The First 90 Days of Starting a Business

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The process of starting a business involves key steps from choosing a business name to selecting a business structure. Once your doors are open, the first 90 days of being in business sets the foundation for successful survival. Learn what you need to know during the first 90 days of starting a business.

Get Your First Customer

You aren't in business until you have a customer. If you didn't have a customer at the beginning of startup, make this priority one.

Reach out to your warm contacts. People who know you will want to see you succeed and will give you the necessary business or referrals.

Master Selling

Selling is essential to business success. It's a business function often downplayed by new startups lacking sales experience. Set a regular time weekly to learn and apply new selling skills in your business. Forget the hype that marketing will do the selling. Marketing is a separate function from sales. Marketing will create the interest to contact your company. Once you have contact, use your selling skills to close the deal.

Make a Profit

Sales revenue shows on the top line of financials. The profit is the bottom line. Without profits your business will fail. Understand the costs of your business and ensure you focus on making money. For certain businesses, profits will follow an investment in inventory or other start up costs. Run financials to determine when your company will be profitable.

Evaluate Pricing

When starting a business it's common to make assumptions about what prices to charge customers and the profits made. During the first 90 days your assumptions will be challenged with the realities of the market place. Take a close look at your price strategy. Don't make the common error of trying to be the lowest price provider.

Your competitors have established their businesses and can often undercut prices longer than you.

Set Quarterly Goals

Running a new startup is time consuming and stressful. You have to learn multiple skills and have numerous systems to setup. It's easy to get caught up in the day-to-day. Successful entrepreneurs know seeing the horizon and having a 90 day plan with objectives and milestones can mean the difference between failure and survival.

Find Your Entrepreneurial Type


Reward Yourself

Starting a business is like launching a rocket into space. The amount of energy to leave the earth's gravity force is tremendous but once beyond the pull of the earth the energy needed is reduced. Recognize the energy you have expended to start your business and take the time out to reward yourself.

The time off will recharge your motivation and ensure success for the next 90 days. If you are ready to dig into your first 90 days of business ownership, review this step-by-step list of how to start a business to make sure you are ready to get started.

Edited by Alyssa Gregory.