12 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 45, No. 6 Featured Article continued means a computerized accounting system and a signed LLC agreement or articles of incorporation. Once your doors open, you’ll be too busy to create an LLC, and six months from now is too late to start doing accounting. Too often a business is launched without heeding this step, and the owner ends up regretting it—due to a fight with a partner, or due to the sudden appearance of the IRS. 7. How deep are your pockets? Even if you do everything else right, there’s a good chance that you’ll trip over the single most common mistake: underestimating how much cash you need to make a go of your new business. If your business takes off, it will absorb huge amounts of cash—in surveying equipment, office equipment, and in receivables. This could trigger an unexpected home equity loan, or often, the collapse of your business. Your employees won’t wait an extra month to get paid. Look hard at your business forecasts, and then play “what if.” What if your business takes four months longer to take off? What if your business grows twice as fast as expected? If you aren’t sure about your answers to any of these seven questions, review themwith an experienced business associate whom you trust. Being unprepared for any of these challenges can prove fatal to your new business. How did you do? Have you covered everything on this list? If so, then go for it! Bill Leslie is a writer and business consultant who specializes in family-owned business. He was CFO of Gresham Toyota for more than 20 years. He has written about accounting, law, genealogy, hunting, history, business management, World War II, and other topics for a variety of magazines and newspapers. He and his wife Kristi have lived in Sandy, Oregon, for more than 30 years. Are you ready for long days? Entrepreneurs dream of being their own boss. They dream of riches and personal freedom. Dreams can come true, but wealth and freedom usually come after years, or even decades, of hard work.
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