# Help? I suddenly find myself running a small business and don't know what I'm doing! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 25, 2023, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-suddenly-find-myself-running-a-small-business-and-dont-know-what-im-doing/984599 "2023-05-25T21:09:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2023, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-suddenly-find-myself-running-a-small-business-and-dont-know-what-im-doing/984599/1 "2023-05-25T21:09:57Z")
Hey all, been a while since I posted much on the SDMB, but once upon a time this was a good place to ask for weird advice that you couldn’t find the answers to anywhere else, and…honestly I’m stuck. About 10 years ago I started selling insurance for a living. Working as an independent agent, things were going well. I started to make a little bit of a name for myself as someone who knew what they were doing. A few years ago I started getting people asking me to help them learn how to be better at selling insurance too, specifically marketing Medicare Supplements and other health plans to seniors. Well, one thing led to anyother and now I have a full fledged agency with about 40 independent contractors working for me and I’m looking like I’m going to have to start hiring some W2 staff and…I feel totally in over my head. I know how to sell insurance. I know how to teach others to do the same. What I don’t know how to do, is run an insurance agency with payroll and production bonuses and managing overhead and managing personalities and…this all sort of just happened. Slowly, but also suddenly and all at once. Unfortunately, because the insurance industry is reasonably cutthroat there isn’t exactly a lot of help available for someone like me who wants to build a real business out of this. The industry advice I get is essentially “sell the agency to someone who knows what they are doing and they will take care of it” but that’s not really what I want to do. 1) I don’t think it’s worth much yet and 2) I spent a lot of work building this thing! I’m not done with that part yet! But, I need to learn how to manage this sort of finance, learn how to get business loans and if they are even a good idea, how to write a business plan I guess, and a lot of other things and have no clue where to even look. Any small business owners here who have had similar situations? Thoughts on how I might be able to learn some of this stuff? ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2023, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-suddenly-find-myself-running-a-small-business-and-dont-know-what-im-doing/984599/2 "2023-05-25T21:18:29Z")
I speak from no actual experience in your business, and I’m in Canada, but a good accountant can be a place to start. Also the US Small Business Administration [https://www.sba.gov/](https://www.sba.gov/) offers some basic help. Good luck with this: it sounds exciting! ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2023, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-suddenly-find-myself-running-a-small-business-and-dont-know-what-im-doing/984599/3 "2023-05-25T21:19:38Z")
Eons ago, I was in commercial real estate. I put many small and medium businesses into shopping center or office space. Many asked me for comparable advice when they hit rough patches. One resource I _always_ pointed them to was … > **[Home page](https://www.score.org/)** > > From planning to execution, get resources or real-time assistance for every stage of your business. SCORE has a library of useful documents and online courses, as well as experienced mentors to help you with your business journey.   Best of luck to you! ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2023, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-suddenly-find-myself-running-a-small-business-and-dont-know-what-im-doing/984599/4 "2023-05-26T00:03:45Z")
Thanks! I put in a request for a local mentor. I feel good, they seem like a solid organization. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2023, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-suddenly-find-myself-running-a-small-business-and-dont-know-what-im-doing/984599/5 "2023-05-26T00:40:57Z")
> [@Kropotkin](#): > > but a good accountant can be a place to start. And a good lawyer who specialises in small businesses. ---
**Author:** ![Yosh99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ccd318/32.png) [@Yosh99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yosh99)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2023, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-suddenly-find-myself-running-a-small-business-and-dont-know-what-im-doing/984599/6 "2023-05-26T01:08:28Z")
I ran my own business for 20 years and never really knew much about the financial aspects, bookkeeping, etc, but I did have an excellent CPA who specialized in small businesses. You’ll also need a good small business attorney. With a good lawyer and accountant, you can concentrate on the core business. ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2023, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-suddenly-find-myself-running-a-small-business-and-dont-know-what-im-doing/984599/7 "2023-05-26T01:43:47Z")
There are many companies that do payroll service management for businesses. I never knew about this until my niece started working for one of them, Paychex. For a non-commercial viewpoint, the IRS has a page about these companies: [Employers’ use of payroll service providers | Internal Revenue Service](https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/employers-use-of-payroll-service-providers) ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2023, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-suddenly-find-myself-running-a-small-business-and-dont-know-what-im-doing/984599/8 "2023-05-26T05:14:04Z")
a city of any scale will probably have a bunch of payroll services floating around. I had much better experiences with smaller outfits than paychex. Then again I briefly had a max of six employees. most of the time 3-4. Might have been better to go with a bigger provider with more peeps ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2023, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-suddenly-find-myself-running-a-small-business-and-dont-know-what-im-doing/984599/9 "2023-05-26T07:02:28Z")
I don’t know anything at all about managing a business. I don’t know whether you need a laywer, a cpa , etc. Actually, I don’t know nothin’ 'bout the subject of this thread. But I’d like to suggest maybe another category of professional you may need: An HR specialist. If you have 40 people under you, (even if they are independent contractors, not employees), it seems like you could run into serious issues. (maybe affirmative action policies, etc., I dunno.) I’m just offering up a random thought, from a guy with zero experience, so maybe I’m wrong. But in today’s political climate, it seems worth being overly cautious… ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2023, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-suddenly-find-myself-running-a-small-business-and-dont-know-what-im-doing/984599/10 "2023-05-26T08:37:20Z")
You need an accountant and a lawyer. I was married for 30 years to an entrepreneur and those two were the key to running a small business from our viewpoint. Definitely look for people geared towards small businesses. I’ve done a lot of free-lance and side work over the years and I used the same two guys - well worth the fees because in the end I saved more than I spent on them and stayed out of legal and IRS troubles. Just my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2023, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-suddenly-find-myself-running-a-small-business-and-dont-know-what-im-doing/984599/11 "2023-05-26T08:45:24Z")
