I would like to start a business, but I do not know where to begin. What advice can you give me before starting the firm?

The smartest thing you — or any would-be entrepreneur — can do before starting a business is to thoroughly research not only your business idea, but also small business in general. Whether you want to start this company as a sideline, a hobby or a full-time business, knowledge will be the key to your success.

In a best-case scenario, you could take a job with a company for several months and learn the business from the ground up.

Find out everything you can from the inside out about how to run the business.

If you can't get a job in the industry, create your own knowledge base. One way to do that is to immerse yourself in that industry.

Try to learn as much about the buyers and what they're buying as possible. Look on the Internet for similar businesses and learn everything you could about your potential competition.

Meanwhile, take some business courses, particularly those dealing with small-business finance, a topic most would-be entrepreneurs lack sophisticated knowledge about. Contact your local Small Business Development Center, sba.gov/sbdc, or an office of the Service Corps of Retired Executives Assn., http://www.score.org , to get information on free and low-cost training. Business counselors can help you write up a simple business plan, decide whether you will manufacture your own product or buy it wholesale, and set measurable one-year goals for your enterprise.

Don't forget to develop the business with the idea of having fun at it. There's nothing worse that running a business you hate, so you might as well build in the fun factor right from the beginning.