Before you look for your first paying customer, be able to check every box. Your plan in the portal already lists most of these for your business.
1. The product
- I can say what I do in one specific sentence. ("I assemble IKEA furniture," not "I do handy work.")
- I have written down what I do not do.
- My business has a name. (Simple is fine. "Carlos House Cleaning" works.)
2. The price
- I called three other businesses and wrote down what they charge.
- I have three services with a price for each, and I can explain each price: time, supplies, profit.
- I have a price sheet I can hand or text to a customer.
3. The gear
- I own the tools for the job. I will not borrow the customer's.
- They are clean and they work.
- I know what one job uses up (soap, bags, gas) and I have it.
4. The uniform
- I have a clean shirt with no logos or graphics that I wear on every job.
- I show up looking like someone you would let into your home.
5. Getting paid
- Zelle or Venmo is set up on my phone.
- I have the text invoice from Getting paid and keeping track saved and ready to send.
- I have a notebook or a sheet for every job: name, phone, date, service, amount.
6. Getting found
- I have a simple flyer or card: my name, my service, my phone, and a friendly closing.
- I have printed twenty.
- Three people who know me have my number and know what I do.
7. The practice run
- I have a name: the person I will do the job for, free or cheap, this week.
- I will ask them: Was I on time? Did I clean up? Was I polite? What would you change?
- I will ask for a photo of the finished work and one sentence I can use.
If you sell a product or food
Read the boxes as: what I make instead of what I do; what one batch costs instead of what one job uses up; a clean, labeled package instead of the uniform. For food, read Selling food and running events first — what you are allowed to make at home, and where you can sell it, decide your whole plan.
Licenses
Some work needs a license or a registration before you start: food, hair and nails, childcare, and some trades. If yours might, call the right city or state office this week and ask. The coach can help you work out which office to call. It cannot tell you what the law requires.
When every box is checked, you are ready. Call the first name on your list.