Starting a small business involves many types of decisions, steps and processes. The beginning is a big matter for the entrepreneur. You have to perform different activities to find out what you will be doing, when you will do it, and how you will do it.

You have to find answer to many questions. You will have different operations to perform like selecting the business, the industry, ownership form, finance, business plan, tax related issues, business process, site selection, licenses, registration and so on. The list is very big.

You have to not only perform these; but have to perform them fine. You have to prioritize the activities and perform them accordingly. For an inexperienced entrepreneur, the tasks become more needed.

Starting a small business may be divided into two stages: one is pre-startup stage, and the other is post startup stage.

Pre-startup Stage:
This stage is actually a planning stage. You have to plan your activities and act accordingly. This stage is very crucial as you plan out your whole business here only.

In this stage you will decide about the idea of business. The idea development will take sometime. Idea generation depends on many factors like your exposure, background, family, education, psychological state, prior experience, cultural background etc. Business ideas will vary from person to person. Your previous experiences will decide what you will do.

After you decide the idea, you will have to prepare a business plan. A business plan contains everything about the business idea like idea, market, process of producing or developing it, finance needed and finance sources, financial projection etc. You can make it yourself or you can delegate it to experts.

You have to arrange for the finance for your small business in this stage. Finance source may be different for you. You have to complete the entire certificate and license related works. You will need to find out the location and start the structure for future processing.

Post startup stage:
This is the implementation of the idea and plans. The entire plan that you have for your small business is to be done practically.

You have to mage the business in this stage. Already you have started the small business. Now you have to manage it daily. You have to mange the customer related issues, employee related issues, inventory and supply chain related issues, and production related issues.

Starting a small business can happen in three ways. You can start a new business, you can acquire already existing business, or you can start a franchisee of a reputed organization.

Starting a New Business:
You will start a new enterprise from scratch. This is a long term process and is really tough. You have to start and build all the systems in a business.

Acquiring a existing business:
If you want to acquire an already existing business, then it is a little easier for you than starting a new business. Here you get some of the systems of the business pre built. This will help you to start the business fast. You can select a business that you want to start. You can design it accordingly after you take it over. You will get customers existing already.

Franchising:
You can start a franchise, if you like to. Franchise business has many advantages. You do not have to build it up for is already built. You get the brand image facilities, the name, and support from the brand or the franchisor, and get marketing support. You do not have to think about the inventory, supply chain, marketing, advertising, and brand building. So, you can start a profitable business from the start.