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  • HandoutHandout 1: Supply & Shopping List — Starting a Small Side Business

    Handout 1: Supply & Shopping List — Starting a Small Side Business

    Here's the thing nobody tells you: you don't need much to start. You need less than you think, and you need a couple of things you'd never guess.

    I bought a commercial food scale off a clearance rack in year one because it was $12 and felt like a steal. Used it twice. It sat in the garage for years. Buy for the business you have right now, not the one you're imagining at 2am. Below is what actually matters, split into what you need to start and what can wait until money's coming in.

    Budget tier — get this before you do anything else

    • A second checking account. Free or a few bucks a month at most credit unions and banks. This is the single most important thing on this list, and it costs less than the LLC everybody wants to jump to first. Separate the business money from your money on day one.
    • A notebook or a simple spreadsheet. Doesn't matter which. I use a spreadsheet and I'm sure there's better software out there, I never learned it. What matters is you write down every dollar in and every dollar out, including gas.
    • A cheap mileage log. Paper one on your dash or a note on your phone. I forgot to count a two-hour round trip up to Draper for years. Now I count the drive. Always.
    • A folder (physical or digital) for receipts. Macey's, Costco, wherever you're buying supplies. Keep the receipts even for stuff that feels too small to matter.
    • A basic price sheet you write yourself. One page. What you charge, what it includes. Even if you never hand it to anyone, writing it forces you to think in real numbers instead of gut feel.

    That's genuinely most of it. Everything after this is nice-to-have, not required.

    Nice-to-have tier — once the thing is actually working

    • A business license, if your city requires one for what you're doing (check your city's site, it's usually a short online form — mine took forty minutes and cost less than dinner out, after I'd built it up in my head as a wall).
    • Bookkeeping software, if a spreadsheet starts feeling too small for you. I've stuck with mine, but that's a preference, not a rule.
    • Better equipment for whatever your thing is — the tools you'll actually use weekly, not the clearance version you'll use twice.
    • An LLC, eventually, if your exposure justifies it. Most people testing something on nights and weekends don't need one yet. This one's a little contrarian and I'll say more about it in Lesson 3, but I'm not going to tell you to get one just because it sounds responsible.
    • Business cards or a simple flyer, if word-of-mouth needs a nudge. Marketing isn't my strong suit, honestly. Almost every job I ever got came through the ward or a neighbor telling a neighbor.

    Shopping notes, local-ish

    • If you're buying ingredients or bulk supplies, Costco and Macey's cover most of what people in this class end up needing. Compare unit prices before you assume the bulk store wins, it doesn't always.
    • Dry air and our elevation change how some things behave (baking especially) — if your side business involves food, test a recipe at home before you sell it, don't assume it'll act the way a cookbook from sea level says it will.
    • Buy the cheap version of everything on the budget tier first. Upgrade only after you've made money doing it the plain way. That's not me being cautious for the sake of it. That's the clearance scale talking.

    Bring your price sheet and your mileage log to Lesson 2. We're doing real math on your actual idea, on paper, in class. Bring a number, not a feeling.

  • HandoutHandout 2: The Cheat Sheet

    Handout 2: The Cheat Sheet

    Here's the thing nobody tells you: you don't need a lot of tools to start a side business. You need about five numbers and the discipline to look at them. This is the page I'd want taped inside a cupboard if I were starting over.

    The Money Basics

    Real cost of a job = ingredients/materials + your hours + your driving.

    That's it. That's the whole formula. I forgot the driving part for about two years and lost real money on the Draper trips without ever noticing. Now I count every mile.

    Set an hourly rate for yourself before you quote anything. Doesn't have to be fancy. Pick a number that isn't zero. If you don't know where to start, think about what you'd want to be paid to do this for a stranger, then don't discount it just because the person asking is a neighbor.

    Price = real cost + your hourly rate for the time it takes + a little cushion. The cushion covers the stuff you didn't think of. There's always stuff you didn't think of.

    The Two-Question Gut Check

    Before you say yes to a job, ask:

    1. Am I being a business right now, or am I being a neighbor?
    2. If it's business, does the price reflect that?

    Both answers are fine. Neighbor mode is fine. I still do it on purpose sometimes — bless the family, they were tight on money for that open house and I knew it going in. What gets people in trouble is not deciding, and then feeling weird about money six months later because they never chose.

    The Bank Account (Do This First)

    Open a second checking account. Just for the business money. Costs you nothing or close to it, takes twenty minutes, and it will save you more headaches than anything else on this sheet. Every dollar that comes in from the business goes in. Every dollar you spend on the business comes out. That's the whole system.

