VETERANS!
START YOUR OWN SMALL BUSINESS

Do you have what it takes to run your own business?

So you'd like to start your own business and want to know how. But, is being a entrepreneur really the thing for you; is it really what you want?

The following fifteen questions are deceptively simple. But they really require a lot of thought. There is no score, no right or wrong answers. You are the one who must conclude if starting and operating your own small business is the right thing for you:

1. Are you a self-starter or do you require a lot of prodding?

2. Are you a good organizer?

3. Are you easily able to get most people to go along when you start something?

4. What is your biggest goal over the next 30, 60, 90, 120 days — a year or lifetime? (Personal goals usually vary with the time frame and can be critical to the success of a small business.)

5. What gives you the greatest joy in life?

6. Do you admire and respect any successful business personalities and, if so, whom and why?

7. If you decide to do something do you pursue it regardless of the obstacles?

8. Do you always seem to find the energy required even after an especially tiring day?

9. Do you have an income goal? Have you tied this goal to a specific time frame? (It can take up to two years for many businesses to become significantly profitable).

10. Do you have special, perhaps unique, talents related to your intended product or service?

11. Are you ready to get started as soon as plans can be formulated?

12. Are you able — and willing — to devote 50, 60, perhaps 80 hours a week to this business?

13. If your spouse, partner or sibling is to be involved with you, how many hours per week is he/she able — and willing — to devote to this business?

14. Do you find that you rarely get sick though others around you do?

15. Is being in business for yourself your passion or an economic expediency?

How we can help you
 successfully start your own business.

Your New Business Tutor is designed to introduce you to the mechanics and thought processes that you will have to learn to successfully start a small business: to become an entrepreneur. Because there are many kinds of small businesses directing their efforts to many different areas, there is a lot of information in the course that you will decide does not apply to your own situation. It is essential, however, that many of these areas of information be carefully considered by you in making your decisions.

Lesson 1 helps you define what kind of business you wish to make your own, select your market, product(s) and/or service(s), and acquire the necessary funding.

Lesson 2 helps you determine if you should purchase an existing, already well established, business, buy into a franchise or start your own business from scratch. Each has its merits plus the timing and geographical location will have much influence on these decisions. Also, in Lesson 2 you will learn the advantages and disadvantages of each of the common legal forms of business so you can determine which is best for you.

Lesson 3 takes you through the mechanics of the start-up. It covers what you’ll need to know about selecting your business name and protecting it, the different licenses you may need to acquire to stay out of trouble, the taxes you will probably have to pay and how to minimize many of them, the needs and advantages of good insurance protection and what to do — and what to avoid — if you will need to hire employees.

Lesson 4 covers intellectual property protection, — an area of concern frequently overlooked by many entrepreneurs and at great cost.

Lesson 5 covers the challenge of actually operating your new business. The accounting system you’ll need, buying, leasing or renting your furniture and equipment, acquiring additional capital if it becomes needed (and it usually does), plus some sticky wickets if you are to be involved in mail order or Internet sales. Finally, Lesson 5 covers the nightmare of environmental laws.

Lesson 6 introduces you to the advantages — and disadvantages — of using outside professional specialists and consultants and how to find and acquire relevant government publications that are designed to help you succeed in your business.

What we’ve done for others we can do for you.

The Activizers Group has been helping our military veterans in the conception and implementation of small, family-owned business and computer-oriented marketing since 1976. The members of our group are retired veterans who were fortunate to have been able to reap the benefits of an excellent Veterans program. This program was no longer available, in its original form, for the veterans of the Viet Nam war. We became shockingly aware of the difficulties these veterans were having in not only obtaining gainful employment but readjusting to civilian life in a society that had significantly changed.

Owning your own business is the American way. That is how America got started when we were still a British colony. But starting your own business with all the added government regulations and hidden speed bumps is much more difficult than it used to be. Yet the ability to start your own business is more important now than ever before.

We created the New Business Tutor and helped many veterans successfully start and operate their own businesses. And there is nothing that swells your heart more than helping a fellow human be successful!

Why we’re doing this for you.

Time passes and the temptation to retire (again) overtook us. Then our country dove into a financial mess that has hurt almost everyone. Jobs are flying overseas like ducks migrating to South America. Now we have the current veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan who, like the Viet Nam veterans, are unable to find jobs. Those who do find work have to try to exist on a less than adequate income. Frequently, even two or three jobs are not enough to support the family. Is the answer to re-enlist in the military? No!

The economy sucks but thousands of small businesses are getting through the mess just fine. So we decided to resurrect the Activizers' New Business Tutor program.

The New Business Tutor needed a lot of updating. There are so many new laws — especially environmental regulations that could drive you nuts. But we did the research, rewrote the New Business Tutor and we are now ready to help you get a new start.

Yes, for you, there is a solution. In fact, it is possible to improve your lot in life to a level you could not enjoy in your former employments. Be in business for yourself. Sell a product or a service that people around you, maybe even nation-wide, not only need but are willing to buy. So, if you are up to it and this is the kind of future you want for you and your family, now is the time!.

An expression of gratitude:

Dear Dr. Z:

I would like to thank you, no my entire family wants to thank you, for helping us recover. Though it had hurt to lose the house we now have a much nicer one and in a better location. Our business is doing great and working together has brought Jill and I much closer together. Of course, we like the money, too.

RXL

(Note: this is an excerpt from a beautiful letter Bob sent us.)