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More and more Americans are going into business for themselves as freelancers. In fact, research shows that 35% of workers now freelance. That means about 57 million US workers are either working freelance full-time or as a side gig. The top reasons cited for this choice include:

1. Achieving increased flexibility
2. Being your own boss
3. Working from anywhere
4. Choosing your own projects

“Freelancing is one of the fastest, most affordable, and easiest ways to get started working from home, especially if you offer services in a skill you already excel at,” explains a freelance report from The Balance Small Business. “In some ways, freelance sits in-between entrepreneurship and employment. In freelancing, you're self-employed, but the work is contracted by a business and can be steady and regular like in a job. One of the big benefits of freelancing is that you can usually charge more per hour in your freelance business than employers pay for the same work.”

It should be noted that there are also drawbacks to the freelance life. For starters, it requires you to constantly network and seek out clients. Jobs won’t just flow straight to your desk as they would in a corporate setting. The unpredictable workload can become a boom-and-bust cycle for many freelancers: one month you’ll be pulling all-nighters, while the next month could be nearly devoid of work.

Another drawback of freelance work: it can invade your personal life. You’ll need to be disciplined enough to establish a routine so that you get work done during certain hours and then step away when necessary.

Finding clients and commanding the right pay rates can also be challenging. For this reason, you should assemble a reliable collection of clients before you start running your freelance business as a full-time operation. This way, you can begin to learn the tricks of the trade and establish yourself as a trustworthy freelancer before the pressure really sets in.

This guide will walk you through the essential steps of launching a freelance business and finding success as your own boss. And it all starts with you making the bold decision to take the freelance route.

Determining if Freelancing Is Right for You

1. Are you self-motivated?
2. Can you stay on task, even when no one is watching?
3. Are you good at networking?
4. Are you confident enough to approach potential clients?
5. Are you in a financial situation where you can survive 1–2 months with no pay?
6. Do you enjoy learning about new industries and topics?
7. Are you a good researcher?
8. Are you organized?
9. Can you balance multiple jobs simultaneously?
10. Are you confident enough to send out invoices?
11. Are you tenacious enough to follow up on unpaid invoices?
12. Do you feel that you’re scrappy enough to compete for jobs?
13. Will you still be able to afford healthcare?

Laying the Groundwork

Connected to your professional portfolio should be your profile. This is where you feature many of the elements that would appear on a traditional resume. Highlight your experience, training, certifications, education, and personality. When a client is considering 2 candidates with similar backgrounds, the details in your profile can help move the needle to your side.

Next, you’ll need to decide how you want to connect with clients. Lots of freelancers sign up with freelancing platforms like Fiverr, Upwork, or SimplyHired. The chief advantage of a platform is that it can connect you with a vast array of jobs. Additionally, any good platform will have policies in place that protect you from getting jilted by a non-paying client.

The biggest issue with platforms, however: they take a cut of your earnings, which can range from 5% to 30%. Competition for jobs on these platforms can also affect your billable bottom line: sometimes, so many freelancers bid for work on a platform that the rates plummet to levels you aren’t willing to accept.

If you feel comfortable with the risks of a platform and feel that it’s the best option for your freelance business, take the time to research the available options. Make sure only to build profiles on platforms that have a high standard of quality and help you to meet your business goals.

The other option is to find clients on your own. This takes more effort, but it also offers the chance for a higher reward. Popular methods for finding clients include:

• Attending industry networking events
• Leveraging LinkedIn contacts
• Joining relevant Facebook groups
• Talking to family and friends
• Reaching out to previous employers
• Cold-calling businesses to share ideas

Finally, you’ll need to set your rates. At the onset of your freelance career, you may want to choose a discounted rate that allows you to connect with more clients and build your portfolio. But don’t fall into the trap of becoming a “bargain freelancer.” Your goal should be to increase your rate steadily to match the quality you’re bringing to the table.

If you’re not sure what you should be charging, talk to other freelancers to get an idea of standard rates. You could also check with a relevant professional organization, such as the Editorial Freelancers Association, to get a feel for the rate standards in your industry. Questions like these can also be addressed by a mentor—so take this opportunity to reach out to an experienced freelancer who can guide you through the early stages of your career. If you struggle to think of a possible mentor candidate, reach out to your local SCORE office and ask them for assistance.

Making It Official

First, you’ll want to set up a bank account for your freelance business. Many freelancers choose to do this at their current personal bank, as the process is much easier: your bank will already have your financial information and will draw upon your track record in order to approve your request quickly.

The other option is to find a new bank for your business account. Perhaps there’s a bank you think will align better with your business goals. Or there might be a bank offering a lucrative perk if you create an account with them.

You should also consider where you’ll base your business. Many freelancers work from home, but you might prefer a shared workspace or some other sort of office space. Consider the advantages and disadvantages of all your options before making a decision.

Next up is choosing a legal structure for your business. This isn’t a necessary step, as you probably have the option of reporting your freelance earnings as “miscellaneous income” on your tax returns. But freelance work has a tendency to complicate your taxes, making it harder to ensure you’ve reported everything accurately and made the best decisions for your deductions.

“Of all the decisions you make when starting a business, probably the most important one relating to taxes is the type of legal structure you select for your company,” says a business structure analysis from Entrepreneur. “Not only will this decision have an impact on how much you pay in taxes, but it will affect the amount of paperwork your business is required to do, the personal liability you face, and your ability to raise money.”

If you want to set up your freelance business formally, you have several options. The 3 most popular are sole proprietor, limited liability company (LLC), or S corporation. Let’s take a closer look at these options, as well as a few others that will likely be available to you:

• Sole Proprietorship: With limited paperwork required and a tiny price tag, this is the structure of choice for most freelancers. Sole proprietorships allow you and your business to be the same entity. One key advantage of a sole proprietorship: it offers one of the lowest tax rates available to freelancers. Be aware, however, that this structure offers no liability protection. If your business suffers losses or a client sues you, you’ll be on the hook.

• LLC: This structure doesn’t cost much money to set up, depending on the state in which you register your business, and it provides some major benefits. You can operate an LLC as an individual or bring in additional partners if that fits your business goals. The reason many small business owners choose LLCs is for the liability protection they can provide. Creditors typically find it difficult to go after those who operate with this structure. Possible downsides: you’ll need to acquire an Employer Identification Number (EIN) before applying, and the renewal fees and other costs can add up to make it somewhat costly.

