Absolute Entrepreneurship Part 1: Starting a Business

Take advantage of your idea by acting quickly before someone else does. Don't worry about patents yet; write it down, keep it tangible, and move on it.

Social media fuels a favorable climate for small and local businesses, as consumers prefer buying local products and supporting entrepreneurs like Jenny, often willing to pay a bit more.

Age and education are not requirements to start a business. You can launch with little money, learn by trial and error, and avoid early investor rounds.

Explore self employment and the gig economy through a day in the life of a self-employed entrepreneur, highlighting flexibility, discipline, and a system, remote work, and being your own boss.

Define a small business as independently owned and not dominant, and view entrepreneurship as a flexible pursuit driven by service and profit, with four objectives: service, profit, social, and growth.

Small businesses face money constraints and higher risk when testing advertising and other experiments, while mastering management and navigating regulation with limited sway.

Technology accessibility makes high-tech development affordable for small businesses, letting you outsource programming and prototype products quickly. Global sourcing and domestic options affect cost, shipping, and where to locate production.

Explore family businesses, focusing on succession, taxes, and estate concerns, including gift and estate taxes and the importance of a lawyer to set up the structure.

Explore the core traits of successful entrepreneurs, including a strong work ethic, quick-result expectations, rapid adaptation, and pivot-ready decision making, often starting ventures by necessity rather than design.

Complete this exercise to identify the four objectives—service, profit, social, and growth—and to write one-sentence goals for each, linking them into a plan.

Articulate the service objective by specifying how you will serve customers and what you will do for them, aiming for the highest quality experience.

Define the profit objective as earning more than cost by taking risks and profiting from the success of innovative classes or from the number of customers I acquire.

Define your community and commit to a social objective that guides employees, stands for something, and brands your company as an advocate, making purpose-driven growth marketable.

Define the growth objective with a concrete target, such as a factor of 1.5 per year. Grow by educating the public through videos, free classes, and seminars.

Craft a high quality music education company that takes risks with innovative classes, advocates for the community, and grows by educating the public at a 1.5x yearly rate.

Explore the legal forms of business, from inc to corporation, and learn how to choose the right entity, plan transitions, and when to consult professionals.

Explore how different business entities affect taxes and liability, including who pays taxes, who can be sued, and how forming an entity protects owners.

Explore regionality in business entities, focusing on United States names and state differences, with Minnesota and Michigan examples, including proprietorship considerations. Always consult a lawyer and accountant before major moves.

Explore proprietorships, the default, simplest business entity with a single owner, where taxes and liabilities pass to the owner. Keep paperwork low and enjoy easy setup for starting ideas.

Explore how partnerships allocate ownership and liabilities through general and limited structures, including the essential partnership agreement that governs profits, disputes, buyouts, and exit strategies.

Explore how corporations protect owners from liability while letting investors own shares and raise capital. Understand types, articles of incorporation, operating agreements, double taxation, and when a board is advisable.

Learn how an s-corp avoids double taxation by letting taxes pass to owners at their individual rates, with under 100 members and a simpler setup not ideal for stock fundraising.

defines an LLP as a limited liability partnership, shielding owners from personal liability and limiting lawsuits to the partnership, with state variation and common use in professional firms.

Explore family limited partnership (flp), an lp with family members, commonly used in farming to manage land transfer taxes and other gift taxes, with no double taxation.

Learn how an LLC differs from a corporation, offering no double taxation and flexible owner pay for small startups, designed for owners to work for the company, not investors.

Learn how nonprofit corporations work, including tax exemptions, ownership and salary rules, and practical steps like securing a fiscal sponsor and consulting a finance professional.

Start with an LLC for liability protection and fast setup, then convert to an S-corp as funds and investors grow; nonprofits and LPs fit less.

Navigate Minnesota's secretary of state site to set up a new llc, verify name availability, file the articles of incorporation online, and pay the 155 filing fee.

Minnesota emails two documents after payment: a state notice and the official certificate of organization, showing the company’s official and legal names and the filing number for your next step.

Learn to obtain an employer identification number (EIN) for your LLC via the IRS online application, and understand that it serves as the company’s social security number for tax purposes.

Learn how a certificate of assumed name (DBA) helps open a bank account, including required documents and state name variations.

Learn why you should not go into business with close friends, and how an operating agreement clarifies roles, compensation, and tough conversations to keep the venture on track.

Outline the operating agreement's general information, including the business name and mailing addresses of all members. Include partner organizations and emphasize that the agreement can be updated with everyone's consent.

Explore choosing between member managed and manager managed for your LLC, and set election rules, voting thresholds, manager pay, and policies on competing business with a clear job description.

Explore capital calls and capital contributions, including when investments are required, how new or retiring members contribute, and how selling shares back and the right of first refusal affect equity.

Learn how to add new members with unanimous or majority consent, consider exceptions and buy-ins, and plan how to allocate shares and handle ownership changes when adding members.

Explore decision making in a startup, comparing equal votes and weighted shares, and learn how to handle salaries, distributions, burn rate, and ownership-driven profit sharing.

Explore how to terminate a member, covering voluntary and involuntary grounds, buyouts, and share valuation methods, including revenue-based or negotiated terms, plus who decides terminations in a manager managed company.

Close the company by arranging a unanimous vote, resolve leftover cash and debt, and allocate equipment among members by ownership shares. Review a sample operating agreement as a practical template.

Learn funding strategies for startups, focusing on raising capital with minimal cash and smart small-business management. The course outlines seven topics, from ethics to digital tools for affordable operations.

Enjoy this entrepreneurship course, then explore more classes on this site and access exclusive coupons to all classes as you work to get your company off the ground.