Be My Money Coach

The value of a business plan is not the end product of a 50 page door stop but the process of thinking through your business idea and how you can make it a success.

That said, for those of you who hate the idea of laboring over a long business plan, here's a quick and easy guide to flush out the guts of your idea and see if it's feasible before making the investment into a detailed plan.

1. What business will you be in? Will you be selling a product, service or both?

2. Who will be involved in the business and what will they be doing?

3. What's your market niche?

4. Who is your customer (male/female, age, income and lifestyle)?

5. What's the market for this product or service and what's the market trend (are sales increasing or decreasing?)?

6. What is your competitive edge?

7. Who are your competitors and what do they offer and how do they price it?

8. What will it cost to get this business up and running?

9. How much will this biz make over the next five years?

You've decided to start a business in Ontario and now need to register it. Here's a quick how-to that walks you through the registration.

If you want your business name to be the same as your website name (url) then follow the steps in this order. If you don't, you can skip step 2:

Step #1 Search your biz name to ensure it's available. Use Ontario's Business Services Application at
www.ontario.ca/en/services_for_business/index.htm

Step #2 If your business name is available, search for and register the url at any other of your favorite url provider sites (e.g. www.namecheap.com)

If the url is available buy it now. People have found that when they searched for a url and came back to buy it later, it was no longer available. There are various programs out there that track people's searches for urls and buy them if available in the hopes of reselling it at a higher price.

Step #3 Go back and register the biz name. Use Ontario's Business Services Application at www.ontario.ca/en/services_for_business/index.htm

In a single online session, you can register or renew your business, and apply to the Ontario Ministry of Revenue for the Retail Sales Tax (RST) and Employer Health Tax (EHT), and to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB).

The Result

You now have your Master Business Licence, an official proof of your business name registration and your Url.

Your next steps

Start selling your products and/or services and create a website