Asheville: A Place Where Dreams Come True

Many of us find ourselves in Asheville from visiting friends and family who live here, staying here for vacation or simply traveling through these beautiful mountains.  Perhaps we think it may be by accident that so many different but like-minded people end up calling Western North Carolina "home", but it is not an accident.

There is something in Asheville that draws people from all kinds of demographics, and each person with their own history of experiences and wisdom.  With the variance of age, ethnicity and socioeconomic levels, what is the binding force that draws us all here, and mixes us up into this beautiful composition of artists, entrepreneurs, healers and horticulturalists?

Asheville is a place where dreams come true because everyone who comes to live here has seen that transformation happen.  We share our stories of awe and gratitude with our neighbors at the mailbox and to the people we bump into at the gas station.  There is a constant spring of bubbling love whenever we talk about our Home.  It comes in the form of recognizing the beauty of undisturbed nature (Walk out of the grocery store and gaze out at the gently rolling mountain range; you'll see what I mean) and it is perpetuated by the beauty of how we treat each other with out-reaching kindnesses  (You'll be pleased by how easy it is to get on and off the high-way when you drive in Asheville, for example.  Letting people in goes way beyond simply opening the door for strangers here).

We make our dreams come true by perpetuating what we valued when we first experienced Asheville: kindness, diversity, and an openness that is seldom felt anywhere else in our country.

Starting Your Own Business? Here’s a Checklist to Help Beginning Entrepreneurs

Things You Will Need to Start a Business:

* Privilege license from the city of your business location- if you are renting the space, your landlord must be aware and approve of the business you’re running from the space.
* Proof of Insurance for liability
* Website URL- purchase a domain name from GoDaddy, HostMonster or whomever, that states the name of your business and/or location in the URL.  Try and get a .com; it’s preferable over .net or .biz, etc. This is about $13/year.  You can also purchase several URLs and point them to your main website if you like.  This helps your website be found more easily on the internet, and linking can be done anytime during your business’ life.
* Website Hosting- purchase a hosting package from GoDaddy or whomever you choose.  You will want the simplest, lease expensive package. It’ll run you probably around $70/year or so.
* Business Plan- or at least a rough timeline with goals and budget
* Start organizing your filing system now; include a place to keep hard copies of your business expenses, receipts.  You may want to keep a virtual system of your expenses to help you keep track of everything, such as Quick Books or a simple spreadsheet in Excel.
* Make a database for all of your contacts – this includes your clients, potential clients, service providers and contractors.
* Save all of your business cards- collect them whenever you meet someone and write info on the back to help you recall your connection and discussion when you review the card at a later date.
* Obtain a Separate credit card and bank account for your business.  You can get a personal account at the bank and use it “Doing Business As” or “DBA” with your business name, your personal name and your address.
* Make sure you have a separate computer for business use only.  Have a backup computer plan should your business computer need maintenance or goes down for some reason.  Backup Computer Plans include- a secondary computer for you to access your files and the software used to read them.  You will need to make copies of your data on a regular basis- 2 backup systems are preferable for businesses: one that is tangible and present such as a DVD/CD of your backup, or a hard drive backup, and another backup which is off-site, such as Carbonite or Mozy services.
* Some things you’ll want to think about for yourself and your business to promote yourself and to establish your credibility:
**Curriculum Vitae or Resume posted online and accessible, preferably in .pdf  State your credentials in this
**A business card with your contact information and logo; brochure/rack card developed
**Attend networking events, such as the Chamber of Commerce events and other local networking groups

Social Media and online presence:

Linked In profile completed
FaceBook presence for your business
Google+ page
Blog and outgoing newsletter with current articles of your service, your business and your area of expertise
Manta, Merchant Circle, FourSquare, Yellowbook, Yelp, etc and all the search engine listings need to be claimed with your information and kept updated as needed
Submit your website(s) to all the online search engines
Look over websites online and see what types of websites appeal to you- what the layout is, what colors you like, etc and this will help start to form an idea of how to create your website.