Whenever you start something new, you’re usually scared out of your pants, and I was no exception.  Oh sure, I’m a self-assured, totally confident freelancer now, but when I got started working for myself, I was sweating bullets.  There’s no one to catch you if you fall, and there’s no one to blame if you mess up.  It was exhilarating; it was exhausting!  I ended up talking to one of my friends, who happens to be a very successful work at home businessman.  That’s one of the first things I can tell you about small business help; it’s all about the networking.  Talk to people who are related to your field, talk to people who don’t seem related.  You never know where you’ll find the real treasures.

The first thing he told me was to take advantage of the internet.  The internet is a way for people to connect and it’s a terrific equalizer.  With a simple yet professional website, you automatically give your company a lot more credibility and the appearance of stability.  If you remember to make sure your webpage load quickly, don’t inflict a lot of bells and whistles on the people who are on dial-up and keep things simple, you’ll already be heads and tails ahead of some of the amateur businesspeople out there.

The second thing he told me was there the internet is full of information and that it was just a matter of knowing where to look.  While he said that small business help was available through basic searches, he also said that that was only the start.  You’ve really struck gold when you find a community.  Find a forum that caters to both your target audience and to the people who are in the same field as you.  Some quick searches through these forums and communities will give you a lot of the basics that people have tested out before you.  Be prepared to wade through some really silly stuff, but the information you get on sites like this is invaluable.

The third and arguably most important thing he told me was to actually be a part of a community, online or off, that addresses the small business at hand.  You can network, make contacts, avoid mistakes that the veterans have already made and meet some genuinely nice and interesting people.  For more immediate help, you might want your own personal guru so head to http://didyousmellthat.com/mentor/.  Gatherings, whether in cyberspace or down at the neighborhood bar, are a great place to get free advice and suggestions.  In fact, my friend said wryly, the trick might be getting it to stop!

When you’ve first stuck out on your own, having your own small business can be overwhelming, but remember the help is never far away.