can you do me a favor and tell all the people(aka telemarketers) who keep trying to sell me extra Medicare coverage that between the state of ca and the fed gov I have more than enough health insurance than ill ever need? thank you ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2023, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-suddenly-find-myself-running-a-small-business-and-dont-know-what-im-doing/984599/12 "2023-05-26T10:49:10Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > I don’t know anything at all about managing a business. > I don’t know whether you need a laywer, a cpa , etc. > Actually, I don’t know nothin’ 'bout the subject of this thread. > > But I’d like to suggest maybe another category of professional you may need: > An HR specialist. > > If you have 40 people under you, (even if they are independent contractors, not employees), it seems like you could run into serious issues. (maybe affirmative action policies, etc., I dunno.) > > I’m just offering up a random thought, from a guy with zero experience, so maybe I’m wrong. But in today’s political climate, it seems worth being overly cautious… I don’t know about “affirmative action policies” specifically, but there are certainly general State and Federal HR policies the OP will need to be aware of regarding hiring, firing, payroll, maternity leave, workers comp, so on and so forth. When I worked for a small consulting firm (about 40 people) a few years back, the main roles we had not related to the actual business of consulting were: HR Director - Handles hiring, firing, payroll, etc Two sort of “All Purpose Ops/IT/Office Manager” types - Basically between the two of them they handled all the “running the business” stuff: - Billing and A/R - Accounting and reporting - A/P, managing vendors, paying bills - IT - Office supplies There was probably a lawyer somewhere The OP might think about creating a list of every function and operation the business does or that he thinks might need to do and then map them to either an existing or potentially new person/role. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2023, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-suddenly-find-myself-running-a-small-business-and-dont-know-what-im-doing/984599/13 "2023-05-26T12:26:33Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > can you do me a favor and tell all the people(aka telemarketers) who keep trying to sell me extra Medicare coverage that between the state of ca and the fed gov I have more than enough health insurance than ill ever need? thank you If I could figure out how to do that I would be a multi millionaire. They are the bane of my existence too. Unfortunately most of them are being run out of illegal overseas call centers and there doesn’t seem to be much that can be done to stop them. New regulations are coming in October that are supposed to help, but I’m skeptical. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2023, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-suddenly-find-myself-running-a-small-business-and-dont-know-what-im-doing/984599/14 "2023-05-26T12:30:02Z")
Thanks for the suggestion of CPA and Lawyer I do have a CPA, but I am starting to suspect he isn’t the right one. He seems to not really specialize in small businesses as much as he does nonprofits. I met him at a networking event years ago when my business was in a much different place and I was only worried about avoiding being audited. It may be time to shop around I don’t even know what type of attorney I am looking for though. It makes sense that I should have one, but I don’t know were to look. Anyone have a suggestion? ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2023, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-suddenly-find-myself-running-a-small-business-and-dont-know-what-im-doing/984599/15 "2023-05-26T13:19:36Z")
Get an Office Manager, even if Part-Time. A retired executive, from any industry, would be a giant help to you. ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2023, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-suddenly-find-myself-running-a-small-business-and-dont-know-what-im-doing/984599/16 "2023-05-26T13:29:28Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > Get an Office Manager This. If you are going to hire W2 staff, hire the skills you need. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2023, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-suddenly-find-myself-running-a-small-business-and-dont-know-what-im-doing/984599/17 "2023-05-26T15:25:17Z")
> [@NAF1138](#): > > I don’t even know what type of attorney I am looking for though. It makes sense that I should have one, but I don’t know were to look. Anyone have a suggestion? Back to SCORE: > **[Find a Mentor](https://www.score.org/find-mentor)** > > Need help starting or growing your small business? SCORE provides free business advice through our network of 10,000 volunteer mentors in person and online. ---
**Author:** ![crazyjoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@crazyjoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crazyjoe)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2023, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-suddenly-find-myself-running-a-small-business-and-dont-know-what-im-doing/984599/18 "2023-05-26T16:46:29Z")
Another possible option is joining a PEO, a Professional Employer Organization. Talk to your mentor about it, but they can handle HR, Payroll, PTO, Health Insurance (ironic) and a host of other things for you so that you can continue to focus on your business. Of course none of it is free, and the cheap ones can fuck some things up and make it a pain in the ass for you. But it’s an option to help you. A good CPA firm can handle a lot of the payroll-based stuff, a good lawyer can help with the HR and PTO-based stuff, and you probably know about health insurance. I’m a year into my own small business with just me, and I think I would go insane trying to run a company with employees, but I’ve worked for several small businesses who have leveraged PEOs and none of them have gone back to trying to do it themselves. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2023, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-suddenly-find-myself-running-a-small-business-and-dont-know-what-im-doing/984599/19 "2023-05-26T19:35:27Z")
I have been getting a ton of solicitations from PEOs and I could not for the life of me figure out what they were trying to offer me. I had no clue what they were, but they do sound genuinely helpful now that I know! ---
**Author:** ![crazyjoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@crazyjoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crazyjoe)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2023, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-suddenly-find-myself-running-a-small-business-and-dont-know-what-im-doing/984599/20 "2023-05-26T20:00:16Z")
Where t hey are especially helpful is being able to “group” a bunch of small employers together to get group rates on health insurance, which can be really helpful. I am using the marketplace and the rates are … not great … unless you have subsidies, which I don’t. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-i-suddenly-find-myself-running-a-small-business-and-dont-know-what-im-doing/984599.md?page=2)