{"id":84574,"date":"2022-11-19T11:06:00","date_gmt":"2022-11-19T15:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=84574"},"modified":"2022-11-30T15:46:20","modified_gmt":"2022-11-30T19:46:20","slug":"how-to-open-a-company","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-open-a-company\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Open a Company: The 2 Essential Steps"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Do you know how to open a company? How should you market your business?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once you’ve nailed down what you’re going to sell and you’ve established yourself as the creator of a solution, it’s time to move on<\/a> to the next step. Sahil Lavingia’s book The Minimalist Entrepreneur<\/em> says that you’ll be ready to open your business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let’s look at Lavingia’s advice on how to open a company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

1. Set Up Your Infrastructure<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The first step to learning how to open a company is to set up the infrastructure to run it. This will include a name, a website and email address, social media accounts, a payment system, and an avenue for feedback. Lavingia offers the following advice for each:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Name your business.<\/strong> Lavingia says a key feature of your business name should be that it\u2019s easy for people to remember and Google. Don\u2019t make it too complicated or difficult to spell. He personally likes names that combine two easy words, like Facebook and Gumroad, but as long as it\u2019s fairly simple and easy to remember, choose what you feel represents your product. (Shortform note: Before settling on your business name, you may want to do a trademark search<\/a> to be sure the name isn\u2019t already in use. You might also want to trademark your business name, so you have the exclusive legal rights to the name.). <\/li>
  2. Create a website and business email address.<\/strong> Your website doesn\u2019t need to be anything elaborate or pretty, as long as it\u2019s functional, easy to navigate, and explains clearly what service or product you offer. (Shortform note: One of the mistakes businesses make is creating a website that\u2019s too \u201cbusy.\u201d In Building a Storybrand<\/em><\/a>, Donald Miller says the only information people need from your website is: what you have to offer and how they can get it.)<\/li>
  3. Create social media accounts<\/strong> for the business, separate from your personal ones. Depending on what your service or product is, some sites may work better than others. You might consider Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, and TikTok. <\/li>
  4. Set up a payment system<\/strong> through something like Square or Stripe.<\/li>
  5. Have a feedback avenue.<\/strong> Lavingia says you\u2019ll want to create a way to get fast and frequent feedback from customers, so you can constantly tweak accordingly. <\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    2. Launch and Market<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    When you have your infrastructure set up, you\u2019re ready to go. Lavingia says at this point you\u2019ll launch and begin to market simultaneously. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    He advises against paid advertising because it\u2019s too expensive and too broadly targeted for a minimalist business. He says you don\u2019t need to spend any<\/em> money on marketing<\/strong>. You can do it all yourself because you\u2019ve already established yourself with your target audience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    He also advises against having a launch party just yet. Instead, start by \u201ccold calling\u201d to educate people on your services, then begin more widespread social media marketing<\/a>, then<\/em> have your launch party. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Spread the Word<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Lavingia recognizes that most people, especially creative types, hate doing sales and marketing. So he advises thinking of sales as \u201ceducation\u201d about your product or service. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Start spreading the word about your business by reaching out individually to people in your target community, like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. Connect with experts and influencers.<\/strong> Scour social media to find subject matter experts, such as journalists, bloggers, and influencers who have posted about businesses similar to yours. For example, if you\u2019re creating a photo-editing app, look for people who have YouTube reviews of similar apps, or bloggers who write about photography and photo editing. Make a list of everyone you can find. Message them and offer to show them your product. You may even want to take them out for lunch if they\u2019re local. Ask these people for their feedback and learn from them. Don\u2019t necessarily try to sell them on your product, or ask them for reviews or promotion. Just educate them and show it off. Simply making these connections puts you in a network that can eventually generate referrals and customers. Lavingia did this with hundreds of people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    2. Target potential customers in your community.<\/strong> Search your internet communities for people who might be interested in your product and reach out to them individually. Message them and just tell them a little about what you have to offer. For example, Lavingia\u2019s website Gumroad offered a way to sell digital products<\/a> to people. So he scoured the internet looking for people who were selling digital products in a less efficient way, like emailing the product to every customer. He wrote a quick message to each of those people telling them he had created a more efficient way to automate the process of selling digital files and welcoming them to check out his website if interested.  He did this with thousands of people. (Shortform note: This is called \u201ccold messaging.\u201d Tips for successful cold messaging include: Keep your message brief and authentic<\/a>.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    3. Don\u2019t get discouraged.<\/strong> Most people will ignore you or say no. Don\u2019t take it personally. Remember, this is your passion, so just keep sharing enthusiastically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    According to Lavingia, this will be how you generate sales in the beginning. He advises that you always be authentic<\/a> and open with your customers, creating relationships with them, so they\u2019ll be inspired and feel part of a community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Set Up Your Funnel<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    The next step in marketing will be to set up your \u201cfunnel.\u201d In Lavingia\u2019s model, the funnel is made up of social media at the top and email in the middle, which will funnel your sales to you at the bottom. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Lavingia recommends setting up your funnel as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Top of the funnel: social media<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Your social media presence will be your farthest-reaching marketing vehicle. Here you\u2019ll want to create content that will be interesting and engaging enough to generate followers. <\/strong>Some advice Lavingia offers for managing your social media content includes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n