That’s part of the reality of being a salesperson, or even an entrepreneur focused on selling. What you’re selling isn’t going to be perfect for everyone—regardless of what you may think. Sure, it’ll take a degree of product or market education in order to close the majority of your prospects, but all the education or sales strategies. If you buy something through our links, we may earn money from our affiliate partners. Whether you have a large office building for your team or a simple home office, you need to stock it with all the supplies and equipment necessary to run the day-to-day operations of your business.

If you are starting a business and need direction, this checklist is a valuable resource. Go here to register for workshops and schedule a consulting appointment, or call (813) 204-YBOR (9267), and select Option #4. You can also download a printable version of the Small Business Start-Up Guide.

Attend one of the introductory workshops for starting your business.

These workshops are offered throughout the year at various locations in the community, as well as at the Entrepreneur Collaborative Center. The workshops will include important information and resource materials to help start your business.

Prepare a pre-business plan summary

This is a general overview of your business idea(s). Include business location, number of employees, and to whom your business will market. On a separate sheet of paper, summarize your idea in 50 words or less. Be sure to estimate your start-up costs, monthly expenses, and cash flow.

Determine business organization type

Sole Proprietor
Partnership*
Limited Liability Company*
Corporation*

*If your business will be a Partnership, Limited Liability Company, or a Corporation, you must register under the Florida Business Corporation Act. Contact the Florida Division of Corporations, Bureau of Corporate Records, Tallahassee, (850) 245-6000, www.sunbiz.org Franchise, for information visit www.sba.gov

Business name

Fictitious name – If a Sole Proprietorship uses any name other than the owner's legal name, or if a Corporation uses a name other than its legal corporate name, a fictitious name (also referred to as a D/B/A) must be registered with the State. Register this name before pursuing any license or permit. Contact the Florida Division of Corporations, Tallahassee, (850) 245-6000, and select option #5, sunbiz.org

Licenses

Certain business types may require specific licenses in order to conduct business. Review the list below and contact the agencies to see if any additional licenses are needed for your business.

Contractor license

In order to be licensed in Hillsborough County, contractors are required to file a complete application, obtain approval of that application from the Licensing Board, pay appropriate fees, and pass the state Experior Assessments Examination for their licensing category. If you plan to work outside Hillsborough County, you may need to take a state examination.

• Hillsborough County – (813) 272-5600, select 4 - Plans and Permit Information (PGM Store)
• State of Florida – (850) 487-1395, MyFloridaLicense.com

Professional licenses
Many businesses need to be licensed through the State. Call the number listed below or visit the website to verify if your type of business would require a license through the State. Examples of businesses that need professional licenses are: hair and nail salons, accountants, all types of construction, and more. Contact the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, (850) 487-1395, MyFlorida.com/DBPR

Department of Hotel & Restaurant
Your business may require a license or permit through this State department. The local office is at 3725 W. Grace Street, Suite 520, Tampa. (850) 487-1395 MyFloridaLicense.com/DBPR

Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services
Your business may require a license or permit through this State department.
Fresh from Florida - Consumer Services - (800) 435-7352

Zoning and permitting

All businesses, including those that are home-based and store-front, should research the necessary zoning and permitting laws of the County and City where their business will be located.

Hillsborough County

• Zoning and Permitting, (813) 272-5600

If necessary, contact the appropriate city:

City of Tampa

• Zoning, (813) 274-3100 Option 1
• Permitting, (813) 274-3100

City of Temple Terrace

• (813) 506-6420

City of Plant City

• Planning and Zoning, (813) 659-4258

Business tax receipt

A Business Tax Receipt is required for anyone conducting business in Hillsborough County. Also, if your business will be located within the city limits of Tampa, Plant City, or Temple Terrace, in addition to obtaining a Hillsborough County Business Tax Receipt, you may need to obtain a City Business Tax Receipt. Contact the city where your business will be located to determine the city requirements.

