What is it going to cost to start? Spend time working on your pitch, your business plan, and on researching your financing options.

If you’re working from home and not seeing clients, you may find your startup costs are limited to marketing, stationery, any supplies, and legal. If not, you’re going to need enough to set aside for at least the first month's rent and utilities of the new space, including all the amenities to outfit your new office. 

Either way, it’s a good idea to break your costs into two distinct types of spending. This is largely because it will affect your taxes:

• Expenses—expenses include things like payroll, rent, consulting, travel, meals, and various legal costs. Expenses are considered deductible against future profits and will eventually reduce taxes if you do make a profit.
• Assets—assets include things like furniture, signs, fixtures, cars, trucks, buildings, land, inventory, and so on. Assets are unfortunately not deductible against taxable income, so your bookkeeping on them will be different

You should not mix expenses and assets. When you create a worksheet to record your startup costs, keep expenses and assets separate.

Spend time working on your pitch, your business plan, and on researching your financing options. Remember that your business plan isn’t set in stone. It should remain a “live” document as you progress and as you grow. Don’t stress about it, just use this week to focus your thoughts and bring everything you thought about and learned in week one together.

It is not to early to choose your accounting software/online bookkeeping application
The main benefit of using good accounting software is that it will make your costs and expenditures visible which will ultimately result in more responsible financial decision-making. Beyond that, if you are accountable to lenders and investors, these statements will prove you’re trustworthy and help you avoid financial damage.

A few top-rated accounting applications worth looking into include:

• QuickBooks Online
• Freshdesk
• Xero
• Sage One
• Zoho

Take some time to familiarize yourself with accounting principles and statements as well. Do you understand which statements are important when it comes time to file taxes? Do you understand how to log your costs and expenses? If not, speak to your accountant, or to a bookkeeper. They should help you get up to speed. Eventually, you’ll consider it second nature!