Unlock Your Entrepreneurial Potential: Your business questions answered with Shannon Russell | Ep #157

Welcome to the Second Act Success Career Podcast with your host, Shannon Russell. In this special episode, we're sharing a live Q&A session from our recent Business Brainstorm Bootcamp. You'll hear real-time interactions and questions from women just like you, who are thinking about leaving their corporate jobs to start their own businesses. Shannon offers valuable insights and practical advice on various topics, including setting up an LLC, defining your ideal customers, managing startup costs, and prioritizing multiple business ideas. If you're ready to take the leap into entrepreneurship, this episode is packed with the answers and encouragement you need to get started.

Tune in to hear about:

• How to get started with creating an LLC and the importance of an EIN.
• The difference between an LLC name and a company name, and the importance of a DBA.
• Creative resources for designing your logo and branding.
• Tips on choosing a business name and whether to use your personal name.
• Costs associated with starting different types of businesses.
• Prioritizing multiple business ideas and focusing on what's feasible.
• Defining and targeting your ideal customers.
• Researching and troubleshooting business ideas.
• Resources and grants for women-owned businesses.
• Deciding on parent companies and sub-entities.
• Finding and securing rental properties for storefronts.

Whether you're just starting to dream about your future business or ready to take action, this episode is filled with practical steps to help you along your journey. Don't miss out on this informative and inspiring Q&A session!

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Transcript

Second Act Success Career Podcast
Season 1 - Unlock Your Entrepreneurial Potential: Your business questions answered with Shannon Russell | Ep #157
Episode - #157
Host: Shannon Russell
Transcription (*created by Descript and may not be perfectly accurate)

[00:00:00] 

Hello there. Shannon here. Thank you so much for joining the second X access career podcast. 

We just wrapped the business brainstorm bootcamp, and I'm so excited to take one of our Q and a sessions from the bootcamp and turn it into today's podcast episode. you will hear live interactions, live Q and A's from guests that were in the bootcamp, as well as me answering questions that were submitted from other members of the bootcamp as well. I think that this is really going to be an exciting and informative episode for you. 

So if you are thinking about leaving your job and starting a business, Listen in

you will hear real questions from women, just like you, and hopefully get the answers that you've been thinking about too. 

[00:00:42] Speaker 6: Are you ready to quit your nine to five job and start a business of your own? Well, you're in the right place, my friend. Welcome to the second act success career podcast. I am your host, Shannon Russell. I am a former television producer turned business owner, career transition [00:01:00] coach, and boy mom. My mission is to help you produce your best life.

This podcast will teach you how to get from where you are now to where you want to be and how to build a business that fits your life and lights you up. Let's get started.

[00:01:16] Speaker: Today is our live Q and a, I'm really excited to get started. I had some questions that had come in a day or so ago and even more came in this morning. Let's go for it.

[00:01:26] Speaker 2: Yeah, I can start. I, my first question is 

, once you have your, your idea and you have kind of that clear picture, , I'm interested in some of the resources that maybe you've used in the past in order to get the LLC started, kind of to start marketing, to get your logo done, you know, like when you have kind of like that, that clear vision, but then it's like making it tangible.

So if you can kind of share some of those experiences and some resources. 

[00:01:55] Speaker: All of those little steps are, tedious. And I think that's what scares people the [00:02:00] most is like all of that kind of like admin technical side of things. What I did, when I first started my LLC for my first business was just one step at a time.

I came up with the LLC name. I went on my state's, secretary of state it's under that on the website. And I think it's like that in most states. You make sure that your name is available, and then you just have to go to your county clerk's office, and do the paperwork, everything's online, it really is quite simple, I do think having something a little bit more general is good in case you do want to have separate entities under that LLC.

And then once you get that back that is when it's time to go start your business bank account because you'll need that EIN number that you get from starting your LLC.

And that's your employee identification number, for tax purposes. And that will be used to start your bank account So yeah, , I feel like those would be the first two steps to start as far as like the actual entity.

[00:03:00] And then of course, if you do have an accountant, start talking to them then about the tax side of things. But honestly, in the beginning, you're not pulling in money right away. So just get those couple of pieces started and then you can move forward with the other pieces down the road.

That's your LLC name or your business entity name. But your name of your business or your company, it can be completely different and for that I would say you've got to really think about what you want your company name to be see what else is out there but then as you come up with the name, then all the fun creative things side of things can happen, like your logo and your website and your branding colors. If you're creative and you want to do that on your own, Canva is the best place to start.

