How Do You Get From Here to There? Your step-by-step guide to getting your start-up off the ground

(YoungBiz.com)- So you've been thinking about starting your own business. Andyou've been mulling over a few different ideas. Where do you gofrom here? To get you started down the right path, we've gotfour quick steps that two successful teens took:

Step 1: Choose the business that'sright for you. How do you know which business to choose?For starters, it has to be something you enjoy doing--becauseyou're going to spend a lot of time at it. There also has to bea market for your goods or services.

John Stirratt, a young entrepreneur in Shorewood, Wisconsin, hada head start when he decided to start a business three years ago.His parents, owners of JARR Sales and Trading, sell souvenirsoutside of local sports stadiums. Because he had spent a good dealof time helping his parents, Stirratt, then 16, knew he enjoyedthis type of business. And since he had a good feel for thecustomers, he thought he could find a product he could sell to themfor a better price than other vendors.

Similarly, for 16-year-old Mallory Gollick in Denver, brewing agood cup of coffee has always been a family affair. Whilevacationing in Costa Rica five years ago, Gollick's familyvisited a coffee plantation and watched coffee beans being roasted.She loved the aroma and flavor of the coffee--and she believedother families in her hometown would, too. That was the beginningof her gourmet coffee business, Mallory Gollick's JungleBeans.

Step 2: Do the planning andresearch. After some research, Stirratt decided he wouldsell peanuts. "After looking at what was selling inside thestadium, I knew I could sell something small and sell it at abetter price," he says. "Peanuts are an inexpensive itembut can still make money."

Before Stirratt invested in his first bag of peanuts, however,there was more research to be done. His next order of business wasto consider the going rate--what the other vendors were chargingfor peanuts. He found that a bag of peanuts sold for $3 inside thestadium and quickly decided he could do better. "I knew Icould undersell them," he says.

Next, Stirratt needed to find the right peanut supplier. Whilethere was one in Milwaukee close to his hometown, another vendor inChicago offered a better price. "[But] If I had to drive toChicago, I lost money for gas and time," he says. Stirrattdecided that buying his peanuts closer to home made the mostsense.

Buying his peanuts wholesale, Stirratt's calculations showedthat he could sell each bag for $2 and make $1.23 profit. Hefurther estimated that he could generate a profit of $2,125 for the12 home games that season. Based on this, John was confident apeanut business could be profitable.

Step 3: Start findingcustomers. You can have the greatest product in theworld, but if no one knows about it, your business won'tsucceed. That's where marketing--the steps you take to findcustomers--comes in.

Gollick's marketing plan for Jungle Beans was two-fold. Sheknew that word-of-mouth would give her business a jump-start, butshe also distributed fliers to advertise her new venture.

Stirratt faced a different challenge. He knew exactly who hiscustomers were--the thousands of sports fans who streamed into thestadium each weekend. What he needed was a way to get them to stopand check out his product.

Based on his previous experience with the family business,Stirratt knew that location and timing were everything. So hismarketing strategy was to place his tables in the areas that drawthe largest numbers of people. Then, about 20 minutes before thegame started, when fan traffic was heaviest, he moved his peanutscloser to the gate to capture the last-minute game-goers at justthe right moment.

Step 4: Check progress and keepimproving. Try as you may to make the right decisionsupfront, running a business involves trial and error. The biggestproblem Gollick faced was not knowing how to order the right amountof coffee. Sometimes she would run out of coffee and lose moneybecause she couldn't fill orders. She soon learned to keep atleast 40 kilos (about 88 pounds) of coffee on-hand at alltimes.

Then, an unanticipated problem came up. Not only did Gollickhave to pay import fees to receive coffee shipments from CostaRica, but frequently, the packages were damaged upon arrival andshe had to absorb the loss. Gollick started checking out the coffeeprices near her hometown and found that local vendors, who boughtimported coffee in bulk, could actually offer her a better price.By buying her coffee locally, she could turn a better profit. Plus,she'd no longer have to deal with damaged goods.

Gollick says it takes some time to "work out the bugs"in a new business venture. Her advice for other 'treps?"Give your business at least a year to becomeprofitable."

After one football season, Stirratt was very satisfied with hisprofit margin, but he wanted to find a way to expand his company,known as JARR, Jr. So he added the summer baseball season to hisroster of sales opportunities. And, down the road, Stirratt hopesto take over his family's hot dog cart business. "Myfather is an entrepreneur and has always been one," he says."He is my role model."

Now What?
No matter what business you are considering, there will be plentyof decisions to make from the get-go. As you can see, creating asolid foundation from which to launch a business takes a lot ofthought, planning and research, as well as willingness to learn bytrial and error. Observing other entrepreneurs is one way todiscover the steps that will take you in the right direction.