What steps should I take to start a small business?

The first step is actually finding a market need. Finding something that is not serviced by the current market and actually coming up with a concept, an idea of pushing it forward. That's really just the starting. So many people think that this is the hardest part of business; it's not. That's actually the easy part. The second step is to Validate. Is this a good idea or a bad idea? I like to use a model called the Porter's model, which is a quick assessment of the viability of the business. The third step, once you have a viable business, is a Pro Forma analysis. That sounds like a scary word. It's actually just to simply look at, "Can this business make money and how long does it take me to get to profitability?" Just simply take an excel spreadsheet, real quickly build out revenue income and how much this will cost me. That gives you a feel of how much you road or runway that you have to have to get the business off the ground. Once you've done that, you then can at that point say that this business is viable or it isn't. And the isn't is just as important as the business that are because that keeps you from having stupid failures. So if the business is viable, at that point, the next step is to actually create a company. That could come in the form of LLC, S Corporation, or various types of entities. Once you taken that step, the next step is to actually fund the business and then begin operating, and formally going into business. So the first steps really is Idea, Validation of the Idea, Is the idea financially viable, creation of the business, and the implementation of the business.