    Do this before you think about an LLC. I mean it. Everybody wants the LLC first because it feels official, like you're really doing it. The bank account is what actually fixes your life day to day.

    The LLC Question

    You probably don't need one yet. Not a popular thing to say in a small business class, I know. If you're testing an idea on weekends with low risk — nobody's going to sue you if the cookies are a little underbaked — you can wait. When it matters more (real inventory, real liability, real money coming in regularly) is a conversation worth having with someone who actually knows the law. I'm not that person. The state's business license site is straightforward, though — mine took forty minutes and cost less than a dinner out. I'd built it up into a wall in my head. It was a curb.

    Tracking (Keep It Boring)

    One spreadsheet. Two columns to start: money in, money out. Add a note for what each line was. I still do it this way. I'm sure there's better software out there — I never learned it, my spreadsheet works for me, and boring and used beats fancy and abandoned.

    The One Habit That Changes Everything

    Write down your price before you talk yourself out of it. I emailed a quote at 11pm once, higher than I'd ever charged, and couldn't sleep because I was sure it was too much. The client said yes without blinking. I was the only one in the room who thought that number was crazy.

    Trust the math on the page more than the nerves in your stomach.

  • WorksheetHandout 3: The "Is This Actually a Business Yet" Worksheet

    Handout 3: The "Is This Actually a Business Yet" Worksheet

    Here's the thing nobody tells you: you don't need this filled out perfectly. You need it filled out honestly. Grab a pencil. Use real numbers from a real job you did or a real job you're about to do, not a hypothetical.

    ---

    Part 1: What Did That Job Actually Cost You

    Think of one job — an open house, a batch of soap, whatever you sell or plan to sell.

    • What you charged: $__________
    • Cost of materials/groceries/supplies: $__________
    • Miles driven, round trip: __________ × current mileage rate ($__________/mile) = $__________
    • Hours spent, start to finish (prep, the event, cleanup, shopping — all of it): __________ hours
    • What you'd want to pay yourself per hour, if you're honest: $__________/hour × hours above = $__________

    Add up materials + mileage + your hourly pay. That's your real cost: $__________

    Charged minus real cost = $__________

    If that number is negative or close to zero, bless you, but that job was a gift, not a sale. Nothing wrong with that — as long as you meant to give it.

    ---

    Part 2: Neighbor or Business — Circle One, Per Job

    List the last three things you did (or plan to do). For each, circle honestly.

    1. _____________________________ — Neighbor / Business
    2. _____________________________ — Neighbor / Business
    3. _____________________________ — Neighbor / Business

    There's no wrong answer here. The wrong move is not deciding at all and finding out you're annoyed later.

    ---

    Part 3: The Money Setup Checklist

    Do these roughly in this order. Don't let anyone tell you it goes the other way.

    • [ ] Open a separate checking account for this money — just for this. Doesn't need to be fancy. Ten bucks a month, tops.
    • [ ] Pick one place to track money in and out. Spreadsheet is fine. Mine is fine. It doesn't have to be QuickBooks — I never learned that one, mine works for me.
    • [ ] Write down your real hourly number from Part 1 somewhere you'll actually look at it again.
    • [ ] Decide: am I doing a business license yet? (For most of you: not yet. Revisit this when the money's steady, not when it feels official.)
    • [ ] Decide: LLC yet? (For most of you: no. This matters more once you've got real exposure — ask me after class if you're not sure which camp you're in.)

    ---

    Part 4: One Thing You're Underpricing

    Everybody's got one. Write down the service or product you're most nervous to raise the price on.

    _____________________________________________

    Now write the number you'd charge if you weren't nervous:

    $__________

    Sit with that for a minute. That's the number the client at 11pm didn't blink at. You might be the only one in the room who thinks it's too high.

    ---

    Bring this back next week. We'll look at a couple, out loud, if people are willing.

  • HandoutHandout 4: Troubleshooting Guide — Common Beginner Problems

    Handout 4: Troubleshooting Guide — Common Beginner Problems

    Here's the thing nobody tells you: everybody hits the same handful of snags. I hit all of these. Some of them twice. Print this, stick it on the fridge, come back to it when you're stuck.

    1. "I don't know what to charge." This is the number one thing that stalls people. Go back to Handout 2, add up your real costs (ingredients or supplies, your time, your driving), and quote from that number. Don't quote from a feeling. Gut-feel pricing is how I forgot to charge for a two-hour round trip to Draper. Never again.