• S Corporation: This structure is ideal when you have multiple parties involved and want to share your business’s profits and losses. There is substantial paperwork involved with this structure, so you will need to allocate enough time to complete the application process carefully. Because the finances of an S-corp are intermingled between all individuals involved, it’s not uncommon for accounting errors to occur. In fact, the IRS often reviews these types of businesses more closely because of the likelihood of mistakes.

• Partnership: While the paperwork is light for this business structure, you should protect yourself by drafting a written agreement that can be signed by all parties involved. Lay out details such as who will share what responsibilities and how profits and losses will be distributed. This structure offers no liability protection—and it can actually present even more risk than a sole proprietorship because you might become partially responsible for liabilities brought on by one of your partners. For this reason, you should choose who you bring into your partnership very carefully.

• C Corporation: If you want ironclad protection from debts and losses incurred by your business, you should consider this structure. As far as the law is concerned, a corporation is completely separate from the individual (or partners) who form it. This is one of the most complex and time-consuming structures to choose for your freelance business. The paperwork can be intense, and you’ll need an EIN. Additionally, you will need to hold meetings, elect officers, and carry out other formal proceedings if there are partners involved.

Figuring Out Your Financing

You’ll have numerous options when it comes to raising money for your freelance business. Perhaps you’ll want to start by approaching family and friends for a loan. For more robust financing, you should consider one of the following small business loans:

• Business term loans
• Short term loans
• Business lines of credit
• Merchant cash advances
• Accounts receivable financing
• Business credit cards
• Startup loans
• SBA loans
• Equipment financing

Start by searching the federal grants listed on Grants.gov. Competition will be fierce, but some of these grants can provide a real boost if you qualify. There are also grants available in the private sector. Possible sources include the Halstead Grant, the Amber Grant, the Idea Cafe Grant, and the National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE).

Simplify Your Life With Digital Tools

Any time you can hand off a task to a digital tool, you’ll reclaim precious time in your day, empowering you in more ways than one.

“Is the saying ‘Time is money’ true?” asks a business report from the SBA. “If your business runs out of money, you always have the opportunity to get more. More money is ‘simply a sale away.’ ...Yes, poor time management can cost you and your business tremendous amounts of money. Realize, however, that the better you manage your time, the more money you can earn.”

There’s an ever-increasing list of digital tools that can help freelancers. Let’s look at a handful of the most popular choices:

• Slack: Helps you manage projects and communicate with partners and clients.
• Quip: Allows you to track business goals and your progress on projects.
• 17hats: Combines contracts, invoices, project management, and other tools into a convenient hub.
• Mailchimp: Simplifies your email efforts and helps you track results on the back end.
• Hootsuite: Makes it easier to use all your social media channels at the same time.
• Marketo: Empowers your marketing efforts by merging your digital, mobile, email, and social initiatives into one place.
• QuickBooks: Lets you create expense reports and then track them throughout the process.

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Launching a brand-new business is an exciting experience. It's usually just you and a blossoming idea against the world. However, with so many unknowns, the beginning stages of a startup can be anxiety-filled and tricky.

Whether you like it or not, business success ultimately comes down to cash flow—is your business making more than it's spending? If the answer is yes, then you're on the right track. If the answer is no, then you need to start making some fixes.

In the early stages, you'll likely burn more cash than you're making—that's common. Nonetheless, you need to have a plan for how you're going to eventually turn a profit.

Running out of cash is the second biggest reason most startups fail. It's not that businesses don't get enough financing or sales—it's that they don't strategically and responsibly manage that capital.

Getting your financial ducks in a row is critical to the short-term and long-term survival of your business. The sooner you get your financial situation established, the better. Below, we'll cover the 10 critical financial steps you need to take to build a durable business foundation.

1. Establish Financial Goals

Everyone wants to build a multi-million dollar business, but you need to set realistic financial goals for how you're going to get there. Ask yourself a few questions to get your mind thinking of the possibilities—don’t worry, there are no right answers:

• Do you want to keep your business small forever, or would you like to eventually scale it to something bigger?
• Do you plan on owning this business for the long-term, or do you want to grow and then sell it for a quick buck?
• How much do you plan on paying yourself?
• How much revenue would you like your business to generate in the first year? What about the first 3 or 5 years?
• When would you like to start turning a profit?

You don't need to have answers to all these questions just yet, but keep them in the back of your mind as you build your business. Soon, you'll begin making important business decisions that may permanently steer your business in a specific direction—and it's essential you know where you're going.

2. Determine How You'll Fund Your Business

It takes money to make money, especially when you're just getting started. Initial investments in your business will require a significant sum of money. Real estate, renovations, website hosting, product molds, marketing material, software, payroll—operating a business isn't cheap.

To get your business off the ground, you'll likely need a healthy pile of cash. How you fund your business is just as important as what you spend your funds on. Here are a few financing sources for you to consider:

• Debt financing: Borrow money and repay it with interest. Maintain complete control of your business
• Venture capitalists: Trade equity for cash. Lose a portion of ownership of your business.
• Angels: Share ownership of your business with a wealthy individual in exchange for capital.
• Friends and family: Mixing personal and business life can get a bit thorny, but mom, dad, and your high school best buddy may be willing to lend you some cash without contracts and collateral.
• Crowdfunding: Harness the power of the internet to raise funds for your business in exchange for future products, rewards, acknowledgment, or good-Samaritan points. 
• Bootstrapping: Build your business from the ground up with only your personal savings and cash from initial sales.

Before you give away expensive equity or lock yourself into a 10-year loan, consider all your financing options. Take a look at our Top Financing Options for All Your Business Growth Needs guide for more details.

3. Separate Your Business and Personal Finances

While it might seem easier to just carry around one piece of plastic, it's not easier come tax time. Trying to remember which expenses were for your business and which were for your personal life can be a nightmare—especially 9–12 months later.

Right from the get-go, do everything you can to separate your business and personal finances:

1. Apply for an Employer Identification Number (EIN)
2. Set up your business entity type
3. Open a business bank account
4. Obtain a business credit card
5. Separate all your expenses

Separating your expenses doesn't just make tax season easier (though, that'd be reason enough)—it also can help you claim valuable tax deductions, shield your personal assets, and build your business credit.

