By KC Miller – SWIHA Success Center Blogger

Going into business for yourself isn’t something to be taken lightly. However, if you wait for all the lights to turn green, you might never leave the driveway of your mind! There is an old saying, “It is better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all.” The same is true about business. While it may be true many small business fail, many make it! Here are some tips to help you GO for it!

1. GO get a business card.

Decide what you are willing to offer as a service, claim it as yours, and put it on a card. You can get inexpensive business cards by going to websites like www.VistaPrint.com or www.123print.com . Often your first set of up to 250 cards will be free. Order them! Your card will likely change many times over the first couple of years; it is part of the process. Create . . . and adjust.

2. GO make a website or blog.

It’s very easy and inexpensive to create a website or blog. And once you have one, you are in business! Recent research has revealed that over eighty-five percent of consumers search for businesses online. Blog platforms like WordPress.com or Blogger.com are easy and inexpensive, sometimes even free, if you don’t mind having the company name as part of your url. Go Daddy, a web hosting company, recently came out with an inexpensive tool that makes building a website on your own extremely easy, and their customer service support is exceptional as well! In a matter of a few hours you can have an entry-level website, known as a landing page, built.

3. GO to the Secretary of State’s website in your state.

Check to see if the business name you are considering is available. It is a simple process of looking up your state’s Secretary of State website, then typing in your desired business name. Once you get the ball rolling you won’t want to stop the momentum by having to go back and change your name because someone else has already legally claimed the name. IF the name is taken, it wasn’t meant to be yours. Choose again and get going.

4. GO to the bank.

GO to the bank and start a separate business checking account. Start by depositing $100 into this account as a token of your 100 percent commitment to make your new business work. Pay for all your business expenses out of your business account. Deposit all of your new business income into this account. Do not co-mingle personal and business expenses. If it is a business expense, pay it from the business account; if it is a personal expense, pay it from your personal account.

While it is true you may have to just turn around and write a check back to yourself to deposit into your personal account, that’s the point. You want your business to generate enough to pay YOU. The more careful you are with your accounting, the easier it will be when it comes to reporting income taxes. All the expenses from your business account will become write-offs.

5. GO to places where like minded people mingle.

Being in business means getting out and meeting people face to face, eye to eye. Go to networking meetings, events and gatherings, maybe even to church. The key is to GO and mingle. Talk to people. Ask them about themselves. Find out what makes them tick. Make it a personal challenge to determine how your product or service can best support their needs. Don’t sell them ~ serve them!

6. GO to classes.

GO to classes and read a lot of books. Starting a business is not a natural talent for most people. It is a learned skill. Take a class from the Small Business Administration, many of which are online. Southwest Institute of Healing Arts offers a set of courses in their 100 Hour Certificate of Excellence in Holistic Entrepreneurship, as well as lifelong entrepreneurial support for students and graduates through Our Success Center.