How to Start a Team Co-Op for a Home Business

Sunday, June 2, 2013

How to Start a Team Co-Op for a Home Business

A co-op is a group of people that get together to do something. That something can be anything from homeschooling to vegetable gardening to running a small business. Not everyone knows how to do everything it takes to run a small business, but like the idea of working from home. This is where a team co-op benefits each member. Responsibilities of some of the team members can include advertisement, marketing, finances, ideas or execution of the ideas. Work with people who have similar interests to make the best use of your team co-op by pooling your resources.

Step 1

Discuss with several friends the idea of starting a co-op. The best bet is to find friends that have similar interests, such as cooking, gardening, sewing, quilting or any other number of ideas that you can use for your home based business. Write out what you want your co-op to accomplish and make this your mission statement.

Step 2

Write out a list of ideas for the co-op. You want to have similar ideas, but not the same ideas. For example, if you all like crafting, one person can quilt, one can make toss pillows, another can offer holiday items, while another makes clothing for children. These all fall into the idea of crafts, but you can all bring something different to the co-op.

Step 3

Write a contract or bylaws. Identify the positions of different members of the co-op and then write a job description for each position. When starting a co-op of any kind among friends, it's important to have everything in writing.

Step 4

Establish an amount for dues or discuss who wants to invest what money into the team co-op. Because it is a home business, set up the dues to cover expenses that benefit everyone, while each member invests in his own portion of the business.

Step 5

Brainstorm and appoint, or vote, to have different members take different positions. You need to have one person as the head who can make final decisions in case of disagreements. If you have a president, vice president, secretary and treasurer, these positions can change, just make sure it is clearly delineated in the contract or bylaws.

Step 6

Decide if your co-op wants to invite other members to join along the way or if you want to set the co-op at a certain number of members. If one member leaves, then another member can join. Remember, the more people you have, the more work you can do and the more money you can make.

Tips

Have regular meetings to see how everyone is doing. If there is no communication, the co-op will not work.
Discuss suggestions from each team member. Do not shoot down someone's idea without first discussing it as a team.

References (2)

About the Author

Ruth O'Neil has been a freelance writer for almost 20 years. She has published hundreds of articles and stories in dozens of publications including "Parentlife," "CBA Retailers and Resources," "Lookout" and "Standard." She has also worked with a publishing company editing and preparing manuscripts for publication.

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Easy Tips and Ideas to Start Business

Although anyone can start a business, many people fail because of a bad product or improper research. If you want to start your own business, you can improve your chances for success before you even begin. In order to make your business successful, start strong and make sure that your idea will hold out for the long haul.

Have a Good Product

Ensure that you plan to sell something useful. Although you may think that your product is important or special, that doesn't mean the general public will agree. Ask friends, family and strangers what they think of your product. If they don't seem that interested, ask them why. With their suggestions, you can either improve the product or scrap the idea completely. According to Brad Sugars of Entrepreneur magazine, most small businesses fail because they sold a product that didn't have an adequate market. This also applies to small businesses that provide a service. A lawn-care business might be useful for part of the year in a northern state, but it is in-demand year-round in the south. Consider whether people will actually want to use your service and get constructive advice from those not afraid to give their opinion.

Research Local Businesses

Research local companies before starting up your own business. This will not only give you an idea of the amount of competition you will have, but it will also help you price your product or service. If you're looking to start a wedding photography business, you may find during your research that the market is over-saturated in your area. If not over-saturated, you should contact each business and ask them for a price list. Alter your prices so you can stay competitive with the competition in town. Researching similar local businesses will also help you decide where to locate your business location. Try not to start up a store or office close to another business of your type. If your small business is located away from similar business types, this will cause locals to choose you over businesses that are farther away from where they live.

Get Professional Advice

You may know someone who has started their own successful business. Ask him for advice and listen to his stories of how he started his company. You may gain useful advice on the good and bad ways to start a business. Local entrepreneurs can also introduce you to local product providers or advertisers that you may not have met without their help. Accept any advice with open arms, especially if the advice is coming from someone successful in the area.

How to Calculate Business Start Up Costs

Starting a business in no easy endeavor. It takes a great deal of research, perseverance and hard work. While sweat equity will make your small business more successful, you will most likely need real capital to get the business started. Before you start raising capital and/or investing your own funds, the first thing you need to do is determine the total start-up costs.

Step 1

Determine your costs of sales. For most small businesses this means inventory, the cost of raw materials, manufacturing equipment, shipping, packaging, and warehousing. However, not all businesses sell products. In this case, the cost of sales is primarily the direct labor involved in making the sale. For example, to open a small shoe business entails purchasing enough inventory ($10,000) to stock the store.

Step 2

Determine professional fees. Planning your business structure, i.e., limited liability corporation or general partnership, means hiring an attorney. There may also be the need to pay an attorney for help with establishing trademarks, copyrights, and patents. In this scenario, that puts total professional fees at an estimated $20,000.

Step 3

Determine technology costs. Technology can greatly reduce the cost of labor for small business if used effectively. Most small businesses require computers, printers, cell phones, website development, Internet access, software applications, information security, data storage, and outsourced information technology (IT) consulting. If the cost of technology is $10,000 to start, add an additional $5,000 a year for maintenance (hint: maintenance is not included in start-up costs).

Step 4

Determine administrative costs. This varies with business types and may include items such as business insurance, office supplies, product packaging, parking, rent, express shipping, desks, chairs, fax machines, phones, or anything else necessary to operate the business daily. A good estimate for start-up administrative costs would be $5,000 for the first six months.

Step 5

Determine initial sales and marketing costs. Now that you have your product, you need to let folks know about it. Sales and marketing costs generally include marketing materials for presentations, printing stationery, business cards, advertising, trade show events, and public relations. These initial sales and marketing costs can add up to $3,000.

Step 6

Determine the wages and benefits needed to secure a staff. This includes employee salaries, benefits, workers compensation, and payroll taxes. Let's put the cost of wages and benefits estimated at $20,000 for the first three months of business.

Step 7

Add all costs associated with starting the business for a total. Be sure to only include business start-up costs that will be incurred in the first three to six months of operations. For this example, the calculation is: $10,000 + $20,000 + $10,000 + $5,000 + $3,000 + $20,000 = $68,000.

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Sunday, June 2, 2013