As any entrepreneur knows or will find out in short order, starting a business involves tackling many elements, from the obvious (business expenses, marketing and hiring) to the less obvious (spending, training, management). If you don’t have a workable plan for each of these things, the business is unlikely to succeed, and considering there is no guarantee of success even with due consideration of these points, it’s all the more important to lock them down.

Figuring out business expenses is no different than trying to create a budget, except that the budget encompasses the needs and activities of many more people than just yourself (and perhaps your family). To consider total expenses, you must examine every facet of your potential business and identify all costs along the way. This requires a deep understanding of your industry and the processes involved. In order to market successfully, you must identify your target audience and figure out what appeals to them; one effective strategy is to examine the marketing direction of a competing product or other item intended for the same audience. On the other hand, this can prevent bold new approaches. You must figure out a good balancing act.

Hiring, training and management are all closely related. When you first start out you will need to train your first employees, but they can potentially become trainers themselves, freeing up your time to pursue other aspects of the business. As such it’s important to make your first hiring selection very carefully. It may be worth your while to hire someone to handle finances and someone to handle HR right off the bat; these are the bedrock of any successful start-up.