MINOT, N.D. (KXNET) — Richard Branson once said, “Business opportunities are like buses, there’s always another one coming.”

And in North Dakota, there’s always room for more business. But owning a business takes a lot of work.

It takes a lot of planning, strategy, and money. So how do you start one?

If you’re looking to start your own business, you need to decide what kind of business you want to start and what your needs will be to run the business.

And the Small Business Development Center can help you come up with the first big thing you’ll need: a business plan.

“We offer a lot of the technical assistance for research, development of ideas, developing business plans. We assist with developing a budget that might be used to take to the bank if you’re gonna be borrowing money. But also most importantly just to give an entrepreneur or a business owner a real good look at what they’re going to be expecting once they get into business,” said Minot Center Director, Mery Beth Votava.

Starting a business isn’t easy, and it requires a lot of planning and drive.

This is why Votava says it’s important to reach out for help, instead of trying to create a business on your own with no guidance.

“Mentorship is huge. Finding out what other people have done to get into business and finding out maybe some of the road bumps and things they wish they would have known, it helps you to shorten that time frame of getting your business started. It helps to have differing opinions because while everyone’s opinion might be slightly different, that’ll help you to formulate what’s going to work for you,” said Votava.

The SCORE Association is another resource for new potential business owners and those looking to expand their current business owners.

The free mentoring program connects entrepreneurs with local and nationwide mentors.

“You start working with that mentor and writing your business plan, thinking about marketing ideas, legal ideas. Of course of with the legality of business ownership, whether you want to start an S-Corpororation, or a C-Corporation, or an LLC, or a partnership, or something like that. That’s something that SCORE can give you some knowledge about, some information about,” said SCORE Mentor, Gary Ross.

From there, you can begin building your business into anything you want it to be.

Next week, we will speak with the Secretary of State’s Office about the steps you need to take to file your business in the state of North Dakota and the benefits of doing so.