    2. "I priced it, but now I'm scared to send it." Send it anyway. I once emailed a price at 11pm, couldn't sleep, was sure I'd blown it. Client said yes without blinking. You're almost always the only one who thinks your number is crazy.

    3. "A friend or neighbor wants a discount." Decide ahead of time whether this one is business or neighbor. Both are fine answers. What gets people in trouble is not deciding, and quietly resenting it later. I've eaten losses on purpose for people I care about. That's a choice, not an accident.

    4. "I did the job and there's no money left over." Check whether you counted your own hours and your gas. If you didn't, that's why. "Profit" that doesn't include your time isn't profit, it's a hobby with extra steps, bless it.

    5. "Do I need an LLC?" Probably not yet. Get a separate checking account first — costs about ten bucks a month and solves most of your actual headaches. Revisit the LLC question once real money is moving through the business. Don't let "sounds official" make the decision for you.

    6. "The business license thing feels huge." It's not. Mine took forty minutes online once I finally did it, and cost less than a dinner out. I built it into a wall in my head for two years. It was a curb.

    7. "I bought equipment and now it just sits there." Buy for the business you have, not the one you're picturing. I've got a commercial food scale that's lived in my garage since a clearance sale talked me into it. Start smaller than you want to.

    8. "I said yes to something I shouldn't have." Ask my wife, I'm bad at no. If you're like me, build in a pause before you answer requests — "let me check and get back to you" buys you a day to actually run the numbers instead of agreeing on the spot.

    9. "I can't tell if this is going somewhere or if I'm just busy." Look at your spreadsheet, not your feelings. Are jobs repeating? Is anyone paying you what you're worth? If the honest answer is "I'm just feeding people for fun," that's allowed. Just know which one you're doing.

    10. "Bookkeeping and marketing feel like a whole separate skill I don't have." Same, on both counts. I run everything through one spreadsheet and don't know QuickBooks from a hole in the ground. Nearly all my catering came word-of-mouth through the ward, I never built a following anywhere. If you need real software or real marketing help, that's outside what I teach — go find someone who's good at that part. I'm just the guy who tested this on nights and weekends and lived to tell it.

  • podcast_scriptClass podcast — episode 1

    Audio coming soon — show notes below.

    JESS: —so I said, "Steven, if that's true, you owe your spreadsheet an apology," and he just laughed at me.

    STEVEN: I do owe it an apology. That thing has carried me for years and I still open it like it's going to bite.

    JESS: Okay, for people just joining us, this is the podcast for Steven's class, Starting a Small Side Business, here at Utah Community Learning. I'm Jess, I produce these. Steven, say hi.

    STEVEN: Hi. I cook for a living, catering mostly, and about ten years ago I accidentally started a business and didn't notice for two years. That's basically the class.

    JESS: That's a great cold open. "I accidentally started a business."

    STEVEN: It's true though. A neighbor asked if I'd do the food for her daughter's wedding luncheon. I said yes, because I'm bad at no, ask my wife. Didn't think about price. Didn't think about a license. Just cooked a lot of food and drove it over there.

    JESS: And?

    STEVEN: And I charged her two hundred dollars for a job that cost me three hundred forty in groceries. Plus eleven hours of my life. Didn't tell her. Just smiled, went home, and finally opened a spreadsheet at the kitchen table after my wife went to bed.

    JESS: You never told her.

    STEVEN: Never told her. Bless her, she probably still thinks two hundred dollars was a fair price for a wedding luncheon for forty people. It was not.

    JESS: So that's session one's whole thesis, right? Charge for your time.

    STEVEN: That's the opinion I'm the most annoying about. If you don't charge for your time, you don't have a business. You have a real expensive way to be nice to people. And there's nothing wrong with being nice to people. Just know which one you're doing.

    JESS: Okay, here's the part I want listeners to actually use, whether or not they take the class. What's one thing somebody could do this week, no class required?

    STEVEN: Open a second checking account. Just one, separate from your regular one, ten bucks a month usually, some are free. Every dollar that comes in from the side thing goes in, every dollar you spend on it comes out of it. That's it.

    JESS: That's the whole tip?

    STEVEN: That's the whole tip and it fixes about eighty percent of your headaches. Everybody wants to jump straight to forming an LLC because it feels official, like you've arrived. I think that's backwards. Get the account first. You can decide about the LLC later, once the thing's actually making money and you know what you're protecting.

