ll likely end up devoting as much time to whatever at-home job you find as you`re currently applying to your existing job. You`ve said you`re about 21, at the moment, so you have a lot more time than you may believe.

Most people don`t come into their own until somewhere around 25, and remember too that you`ll need a certain amount of credibility when you talk with both financial people and your prospective clients. Mom (and Dad) isn`t going to just jump at the chance to put little Johnny into a daycare center run by someone they don`t trust. :-)

Time is in your favor, in other words. It`s true that many entrepreneurs have made fortunes by the age of 21, but it`s pretty unusual. Since you`re contemplating a franchise, you`ll want some time to study finances, accounting, child care, child sports (with their own specific needs), and franchise structuring.

Any great idea, being huge, is also very complex. You`ll want to take some of this time---particularly where you don`t have basic survival bills---to study up in each of the most important fields that`ll be involved. It`s an adventure, and you don`t have to do it all by next week. :-) In most cases, the journey is quite as much fun as the destination.

Hi.. I am a native Long islanders...Ronkonkoma..Nice to have you here!!

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Our Goal Is Your Success!
Founder Girls with Goals

JB, there`s an old, old saying---maybe just a little older than I am---which goes, "If you want to really give God a belly laugh.....make a plan!" :-D

Starting a business is like taking a canoe down a river. If you`re passionate about the process, and about the idea, then you likely will go back and forth about how much you feel energized and juiced. There`ll be times when you`re busy with other things....but you`ll never really let it go, never really forget it, and never really get that far away from the idea.

However; you can try paddling upstream, into the river; or, you can sort of go with the flow and direct yourself to the sides or down the middle. They key to the metaphor is to feel the areas of best opportunity, times of least resistance, and to go in those directions.

I`m going to suppose that massive amnesia doesn`t run in your family? And to that end, you likely aren`t going to just somehow forget that you were starting a business, right?

Everything you`re saying indicates that you`re in a superb position to start all this. You`ve got background, experience that`ll cross over, a solid understanding of how the State and regulations will come into play. You have a great idea, you`re young, and you have energy. You don`t have overwhelming survival bills, and you`ve got friends who sound as if they`re as excited as you are.

Taken together, it`s like going down that river in the best quality canoe, understanding where are the rapids, on a perfect summer weekend. The main concept here is that you don`t want to just grab any old canoe, jump in the river, and start somewhere.

What if you don`t have a paddle, or a spare? How about that backpack you had with all your camping stuff? Then there are the less critical things like a camera. See? The river (the marketplace) will be there. Someone may come up with the same idea, start it, and you`ll feel that you`ve been trumped. That`s not true either.

If someone starts a daycare center almost like yours, you`ll still have YOUR idea, all the differences, and the ways you can do it better. It`s regular old competition, and you can expect it along the way.

I am great!! How are you?? Pay attention to Craig.. he gives very good advice.

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Our Goal Is Your Success!
Founder Girls with Goals

Yes I realize this.. I am blessed to have fallin upon this site and these great people.