Resources · For your business
A calm first checklist for starting your business
For the person with an idea and a full heart. Building a business is not one giant leap. It is a series of small, clear steps, and you are allowed to take them one at a time.
Before anything else
Three questions worth an hour of your life
Most business plans fail politely, in a drawer. What actually carries a new business through its first year is clarity on three questions. Sit with them before you spend a dollar.
Who exactly do you serve?
Not everyone. One kind of person, with one kind of problem, described so specifically that they would say "that is me."
What painful or expensive problem do you solve for them?
People pay for relief and results, not for categories. If the problem is vague, the sale will be too.
Why you?
Your experience, your taste, your story. This is what no competitor can copy, and it is usually the part new owners undersell.
The checklist
Ten steps, in order
- Say it in one sentence.
"I help [who] with [problem] so they can [result]." If the sentence is fuzzy, everything downstream gets fuzzy. Rewrite it until a stranger nods.
- Talk to five real potential customers before you build anything.
Ask about their problem, not your idea. What have they tried, what did it cost them, what would relief look like? You are listening for the words they use. Those words become your marketing.
- Shape the simplest version of your offer.
One service, one clear outcome, one price. You can add the menu later. Complexity before customers is procrastination wearing a business suit.
- Price it, and charge from day one.
Look at what others charge, then resist the urge to be the cheapest. Underpricing attracts the hardest clients and quietly tells people you doubt yourself. Early discounts are fine when they are named founding rates and traded for a testimonial.
- Make it legal, simply.
Register your business name with your province (in BC that is BC Registries), and once revenue passes 30,000 dollars in a year, register for GST. Open a separate bank account on day one. Future you, at tax time, will be grateful.
- Set up a simple digital home.
One page that says who you help, what it costs, and how to book. A free Google Business Profile if you serve anyone locally. That beats a beautiful ten page website that ships next year.
- Choose one marketing channel and stay there.
The place your people already gather, whether that is LinkedIn, Instagram, a local community, or a newsletter. One channel, showing up consistently for six months, beats five channels visited occasionally.
- Get your first ten customers by conversation, not by advertising.
Warm circles first. Tell people what you now do and ask who they know who struggles with the problem you solve. It feels small. It is how nearly every service business actually starts.
- Track three numbers only.
Money in, money out, and how many honest conversations you had with potential customers this week. The third number predicts the first one.
- Ask for the referral and the testimonial, every time.
A happy customer expects to be asked and almost never volunteers. One sentence does it. "If this helped, would you tell one person, and may I quote you?"
Worth avoiding
Five traps that eat first years
Perfecting the brand before finding the customer. Logos do not buy anything.
Building in secret. Feedback in week two is a gift. Feedback in month eight is a bill.
Working for free without a frame. Free work with no end date teaches people your work is worth nothing. Founding rates with a testimonial attached teach the opposite.
Trying every platform at once. Scattered presence reads as no presence.
Waiting to feel ready. Readiness is a result of starting, not a requirement for it.
Our picks
Places worth your time
Support organization
Small Business BC
Free and low cost advisory, registration help, and workshops for BC businesses. If you are starting in this province, start here.
Visit the site →Bank resource library
BDC free tools and guides
The Business Development Bank of Canada publishes solid free templates and articles on business plans, cash flow, pricing, and marketing basics.
Browse the tools →Book · Rob Fitzpatrick
The Mom Test
A short, funny, practical book on how to talk to potential customers so they tell you the truth instead of what you want to hear. Step two of the checklist, taught properly.
About the book →Book · Paul Jarvis
Company of One
A calm case that a small, profitable, sane business is a finish line, not a failure to scale. Especially good for solo service businesses.
About the book →Want this checklist applied to your idea?
That is what an Advisory Session is, one hour on your business, with direct input on your offer, your pricing, and your next three moves. It starts with a free 20-minute call.
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