The longer you wait, the harder it becomes to separate your finances. Set yourself up for success early to avoid major accounting headaches later.

4. Build an Emergency Fund

In the beginning, every dollar counts. Every sale, every saved expense, every penny-pinched—it all matters. However, it's never too early to start building your emergency fund.

Get into the habit of setting aside a portion of your weekly or monthly revenue toward a cash cushion. COVID-19 was a rude wakeup call for all businesses solely reliant on future cash flow—don't let an uncontrollable disaster destroy your business.

As a rule of thumb, try to save at least 3 months (or more) of liquid funds. These rainy-day funds could help you survive future calamities and unexpected expenses without having to wait around for government loan programs.

Another great way to build an emergency fund is to obtain a business line of credit. A business line of credit is a flexible form of financing that you can keep in your back pocket for downtimes—it's there when you need it, but you have no obligation to use it.

Whether you need to make immediate repairs to a vital piece of equipment, cover payroll during a slow month, or restock your inventory, a business line of credit can handle it all. The credit is revolving, so when you use it and repay the borrowed portion, you'll get immediate access to your full credit line again. Plus, you only pay interest on funds you use, not the full amount.

5. Get a Business Credit Card

You're going to start accruing expenses here and there even before opening day. Get a business credit card as soon as possible so that you can keep your personal and business expenses separate. 

Unlike other business loans, you don't need to wait to apply until you've been in business for 12 months or until you've sustained thousands of dollars in annual revenue. Lenders will look at your personal credit score, meaning you can qualify for a top-notch business credit card starting day one.

Business credit cards can give your new business a huge headstart:

• Use your card to pay for practically any business expense
• Start building your business credit score so that you can qualify for bigger loans down the road
• Enjoy a 0% introductory APR for the first 12 months with most cards
• Qualify for higher credit limits to pay for expensive equipment or other startup costs
• Earn points, rewards, cashback bonuses, and other great perks
• Automatically separate and track your expenses

6. Track and Monitor Your Expenses

You don't need to become an accounting wizard, but you need to learn a few bookkeeping basics. First, create an account on a free bookkeeping tool, like Lendio's software. Connect your bank accounts and credit cards, and voilà—Lendio's software will automatically begin importing, tracking, and categorizing all your income and expenses.

Data like this might not seem important now, but it'll be critical when you're applying for loans, forecasting your cash flow, and building your business plan. Plus, it'll make tax season a breeze.

Meticulous monitoring of your finances will also ensure no money slips through the cracks. Lendio's software can help you create, send, and automate your invoices, so you never forget about a delinquent customer. Plus, you'll always know where your money is going, so you'll never be surprised at your end-of-the-month numbers.

7. Strategically Set Your Prices

Pricing your products right is a Goldilocks conundrum. Too high, and you'll practically be marketing for your competitors. Too low, and you'll come off as a cheap brand. You'll need to find the sweet spot to outprice your competitors, maximize ROI, and maintain your brand integrity.

Setting your prices is hard on day one. Further down the road, you'll have more historical data, reliable break-even points, and research to help dictate your prices. In the beginning, however, you'll have to rely on forecasts, estimates, market trends, and (admittedly) a bit of guesswork.

To get baseline prices, you'll need to do some homework:

• Know your costs: Get down in the weeds with exactly how much it costs to source, produce, store, market, and deliver your products and services. Once you determine your costs, you'll know the absolute bottom limit to your pricing.
• Know your financial goals: Look back at the financial goals you established in Step 1. What price point do you need to set to make those goals a reality? 
• Know your competition: Analyze the market and see how your competitors are pricing complementary and substitute products and services. In this day and age, regardless of where your customer is, they can whip out their smartphone and get instant price comparisons—and research says they do it all the time.
• Know your market: How important is price to your customer demographic? For example, if you're selling breakfast cereal, some customers will fuss if your price is 15 cents more than a competitor. On the other hand, if you're selling Ford F-150s, your customer might not think twice that your truck costs $5,000 more than a leading competitor.

Once you've done your research, price your goods with confidence. Continually reevaluate your price point—it's never set in stone. Over time, you may build up operating efficiencies that dramatically decrease your costs, or your competitors may get caught up in a pricing war. Keep an eye on your sales, and don't be afraid to experiment with pricing changes.

8. Invest in Professional Services

When money is tight, you might be tempted to try and do everything on your own: bookkeeping, marketing, sales, recruiting, designing, and the list goes on. However, your most valuable asset is your time.

First, track how you spend your time. Record everything you do: answering emails, fly-by chit chats, scheduling, meetings, screening candidates, etc. Now, attach a dollar value to each of these activities—how much would you need to pay someone to do any of these tasks for you? Next, determine how much your time is worth—attach a dollar figure to it. 

If the value of an activity is less than your time is worth, outsource the task. Hand over the minutiae and start spending your time doing what nobody else can do for you—growing your business.

The most successful small business owners know when to do and when to delegate. Penny-pinching here and there could save you a buck or two, but you might be leaking more cash than you're saving. Consider which tasks you could easily hire a professional to do:

• Bookkeeping
• Web development
• Content marketing
• Copywriting
• Data entry
• Social media
• Customer service
• IT support

You can offload a lot of time-consuming activities to a freelancer or digital assistant. While learning new skills is valuable, it's not always the best use of your time as a small business owner to learn the ins and outs of WordPress or how to troubleshoot Mac issues. Start building a team (whether that's freelancers, employees, or other professional services) early on—you'll always have more than enough to do.

9. Remember to Pay Yourself

Don't forget that you're a business expense, too. Some entrepreneurs pour their heart, spirit, and bank accounts into their businesses at the expense of their families and livelihoods. 

You don't need to take home a big fat salary every month, but pay yourself enough to live comfortably (at least). Eliminating personal financial stress from your life will help you focus on your business and make more objective business decisions.

How you pay yourself will depend on your established business type. Owners of LLCs, partnerships, and sole proprietorships are viewed as self-employed, so they're paid through something called an owner's draw. If your business is a corporation (like a C-corps or S-corps), then you'll pay yourself through a set salary.