Everything is on Canva. I have a pro account, but you don't need it to start. You can use the free account. 

Even going onto Canva and playing around with colors, you can set up your color scheme and kind of see how those colors look together. You can play around and kind of see what you like. 

[00:03:59] Speaker 2: Just one [00:04:00] follow up is for the difference in the LLC and the company name. Do you need to register like the company name on like legally on any other platform or anything? 

[00:04:10] Speaker: Yes. Good, good, good question. That is called a DBA or doing business as, you can file the LLC and then do a registration for a DBA afterwards online. You don't have to bring any paperwork in for that, but then when you set up your bank account and other things like that, you will need to have both on there.

Thank you.

Yeah, and if you think of any more, just let me know. Is there a 

[00:04:32] Speaker 3: difference, sorry, is there LLC or when you are employing people versus if it's just, you know, You? No. 

[00:04:41] Speaker: Nope. No difference at all. It's, it's really more on the tax side of things. 

[00:04:45] Speaker 4: I've got a question, Shannon. Sure. What do you advise? Do you advise using our name in the business or something, you know, a little more, I don't want to say generic cause it's not generic, but something without using our name. 

[00:04:59] Speaker: [00:05:00] That's a hard one. For me, I didn't want it to be my name because I just wanted it to be more of an entity, but there's so many people who use their name.

I thought it was easier to have secondactsuccess. co rather than Shannon Russell. What if people spell it wrong? So for me, I, I kind of prefer just the name. It's really a personal decision and I haven't learned any pros and cons from either. 

[00:05:23] Speaker 3: I'm 

[00:05:24] Speaker: still happy with the decision that I made just For spelling purposes and all of that.

Yeah, that's a good 

[00:05:29] Speaker 4: question. I see what you're saying.

[00:05:31] Speaker: Exactly. But yeah, it's like those little things you want to think about. 

[00:05:34] Speaker 4: Yeah. 

[00:05:35] Speaker: You're always going to have your name in there too, right? Whether it's your handle or just up in your profile, you'll still have your name. 

[00:05:41] Speaker 4: Does it cost money to do LLC? 

[00:05:45] Speaker: It's very little. And then you do your business registration. It's either once a year or every two years you do that, but it's not much at all. Okay. And that just keeps you in the government system and up and running, 

When I first started out, there's all of these different, , [00:06:00] websites that will do it for you. You don't need to go through like a. TurboTax type of place that will start up your LLC for you.

You can easily get it yourself. It's very, very simple online. And it, again, it really is just under your state. I'm pretty sure it's a secretary of state, part of the government website and you'll see how to do it there. So I would not recommend paying for one of the companies that will pop up on Google.

Good to know. 

[00:06:23] Speaker 4: Good to 

[00:06:23] Speaker: Yeah. And at the end of the day, you just want that business registration certificate that you'll keep on your, you know, computer and you'll have your EIN number. That's all you really need to prove that you're a business entity, a 

[00:06:35] Speaker 4: legit business. 

[00:06:37] Speaker: Exactly. 

[00:06:39] Speaker 3: For someone like me where I'm like, I know I want to work for myself like and I you know I enjoy freelancing so like I'll continue to pick those up But as someone who's like unsure of what I want my personal brand or business to be What are some like brainstorming?

Tips or like techniques or like so that I [00:07:00] can help get there 

[00:07:02] Speaker: Yeah, I mean for, for you then maybe having your name be your brand or have something like that that's more general might work since you're not sure what exactly it is that you want to do yet. could create, a website with just your name or something that's a little bit more general to keep it open.

There's something to be said in ease to be like, okay, here's where you can learn everything that I do and then just have different tabs to that. 

[00:07:30] Speaker 3: and I do have a website that just like feature some of my content, but I mean it needs help.

But yeah, I think that you're right that trying to keep it all under one umbrella 



[00:07:39] Speaker: So I have another branch of my coaching business. where I work with businesses and I do what's called Lego serious play. I don't talk about it a whole lot, but it's where I go into businesses and I use Legos to help team build with corporations. it's a completely separate business, if you will. I'm not creating a totally separate website for that.

