1. HOW TO START YOU OWN BUSINESS
AND BECOME A MICROSOFT PARTNER
By Nikkia T. Carter
CEO/Owner
Carter-McGowan Services, LLC

2. ABOUT ME

3. ABOUT ME – THE ACCIDENTAL
MICROSOFT PARTNER
 Nikkia T. Carter (Twitter: @CarterMcGServ)
 CEO/Owner of Carter-McGowan Services, LLC
 12+ years Industry Experience
 Microsoft Partner, Microsoft Cloud Partner, Microsoft Authorized Reseller, Microsoft
VAR, and Microsoft Certified Professional
 Specialize in SharePoint and InfoPath consulting, development, training and training
material, and Office 365 product, training, and setup
 Past: Application, Intranet / Recent: SharePoint, InfoPath
 Past Clients: DoD (Navy, Army, AF), NSF / Recent Clients: Mostly small organizations
and entrepreneurs (nonprofits, bail bondsman, insurance agent, tech consultant,
horse rancher, real estate management, small seminary school, facilities
management company, etc.).

4. ABOUT ME – SO HOW DID THE
ACCIDENT OCCUR?
 Thinking about starting a business
 How do I start?
Which way do I
go George???
Which way do I
go???

5. ABOUT ME – SO HOW DID THE
ACCIDENT OCCUR?
 Looked for getting my own SharePoint Enterprise site
WTF?!?
!

6. ABOUT ME – SO HOW DID THE
ACCIDENT OCCUR?
 Office 365 to the rescue

7. ABOUT ME – SO HOW DID THE
ACCIDENT OCCUR?
Tripped into becoming a partner
Become a Microsoft Partner
Oooo, what does
that link do?
Become a Microsoft Partner

8. ABOUT ME – SO HOW DID THE
ACCIDENT OCCUR?
 Follow the yellow brick (Microsoft) road (Fill out ALL of the paperwork online)

9. STARTING A BUSINESS
More Details… In General

10. SBA – A TREASURE TROVE OF
INFORMATION
Go to sba.gov
and discover
the goodness

11. SBA – A TREASURE TROVE OF
INFORMATION
Check it out!
Loans and Grants
Contracting
Starting & Managing

12. SBA – A TREASURE TROVE OF
INFORMATION
Check it out!
Learning Center

13. SBA – A TREASURE TROVE OF
INFORMATION
Check it out!
Local Assistance

14. SBA – A TREASURE TROVE OF
INFORMATION
Check it out!
Local Assistance

15. SBA – STARTING A BUSINESS
Click on Starting & Managing and then on Thinking About Starting under
Starting a Business
Click on 10 Steps to Starting a Business

16. SBA – STARTING A BUSINESS
Complete each step. Each step is a link with more instructions on how to
complete the step.

17. SBA – STARTING A BUSINESS
Steps 6-10.

18. SBA – STARTING A BUSINESS
Note the articles and blogs listed on the right side
And bottom of the page.

19. ANOTHER RESOURCE FOR VA –
BUSINESS ONE STOP
This page gives you steps on launching a VA business:
http://www.bos.virginia.gov/starting.shtml

20. ANOTHER RESOURCE FOR VA –
BUSINESS ONE STOP
This page has linking to more business topics:
http://www.virginia.gov/business/business-one-stop

21. OTHER RESOURCES
For MD:
http://www.choosemaryland.org/startbusiness/Pages/default.aspx

22. OTHER RESOURCES
For DC:
http://brc.dc.gov/planning/planning.asp

23. STARTING MY BUSINESS
My Steps (as best as I can recall)

24. HOW I STARTED
Found an SBA online training called Essential Guide to Starting
Your Own Business.
Register here-
http://web.sba.gov/sbtn/registration/index.cfm?CourseId=82
(walks you through the steps based on your state)

25. HOW I STARTED
NOTE: Newer course called Young Entrepreneurs An Essential
guide to Starting Your Own Business. Here -
http://www.sba.gov/tools/sba-learning-
center/training/young-entrepreneurs-essential-guide-starting-
your-own-business

26. HOW I STARTED
Back to my steps (as best as I can remember):
Choose my business structure – Initially I
choose Sole Proprietorship
See definitions here -
http://www.sba.gov/category/navigation-
structure/starting-managing-business/starting-
business/choose-your-business-stru