Business Tax - Hillsborough County
(813) 635-5200
HillsTax.org

Business tax - Cities

• City of Tampa, (813) 274-8751, TampaGov.net
• City of Temple Terrace, (813) 506-6420, TempleTerrace.com
• City of Plant City, (813) 659-4215, PlantCityGov.com

Taxes

The type of taxes and the rate at which you pay taxes depends on the nature of the business, the legal organization and number of employees, if any.

Federal taxes

• Internal Revenue Service – The local office is at 3848 W. Columbus Drive, Tampa, (813) 348-1831. Many questions can be resolved online without visiting a Taxpayer Assistance Center (TAC), however, if you believe your tax issue can only be handled face-to-face, please visit the Contact My Local Office in Florida page to find the closest TAC center to you so that you can schedule an appointment.
• Apply for an Employer Identification Number (EIN) Online. Business hours are 7 AM - 10 PM.
• Important: The IRS cannot process your application online if the responsible party is an entity with an EIN previously obtained through the Internet. Please use one of their other methods to apply. See How to Apply for an EIN.
• IRS Tax Calendar for Businesses and Self-Employed. View due dates and actions for each month. You can see all events or filter them by monthly depositor, semi-monthly depositor, excise, or general event types.
• Knowing the basics about taxes can help you run your business better. See the Small Business and Self-Employed Tax Center on IRS.gov for more information.
• You can select and download multiple small business and self-employed forms and publications or you can call (800) 829-3676 to order forms and publications through the mail.

State taxes

• Sales Tax – If your business is required to collect tax, contact the Department of Revenue, (850) 488-6800, option 4 - DOR.MyFlorida.com
• Unemployment Insurance Tax – (800) 482-8293, option 3 - DOR.MyFlorida.com

County taxes

• Real Estate Tax, (813) 635-5200, HillsTax.org
• Tangible Tax – A tax is levied on tangible (physical) business assets, (813) 272-6988, HCPAFl.org

Insurance and bonding

In order to obtain the best insurance protection for you and your business, consider the following:

Your homeowner’s or automobile insurance company may offer business insurance; if not, ask for a referral to another company before cold calling.

Florida Department of Financial Services (800) 342-2762, MyFloridaCFO.com

Liability, Property, and Automobile Insurance
Business Interruption Insurance
Home Office - If your business is being operated from your home, contact your homeowner’s insurance provider to update your policy to include coverage for office equipment and/or inventory, etc. A standard homeowner’s policy will not cover business operations or assets.
Employee Insurance - If you hire employees, you may be required to provide unemployment insurance.
Worker’s Compensation, (850) 413-1609, or (800) 342-1741, MyFloridaCFO.com/Division/wc/

Surety Bonds, SBA.gov

Financing

Most banks will not make loans to a start-up business. The following are possible financing sources or areas to research for different options:

Personal Savings, 2nd Mortgage on Home, Friends, Relatives, and Credit Cards
U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Loans – Check with your bank for a U.S. SBA loan officer, SBA.gov
Attend our financing workshop held throughout the County to gain valuable knowledge about the lending process and how to apply. Register for workshops and other resources.
To establish the credit history for your business or to conduct business with the federal government, you will need to obtain a Dun & Bradstreet Data Universal Numbering System (D-U-N-S) Number. Obtaining a D-U-N-S Number is easy and free. Visit DNB.com or call (844) 281-0961

Develop your idea

Test your idea with potential customers and others who will offer constructive feedback, e.g., friends, relatives, bankers, and suppliers. Be prepared to make changes based on their responses.

Protect your idea

If your product or idea needs a patent, copyright, or trademark, contact the following numbers and/or websites to obtain more specific information:

Patent Office – Washington D.C., 1-800-786-9199, USPTO.gov
Copyright - U.S. Library of Congress, (202) 707-5959, Copyright.gov
Trademark – Federal, 1-800-786-9199, USPTO.gov
Trademark – State, (850) 245-6051, Sunbiz.org

Prepare your business plan

Everyone needs a written business plan. The details of your business plan depend on the type of business you will have. Even a home-based, start-up business with you as the only employee needs a business plan. This business plan will be your road map to success. To obtain a loan or grant, a business plan is required.

