David Lucier, a RI CPA who specializes in RI small business, gives some advice about the process of creating a new business:When you build something, before you start a project you have a picture in your mind of what the end product should look like and the benefits you will derive from it. Business and life are no different, but most of us ignore that very simple concept. We all should spend some time planning our business and personal lives and decide what our dream of success and wealth really look like. 10 percent of the population who set goals for themselves out-achieve the 90 percent who don't. The first thing you should do is determine what your dream and goals are. Once you have a dream, break it down into small pieces you can achieve easily and start working toward your dream. This dream will change over time, and that is ok. Allow yourself to enjoy each step and you achieve it. Make your steps small; if you try to take steps that are too big, you will fail and never achieve your dream. Don't get so intent on achieving your long-term dream that you fail to slow down and "smell the roses" along the way. Take each step seriously and do it right the first time and enjoy the process. For example, when I first started my own CPA firm in Rhode Island, I thought the world would beat a path to my door because I had worked for a large CPA firm. That simply did not happen, so I began to look at all the steps I needed to put in place to make my firm profitable, such as determining the best way to get in front of people who did not know me. First, I determined that one way was to be the low-bidder on any public bid work. Once I got the first job, I super-served and gave the organization more advice and service than they expected. This little step led the organization to tell others about me, which led to more referrals and more competitive fees. The simple message here is that it all ties back to small steps, which all get you closer to your dream. Will you fail? In some cases, yes, but you will learn from these failures just the same as from your successes.

Also, to achieve your dream, you must build integrity into your product, your processes, your customer relations, and everything about your business. Everything from the quality of your products, to how you treat your employees, to how you treat your customers has to be first class.