Know-How Exchange : Student Questions

$40K divided by 12 is $3,333 per month. In terms of paying yourself first (so that you have something to live on) AND in terms of funding your business, this is not a lot but it's more than many start ups have, so well done on securing the funding.

Draw up a list of all your expenses, fees, disbursements, and costs. Then figure out what you could omit or what you could reduce. As a home healthcare business your main goal probably ought to be in paying for all the insurance you'll need, and on any monthly payments on loans. Don't skimp on these costs.

Use a portion of each month's money to fund your marketing efforts within a local area. You need a three month plan, a six month plan, a nine month plan, and a plan of where you'll be a year from now. Each point on those plans needs to be attainable but also be a bit of a stretch, and each point needs to be measurable: know where you aim to be and figure out how you intend to get there AHEAD of setting out. You can't hit a target that you cannot see. Figure out what that target is, where it is, and what it'll take to keep it in sight, and what NOT to do to avoid keeping your crosshairs off it. Each change in the position of the target will require a change in your planning, albeit a minor one. This is why business and marketing plans have to remain flexible: the key to success is adaptability.

There's no sense in spending lots of money on expensive press ads for your business just yet (and even a year down the road I'd question the effectiveness of one time press ads).

You need to think about using parts of your capital to help promote your name in places where it will be seen and understood by your prospective and ideal clients.

Your home healthcare business needs to build trust, which means you teaching people what you can do for them. Offering free classes for your ideal prospective clients is an ideal way to begin this process and if you use some of your money to offer food and drink at these events, you'll be more likely to bring in a crowd.

Simple, one color brochures and handouts that are well written, well-designed, and solidly packed with content, information, and resources will help build your credibility.

These won't be free and PLEASE, don't be tempted to do these yourself: hire a professional designer and writer via e-lance or guru.com. Figure out ahead of time who (client-wise) you want to target, what you want to say and what kind of offer you're going to present, THEN hire and brief your designer and writer. Don't do it the other way around.