Question:
Two guys, out of work from the IT bust, decide to go into business together. We need a business plan and looking for the best model possible.  Any suggestion where to turn?

Answer:
Two guys, out of work from the IT bust, decide to go into - business together. We need a business plan and looking - for the best model possible.  Any suggestion where to turn?

1) Have you two thought about relocating?  Just because where you are presently living isn't hiring doesn't mean other places are not.  For example, in Madison, Wisconsin, we have practically no unemployment.  Anyone that wants to work can find work and that includes IT people.

2) Avoid the Small Business Administration and SCORE like the plague.  Small Business Development Centers live in the fairyland of academic and/or are where those that couldn't hack it in the real world of business go to lick their wounds.  SCORE is simply a bunch of grumpy old men waiting to die.

3) If you're serious about starting up your own business, do what I suggest in my standard advice to all wannabe entrepreneurs.  It is as follows:

"What I recommend you do is determine what your sales territory is.  What's its radius?  Double that and add a healthy 10% more distance then go and talk to people out that distance that are in the same business you want to start up.  Literally, drive there.  Do not do the following over the phone or email or through snail mail.  Show up on their doorstep during the slow time of their business day.  Tell them that you want to start up a similar business at such-and-such a location and if they would consider you competition.  If they say you would be, drive further away from your proposed business location until you find a business that says you're not. If you have to go to a different country, do so.

Once you find a business that says your two territories won't overlap, ask if they wouldn't mind answering some questions about how to start and run a business like theirs.  Play to their egos.  Have a list of questions written out on notepad, but do NOT write down their answers.  Instead, bring a tape recorder (yes, put it right out in the open no need for spyware and besides it plays to their egos as their words are being treated as worthy of being recorded) and concentrate on getting as much information out of them as possible as well as picking up the other half of the answers they give in body language.  If they say something you don't understand, speak up and ask for clarification.  Let them wander off your list of questions since where they wander to might be a place you never thought of asking questions about and should have been.  But keep an eye on the questions you've written down and try to ask them all before the interview concludes.  Of course, always yield to customers that come in.

After you've interviewed one owner, go home and digest what was said. Listen to the tape on your way home.  Think over it all.  Adjust your business plan accordingly.  Adjust the questions on that notepad and on your next free day, head off in another direction and do the same thing.  Try to interview at least twenty businesses.  Interview the good, the bad, and the ugly.  If you're lucky, you'll interview one that is going out of business or has just went out of business so you can hear the dark side.  Likewise, interview those businesses you think are bad.  Keep in mind that since they're still in business, they are probably doing something right if just being the only game in town for your products/services.

Share as you give.  Let them know what you think is a good idea.  Ask them to read over your business plan right there before you.  Naturally, don't leave a copy of it behind.  What one of these business persons is going to tell you will be better than ALL the advice from all the business professors on the face of the Earth.  Even from the ones that are going out of business!

Don't forget these individuals after you interview them.  Send them a nice thank-you snail mail letter for taking the time to answer your questions. When your business opens, send them an invitation to come and see it.

And don't stop doing this after you open your business.  At least once a month (if not once a week), do the above again.  In fact, you'll very likely get more out of these interviews AFTER you open your business than before you did.  After you open your business, you can really start to talk shop since you're now currently running a shop.  This worked great for a little-known starting-out pizza-parlor owner by the name of Tom Monaghan the founder of Domino's Pizza.

Lastly, see if the good ones are willing to sit on your Board of Directors (or Board of Advisors, if you don't want to give them any control power). The rest of your Board of Directors should be made up of marketers.  Your Board of Directors should help you keep the big picture in mind and an eye on the future."

Additionally

"Work on a business plan.  Regardless if you're going to get a business loan or not.  A business plan forces you to think of all aspects of your business.  Question every aspect of it.  Think how you can do it better, cheaper, and faster.  Always remember to K.I.S.S. it.  Keep It Simple, Smart.  [Yes, I know it is usually said as "Keep It Simple, Stupid", but it is the smarts that make things more complex and difficult than they need to be.]  And forever keep in mind that this is a business you're starting and a business is to turn a profit.  It doesn't turn a profit and it's just an expensive hobby of yours.  As for how much time to invest into your business plan, studies have shown that those that work less than six months on their business plan have a 90% failure rate.  Those that work six months or more on their business plan have a 90% success rate.  And to start off, get a copy of Michael Gerber's "The E-Myth".  It's real value is helping you determine if you're a Technician, Manager, or Entrepreneur.  Be honest with yourself and you'll save yourself a lot of grief."

And finally

"Lastly, ONLY buy used.  Never buy anything that doesn't ABSOLUTELY have to be new.  All it has to look like is being in good condition and not even that if it's in the backroom and your customers will never see it.  Go to sheriff auctions, business liquidation sales, garage sales, etc. and hunt for bargains.  Find a place to store these bargains during this collection phase.  Keep your start-up expenses as low as possible and buying used is the best way to do this.  If you do buy something new, it should be with a great deal of thought on why it has to be new and not used.  Again, if the customers see it, it only needs to look to be in good condition and that's it."

There is one business that I thought would be great and I can image would take 6 months to one year for set up.  If you work your a off, maybe less time.  First, set up in a neighborhood storefront.  The biz consists of a workshop for software lines.  I am also doing graphic work and have a couple of programs.  I really don't want to invest in more unless I know exactly what I am getting bec graphic software is so darn expensive.  I also don't have a lot of time so I would prefer to go into a shop, tell a sales person what I want to do with the software, let them sit me down in front of a terminal and "show & tell" and sell me something rather than downloading programs and stumbling through figuring out how to operate them.

Your function would be to locate the right program faster for the customer's specific needs, guide them through the introduction / overview of the software, show them alternative software.  Once you have the customer, you could also sell computers, accessories, inkjet cartridges, CD's and other high demand products and do memory upgrades too for easy money.  I would imagine that software companies would support you in giving you free access or low cost access to their new software lines and upgrades for sales purposes.  You could even conduct private lessons or classes. I feel that this plan would give you a constant stream of revenue from many directions which is what all businesses should have.
I would imagine that software companies would support you in giving you free - access or low cost access to their new software lines and upgrades for sales - purposes. I'm sure they could do that for demonstration / sales purposes, but I don't think they could give large discounts on retail boxed software - the problem is that downloads are *so* much cheaper to distribute than boxed product, and that's a main reason that software companies focus on offering downloads.

Another thing to consider is the cost of training your staff to use all the different programs on the computer very well - depending how you set up the business, you could have hundreds or thousands of programs running on the one computer.  That might also introduce configuration issues that require troubleshooting.

Offering classes would be a good idea, since the teachers would have to be trained in the programs they teach anyway, and you can offer classes to people who have already purchased the products (so you can widen your customer base beyond those buying software from you).

The key will be your market research though - how many people would be prepared to go to a retail location to have software demonstrated to them?  I think for many people downloading is more convenient, and it means they can try the software on their own documents / images before purchasing.