As the owner, it's easy to neglect yourself. Plan for this expense in advance so that you leave sufficient budget for your pay. Start a good habit from day one of always making yourself a priority—this practice will go a long way in the future business decisions (big and small) that you make.

10. Plan for Taxes

Your first tax season is right around the corner. Unfortunately, many small business owners forget to calculate their tax burdens when they're budgeting startup and operating costs. The reality is that your potential tax obligations could make the difference between profitability and financial loss.

As a full-time employee, your taxes are automatically deducted from your paycheck—no planning, no budgeting, no hassle. However, as a small business owner, you must take the initiative to calculate, set aside, and pay your taxes. 

The best way to avoid any future tax surprises is to pay quarterly taxes on your income. Doing this will give you a clearer picture of your month-to-month financial situation—plus, it'll make tax season much less of a headache.

Lendio makes it easy to prepare your company's taxes with a nifty feature called Lendio Tax Assist. Lendio Tax Assist is a free tool that helps you organize and estimate your taxes so you know how much money you'll owe in advance.

Sometimes taxes can be tricky, and that's why accountants are paid the big bucks. Still, they're almost always worth the cost. Consider hiring an accountant, especially for your first tax season. They'll save you time and money, as well as maintain your relationship with the IRS.

Let's Get Down to Business

Now that you've taken care of the essential financial steps, you're ready to start growing your business. Yes, these steps can be time-intensive, but they're well worth the initial investment—they'll pay dividends in time and money in the long run. With a solid financial foundation, you'll avoid many of the mistakes that kill new businesses. 

Remember, business success is rarely the result of spontaneity (especially for entrepreneurs). You need a plan—let us help. 

If you need capital to get your business off the ground, our personal funding managers can help make it happen. Just start your no-fee, no-obligation 15-minute application to see what small business loans you qualify for. Then, a funding manager will help walk you through your options so that you don't walk away with any ol' loan—you skip and hop away with the very best loan.

It takes a little cash to make big things happen. Get the capital your small business needs to start off on the right foot.

When you think of a business, what comes to mind? An office, cubicles, computers, raw materials, machines, inventory, etc.?

While these elements play a role in every company, they are not the most critical asset: the single most important part of any business is its staff. Employees are the fuel that drives your company forward—without dedicated employees, your business will never thrive. 

You can certainly survive with clock-punchers, but you will never create something truly great. The most successful businesses in the world are the ones that have found the secret ingredient to employee motivation: a shared purpose.

A sense of purpose is an intrinsic yearning to create something larger than ourselves: a big-picture idea and goal. When your employees have a sense of purpose, everyone—even those in the most entry-level positions—is focused on how their job moves the entire company closer to its vision.

Consider what it means to have a sense of purpose and how you can foster one within your team. 

Purpose guides employees through their daily work.

Very few jobs are glamorous all of the time. While the chef in a restaurant gets credit for the food and the bartender can create exciting new drinks, both still do hours of cleaning, prep work, and grunt work. Plus, additional team members like waitstaff, dishwashers, and bussers are all essential to the customer experience, even if they are rarely appreciated.

A shared sense of purpose can guide the entire team, from the head chef to the hostess, which drives up customer satisfaction and growth.

“Purpose can help set a north star not only for the company as a whole, but also for departments, groups, and teams,” Guusje Bendeler writes at thinkPARALLAX. “Informed by the big aspirational north star, setting smaller, more tangible, and achievable goals can help subsets within the company grasp how their work matters to the bigger picture.”

If you have ever struggled to motivate employees or tie their day-to-day work to the benefit of the company, they may have lacked a sense of purpose. Purpose is the “why” that employees answer when doing their work. Why should they care? Why should they do their best? It all ties back to purpose. 

Purpose-driven case study: Kiva.

Several companies deliberately cultivate a sense of purpose—and one brand that goes above and beyond is Kiva, an international nonprofit that strives to bring financial services to those who cannot access them.

Kiva uses its platform to form partnerships with brands like Bobbi Brown, Pure Leaf, and eBay. It facilitates opportunities for companies to instill a sense of purpose within their employees. These large brands donate money in the form of Kiva credits to their customers or employees. Whoever receives the credits can support a cause they care about by funding Kiva borrowers. 

For example, Hewlett-Packard and Kiva launched Matter to a Million, which set aside $7

million to provide each of Hewlett-Packard’s 275,000+ global employees with a $25 credit. 

These credits helped borrowers in 82 different countries and came with a 97% repayment rate. This program improves the global economy while giving HP employees a sense of purpose within their organization. HP employees work hard knowing that the more profitable the company is, the more it will likely contribute to communities in need. 

Anyone can have a sense of purpose.

You don’t need to operate a nonprofit to lead employees with a strong sense of purpose. Every company can encourage team members to take pride in their work. 

One of the most famous examples of employees finding their sense of purpose came from Yale School of Management researcher  Amy Wrzesniewski. She interviewed hospital janitors who found a strong sense of purpose in their work. 

They didn’t see removing trash and mopping floors as “just a job”—instead, they believed it an essential part of supporting patient healing. Not only did the janitorial staff work hard to create a clean and welcoming environment, but they also talked to patients while they did so (even when those patients were in a coma) and changed the art in the hospital rooms frequently. When a patient made a recovery, the janitors took pride in knowing that they contributed. 

It can be easy for employees to feel like their work goes unnoticed or is less important than others’ work, which is why companies need to work hard to communicate and build a shared sense of purpose.

A sense of purpose can help companies improve employee morale and increase customer satisfaction. This shared organization-wide mission creates a motivated and empowered ecosystem that pushes growth and success forward. 

If you can build a shared purpose in your company, you’ll see happier and more productive employees who genuinely enjoy their work. This mindset will not just improve the success of your business—it’ll also help you to retain quality talent and mitigate turnover.

Give your team something to care about, and the results might surprise you.  

What's in a name? More than you might think. As a small business owner, you have complete freedom to choose the title you want: CEO, owner, president, boss, head honcho, accounting ninja—whatever you want. However, names carry meaning, and you want to make sure yours delivers the message you intend.

If you've gone down the rabbit hole of potential titles, you're probably feeling overwhelmed. Does "founder" really capture all that you've done (and still do) for the business? CEO—aren't you more like CEO, CFO, CPO, and every other chief something officer?

