Introducing Carol Topp Author of

   Author and professional CPA Carol Topp has a heart for encouraging students to begin their own micro businesses. A mother of two daughters who started her own accounting business in 2000, Carol encouraged her own daughters as they began their own micro businesses. Today Carol continues working as an accountant and speaks to groups about a variety of topics, including money management, nonprofit management, business start-ups, and taxes. Her emphasis is on helping teenagers and families. Carol has created a list of five things a person interested in starting a micro business needs to consider before starting up. Check out her list, and plan on joining us for a special free webinar on Monday, June 5,  when she and Andrew Pudewa will meet to discuss potential start-up ideas for budding teenage entrepreneurs. Carol’s advice includes asking the following questions before diving into a new business: Do you really like the product or service? Do you use it yourself? You need to be enthusiastic about what you are selling so that people want to buy from you. Hopefully you have used the product yourself and can tell customers how great it is from your personal experience. Is it profitable? Do a cost-benefit analysis to calculate how profitable your business could be. Don’t know how to do a cost-benefit analysis? It’s all explained in Starting a Micro Business, one of the books in the Micro Business for Teens collection. Is there a need? You can’t sell ice to Eskimos—there’s no need—but you can sell ice in Florida! Evaluate if there is a need for your product or service carefully. Try doing some surveys of potential customers, or test your product on a few customers first. What are the start-up costs? Micro businesses should not need a lot of start-up money. If your idea takes a lot of money just to start, it is too risky for a micro business. Think about launching another simpler micro business first to raise the start-up money for your second venture. Is it manageable for you? You may have a great idea, but it might consume all your free time. Save that idea for when you have more time, and launch a simpler micro business now to learn the ropes. These questions are a great place to begin. For more information about micro businesses, check out Carol’s blog at her website, Micro Business for Teens, and plan on joining us for the free webinar. We look forward to having you there!