Jerry Welsh ⋅ Middleville, MI Master Military Transition Advisor/HPS GPO ⋅ 30 years experience

J.R.
An earlier respondent mentioned SCORE as an excellent source for business plans and advice. Depending upon the size of your city, you may not have a SCORE chapter in the Chamber of Commerce. Most Chamber of Commerce locations do have a representative from the SBA visiting on a rotating basis. Right now with the the SBA loan program it might be rough to get into see someone, but at some point this has to slow down. Most cities of any size have a local Chamber of Commerce, they are also a good resource. Thanks for your service and God Bless.

Gary Rossi ⋅ Napa, CA The Coaches ⋅ 18 years experience

Hello Jeffrey - Let take on of your questions at a time:
1 - How to develop a business plan - why? if you are looking for funding yes, starting off a business I recommend a strategic plan as well - I have combined both based on my experience with both - if you desire my template contact me and I will send it to you.
2 - Since you are looking for funding - 1st check your bank or credit union - I am with NFCU, they are great, also if with USAA they do the same - you will need a business plan with projections
3 - Steps in acquiring a business license - it depends on your business name - for instance with mine being "The Coaches" - I needed a DBA for the City of San Diego. I also applied for the State of California for a Disabled Veteran Owned Business; do not forget to register with Duns and Bradstreet.
4 - Securing clients - "Rainmaking" - get out and network - use LinkedIn - get some small clients then continue to look for larger - will you be a Retained Agency or Contingency Agency? I have a contact that can help you if you desire?!

Kevin Harris ⋅ Franklin, TN Kevin M. Harris, CPA, CFP ⋅ 30 years experience

You have gotten some good feedback already from the other parties that have posted - and should consider their input carefully. Deciding to open your own business is not easy and you need to consider it from all angles. But to answer your specific questions more directly:

How to develop Business Plan.
Suggest you contact the nearest SCORE office for help. (https://www.score.org/)

How to acquire funding/financial backing.
Traditional banks probably will not help. Non bank lenders may - but you will probably personally guarantee the loans. Otherwise you can self finance or get Personal loans. All of these answers have their own pros and cons.

Steps to acquiring business licenses.
In most states, as an LLC you have to register with the Secretary of State, get a license from you County Clerk. An attorney can guide you on this. You will also need an FEIN - which you can get at IRS.gov.

Steps to securing clients.
When I started my own business several years ago I asked as many peers as possible. No one was able to give a specific answer. It involves networking, attending Chamber and other business meetings. I have found it helpful to focus on specific industries and try to develop a reputation as the guy that works with people in the ______ industry (you fill in the blank).

Good luck!

Nancy Quartey ⋅ Palo Alto, CA ⋅ 1 years experience

Hi Jeff,
Have you considered looking into franchise options? There are many different staffing/recruiting business models that are proven, successful, and replicate-able. They run the spectrum from home-based to brick and mortar, general or specialty sectors, etc... If you'd like to learn more, I'd be happy to talk to you. Let me know if you'd like to schedule a conversation.
Best,
Nancy

Jennifer Polhemus ⋅ Santa Monica, CA Precision Research (self-employed) ⋅ 25 years experience

Your questions are huge. I suggest you step back and list the community's needs and how you would fill them (differently than other offerings). This visioning process is often skipped over, and the truly successful small businesses in today's economy spend some time at this crucial step. And it could lead to a business plan eventually.

Then determine all the reasons for doing this alone (rather than working for someone else). Again, don't skip this step.

And these processes should be WRITTEN in order to be worthwhile. THEN you can move ahead to a business plan if that is the right direction for you. Self-employment is so hard, so I admire your enthusiasm, but ultimately want you to thrive, which is why I suggest these steps.

If you have a passion for recruiting or career development, our society needs good people filling those roles!

And why an LLC? Maybe you have already taken this step, but it does require extra paperwork and often extra fees.

Feel free to post more questions!

ACP AdvisorNet Staff ⋅ New York, NY ⋅ 10 years experience

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for posting your question to ACP AdvisorNet! Sorry it hasn't been answered yet. For now, I recommend that you head to the Community Feature: https://acp-advisornet.org/community/advisors. There you can search for advisors with small business experience to private message.

I already found a couple that might be able to help answer some of your questions.

https://acp-advisornet.org/community/r4np3n/D-Emmanuel-Smith

https://acp-advisornet.org/community/t4xgz9/Michael-Harrington

You may also want to check out an organization called SCORE. They offer free business mentoring and education services. Here is the webstie: https://www.score.org/

I hope that helps get you started! Let us know if you have any further questions.