To help you find a title that captures who you are and what you do, we've put together a quick guide to entrepreneur titles. Below, we'll walk you through a few potential common titles that might fit you perfectly—then, we'll help you know how to pick one.

Potential names and how to choose one.

Before we take a look at your potential job title options, you need to know what you're looking for. You'll want a name that captures your role and feels right. If CEO feels to corporate-y for you, then forget about—there's plenty of other options.

CEO

CEO, or chief executive officer, is a common title for the man or woman in charge. The title usually has an air of magnitude to it, suggesting leadership over a large, established company. Sometimes, it's too big for a small business owner, but other times it's just right—that's for you to decide. 

Founder

Founder has a startup feel to it—like you built the business from the foundation up. It's gained traction in recent years, but it only works if you actually started the company. If you purchased an existing business and did more of the buying than the founding, this title might not be right for you.

President

President carries a similar weight to CEO, and it also distinguishes itself from a C-suite. If you plan on building an executive team, you'll want to consider the titles your peers might have—or you might just end up with more than one president.

Owner

Owner has a more humble undertone to it. It doesn't convey the same authority as CEO or president, but it clearly denotes who the decision-maker is. If you're an owner of a small business or are a solo entrepreneur, this title could be the one. 

Principal

The title of principal falls right in between owner and CEO on the authoritarian scale. It's more official than owner but less grandiose than CEO—making it perfect if you own a small agency or consulting business that’s trying to look and feel bigger than it actually is. 

General manager

General managers are usually in charge of the entire company or the company's operations. While the general manager isn't always the owner of a business, they are usually the ones responsible for making the big decisions.

If you've looked over all these job titles and none of them feel right—don't panic. You're the boss—you can create your own unique title. 

Own a bar? Become the CBO—chief beverage officer. Run a digital marketing business? Dub yourself the #MediaMaster.

The best part about being a small business owner is you get to call the shots. The world does enough of telling you what you can and can't do—when it comes to choosing your job title, you're the one in control. Have fun, be creative, and pick (or create) a title that perfectly fits you.

Small business owner or entrepreneur?

Small business owner and entrepreneur are often used interchangeably, but the titles don't necessarily mean the same thing. Running your own business doesn't make you an entrepreneur.

Entrepreneurs come up with innovative ideas that carry a high level of risk. Their ventures usually target rapid growth and high returns. Thus, entrepreneurs have the potential to leave a bigger impact on their community and the world—and they also have the potential to epically fail and disappear into the startup void.

Small business owners, on the other hand, tend to focus on proven methods. They're not inventing new products or services—they're just identifying needs in the community and providing the apparent solution. For example, if there's no gas station for miles, then it makes sense for a small business owner to capitalize on the opportunity. Or if the closest pizza joint is in the next town, then a small business owner might want to start one closer to home. Small business owners still operate under a certain level of risk (as all business owners do), but less so than entrepreneurs.

Choose your title and own it.

As Juliet proclaimed: "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." 

Regardless of your title, pick one and own it. Yes, a name is important, but don't let the name change you, your business, or your responsibilities. For even if you were called something else, would that change who you are or what you do?

Minority-owned businesses likely play a significant role in your local economy. According to the US Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, there are over 4 million minority-owned businesses in the United States, with sales totaling $700 million. 

Over the last 10 years, these businesses accounted for 50% of the 2 million businesses started in the US, and they created 4.7 million jobs. Look around—the reason your city continues to grow is likely because of the success of these minority-owned small businesses.   

You can support minority-owned businesses as a consumer and as a business owner. Check out these 7 ways you can help them grow. 

1. Buy from them.

The easiest way to support a minority-owned business: buy their goods and services. Whether you’re shopping at a local coffee shop or hiring a florist for your wedding, you can choose to give your business to a minority-owned establishment. 

Supporting communities of color builds up diverse neighborhoods and furthers the pursuit of equitable prosperity. The money you spend here will not just help build diversity—it will also stay with local businesses, which furthers wealth within your community.

2. Skip services that take profits from companies.

This is a rule of thumb that applies to almost any small business: avoid using services like UberEats or Shipt when buying from minority-owned businesses. Instead, see if they have their own local delivery service or pick up the goods yourself instead. 

National services like DoorDash can take up to 30% of the profits on an order—meaning your support might not stretch as far as you planned. Buying local also includes shipping or delivering services. 

3. Promote their goods in your business.

If you work with different vendors to keep your business afloat, look for ways to hire minority-owned companies and promote their products. For example, a breakfast restaurant could serve coffee by a minority-owned roaster or pastries by a minority-owned baker. This partnership advertises their business, grows your selection, and spreads wealth across both of your businesses. 

4. Write online reviews for minority-owned businesses.

Feedback in the form of online reviews is one of the best ways for you to support a locally run minority-owned business.

If you had a great experience, leave a positive comment on Google, Yelp, Facebook, or other review sites. Share photos if you have them. This act might seem small, but you can increase their visibility online and help grow their business—plus it won’t cost you anything beyond a few minutes of your time.  

5. Sponsor a minority-owned business through the Chamber of Commerce.

According to the Minority Business Development Agency (part of the US Department of Commerce), there are almost 2.6 million Black-owned businesses in the United States. About 110,000 of them have employees. 

This statistic means that 96% of Black-owned businesses are individual entrepreneurs or partnerships without employees. These small businesses often miss out on networking opportunities because they can’t afford the fees associated with joining professional organizations or the local Chamber of Commerce. 

If you are involved in any dues-based organization, offer to sponsor a minority-owned business. This support gives these business owners seats at the table to reap the same benefits as larger, wealthier organizations in your area. 

6. Offer sliding scale services.

While the value of your services as a business owner remains the same, not everyone can afford to pay for what you do. Some service providers—like accountants, marketers, and web designers—offer a “pay what you can” program for nonprofits and minority-owned companies.

This flexibility can significantly benefit minority-owned business owners. For example, many small business owners also take on tasks related to their business’s accounting and taxes. If they had better bookkeeping or were able to take advantage of more tax opportunities, then they could become more profitable. Making your accounting services available in these scenarios could take the financial pressure off the owner and allow them to focus on growing their business.

Offering your services on a sliding scale can help you support minority-owned businesses that need your services but can’t afford them right now.  