    JESS: You're famously not a fan of the LLC-first instinct.

    STEVEN: I'm not against LLCs. I just think half the people testing an idea on weekends don't have enough exposure yet to need one, and nobody tells them that because it sounds irresponsible to say it out loud. I'll say it out loud. You probably don't need one yet. We'll talk about when you do.

    JESS: What's a moment where you figured that out for yourself, the being-official thing?

    STEVEN: I actually finally got my business license, for the catering, after two years of technically not having one. I'd built it up in my head into this huge wall I had to climb. Took forty minutes online. Cost less than dinner out. It was a curb, not a wall. I felt kind of silly, honestly.

    JESS: I love that you admit that.

    STEVEN: Well, it's true. And it's better for people to hear that than to think I've got it all figured out. I don't. I do everything in a spreadsheet still, I know there's better software, I never learned QuickBooks, mine works for me, I'm sure it's fine, I just never needed to switch.

    JESS: You're not going to pretend to know Instagram either, I assume.

    STEVEN: Correct. Almost all my work came word of mouth through the ward and neighbors. I cannot teach anybody how to get followers. I will not fake that.

    JESS: Fair enough. Okay, tease next session for us.

    STEVEN: Next time we do the math. Everybody brings their idea, whatever it is, soap, baking, tutoring, doesn't matter, and we actually work out what it costs you, for real. Not gut feel. I priced a job once by gut feel and forgot to count my own driving time up to Draper for a party. Two hours round trip, never charged for it. Now I count the drive. Always.

    JESS: A little bit of a cautionary tale every episode, it sounds like.

    STEVEN: That's the whole curriculum, honestly. My mistakes, in order.

    JESS: Bring your idea and a calculator, folks. Steven, thanks for doing this.

    STEVEN: Happy to. Bring snacks too if you want, I'll probably comment on them.

  • podcast_scriptClass podcast — episode 2

    Audio coming soon — show notes below.

    JESS: —okay but you have to tell them the Draper thing, because I still think about it every time I drive up to the point of the mountain.

    STEVEN: I was gonna get there. You're rushing me.

    JESS: I'm not rushing you, I'm previewing you. That's different.

    STEVEN: Fine. So. Somebody wants me to do the food for a graduation open house in Draper. I quote the job, feel good about it, gut feel, done.

    JESS: Gut feel.

    STEVEN: Gut feel. And I completely forget to count the drive. Two hours round trip, Draper and back, in traffic, hauling chafing dishes. Two hours I just gave away.

    JESS: How'd you notice?

    STEVEN: Jami asked how the day went and I did the math out loud without meaning to. Realized I'd basically paid myself to sit on the freeway.

    JESS: Bless.

    STEVEN: Bless me, yeah. Now I count the drive. Always. If I'm loading a car and burning gas, that's on the invoice, even if it's just my own time I'm charging for.

    JESS: That's the practical tip, right there. If somebody's listening and they're not even taking the class—

    STEVEN: That's the one. Count your drive time. Doesn't matter what the side thing is, cookies, mowing, tutoring. If you're in the car for it, it's part of the job, not a favor you're doing on your way somewhere else.

    JESS: Because it doesn't feel like work, driving.

    STEVEN: It doesn't feel like anything. That's the trap. It just feels like Tuesday. But your car doesn't run for free and neither do you.

    JESS: Okay, last session you guys did the separate bank account thing. How'd that land?

    STEVEN: Good. A few people already had it half set up by the time they left, which — that's the goal. I don't need anybody to be excited about a checking account. I need them to open one.

    JESS: You're a hard sell on excitement.

    STEVEN: I'm a hard sell on a lot of things. I still think half the room came in wanting to talk about LLCs and left talking about gas mileage, and I think that's a win.

    JESS: Was anybody annoyed you didn't get to the LLC stuff yet?

    STEVEN: One fella. Nicely annoyed. I told him, we'll get there, session four, I promise. It's not that it doesn't matter. It's that it's not the first fire.

    JESS: What is the first fire?

    STEVEN: Knowing your real number. What it actually costs you to do the thing, not what you hope it costs. Time, gas, the ingredients, the wear on your equipment. Most people are working off a number that's basically fiction and don't know it yet.

    JESS: That's kind of a gut punch for a Tuesday night class.

    STEVEN: It is a little. I try to say it nice.

    JESS: You say it nice.

    STEVEN: I try.

    JESS: Okay, what's session three, give me the preview.

