Hi Justin,

Good for you. It will probably be the most frustrating/rewarding thing you have ever done.

The SBA is a really good place to start. http://www.sba.gov We all like to complain about the government gettin' all up in our business, but here's an example of the government actually trying to help you and provide you with resources. Might as well use em'. Find the local office and you'll have the opportunity to work with sucessful businesspeople, who want to help you succeed.

When I started my first business we went thru the whole SBA coaching track, and it was invaluable. Basically some older retired and semi-retired businessmen and entrepreneurs who walk you thru all the things you need to do to start a business and try to help you avoid the many many pitfalls there are in doing that. They probably won't have much industry-specific advice (although they might if you get coaches who know the industry) but you'll get really good general business advice that's applicable to most any type of business. How to do a business plan, get the requisite licenses/permits, etc, do the right gov and IRS paperwork, etc. Even personal stuff, like how to set and stick to goals.

Best of luck, i wish you success.

Joe

Paper wise aaplies to USA based biz:

Ensure your intended location can do biz as intended (IE ZONING)
Make your LLC,INC, ETC...
Registed the above with your state's secretary of state, aditionally some states require aditional submission if doing business in their state.
Then get your EIN # from irs (EIN is akin to a ssn)
Then get sales and use tax certificates, this varries from state to state.

The above is the minimum paperwork generally speaking you will need

~From an Anonymous Blogger~

As someone who's worked for several SMB IT Businesses (that failed) i can offer you up two very VERY important bits of advice.

1. Be 100% customer oriented, regardless of how small they may be. Losing a small client can have a big impact on your bottom line, and you'll find it's hard to get clients in the first place, so do your best to keep any many of your clients as possible.

2. Never be afraid to rely on vendors for help/contract work. You'll end up needing to do a job that you've never done before, rather than do it wrong yourself, sub-contract out someone who you know can do the job. If you build good vendor relationships you can easily make this affordable.

As a field engineer i've seen both of these ruin businesses, you'd think they would be simple enough.

~From an Anonymous Blogger~

One of the first things I did was buy this book:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Small-Business-Start-up-Workbook-Step-/dp/1845280385/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1326446414&sr=1-2

Not sure if you can get it in the USA but it was an excellent resource that answered a lot of my questions.

~Posted by Anonymous Blogger~

What is the first thing you should do when starting a business?

My friends and I are young professionals in the IT industry and are interested in starting a business. We are new to this arena so we are looking for suggestions and hopefully some follower's that would be willing to share some knowledge on how they have or are starting their businesses. So please share all questions and answers are welcomed to this forum and with that being said the first question will be:

What is the first thing someone should do when they decide they are ready to start a business?