The How of Business - How to start, run, grow and exit a small business.

Top 7 Small Business Start-Up Mistakes and how to avoid them and launch a successful business, with Henry Lopez.

Show Notes page: https://www.thehowofbusiness.com/510-7-startup-mistakes/

How to identify and avoid or minimize some of the most common small business start-up mistakes. Henry shares his top 7 common small business mistakes to avoid, so that you can start and grow a successful and profitable business.

Top 7 Small Business Start-Up Mistakes:

7. Poor Research and Planning. 6. Bad Partners and Hiring the Wrong Team. 5. Starting Too Big and not following the MVP or iterative approach. 4. Poor Marketing & Sales. 3. Getting in Your Own Way. 2. Not Starting! Getting overwhelmed and paralyzed. 1. No Money!

Henry Lopez is the host of The How of Business podcast – helping you start, run and grow your small business. The How of Business is a top-rated podcast for small business and entrepreneurs. Find the best podcast, small business coaching, resources and trusted service partners for small business owners and entrepreneurs at our website https://TheHowOfBusiness.com

Finding your identity is your path to finding personal and small business success. Hosts Henry Lopez and David Begin discuss how to find your multidimensional identity.

Show Notes page: https://www.thehowofbusiness.com/509-finding-your-identity/

Is your personal identity predominantly based on being the Small Business Hero or the Successful Serial Entrepreneur?

Have you realized how this identity may actually be holding you back?

Hampering you from achieving true success in your personal life and your entrepreneurial journey.

Henry Lopez and David Begin share their experiences and tips on how to Find Your Identity.

A person's identity refers to the way they understand themselves and their position in the world. It encompasses a wide range of elements that contribute to who a person is, including personal characteristics, values, beliefs, experiences, roles, and affiliations. Identity is both internally constructed, reflecting a person's self-conception and self-perception, and externally influenced by societal norms, culture, interactions, and relationships.

Letting go of the business owner identity as your only self-concept is a journey that requires time and intentional effort. It's about finding balance and fulfillment in various aspects of life, which ultimately contributes to a more resilient and diversified sense of self.

Henry Lopez is the host of The How of Business podcast – helping you start, run and grow your small business. The How of Business is a top-rated podcast for small business and entrepreneurs. Find the best podcast, resources and trusted service partners for small business owners and entrepreneurs at our website https://TheHowOfBusiness.com

How Bad Bosses ruin lives and Great Bosses enrich lives and lead the growth of a small business, with guest Debra Corey.

Show Notes page: https://www.thehowofbusiness.com/507-debra-corey-bad-bosses/

Debra Corey is back on the show to share insights and highlights from her new book, "Bad Bosses Ruin Lives - The Building Blocks for Being a Great Boss" about how to avoid being a bad boss that can ruin lives and instead learn how to be a great boss that enriches lives of our small business staff and leaders.

Debra is a highly experienced and award-winning HR consultant, world-class speaker, and six-time best-selling author who has been named as one of the top 101 global employee engagement influencers.

Henry Lopez is the host of The How of Business podcast – helping you start, run and grow your small business. The How of Business is a top-rated podcast for small business and entrepreneurs. Find the best podcast, resources and trusted service partners for small business owners and entrepreneurs at our website https://TheHowOfBusiness.com

Legal considerations of buying and selling a small business with Danya Shakfeh, a mergers and acquisitions attorney.

Show Notes page: https://www.thehowofbusiness.com/507-danya-shakfeh-legal-considerations-buying-small-business/

Attorney Danya Shakfeh shares insights and general guidelines, from a legal perspective, about buying or selling a small business.

We discuss some of the legal considerations that apply when we are buying or selling a small business, and how to hopefully avoid some common mistakes.

From a Letter of Intent (LOI) through the small business Purchase Contract, and all the due diligence steps in between, we discuss most of the important legal steps and considerations related to buying or selling a small business.

Henry Lopez is the host of The How of Business podcast – helping you start, run and grow your small business. The How of Business is a top-rated podcast for small business and entrepreneurs. Find the best podcast, resources and trusted service partners for small business owners and entrepreneurs at our website https://TheHowOfBusiness.com

Learn the fundamentals of budgeting for small business. How to create an operating expense budget for your small business, with host Henry Lopez.

Show Notes page: https://www.thehowofbusiness.com/506-budgeting-fundamentals-small-business/

Why should you create an operating budget, and how to create an annual budget that helps you maximize profitability.

Henry shares some best practices and tips and the key steps to create a small business operating budget.

Creating an annual budget is a crucial exercise for small business owners, as it provides a financial roadmap for the year ahead. Here are the key steps to follow:

9 Steps to Small Business Budgeting:

1 - Review Previous Year Financial Performance 2 - Define Your Business Goals – including Revenue and Profit 3 - Estimate Fixed Costs 4 - Estimate Variable Costs 5 - Plan for One-Time Expenses 6 - Calculate Working Capital 7 - Assemble the Budget 8 - Review and Adjust 9 - Monitor & Adjust

Henry Lopez is the host of The How of Business podcast – helping you start, run and grow your small business. The How of Business is a top-rated podcast for small business and entrepreneurs. Find the best podcast, resources and trusted service partners for small business owners and entrepreneurs at our website https://TheHowOfBusiness.com

Justine shares her experiences and insights from selling her small business, a successful bookkeeping business.