Attend the Business Plan Workshop or a Preparing Your Business Plan Workshop

Register for a workshop here or call (813) 204-9267.

Make an appointment with a Business Counselor to review your business plan

Starting a small business will prompt many questions and decisions. If you have any questions, or would like to have your business plan reviewed, visit our website.

You can register for free, individual, confidential counseling on the site, or call (813) 204-9267 to schedule an appointment.

Dropshipping is undoubtedly one of the best business models for new online store owners who are breaking into the eCommerce game. This is because dropship stores are easy to start, are low cost, are highly automated and offer a lower risk.

Google Trends reveals that over the last couple of years, the Search Interest points in dropshipping has risen to 89 and with it the rise of dropshipping companies that include the likes of Doba and Dropship Direct.

Not to mention dropshipping apps such as Orbelo that allow you to further streamline the dropshipping process, or Printful, which lets you dropship unique self-designed products. It is no wonder you want to get in on the dropshipping action.

But what do you need to know before you launch your first store? We’ve put together 9 dropshipping tips every new entrepreneur should know before they dive into the dropshipping game.

Dropshipping Tip 1: Always Go Niche

Think back to the beginning of Amazon. Amazon started in the very narrow niche of online books – adding to their store as their brand grew and with it their niche – which, as we know, now includes everything and anything.

The Entrepreneurs Checklist To Selling Online Courses

The point is, when they started, they were selling in a narrow niche.

Unless you are just opening up a broad store to test the waters before you choose your niche, narrowing your focus is the key to success. Having a dropshipping store that is too general will not enable you to hone in on your potential shopper audience easily or make brand building – the key to site trust – possible.

To choose the right niche, you’ll want to look where you passions are, research industry trends, and think about your target shopper. Then, you will want to analyze and evaluate the demand, the competition and the market to see how you could fit in.

Bonus Tip:How to Find a Profitable Niche for Your Online Store

Dropshipping Tip 2: Choose the Right Supplier

Ultimately the products you choose directly reflect your brand and therefore it is important to be picky about your products. There are 2 steps to choosing the right supplier:

Step 1: Supplier Audit

Here is where you will check all the details of suppliers, the range of products they sell and their reviews, to ensure their credibility and quality.

Step 2: Narrow Down Your List

You can do this by comparing the product prices, guarantees, and whether they include epacket service.

You can find out more in our full AliExpress Survival Guide: Finding the Right Supplier.

Pro Tip: Quickly Get Rid of Bad Suppliers

If, after all your research, a bad supplier manages to slip through the cracks, do not procrastinate with replacing them. There are plenty of other suppliers who are reliable and sell similar products.

Dropshipping Tip 3: Put Effort into Your Website

Yes, it is true, dropshipping allows you to cut corners and cost, but that doesn’t mean you should be doing the same with your website. Customer experience goes a long way to building trust, so make sure you put thought and effort into your home page, that your store is correctly optimized for the user and SEO, your product descriptions have substance and are error free, your product photos are good quality and your shipping and returns policies are clear.

Take a look at competitive, successful online stores in your niche for inspiration, consult eCommerce-friendly Facebook groups for great tips, and of course, make sure your store is optimized for conversions.

Bonus Tip: Add Trust Seals

Adding trust badges to your site and/or checkout can go a long way to improving the impression of your brand and build the trust you need as a newer entrepreneur to make those sales. Visit our Quick Guide to Trust Badges post for a step-by-step guide to getting trust badged on your dropship store.

Dropshipping Tip 4: Look at the Numbers

When choosing a specific product, you will want to ensure that it’s at the right price point for the service you will be getting, that is has marketing potential, its profit capabilities, and that it is something not easily found in the areas you are selling in. To do that you’ll want to look at these two calculations:

• Sales Revenue – Cost of Goods = Gross Profit
• (Gross Profit – Expenses) / Revenue = Profit Margin

The thing to remember, though, is not to underprice your products. Dropshipping allows you to get products at almost wholesale cost, meaning you should be pricing at or just below market value (depending on competition) in order to make a profit.

