Guides
Informational overviews of the core topics covered in the program. These guides introduce each subject area so you know what to expect.
Finding a Viable Business Idea
A business idea does not need to be original. It needs to be viable. That means someone will pay for it, you can deliver it, and it can be done with the resources you actually have at the start, not the resources you wish you had.
The process of finding a viable idea starts with an honest inventory of your skills, your time, and your immediate environment. What do you already know how to do? What do people around you pay others to do? Where do those two things overlap?
- Skills inventory: what you already know how to do
- Demand observation: what people pay for in your area
- Feasibility check: what you can actually start with
- Testing the idea before investing in it
Understanding Your Initial Costs
One of the most common mistakes when starting a microbusiness is overestimating what you need to begin. Many people wait until they can afford the full setup they imagined, and that wait becomes indefinite.
This guide introduces a method for distinguishing between what is genuinely necessary to start and what can be added later as the business generates income. The goal is a realistic minimum viable cost, not a dream budget.
- Fixed costs vs. variable costs
- What you can borrow, share, or delay
- Building a simple cost list before spending anything
- Revisiting your cost list as the business develops
SAT Registration as a Physical Person
In Mexico, individuals who carry out business activities are required to register with the Servicio de Administración Tributaria (SAT) as a persona física con actividad empresarial. This is not as complicated as it sounds, but it does require understanding the process and what it commits you to.
This guide walks through the registration process, the tax regime options available to small business owners, and what your basic obligations look like once you are registered. It is informational only and does not constitute tax or legal advice.
- What it means to be a persona física with business activity
- The Régimen Simplificado de Confianza (RESICO) for small earners
- How to complete the registration process online
- What documents you will need
Separating Personal and Business Finances
When you run a small business from home, the line between your household money and your business money can blur very quickly. Groceries get paid from the same account as supplier invoices. Profit looks like income until the rent is due.
This guide explains why separation matters from a practical standpoint and describes simple methods for maintaining that separation even when you are operating at a very small scale without a dedicated business bank account.
- Why mixing finances creates confusion that compounds over time
- Simple cash tracking methods for microbusiness owners
- When and how to open a separate account for business
- Paying yourself a defined amount rather than spending freely
Pricing Your Product or Service
Pricing is one of the decisions that new business owners get wrong most often. Many price too low out of fear that customers will not pay more, and then discover that the price does not cover costs. Others price without knowing their costs at all.
This guide introduces a cost-plus approach to pricing and explains how to think about market context without undervaluing what you offer. It also addresses the psychological dimension of pricing, which is real and worth understanding.
- Calculating the true cost of what you produce or deliver
- Adding a margin that makes the business sustainable
- Looking at what others charge for similar things
- Adjusting your price as you learn more about your market
Go deeper with the full program.
These guides introduce the topics. The eight-session program works through them in detail, with group discussion, practical exercises, and the time to ask real questions.
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