Difference #4: The Politics

At a big company, you usually don’t have to worry about  working for multiple bosses or married couples.  You are also rarely forced to deal with relatives of the CEO, ownership teams who have been friends since college, and spouses of executives who ask for your help with a side business.  But at small companies, these things are both commonplace and expected.  The relationships, social circles and histories at small companies often make them a nightmare to navigate politically—making the shelf-life of even the best managers a mere four or five years at the most.

Why do people choose to start their own business?

Don't want to work for a boss, think you can do better finding your own clients than working for customers, like to set your own hours, want to get paid for what you actually do instead of earning money for a big corporation, being able to work from home, making more than you would if you were working for a corporation, the ability to take vacations whenever you want, the ability to work 80-hour weeks if you choose to ... that "flexibility" thing covers a great many scenarios. Mostly it's just the joy of being independent.

“You want to start your own business, but don’t know how to start. Follow these steps and you will be well on your way”

STEP 1 Business Ideas  To start a business you will need to choose or create a business idea. While this is an obvious step many people who want their own business don't have an idea, just the desire to be an entrepreneur. For the budding entrepreneur, there are many options; buying a franchise or an existing business, or looking to others for ideas for a start-up business. Once you have decided on the business you wish to start, then the real work begins.

STEP 2 Business Plan  Writing a business plan is your next and most important step, this is how you and others will evaluate your business. When seeking financing the investors or lenders will want to read your plan before they supply you with funding. If you're financing the business yourself, you will still want to have a written plan to develop business strategies and financial projections. A key element within the business plan is the marketing plan, which explains marketing strategies that will be used to advertise and promote the products or services. The goal setting steps of the plan will help you to analyze the success of the business in future years and clearly illustrate the capital needed to operate the company to break-even.

STEP 3 Financing  With your business plan in hand, you are ready to go find yourself some capital. Most small businesses have three options for financing: friends & family, investors or bank loans. Each of these options has different considerations for the business. Investors and even friends & family usually want ownership and control of their portion of the business. Bank loans burden the business with an additional expense of the loan payment, which can erode the business profits.

STEP 4 Getting started  You've got the plan, the money and the enthusiasm; you're ready, right? Not yet, as with everything you need to take the legal issues into consideration. First you should choose a legal structure: Sole Proprietorship, Partnership, or Corporation. Your financing decisions will have an effect on what legal structure you choose. Now you can file with the state to incorporate and obtain a federal Identification number.

STEP 5 Opening the Doors  Okay, it's time to get on the road to making some money; this of course means spending money. Where are you going to run your business? Will a home office do or is commercial space needed to service your customers? Do you need to hire employees to help you run the business? What are your bookkeeping needs, do you need an accountant? Finally, who could forget taxes, what taxes do you have to pay and collect? Now that your business is through the start-up phase, you can now look forward to the issues of managing a small business.