Dropshipping Tip 5: Rev Up Your Customer Service

As we learned in last week’s eCommerce marketing trends post, conversational commerce is so hot right now. It should be no surprise that customer service is a dropshipper’s best friend. It allows you to successfully beat eCommerce competitionin your niche, including big guys like Amazon.

Making customers feel valued, respected and important not only pushes sales but grows your lifetime customer base. When it comes to customer service for dropshipping stores, it is important that they understand that you are responsible, that your customers’ wants and needs are important and that their happiness is your number-one priority.

Dropshipping Tip 6: How to Handle Returns

Return handling is a customer service complication that can arise with dropshipping that can have a big impact on overall customer satisfaction. As a dropshipper, you have a few more logistics to iron out here, such as whether customers return items to you or your vendor. The advantages of receiving returns yourself is that this will allow you to offer better customer service. The disadvantages include the logistics of receiving, storing and then reselling returned items.

Suppliers that allow you have returns go directly to them means you don’t need to storage space and it takes the ‘work’ out of it. However, having returns sent to a third party could have the following risks:

• They could reject returns if the items and packaging are not in perfect condition.
• They may charge restocking fees.
• They may have complicated return instructions that are not easy for your customers to understand.

You can learn more about correct return handling in our Right Way to Handle Refundspost.

Dropshipping Tip 7: Automate

Automate your dropshipping business as much as possible. Sure, some dropshipping apps will handle a lot of the automation for you, but there are still cracks you will need to cover such as your PPC campaigns, Google, social media, marketing, blog content, etc. By automating what you can when you can, you will be able to live your entrepreneur dreams and start your business before you “screw your 9-5 job.” Here are some top dropshipping automation apps worth considering:

AdWords Automation with Traffic Booster

Take all the hassle out of pulling AdWords traffic with Traffic Booster.

Inventory Management Automation with Orbelo

Orbelo allows you to easily add hundreds of products to your Shopify store and never worry about packaging or shipping.

Social Media Automation with Social Autopilot

Social Autopilot will save you time by automatically posting new products to Twitter and Pinterest as well as generating tons of great content for your social media followers.

Dropshipping Tip 8: Be a Marketing Expert

The big advantage of dropshipping is that it frees up a lot of time. Time that should be used in upping your marketing game and becoming a master at using advertising to drive traffic to your store. The marketing channels you will want to study up on for max success include:

• Google AdWords
• Facebook and Instagram Ads
• Pinterest Ads

It is just not just ads that you should be working on; every part of your sales funnel is a marketing opportunity that could be missed. Things such as using your checkout to upsell or your confirmation emails to elicit brand trust, all have a place in your marketing strategy.

Pro Tip: Run Awesome Promotions

Offers and promotions are a great marketing tick. From bundle deals to VIP sign-up discounts, promotions go a long way in improving your marketing ROIs and increase motivation to buy on your site.

Dropshipping Tip 9: Keep an Eye on the Competition

As you venture into your new enterprise, keep an eye on your current and emerging competition for fresh ideas, to see where they are advertising, or their social media messaging. The bottom line: You can learn a bucketload from your competition. Following your competition can help you with future product ideas, positioning, branding and pricing. It will also give you key insights into your potential audience and what they respond to, and turn you into an even better seller and marketer.

Bonus Tip: How to Spy on Your Competitors on Facebook

—

Now it’s time to get selling. Don’t forget to check out our 31 Dropshipping Resources to Grow Your Business Fasterfor some great growth hacks. If you have questions, need advice or have something to offer fellow dropship entrepreneurs, post them in the comments below.

Nicole Blanckenberg

Nicole is a content writer at StoreYa with over sixteen years experience and flair for storytelling. She runs on a healthy dose of caffeine and enthusiasm. When she's not researching the next content trend or creating informative small business content, she's an avid beachgoer, coffee shop junkie and hangs out on LinkedIn.

The Entrepreneurs Checklist To Selling online, free

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