27. HOW I STARTED
Back to my steps (as best as I can remember):
Applied for my FEIN number -
https://sa1.www4.irs.gov/modiein/individual/index.jsp
More details here - http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-
Employed/Apply-for-an-Employer-Identification-Number-(EIN)-Online
Checked to see my business name was taken or not:
https://sccefile.scc.virginia.gov/NameAvailability
Registered for a VA Tax Account (need your FEIN) -
https://www.ireg.tax.virginia.gov/VTOL/iRegSignUp.seam?conversationId=74
17&conversationIsLongRunning=true
Went to my PO Office and got a PO Box

28. HOW I STARTED
Back to my steps (as best as I can remember):
Went to my county Registrar and Commissioner of Revenue (Need FEIN and
state tax id)
Registered business name (factitious name)
Got a business permit
Got a zoning permit
Tried to find a SharePoint environment and tripped into becoming a
Microsoft Partner (discussed in next section)
Got website domain and built website AND …

29. HOW I STARTED
Back to my steps (as best as I can remember):
NETWORKED LIKE CRAZY
How you
doing?
How you
doing?
AND …

30. HOW I STARTED
Back to my steps (as best as I can remember):
Study/Learn… Learn from Others... Work… Repeat

31. HOW I STARTED
Back to my steps (as best as I can remember):
The very next year I registered as a LLC
VA SCC -
https://sccefile.scc.virginia.gov/File/ArticlesOfOrganization?entityName

32. BECOMING A PARTNER
Trippin…

33. OOOPPS! NOW I’M A MICROSOFT PARTNER
Did I do that???

34. BECOMING A PARTNER
Tripped into becoming a partner
Become a Microsoft Partner
Oooo, what does
that link do?
Become a Microsoft Partner

35. BECOMING A PARTNER
https://mspartner.microsoft.com/en/us/Pages/index.aspx
What the Partner page looks like as of March 2014.

36. BECOMING A PARTNER
I started as a
Community Partner
(yes, because it was
free )then later
became an Action
Pack Partner.

37. BECOMING A PARTNER
I also joined this program.

38. BECOMING A PARTNER:
CLOUD PARTNER
More details here:
https://mspartner.microsoft.com/en/us/Pages/Solutions/access-
cloud-partner-program-benefits.aspx

39. BECOMING A PARTNER:
BENEFITS AND REQUIREMENTS
More details here: https://mspartner.microsoft.com/en/us/pages/membership/core-benefits.aspx

40. BECOMING A PARTNER:
BENEFITS AND REQUIREMENTS

41. BECOMING A PARTNER:
BENEFITS AND REQUIREMENTS

42. BECOMING A PARTNER:
COMMUNITY PARTNER
Since I am already a partner, I can’t see
these but...

43. BECOMING A PARTNER:
COMMUNITY PARTNERThis screen basically shows what needs to
be filled out for profile (#2),
*May need to be signed in as a partner to see this exact screen.

44. BECOMING A PARTNER:
COMMUNITY PARTNER

45. BECOMING A PARTNER:
COMMUNITY PARTNER

46. BECOMING A PARTNER:
COMMUNITY PARTNER
And this screen basically shows what
needs to be filled out (#3).
*May need to be signed in as a partner to see this exact screen.

47. BECOMING A PARTNER:
ACTION PACK PARTNERMore details here:
https://mspartner.microsoft.com/en/us/
Pages/Membership/action-pack.aspx

48. BECOMING A PARTNER:
ACTION PACK PARTNER

49. BECOMING A PARTNER:
COMPETENCY PARTNERhttps://mspartner.microsoft.com/en/us/Page
s/Membership/competencies.aspx

50. BECOMING A PARTNER:
COMPETENCY PARTNER
Here is the competency for SharePoint.
https://mspartner.microsoft.com/en/us/
Pages/Membership/collaboration-and-
content-competency.aspx

51. BECOMING A PARTNER:
COMPETENCY PARTNER
Silver Competency

52. BECOMING A PARTNER:
COMPETENCY PARTNER
Gold Competency

53. ONCE YOU ARE A PARTNER:
INCENTIVES
More details here: https://mspartner.microsoft.com/en/us/pages/Membership/Premium/partner-
incentives.aspx#_
*Must be signed in as a partner*

54. QUESTIONS?
54Created by Carter-McGowan Services, LLC

55. CONTACT INFORMATION
55Created by Carter-McGowan Services, LLC
Nikkia T. Carter, CEO/Owner
Carter-McGowan Services, LLC
Toll-free/fax: (866) 721-6085
Local: (540) 693-0578
Email: service@cartermcgowanservices.com
Web: www.cartermcgowanservices.com
Twitter: @CarterMcGServ
FaceBook: CarterMcGowan
Google+: Carter-McGowan Services