Show notes page: https://www.thehowofbusiness.com/505-justine-lackey-selling-her-business/

Justine Lackey is back on the show to share her experiences from selling her successful small business, and how she is currently helping people run and scale their own bookkeeping firms.

Justine Lackey founded one of the very first virtual bookkeeping companies in all of America, Good Cents Management. Over fifteen years she grew her firm from a one woman show to a multi-six figure, multi-state firm which she sold in 2023.

The freedom of owning her own company allowed Justine to raise her three children while never missing a school play or scrambling to find childcare on a snow day. One of proudest accomplishments though was creating an all-mom team - and giving her employees the freedom to build their job around their lives, and not their lives around their jobs.

Today, Justine teaches bookkeepers (especially moms) how to run wildly efficient, highly profitable bookkeeping businesses while staying sane and having fun.

Henry Lopez is the host of The How of Business podcast – helping you start, run and grow your small business. The How of Business is a top-rated podcast for small business and entrepreneurs. Find the best podcast, resources and trusted service partners for small business owners and entrepreneurs at our website https://TheHowOfBusiness.com

How to create an Annual Strategic Plan for your small business, with host Henry Lopez. Why you should create a strategic plan at the start of the new year and how to do so.

Show notes page: https://www.thehowofbusiness.com/504-annual-strategic-plan/

Henry shares best practices and tips and walks through the 10 steps to create your strategic plan – giving you a clear strategy and actionable plan to help you achieve continued success with your small business this year.

Visit the Show Notes page for this episode to get the free Strategic Action Plan Outline download.

Creating an annual strategic plan for your small business involves several high-level steps. Your annual strategic plan is a crucial tool for guiding the direction, priorities, and actions of your business over the course of this coming year.

Henry Lopez is the host of The How of Business podcast – helping you start, run and grow your small business. The How of Business is a top-rated podcast for small business and entrepreneurs. Find the best podcast, resources and trusted service partners for small business owners and entrepreneurs at our website https://TheHowOfBusiness.com

How Adam Siegel launched Recurate, a tech-enabled resale service that empowers brands and retailers to establish their own integrated resale platforms directly on their e-commerce sites.

Show notes page: https://www.thehowofbusiness.com/503-adam-siegel-fashion-resale-business/

From Aerospace Engineering to starting a business in the fashion resale business, Adam shares his fascinating entrepreneur journey.

Brands they work with include Steve Madden, Michael Kors, Christy Sports, and many others.

Adam shares the details of co-founding and launching this business and their current business model.

Henry Lopez is the host of The How of Business podcast – helping you start, run and grow your small business. The How of Business is a top-rated podcast for small business and entrepreneurs. Find the best podcast, resources and trusted service partners for small business owners and entrepreneurs at our website https://TheHowOfBusiness.com

Business owners share their Small Business Success Highlights, and host Henry Lopez shares popular resources from The How of Business.

Show notes page: https://www.thehowofbusiness.com/502-business-success-highlights-pt2/

On this special episode Henry Lopez (Serial Entrepreneur, Business Coach, and Host of The How of Business podcast) shares some information about The How of Business podcast and popular resources to help you start, run and grow your small business - including top book recommendations and most popular episodes from the past year.

He also features a few of his small business coaching clients as they share their small business success highlights – they share some of the challenges they have overcome this past year and insights into how they have grown their small businesses.

Business Owners featured on this episode:

Thomas Erickson, owner of Clark Distributing Company and Vegefood.com McKay Coombs co-owner of Coombs Landscaping & Hardscapes Natasha Londono, owner of Rumbita

Top resources featured include:

Trusted Service Partners for Small Business Top Book Recommendations Most Popular Small Business Podcast Episodes of 2023

Henry Lopez is the host of The How of Business podcast – helping you start, run and grow your small business. The How of Business is a top-rated podcast for small business and entrepreneurs. Find the best podcast, resources and trusted service partners for small business owners and entrepreneurs at our website https://TheHowOfBusiness.com

CPA Matt Chiappetta shares Year-End Tax Considerations for Small Business Owners (starting at 10:00).

Show notes page: https://www.thehowofbusiness.com/501-matt-chiappetta-tax-considerations/

Matt is Henry's CPA, and he is excited to have him on the podcast to share his tips and advice on year-end tax planning for small business owners. He also shares his entrepreneur journey and why he decided to open his own business.

Matt is the CPA for Solopreneurs and small business owners.

Matt Chiappetta helps optimize the financial lives of Solopreneurs by focusing on personal and business tax planning, and all the other little details that encompass their financial life.

In his past life, Matt was the CFO of a Registered Investment Advisory firm, and Corporate Controller for a manufacturing business where he assisted with a healthy 8-figure exit for the owners.

Henry Lopez is the host of The How of Business podcast – helping you start, run and grow your small business. The How of Business is a top-rated podcast for small business and entrepreneurs. Find the best podcast, resources and trusted service partners for small business owners and entrepreneurs at our website https://TheHowOfBusiness.com