Starting your own business is exciting, invigorating, and easier than ever. These days, if you have a smartphone and a Wi-Fi connection, you can plan a startup in catering, web design, or any other industry. First, you’ll need to come up with some essential information, then you can find comprehensive apps that will help you do the work.

Put On Your Thinking Cap

To start a small business of your own, you need a great idea. Ideally, you should do something that you love, even if you have to work at it. You also need to take a look at your competition. A brand new business in a saturated market really has to work for success and it doesn’t always happen.

Say you want nothing more than to start a mail order baking business. There are tons of similar businesses, but that doesn’t mean you can’t continue with your idea. You have to make it new, fresh and give it a twist or a gimmick, but make sure the gimmick works. Don’t do something to gain attention if it won’t work for the long haul.

Come Up with the Perfect Plan

What do you hope to accomplish with your business? After you polish your idea, you need to sit down and think about how you will define your business. Come up with short-term and long-term goals, as well as details such as size, expected volume of sales and your target market.

Your business plan isn’t just for you. It also needs to contain information about viability. You have to prove that you’ve researched the market. This is essential for attracting investors and business partners. To that end, your business plan should also outline how you intend to finance your business.

Explore Education Options

You have to educate yourself. If you already have a business degree or experience, you don’t necessarily have to take classes, but brushing up never hurts. You can also take classes that relate to your big idea, such as cake decorating classes, art classes or automotive classes.

There are things you need to learn as the person behind-the-scenes as well. Learning about tax information for small businesses is invaluable. You may also want to learn how to create marketing strategies, how to choose your operations people and what to do about insurance. That way you’ll also figure out if you need to seek professional help from outside sources.

Start Downloading ASAP

Once you have your plan in order, turn to your phone. With the right apps, you’ll find you can easily start and run your business right from your BlackBerry 10. Some of the most essential apps for small business owners include:

• Mint.com: which helps you keep up with your investments, bank accounts and payments
• Appointment-plus: which helps you keep track of appointments and sends out reminders to reduce your no-shows
• GoPayment: an essential mobile payment app and built-in card reader that will allow you to accept money straight from your phone

With a good idea, business know-how and these apps, you’re guaranteed success. How has your phone helped you manage finances or business?

About the author

DJ Miller is a graduate student at the University of Tampa. He is an avid gadget geek who spends most his time writing on anything tech related. In his spare time he likes to travel, play soccer, and watch movies. You can follow him on twitter @MillerHeWrote

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