7. Support internal workforce diversity.

You may not realize it, but prioritizing diversity in your workplace can help you support minority-owned businesses in your area. Your diverse employees support others in the community and can promote other minority-owned businesses not on your radar. A diverse workplace can also benefit your business: you gain fresh perspectives and new ideas when your team members come from different backgrounds. 

That being said, you should never expect your employees of color to serve as ambassadors to their communities or put the burden entirely on them to explain race-based issues to you. That would be an unfair request—and a responsibility that your white team members would never have to face. 

8. The Buy Black movement.

The #BuyBlack movement spotlights Black- and minority-owned businesses. “I became aware that many Black-owned businesses have purposely not shown their faces in fear of losing customers, this is me included,” Maggie Foster, CEO of ClaudeHome, a boutique design firm in NYC, told TeenVogue.  “I’m working on having anyone that has also felt this way to come together and have our photos taken so we can show the world our beautiful faces. As a Black person that has experienced racism and injustice throughout my life, I am so thankful to have the platform I do to spread awareness and educate others.”

“Buying Black” has become as much of a values-driven choice as buying green, shopping small, or buying American. My Black Receipt, an initiative started by Kezia Williams, hopes to turn buying Black from a trending hashtag into a longer-term movement by tracking purchases for Black-owned businesses. "When you invest and purchase from a Black-owned business, what you're really doing is strengthening the Black community," Williams told CNN. Consumers can upload their purchases into the database, which Williams and her team will use to track the impact of consumer spending on Black-owned businesses, as well as partner with organizations like Yelp to help people find minority-owned businesses more easily.

To find a local business to support, check directories like the one on My Black Receipt, BlackPages, or Official Black Wall Street. Other lists can be found by industry, like Bon Appetit’s list of Black-owned restaurants across the country or Beyonce’s Black Parade list.

If you do make a purchase, write a review. Online reviews matter nearly as much as word-of-mouth for online purchases, so writing a review on a platform of your choice can help make your purchase go that much further.

9. The 15% Pledge.

Supporting minority-owned businesses isn’t limited to consumer purchases. Evaluate your entire supply chain, from the influencers you follow to where you source your office supplies. 

That’s exactly why Aurora James, founder and creative director at accessories company Brother Vellies, created the 15% pledge. She called out Target, Sephora, Net-a-Porter, Walmart, Whole Foods, and Shopbop, among others, to diversify their suppliers. “This pledge is not prescriptive, because we understand that each business, each milestone, each change, is unique,” says the 15% Pledge website, urging businesses to “Define and publish a plan for growing the share of Black businesses you empower to at least 15%, alongside a concrete strategy by which you plan to stay accountable to and transparent around your commitment.”

The nonprofit spun out of a viral Instagram post in response to performative and empty social media campaigns made by retailers with no plans to change but eager not to be left behind by popular sentiment.

Sephora became the first major US retailer to take the pledge. Currently, out of 290 brands it offers, only 9 are Black-owned. “We are inspired to make the 15% Pledge because we believe it is the right thing to do," Artemis Patrick, Sephora's executive vice president and chief merchandising officer, told CNN. This move is part of a longer-term plan to change their supply chain and help more minority-owned businesses grow.

Rent the Runway also signed the pledge, telling the New York Times, “We’re collectively reckoning with the fact that for far too long, fashion has co-opted the style, inspiration, and ideas of Black culture without ensuring that the people behind the work are properly compensated.”

Often, word-of-mouth largely determines which brands show up on shelves. Merchandising teams often start with what they’re personally familiar with, and brands pick up steam from there. The important thing is not only giving shelf space but marketing and partnership space, too.

10. Invest in minority businesses.

The average entrepreneur is a 35-year-old white male with a degree from an elite university and the youngest of a wealthy family. Centuries of discrimination mean it’s less likely minorities have the kind of inherited generational wealth many white entrepreneurs tap into when they look to start a business. Research also shows that minorities are less likely to be approved for loans or receive investments due to lower collateral, location bias, and credit history.

In a survey released by Morgan Stanley in 2018, 80% of investors agreed that women- and minority-owned businesses received enough funding to run their businesses when only 18% said they “very frequently” review minority-owned businesses. 

Talk about a blind spot.

This blind spot is caused by several factors, with investors citing higher risks for businesses owned by minorities, lack of familiarity, and lack of access to traditional investors in the first place. “Multicultural and women-owned businesses could account for $6.8 trillion in gross receipts if they matched their percentage of the labor force and business revenues were equal to traditional firms,” states the report. “This would represent nearly 3x the current output, with a missed opportunity of $4.4 trillion.”

Everyone can do their part.

You don’t need to have a large business in your town or city to support minority-owned companies. By simply being cognizant of where you spend your money and who you support, you can elevate hard workers and impressive brands in your neighborhood.

Starting a successful home-based business is the entrepreneurial dream. Home-based businesses let you earn a living from the comfort of your home and eliminate the need for costly office space and lengthy commutes (fun fact: commuters spend, on average, 408 days of their life driving to and from work).

Today’s increasingly connected world makes it possible (and relatively easy) to make money without ever stepping outside. The accelerated growth of remote work is a testament to the fact that high-quality performance and strong business results can be achieved without expensive real estate.

Working from home and being your own boss is no longer a pipedream—it’s a realistic future. If you’re on the fence about whether a home-based business is your cup of tea, here are a few pros and cons to consider:

Pros:

• Fewer overhead costs (office space, transportation, warehouse rentals, etc.)
• Time saved without a commute
• Flexible work-life balance
• Income tax advantages

Cons:

• Harder to separate your business and personal life
• Possible  local government regulation of home-based businesses
• Isolation difficult if you’re more of an extrovert

If you’ve decided the pros outweigh the cons and you’re ready to start your home-based business venture—congratulations! Now, it’s time to figure out what kind of business you’re going to start.

Fortunately, you have endless options. To help get your creative juices flowing, we’ve created a list of practical (and profitable) home-based business ideas. This list may contain your dream occupation, and if that’s the case, our job is done. If not, use these ideas to inspire your own one-of-a-kind business.

8 fantastic home-based freelancing careers.