So I have a separate [00:08:00] section. It's not on my main navigation, but for when I do reach out or I'm in communication for that aspect of my business, I just have it under second act success, and it's just kind of a corporate, aspect of what I do. It's completely separate than career coaching, but it's still kind of in the consulting, helping teams and corporations, , Have better results.

I kept it under there to make it easy so that if someone's there, they can see other things that I do and vice versa. So if that makes sense, that's perfect. I'll take 

[00:08:31] Speaker 3: a look at your site too and see how it's 

[00:08:33] Speaker: But I think that's nice too. Like I have my speaking and my book so you have it in one navigation that's easy for you. Okay. Thank you. I'm going to share real quick. I'll pull up, the other questions that got emailed to me 

Okay, first question how do I define who my ideal customers are for my business idea? What if I don't know yet? This can't be defined until you know what business you're creating, but obviously, , you want to think about really who you [00:09:00] want to serve.

So if you are doing, fitness, if you want to be a personal trainer, you want to decide, are you, do you want to work with women? Do you want to work with men? Do you want to work with moms? Do you want to work with college students? Really target who you're working with? Are you working with, Women who have had, chronic illness and different, physical issues that you can help them work on.

You can really niche down as much as you want and start thinking about those ideal customers. And that can come back into your research phase of things too. If you wanna start researching really what else is out there. And if you are finding that there is a gap. for this kind of audience, then you can start your business really focusing and targeting that specific community or that specific group.

Once you have your business idea, that's when you can really start thinking about your ideal customer. it's okay to change it too. You can always change it later, by knowing your ideal customers, that will help you with your messaging and your marketing when you're putting yourself out [00:10:00] there.

And I think we mentioned this before. I target Women in midlife, you know in their 30s 40s and 50s, but I have men who come and want to work with me as well So you can target and be very niched down and still get customers outside of that, which is great to have as well But your messaging is going to be focused on your ideal customers.

Next one. How do I begin to figure out how much starting a business will cost? This is a big one and it really all depends on the type of business you are starting. So if you are starting an online consulting business or an online coaching business, that is going to cost you a lot less than if you're opening a brick and mortar storefront building, right?

depending on what kind of business you're starting, you can think about all of the little things like we just discussed, getting the LLC, getting a website. There are things that you can do on your own that can cost little using programs like Canva or asking friends, maybe even [00:11:00] bartering services with friends.

I have a friend who is really great at SEO, and we're going to barter a little bit so that she can look over my website and I'm going to give her some coaching help. So there's things you can do to kind of keep costs down. And you can start slow. However, if you want to pay somebody to create your website and pay someone to do your branding, there's an investment in that.

But then again, if it's an online business, it might just be you working at home, on your computer. , however, when you're opening a brick and mortar, and I can speak to this because I've done that in the past as well, it's very, very expensive. And oftentimes you need to get a business loan for that or acquire that money for the build out.

So that's going to cost you a lot more. I would say, if you're trying to figure out how much your startup costs would be, Define exactly what your business is open up a Google sheet or an Excel spreadsheet and just write down all of the items that you will need [00:12:00] to purchase or invest in and research how much each of those will cost.

That's you'll see. And if it is a bigger cost like a brick and mortar, That's when you need to go to the bank and get a business loan or acquire those funds. And you can talk with the landlord if you're renting and you can talk with, the mortgage company if you're buying. There's different ways that you can work out what your monthly payments will be, but you want to start doing the research into that.

If you're thinking about a franchise business, there's going to be a buy in to buy that franchise but then you're also going to have monthly franchise fees that you will have to pay every month. So you want to make sure you do all that research and it all depends on the type of business that you're starting.

All right, next one. if one of your businesses you can get up and running, should you work on that one first? Okay, so this one, is about if you have a couple of different ideas. If you know that you can get one up and running, should you work on that first?

Yes, definitely. I think if you're [00:13:00] working on a couple and one seems a little bit easier, absolutely. Try to work on that and put your focus on that and leave the The other one on the back burner until you have some more free time. I think that just makes the most sense. Unless there's some reason where that's that other business idea.

You feel like you have a passion. You feel like if you just give it some time and energy, you'll be able to get that one up as well. Then maybe in your free time, you can work on it little by little. With the logo. With the website. With the little admin kind of stuff you can still work on to keep up your momentum.

But yeah, if you have a business that you think is easier to get up and running, definitely work on that first. Put all of your energy in there. Once that's up and running, And it might take some time. It could take six months to a year till you really have it up and running as a smooth operating machine.