    STEVEN: Session three we're doing pricing, for real, on paper, everybody's own idea. Bring your actual costs if you've got them, and if you don't, we'll build a rough version together in class. I'm not gonna stand up front and lecture at people. Everybody does their own math.

    JESS: With their own idea. Not a hypothetical lemonade stand.

    STEVEN: No hypothetical lemonade stands. If you make soap, we price your soap. If you tutor algebra, we price your Tuesday afternoon. I want people leaving with an actual number, not a good feeling.

    JESS: You say that a lot. Number over feeling.

    STEVEN: Because the feeling's the thing that got me for two years. Felt generous, felt good, felt like I was helping. Wasn't a business. Was an expensive way to be nice.

    JESS: I love that you'll say that about yourself and not about anybody in the room.

    STEVEN: Everybody in the room gets to learn it the fast way. I had to learn it the slow way so somebody else wouldn't have to. That's kind of the whole class, if I'm honest.

    JESS: All right. Session three, bring your numbers, or don't, we'll figure it out together either way.

    STEVEN: Bring a pencil at least.

    JESS: Bring a pencil. See you all next week.

  • podcast_scriptClass podcast — episode 3

    Audio coming soon — show notes below.

    JESS: —and I still don't understand why the checking account thing works so well. Like why does that fix anything?

    STEVEN: Because most people's headache isn't the business. It's not knowing which twenty dollars was groceries for dinner and which twenty was for the ward party they catered. Separate account, separate pile. Simple as that.

    JESS: Okay but you make it sound simple and last week half the room looked like you'd asked them to do calculus.

    STEVEN: Bless them, they'll get there. It clicks. Usually around the second time they try to do their own taxes and can't remember what a receipt was for.

    JESS: This is episode three, by the way, for anyone just joining us. We're deep in the money section now. Pricing, costs, all of it.

    STEVEN: Yeah. And I want to tell on myself again, because I think that's the only way any of this lands.

    JESS: Go for it.

    STEVEN: So I used to price jobs off gut feel. Somebody'd ask what I charge for a graduation open house, I'd think about the food cost, maybe add a little, and give them a number. Felt fine. Felt normal.

    JESS: And?

    STEVEN: And I did a party up in Draper. Nice family, big backyard thing, went great. Took me two hours round trip just to get there and back, on top of the actual work. Never once put that in the price. Just ate it. Gas, my time, all of it, gone.

    JESS: You just... didn't think about the drive.

    STEVEN: Didn't cross my mind. In my head the job started when I pulled into their driveway. It didn't. It started when I loaded the van in Lehi. Now I count the drive every single time. Doesn't matter if it's ten minutes or forty-five, it goes on the number.

    JESS: That feels like something people could just start doing tomorrow. Like, you don't need to take the class for that one.

    STEVEN: No, you don't. That's the tip, honestly, if somebody's listening and not coming to session four. Whatever you're doing on the side, sit down and figure out what your actual hour costs you, driving included, and then look at what you're charging and see if those two numbers even like each other.

    JESS: "See if they like each other."

    STEVEN: They usually don't, at first. Mine sure didn't.

    JESS: We had a question in class chat last time about whether people need an LLC before they do any of this. You've got opinions.

    STEVEN: I do, and they're not popular opinions. Everybody wants the LLC first because it feels like the grown-up move. I think that's backwards. Get the second bank account, that's ten bucks a month and it solves most of your actual problem. The LLC can wait until the thing's making real money and you've got something worth protecting.

    JESS: Contrarian Steven strikes again.

    STEVEN: I've made my peace with it.

    JESS: Okay, so next session. What are we doing.

    STEVEN: We're doing the actual math. Everybody brings their idea, whatever it is, and we sit down with paper — not a spreadsheet yet, just paper — and work out real costs against a real price. I want people leaving with a number, not a feeling.

    JESS: You keep saying that. A number, not a feeling.

    STEVEN: Because feelings are how I ended up doing a wedding luncheon for two hundred dollars that cost me three hundred and forty in groceries. Felt fine at the time. The math was not fine.

    JESS: You've told that story before.

    STEVEN: It's a good story. Bad math, good story. That's most of my early career, honestly.

    JESS: Alright — bring your idea and a pencil next time, folks. Steven, anything else before we wrap?

    STEVEN: Just — don't be scared of the drive-time thing. Write it down tonight if you've got a side thing going. Takes five minutes and it'll change how you think about your next quote.

    JESS: Love it. See everybody next session.

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