No Degree Necessary: Steps for Founding a Business Without Accreditation

The world of work is constantly growing, mutating, and pushing new boundaries. Nowadays, a degree isn’t a requisite if you want to succeed as an entrepreneur. With the right strategies, non-college graduates can keep pace as business owners and even outperform the competition - here’s how to get started.

Conceptualizing a Business

If you’re hoping to found a company of your own, it’s important to research and conceptualize ideas before you jump straight in. With some thorough research, you can avoid common pitfalls and overcome obstacles before they’ve even arrived.

• Ideas: A winning idea will depend upon your personal expertise, market shifts, and budgetary constraints. Interior design, for example, may not require official accreditation and is a burgeoning area of work. It can also be a highly rewarding profession as you will be required to visit sites, meet with clients, and possibly visit stores/vendors for supplies.

• Business Plan: To test the viability of your business idea, it’s a good idea to write a comprehensive plan that outlines your company, analyzes the market, identifies a selling strategy, and proposes financial requirements.

• Funding: You should also be clear about where and how you’re going to gather the funds necessary to power your business from the outset. If you cannot afford to finance your venture personally, you should look into private investment or crowdfunding.
  
  

Founding a Business

The process of actually founding your business can involve some legal and administrative legwork. Knowing how to actually get the project off the ground will help you when the time comes.

• Permits/licenses: Every state has its own unique requirements when it comes to forming a business. Check in advance to see what permits or licenses you need to apply for to get the ball rolling.

• Structure: Registering your business under a formal structure can help you to benefit from tax advantages, reduced liability, and more. Read about the various options before you put pen to paper.

• Taxes: Speaking of taxes, your business is subject to different tax rules than you would be as a sole trader. Familiarize yourself with the various limits and ensure that everything is above water.
  
  

Running a Business

The hard work begins once the business itself is formed. You can learn about the essential practices for success online, and this will keep things moving forward once you’re in the driving seat.

• Marketing: You can’t grow a business without some marketing practices. By creating engaging, informative content, you can establish greater trust and credibility with your audience, leading to increased sales. Consult online resources to see which strategy best suits your business model.

• Organization: In the initial stages of a business, it’s crucial that you establish airtight organizational practices. This means digitizing paper records and storing these as PDFs. To help with this, you can use an extract PDF tool to create new files, collating multiple pages into a single, cohesive document.

• Collaborating: Sooner or later, you’re going to need support. Either from peers, mentors, or employees. Start building your network today by reaching out to other professionals online or making use of your personal connections.
  
  

Conclusion

When you look at the steps above, it’s clear that, whether pitching for funding, applying for permits, or marketing your products, a degree is surplus to needs. Don’t let anything hold you back in your quest to succeed as an entrepreneur.

Written by Amy Collett