And then you can go back to that , second business idea. how do you recommend prioritizing if you have more than one? Yep. Really? Just, prioritize which you have kind of more of a gut reaction to that you really want to [00:14:00] dive into and one that you think might be a little bit simpler to get off the ground, right?

You're going to learn. From that first business, getting it off the ground, and then it'll make the other one. get established that much quicker, and I know it's exciting when you have multiple ideas and you really think they can all work, and you want to do them all at once. Trust me, I am working on 10 million different things at the moment, and I want all of them to be up and out right away.

Sometimes you just have to say, okay, this is a great idea, and I'm going to brain dump all of my ideas for this on this Google Doc, and it's going to sit over here until I'm ready to go. But I'm going to focus and prioritize on getting this baby up and out so that I have a one existing business that can bring me some income and revenue.

And then I can start with the others. So I think the one that's easiest is the one to go for first. Hope that helps. The next one. I have an idea, but I'm not sure if it's feasible yet. I need to see if I can buy or license content to [00:15:00] support my training platform idea. So I need to start diving into this.

How would you research an idea? What do you do if you keep running into dead ends and can't find the information you're looking for? it just comes down to research. So if you're diving into an idea and how long would you research an idea? If you run into dead ends. I would say that you'd want to reach out to someone who has done something similar, because you'd want to find out if there's other similar businesses out there that are already established and doing a similar thing to what you're thinking of starting.

Reach out to someone on that team or the founder and just pick their brain, if you will, and ask them how they did it. how long it took to get started, what ideas they have. Again, that goes back to joining groups that are very specific in what it is that you're looking for on Facebook, on LinkedIn, wherever you can find them and really start asking people who have already done [00:16:00] it.

If you know, there are others out there that are similar. then you know it can be done and you just want to figure out how to do it for yourself. Running into dead ends, it's just going to take some more detailed research, I'd say.

And maybe bringing in even consultants. If you're running into a website design IT kind of problem, then maybe find someone who works in that field that can take a look at what you're working on and maybe look at it with them. With a more specified, specialized, mind, really knowing how to build a platform like that.

Whatever you don't have a specific expertise in, try to find someone who does, who can try and troubleshoot with you, is what I would say. But researching and reaching out are the main ways, just however you can to try and ask for how you can turn this idea into a reality.

Okay. Do you have any resources that support women owned businesses in addition to the [00:17:00] SBA? I usually refer clients to the SBA as a starting point. There are definitely support systems in each state to support women owned businesses. There are grants to help support women owned businesses.

I have a friend who is opening up a brick and mortar this fall and she just received a grant from her state to do so. If you research in your state and look under the state website too for grants and just type in minority owned businesses, women owned businesses, you will see different grants and organizations.

It really will just take you a little bit of Googling for your state. And also the SBA will have that information as well. So if you do go to the small business association, they will be able to point you into all of that as well. 

All right. Do I create an overall LLC and then eventually have my coaching business under my parent company?

I own, you have a parent company that you already own, then I would create [00:18:00] an overall LLC if you don't already have one, and have that for your parent company, and then have your coaching business underneath that.

I do have friends who have separate LLCs for every business venture that they have. You can do that as well. So if you feel like you already have your parent company established in one way, shape, or form as a business entity, and you want to keep the LLC separate for your coaching, you can do that too.

I think it's whatever's just easier for you at this stage of the game, especially if you already have a business set up. , if you have an accountant, you can ask them what they prefer to. 

See who you're working with and who you can get that advice from and go in that direction. Either way really works. It's totally up to you. How do I begin looking for rental properties if I want to open a storefront? If you know you want a storefront and you know the area in your community or your town, Of where you want to open this business then I would say before you even [00:19:00] get online and start looking Drive around like figure out exactly where you want it.

Do you want it in a strip mall? Do you want it in a more? Industrial area where maybe the rent will be a little cheaper, and it's more of a destination location, but it's not a foot traffic location, right? You just want to think about really where you want it and then drive around and see my first storefront.

I purchased, I knew I wanted to be in this particular area. I drove by, I saw a sign and I called the realtor. I didn't have my own corporate real estate agent that I was working with. I literally did it on my own speaking with just the landlord's real estate agent. because I knew I wanted that particular area, but If you drive around, you see something, you can pick up the phone and call the phone number, start that conversation, or you can start going online and there's lots of different websites where you can just kind of put in what you want, the type of building you're looking for, the type of lease, if you [00:20:00] want a three year, a five year, a 10 year, that will all depend too on what's available, how soon you want it.

