Introduction

Hello, everyone, and welcome to Not Just Numbers Honest Conversations with a Financial Advisor and Lawyer. I am Madison Demora, and I am here with Mike Garry. Mike is a financial advisor and a CFP and the founder and the CEO of Yardley Wealth Management. He is also an estate planning lawyer, and his law firm is Yardley Estate Planning. Hey, Mike.

Mike: Hey, Maddie. How are you?

Madison: Good. I’m good. How are you doing today?

Mike: Great.

Madison: All right. So today we’re going to discuss the journey of entrepreneurship. We’ve interviewed many business owners in the past here on Not Just Numbers. So today we’re going to discuss starting your own business.

Mike: Maddie, I think it’s a great idea. Thanks for coming up with the topic.

Fundamental Steps

So, what are the fundamental steps someone should take when considering to start their own business?

Mike: Yeah. So, you need to figure out if whatever your idea or passion is can be a legitimate business. And by legitimate, I just mean can it be profitable and be worth your time and money? And that’s hard, right? Because there’s all kinds of people who have a talent. But then translating that talent into a business doesn’t always work. So, I’m a financial advisor, and one of the things about that is, for the most part, for most of history, financial advisors have had to find their own clients to have a job. And that’s hard. It’s easier to keep on top of, for me, it’s easier to keep on top of the tax and investment changes and the estate planning, all that. Finding clients was the harder path for me…

Market Research

How important is market research in determining the viability of a business idea and what are some effective methods for conducting it?

Mike: Well, I think it’s really important. Right. You have to have some sense of the idea of how successful your enterprise might be…

Business Plan

So what role does creating a business plan play in the startup process? And what key components should be included in a comprehensive plan?

Mike: Sure. I mean, it’s really the most important thing. It takes it from a dream to reality. So you need to know, like, what are your goals and how do you plan to achieve them? Like, simple as that…

Identifying Your Target Audience

So how do you identify and reach your target audience or customer base when starting a new business?

Mike: Yeah, so I think that’s hard. You need to figure out who your customers are going to be or your clients are going to be, whether it’s a geographic area or a certain age…

Business Structures

So what are the different types of business structures, and how do you choose the right one for your venture?

Mike: Sure. So the overwhelming number of people just have, like, a sole proprietorship…

Securing Funding

What are some effective strategies for securing funding or investment for a startup, how do you decide between Bootstrapping, seeking investors or applying for loans?

Mike: Yeah, so that’s a good question, Maddie. I think that most people, that’s some sort of small business or service, bootstrap…

Legal and Regulatory Considerations

What legal and regulatory considerations should entrepreneurs be aware of when starting a business, such as permits, licenses, and intellectual property rights?

Mike: Yeah, they need to know that, right. Like, if you’re going to start a business, you need to know, like, if you need to be licensed…

Importance of Networking

So how important is networking and building relationships within your industry or community when launching a new business and what are some effective ways to do so?

Mike: Yeah, I think it can be really important…

Guest Interview: Julia Gambell

We are joined here today with Julia Gambell. Julia is the owner of Salon J. Raine here in Yardley. Julia, would you like to explain to our listeners what you do for a living? A little background about yourself.

Julia: So, I grew up in Yardley, born and raised. I’ve been here, I guess I’m turning 27 in, like, two months, which is really scary. So, yeah, I’ve been here my whole entire life, and I was super not a school kid, and I always loved hair and makeup…

Madison: Can you tell us about your journey into the world of hairdressing and what inspired you to open your own salon?

Julia: So, I was somebody, like I said, I was not very much a school kid. I love to be in school, and I love to learn, but I feel like it just wasn’t the right environment for me…

Mike: That sounds great. So, you were doing stuff in your parents’ garage or basement, and then you went out and, like, got your own salon suite…

Julia: No. Yeah. So, I had already had a decent amount of clientele when I was living in Nashville…

Madison: Do you have to be super organized? I mean, if you’re booking two months in advance, I mean, you have to know, like, your schedule and two months in advance. Right?

Julia: Well, my last name’s obviously Gambell. My boyfriend calls me Plan-Bell because I planned literally everything to the T…

Julia: So, yeah, the salon is, I’m weeding out products that aren’t good for the environment…

Julia: Education is very, very important to me…

Julia: Get an accountant immediately and know when to put money aside for taxes…

Madison: So, Jul, is there anything else you want to talk about that I didn’t cover already?

Julia: Taxing is super important. If, you know, when you’re running your own business, like, you need to make sure it’s not all, you know, fun and games…

Conclusion

For more information on Yardley Wealth Management or Yardley Estate Planning, you could visit our websites…