30-Day Start Your Business or Nonprofit Challenge

"A building is only as good as its foundation. Let us help you lay a solid foundation for your business."

Lanetta Allen, Founder

"Your vision deserves action."

Lanetta Allen

September 1, 2026

Thinking About Starting a Business or Nonprofit? Spend 30 Days Moving Your Idea Forward

Have you been thinking about starting a business or nonprofit, but you’re not quite sure what to do next?

Maybe the idea has been sitting in your notebook for months. Maybe you’ve already done some research and have a name in mind. Maybe you’ve been telling yourself, “I’m going to do it,” but every time you start thinking about everything involved, you’re not quite sure where to begin.

Or maybe you’ve already taken a few steps, but you’re wondering whether you’ve missed something important.

Wherever you are in the process, September is a great time to move your idea forward.

AMA Consulting Group is hosting our 30-Day Start Your Business or Nonprofit Challenge, and you’re invited to join us.

The challenge began September 1 and runs through September 30, but if you’re joining us a little late, that’s okay. Start with Day 1 and work at your own pace. The goal isn’t to keep up with everyone else. The goal is to make progress.

One Month. One Step at a Time.

Starting a business or nonprofit can feel overwhelming because there is so much to consider. What exactly are you starting? Who will you serve? Is there really a need for it? What will it cost? How should you structure it? What registrations or licenses might you need? Where will the money come from? And what happens after you launch?

When you try to answer all of those questions at once, it’s easy to become stuck before you ever really get started.

So, for this challenge, we’re doing something different.

For 30 days, we’re breaking the process into one simple, practical step each day.

No complicated business language. No expectation that you already know what you’re doing. And no pressure to have everything figured out before you begin.

One day, you may spend a few minutes thinking about why you want to start your business or nonprofit. Another day, you’ll think about who you want to serve. As the month progresses, we’ll encourage you to research your idea, look at others doing similar work, think about formation and compliance, consider your start-up and operating costs, and begin looking at the financial realities of what you want to build.

By the end of the month, you’ll bring what you’ve learned together and identify your next three moves.

You Don’t Have to Launch in 30 Days

We called it the 30-Day Start Your Business or Nonprofit Challenge, but we want to be clear about something: we are not encouraging anyone to rush into starting an organization simply to say they launched in 30 days.

There is no prize for forming an LLC before you understand what an LLC is. There is no benefit in filing nonprofit paperwork before you understand the responsibilities that come with operating a nonprofit. And opening your doors before understanding your costs, customers, funding needs, or legal obligations can create problems that thoughtful preparation might have prevented.

For some participants, September 30 may come with a launch date. For others, the accomplishment may be completing much of the preparation needed to launch. And for someone else, these 30 days may reveal that an idea needs more research, a different approach, additional resources, or a little more time. All of that is progress.

Sometimes, one of the most valuable things you can learn is what you don’t know yet.

Business or Nonprofit? There’s a Path for Both.

The challenge is designed for both aspiring small business owners and nonprofit founders. Although there are some important differences between starting a business and starting a nonprofit, there are also questions every founder should consider.

Why does this need to exist? Who will it serve? Is there a real need or demand? What resources will it require? What will it cost to start and operate? Where will the money come from? What responsibilities will come with running it? And what do you want it to become?

Throughout the challenge, we’ll let you know when the business and nonprofit paths differ so you can focus on the information that applies to what you’re building.

You also don’t have to be starting completely from scratch. If you’ve already completed a day’s activity, use that day to review what you’ve done. Is the information still accurate? Has anything changed? Is there something you overlooked the first time?

The challenge can meet you where you are.

The Challenge Is Completely Free

You do not need to purchase a course, workbook, or consulting service to participate. Follow AMA Consulting Group on social media throughout September, and you’ll find a new challenge to work through each day.

But, we also know that sometimes a short social media post is enough to tell you what you need to think about without giving you all the structure you need to actually work through it. That’s where IGNITE Learning comes in.

Need More Help? Visit the IGNITE Learning Hub.

We recently transformed IGNITE Learning into a learning hub designed to give entrepreneurs and nonprofit leaders access to practical educational resources, tools, workbooks, calculators, and courses that can help them do the work.

During the challenge, we’ll occasionally point you toward resources in the IGNITE Learning Hub that correspond with what you’re working on.

If you’re starting a business, the Launch Your Small Business with Confidence Workbook provides a more structured way to work through readiness, your business idea, formation, and planning.

If you’re starting a nonprofit, the Launch Your Nonprofit with Confidence Workbook helps you work through many of those same foundational questions from the perspective of building a nonprofit organization.

And when we get to the financial portion of the challenge, the corresponding Small Business and Nonprofit Financial Plan Workbooks can help you go beyond simply asking, “Can the numbers work?” and begin developing an actual financial picture.

These resources are optional. The daily challenge gives you a place to start. IGNITE Learning is there when you want to dig deeper.

And Sometimes You Need More Than a Workbook

We believe in giving people information and tools they can use for themselves. We also know there are times when a checklist, workbook, article, or online search can only take you so far.

Your business is your business. Your nonprofit idea is your nonprofit idea. Your resources, goals, challenges, market, finances, and circumstances are unique to you. Sometimes you need someone to help you think through those specifics. That’s where AMA Consulting Group comes in.

Our role isn’t to make every decision for you. It’s to help you ask the right questions, understand your options, identify gaps, think strategically, and make more informed decisions about what comes next.

As you work through the challenge, you may discover things you can easily handle yourself. You may find a tool in IGNITE Learning that gives you exactly what you need. You may realize you need to speak with an attorney, accountant, or another professional. Or you may reach a point where you want personalized guidance from AMACG.

Knowing the difference is part of building well.

What Could Be Different 30 Days From Now?

Think about the idea you have today.

Now imagine what could happen if, instead of continuing to think about it occasionally, you gave it some intentional attention every day for the next month.

You could know more about the people you want to serve.
You could better understand whether there is a need for what you’re proposing.
You could discover competitors you didn’t know existed.
You could identify what it may actually cost to get started.
You could understand more about formation and what requirements you still need to research.
You could begin looking at your financial assumptions.
You could identify the areas where you need additional education or professional help.
Most importantly, you could stop wondering, “Where do I even start?”

Thirty days from now, you may not have every answer. But you can have better questions, greater clarity, meaningful progress, and a much clearer idea of what you need to do next.

Join Us

The 30-Day Start Your Business or Nonprofit Challenge is underway now and continues through September 30.

If you missed the first day, don’t count yourself out. Go back to Day 1 and start there. This isn’t a race, and you don’t have to complete the challenge on anyone else’s schedule.

Bring your idea. Bring your questions. Bring your willingness to learn.

We’ll bring a practical step each day and point you toward additional resources when you need them.

Whether September ends with a launch date, a completed workbook, or a clearer roadmap for the months ahead, our hope is that you finish the challenge more informed, more prepared, and more confident about your next move.

Let’s see what you can do with your idea in 30 days.

Download the 30-Day Challenge Tracker

To help you stay on track throughout the month, download our free 30-Day Start Your Business or Nonprofit Challenge Tracker. This simple one-page tracker gives you a place to check off each day as you go, see your progress at a glance, and keep your next steps in front of you. Use it alongside the daily challenge posts and mark your progress. Download the 30-Day Challenge Tracker and let’s get started.