So you want to think about all that information before you have a conversation. Think about how long you want your lease for. Do you want to purchase or do you want to rent? All of that information, when do you want to start? , and then make that phone call or look online and find properties that will work for you.

Drive by them, make sure you like the area, that you like the neighbors, the other stores that might be there. really do your due diligence. You can also, if you are in a strip mall kind of area, or a mall mall, or a bigger, shopping area, I would go into the other stores nearby and ask them about the landlord and ask them what their experience is with the customers and clientele there.

really get all of your information that you can. Also what's interesting that no one told me before I had gone in to rent my brick and mortar was to ask about a build out Compensation [00:21:00] so I needed to really build out my store And I was able to get a lot of money from the realtor from the landlord For the build out, which was huge and was a really, really big help.

And I didn't know that that was even possible. And there's been several friends of mine that I've said that too, and they've been able to get that money as well. So just something to keep in your back pocket when you are speaking with the landlord and making those negotiations. and then of course you'll need a, , attorney to look over the contracts and all that as you move forward as well.

Just do your research. It's the same as researching a business. You want to research your area and, , where you want to go with your storefront too. All right, here's another one. If I want to take what I've been working on in my career for many years and head out on my own, where do I even start?

I want to do the same work, but be my own boss. Okay, I'm taking this as you want to do some kind of a consulting, 

and maybe you even start this while you're working in your current career. But you [00:22:00] can do the same things we were talking about start an LLC, get your website, get your logo, build out what you want to build what you want your business to be how you want your branding to be. Your messaging, who your ideal client is, and then start working that on the side.

If that's the case that you've been in this career for many years, you know, the cost of what it takes, what clients or customers are willing to pay. You can plan your rates accordingly. You can take what you're doing for your boss and kind of make your own packages of what you want to offer. So you can really take what you already know and just.

Move it over, you're the boss, you're taking 100 percent of that, and build it out however you like. And the really good thing is that you can take the aspects of your current role with you. And if there are things that you don't want, then you can hire for, That's so you're not doing the things that you don't like because you will be your own boss and you can create what you want to [00:23:00] create and build out your team and your business, all on your own.

So I think that's wonderful. That is such a great way to get into entrepreneurship is just really to take what you already do and make it your own. Good luck with that. That's exciting. Okay, I have a side hustle that I've been working on for a few years, selling products online in an Etsy shop.

How will I know if I can afford to do this full time? it goes back to the research, right? look at your analytics, your statistics. How much have you been making? through your Etsy shop, and how many hours have you been putting into it? If you see that you're making a pretty good, decent amount, and that if you didn't work your full time job, and you can create your products full time and run the shop full time, how much more money would you be making?

So you're kind of in a good spot of just really needing to do the analytics here, because you already have been building this side hustle. Study the numbers okay, if I can put X amount [00:24:00] more hours into this business and I can make this much more amount of money, is it worth it?

Is it going to comparably cover what I make with my salary? you'll have to really just do those numbers and feel if it's worth it or not for you. Or maybe you pick up the side hustle a little bit more and you do a little bit more. You spend some more time working on it, building up, seeing how much more you can make.

but yeah, that's a very personal question of just really doing the math, right? Looking and seeing what can work and when you feel confident that you can leave your full time job. Last thing would be to also kind of look at the trends in the market for the products that you're creating, How much does it cost you to create these products? Does it seem like there's going to be a need for these products for the foreseeable future? And. Make your bet based on that. If it's a trend that is a trend that might not be around next year, 

then that might not be a [00:25:00] business that's sustainable. So do your research once again, and just keep going. You have a proven. product and store that is working as a side hustle. It's all in your hands as to how fast you want to make that your full time shop.

Thank you so much for joining. And I wish you all the best of luck

[00:25:18] Speaker 5: Thank you for joining us. I hope you found some gems of inspiration and some takeaways to help you on your path to 2nd Act success. To view show notes from this episode, visit 2ndActSuccess. co. Before you go, don't forget to subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss a single episode. Reviews only take a few moments and they really do mean so much.

Thank you again for listening. I'm Shannon Russell and this is 2nd Act Success.