You can start a freelance business as a full-time career or even a side hustle. The limit to its potential is ultimately how much time you can invest in it. Most freelancing jobs you can do anywhere with a computer and a reliable internet connection, so it’s more of an at-home-and-anywhere-else kind of business. 

However, the one downside to a freelance business is that you’re not quite the boss. Yes, you have ownership of your hours and pricing, but you’re ultimately fulfilling independent contract work for other businesses—who, by default, become your temporary bosses.

Finding freelance work has never been easier. Here are a few of your options:

1. Writing

Blog posts, guides, email campaigns, social posts, ads, website copy, presentations—words, words, words, and somebody’s got to write them all. A freelance writing business has unlimited potential, but you’ll need a deep-deep passion for writing to avoid burnout.

2. Virtual assistant

Entrepreneurs (like yourself) often reach a point when they need a little extra help—and that first hire is often a virtual assistant. Virtual assistants handle all the nitty-gritty details for businesses from a remote location, such as:

3. Social media manager.

If you love creating irresistible social media content that generates likes, shares, and comments, then a career as a social media manager may be right for you. As a social media manager, you’ll manage the social profiles for businesses to share messages, gain followers, and interact with the community.

4. Programming

Full-time programmers are hard to find and expensive to hire, making one-off contracts more enticing to small businesses. Programming demand far exceeds the current supply, and it likely always will. If you know how to code, you’ll have no problem finding freelance gigs as a programmer.

5. Graphic design

Graphic designers create everything from T-shirt designs to UX (user experience) enhancements to advertising illustrations. All you’ll need to snag clients is a few Adobe tools, a decent computer, creative design skills, and a portfolio.

6. Photography

Build a home-based studio to do product shoots, portraits, graduation pictures, engagements, weddings, and more. Once you build your collection, you can start selling prints of your photos on your website or through a marketplace like Society6.

7. Personal Trainer

You can do personal training, yoga instructing, wellness coaching, and nutrition consulting all from the comfort of your home. These businesses will provide you with meaningful work as you help change lives every day.

8. Tutor

People will always need help learning challenging topics, meaning you’ll never be short of clientele. Master a trade or skill, become a pro at teaching it, and voilà—you have a tutoring business. Join popular online tutoring platforms like Chegg and Skooli to get started.

6 subscription box businesses.

Subscription boxes are growing in popularity—and they make for a fantastic business model. Instead of fighting for each sale, you earn each customer on a recurring basis, meaning your marketing and advertising ROI shoots through the roof.

Once, subscription plans were limited to magazines, gym memberships, and SaaS (software-as-a-service) services. Now, subscription boxes have expanded this model to include everything from shaving kits to makeup to meals. Regardless of what kind of business you want to start, there’s a good chance you can turn your passion into a subscription box.

1. Crafting

If crafts are your thing, create a subscription service that delivers art supplies, mystery DIY kits, notebooks, or other creative goodies. For inspiration, look at SketchBox, New Hobby Box, and Darby Smart.

2. Wardrobe stylist

Most people aren’t style savvy, but they’re willing to pay extra for someone to help them shop. Stitch Fix is a great example. You could make your subscription boxes broad (general clothes from head to toe) or niche (glasses, watches, shoes, hats, etc.).

3. Makeup

The beauty and skincare subscription box world is saturated, but that doesn’t mean there’s not room enough for you. To differentiate yourself, you’ll need to dial in a specific aspect of makeup or skincare and become the go-to option for it.

4. Supplements

Athletes, weekend warriors, and even your recreational health enthusiasts all need their supplements, and they need them regularly. Protein powders, vitamins, electrolytes—you name it, they probably take it. And not just once—they need it month after month after month, which makes supplements the perfect subscription box products.

5. Games

Playing games is easy, but finding high-quality games is hard. Those who play board games or video games on a daily basis crave the latest and greatest releases, which is where your subscription box comes in. If you consider yourself a gamer, this niche could be right up your alley.

6. Books

Baby books, romance novels, fiction, and true crime—people need books, and most would rather spend time reading rather than sorting through thousands of endless options. Cater your box to a specific niche to win their trust—and their recurring payments.

4 home cooking business ideas.

Who doesn’t like food? If you enjoy making delectable sweet and savory eats from scratch, then the world is your oyster. To sell food, you’ll need to comply with your state’s licensing and regulations. Once that’s covered, you’re ready to start sharing your love of food and drinks with the masses—right from the comfort of your home.

1. Home Bakery

If baking is your forte, then turn on your oven and start working some magic. You could bake and sell muffins, bread, doughnuts, pastries, cookies, cakes, or other tasty treats. And if you want to find an even more specific niche, create specialized gluten-free or healthy bakes.

You can sell your baked goods direct-to-consumer through a website, at your house, or via your local farmers market. If you want to focus on baking and not selling, consider partnering with a local café or shop to sell the goodies on a recurring plan.

2. Cooking Instructor

Cooking is a skill, and it’s one most Americans don’t have. Fortunately for you, if you have the cooking gene, you can teach others as a career. Choose which models you prefer: online or in-person, one-on-one or group classes, private or public. You could even create a digital home-learning course or start a YouTube channel and grow a healthy following to generate ad revenue (see what we did there?).

3. Specialty Goods

Do you enjoy making specialty items that are harder to come by? You could start a business making and selling jams, preserves, coffee roasts, chocolates, confections, or even honey. These kinds of treats sell well online and at fairs and farmers markets.

4. Catering

If you like making food for the masses (and have the appliances to do so), then catering could be a lucrative business idea. You’ll likely need more than just your own two hands to cater for big events like weddings, funerals, graduations, and other gatherings, but you can hire one-off help or get family members involved.

4 home-based business ideas for animal lovers.

An home-based business can be a dream come true for animal lovers. Not only can you focus your life around animals, but you also get to spend more time with your own furry (or not-so-furry) friends. With human fertility rates falling in the US and more of the rising generation choosing to adopt pets into their family, home-based businesses focused on animals will only see growing demand.

1. Pet Bed-and-Breakfast

Everyone loves their pets, but sometimes they need a travel break—which means they’ll need a fun, safe, and reliable place to leave their special friends. A pet bed-and-breakfast lets you score as many clients a night as your home or facility can handle, helping you scale your business quicker than most hands-on pet services permit. Try to partner with local veterinarians, pet stores, and groomers to create mutual referral relationships.

