The Best Business Startup Checklist For A Service Business

Having the right business startup checklist is key to your success.

How do I know? Because not having the right one was my FIRST mistake.

UGH!  I wish I could say having the wrong business startup checklist was my only mistake but nope, it was just the beginning of many mistakes.

I was so excited to get my business started and I love being creative so my start-up checklist looked something like this:

1. Choose a business name
2. Create a logo
3. Build a website

I was confident I was doing it right and I was getting to be creative.

How could I have it wrong or be missing anything?

So I set off, excited, and ready to get to business.

First thing on my startup checklist list, choosing a business name.

Okay, not that hard right?  Ugh! The not so "smooth" started here.  I had idea after idea after idea but none of them seemed to be quite right but, I choose one... Prospective Perceptions.

Phew!  One thing off the list.  Then I got my prospectiveperceptions (dot) com and I was on to the final stage of starting my own business... or so I thought.

I hired a graphics designer I knew of and had seen the amazing work she did.  I was for sure this was going to be fun. I was SO excited to finally be putting a "real" business together.

Well, here is where things did not go as "smooth" as I was lead to believe starting a business would be. 

My graphics designer had so many questions for me, questions I had not thought of, nor did I even know I needed to be thinking of.

I knew my favorite colors and I knew those were going to be my brand colors but all those other things she wanted to know... yeah, I wasn't prepared for a graphics designer at all.

So, we plugged along and one logo after another, none of them worked.  I didn't know why they didn't work, they just didn't fit, and feeling like I just needed to keep moving and get my business launched, I chose a logo and we went to work on my business card.

Guess what? The business card designs never felt quite right either.  Alas, I must keep moving.  I've got to get on to making my business a real business, one with clients, and money to deposit.

Well, if you haven't guessed yet, the website didn't go any smoother or feel any more right.

I began to think I had hired the wrong designer and that I just needed to find a new designer. 

I needed to find a graphics designer who could make me a logo, design a business card, and build my website.

Not one that kept asking me questions I didn’t know the answer to.

Fast forward a few months and I began to understand I hadn’t hired the wrong graphics designer.  The problem was that I didn’t have a clear vision of what I wanted my business to be.

I wasn’t clear on who my ideal client was, what I was selling them, or what results I’d be able to create for them.

I had started my business with the wrong startup checklist and it was making things complicated.

Once I spent the time to get really clear on what I wanted my business to be, what feeling I wanted my brand to create, and who my ideal client was, things started to flow smoothly.

My new designer (yes, I hired another one because I thought the first one was wrong) asked me questions and I knew the answers.

She shared ideas with me and this time they felt right. My brand began a revamp and my business began to have structure.

In less than half the time it took me to get my initial designer to create a logo, business cards, and a website I had them all.

No, it wasn’t the new graphics designer that made the difference. It was me.

Had I started with a better business start-up checklist things would have gone much smoother, I wouldn’t have lost a relationship with the first designer and I would have saved a tone of time and lots of money.  

What I learned and now help other women understand is that brand design is NOT on the top of the business start-up checklist.

I LOVE being able to walk my clients through developing their business clear vision.

I love helping to identify an ideal client and target market, coming up with the perfect business name, and developing a brand that pulls it all together while allowing for adjustments and growth.

The truth is your business is a living, breathing, ever-growing organism and it's gonna change.

You want to be sure that your brand is flexible to grow with you and that it supports, enhances, and confirms the vision you have for your business.

In order to help your business startup be successful, I have designed a better business startup checklist.

This business startup checklist will guide you
through the start-up process and
ensure you don't waste time and money.