2. Animal Grooming

Grooming a pet is a lot harder than it sounds, and that’s why some people are willing to just defer the task to an expert. Turn a room in your house into an animal salon and start selling doggy transformations.

3. Pet Training

If you’re a talented dog whisperer, pet training may be your gift. You could do group trainings or one-on-ones to transform unruly young pups into well-mannered and obedient canines. At first, you may just provide the basics, like teaching dogs how to sit, listen, stop barking, or shake. As your skills develop, you could also learn the traits necessary to curb aggressive and dangerous behaviors.

4. Dog Walking

Pet owners are busy, and sometimes they need help making sure their furry friends get the healthy walks they need. As a dog walker, you can take dogs out for a stroll every day of the week. Offer customers a subscription plan so you can reduce the time you spend marketing your business and spend more time walking dogs. You can walk single dogs or a small “pack” from a similar residential area to get more bang for your buck.

8 backyard business ideas.

Your home-based business can extend to the backyard, too. If you like spending time outside, consider running a business from your yard rather than your office. Here are a few backyard business ideas to get you started.

1. Backyard nursery

If you’ve been blessed with a green thumb, put your talent to use and start growing potted plants in your garden (or maybe even build a greenhouse). Some people lack the gift—or the backyard space—so they’re much more likely to buy a plant that already has a head start on life. 

2. Farming

Create the farm (big or small) that you’ve always wanted. You could strictly grow fruits and vegetables, or you could even get a chicken coop or cows, sourcing eggs or milk to local markets or selling them direct-to-consumer. The only limit is your real estate—and your willingness to get your hands a little dirty.

3. Florist

Beyond food, some people just want to buy pretty flowers. Consider what flowers will thrive in your environment and how profitable they are to grow and sell. Flowers might just be a seasonal component of your larger business to supplement income during special holidays like Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day. 

4. Event rentals

There are a couple of options you can pursue in the world of events. If you have a pretty piece of real estate in a prime location, you may consider leasing it out for parties, weddings, and other events. If you don’t, you could still purchase tables, chairs, music equipment, and other party essentials to store and rent to events going on elsewhere.

5 Goat rentals

Yes, you read that right—goat rentals. You could start a business renting out goats to local property owners who need their lawns mowed. It’s business for you, free food for the goats, and a solution for property owners—everybody wins. Plus, with the recent rise in goat yoga (GOGA), you could also train your lovely grass-eating pets to walk, run, hop, and kiss their way around yoga mats during sessions.

6. Beekeeping

Not everyone is fond of bees, but if you can get past their painful stings, beekeeping could become a fantastic backyard business. Start your bee colony and raise bees for honey production, soapmaking, or other wonderful honey purposes.

7. Furniture upcycling

Shop around at local antique stores, thrift shops, and yard sales to find old furniture that has the potential to be revived. Polish, patch, and upgrade it—then sell the new masterpieces.

8. Car detailing

Start a car detailing business to clean and detail vehicles. You don’t need to be a pro to get started—just begin with what you know. That could be as simple as scrubbing tires, vacuuming the interior, or cleaning up the dash. As you hone your skills and receive the proper training, you can move on to more advanced detailing and protective services—and this opens doors to new services, clients, and vehicles. 

Big ideas take a little bit of cash.

And that’s where we can help. Whether you need to finance a computer, photography equipment, home-office renovations, or marketing campaigns, you have options to make it happen.

Find the perfect loan to launch your home-based business with our handy-dandy application. It’s quick, easy, and free—what more could you ask for? Once you submit your application, we’ll help you find the best loan options from our network of 300+ lenders.

Make your home-business dream a reality. Start your 15-minute application now and get access to cash in as little as 24 hours after approval. Your home-based business is waiting. Don’t let a little cash keep your big ideas from launching.

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Do you dream about starting your own company? Do you create business plans and product lines in your head, wishing for the day when you can quit your job and create something of your own? 

Starting a small business isn’t just a dream that benefits you—it’s a step forward for your community. Small businesses benefit the local economy as a whole, even people who aren’t customers or employees. 

Consider these 6 ways starting a local business helps the economy and why your dream of launching a business could have a positive ripple effect. 

1. You employ local workers.

The coronavirus saw many talented people lose income through furloughs, layoffs, and pay cuts. Experts expect to approach the 25% unemployment rate that we saw during the Great Depression.

By launching your business, you can help mitigate the unemployment levels and provide much-needed financial stability. Moreover, employing others will lessen the dependency on state programs (like unemployment benefits or food stamps), allowing your government to help others.  

2. You create job vacancies in other companies.

Small businesses opening means more people are getting hired across the board, beyond just your company.

3. The money you earn stays in the community.

Consider Uber Eats, which typically takes a 30% fee on most restaurant orders. Part of that money goes toward paying the driver, but most of it goes to Uber’s shareholders. 

However, if a local business hires a few drivers and sets up its own delivery policy, it can provide the same service to customers while keeping 100% of the profits locally.

The money earned by your small business goes back into the community. It is used to support local restaurants, builds up regional farmers, and gets donated to small nonprofits. Your dollar can stretch much further when it is spent locally because it’s compounded across partners, vendors, and employees.  

4. You contribute to local taxes.

State and local tax revenues account for roughly 9% of GDP—so it has a significant effect on your local government’s budget. 

By giving residents an option instead of Amazon or other e-commerce vendors, you can help your local government fund important improvements in your community.

5. You make your city a better place to live.

Small businesses are what make communities interesting. They are what attract people to live there. Your business, along with others in the area, will bring more residents to your town, attract tourists (and the money they spend on vacations), and encourage large-scale job creators to move in. 

6. You help the environment.

According to Mike Scott, a business and sustainability expert, “The shipping industry burns the world’s dirtiest fuel to move cargoes and passengers around the world [and] is one of the biggest contributors to climate change.”

If you can source items locally and customers can buy them from your small business, then you and your customers can both reduce your carbon footprints. You can cut down on emissions to make the environment healthier and the air cleaner.

Everyone benefits from local businesses in your area, from kids enjoying the fresh air in parks provided by tax dollars to your employees who rely on you for a paycheck. Keep these benefits in mind as you begin planning your small business. If you do decide to take the next step and launch a business, consider a small business loan to help you get up and running.