These are the pre-launch musts:

1. Balance of site visits to other security companies, make notes.
2. Find key employees or co-venturers -- patrol manager, salesman, dispatcher, investigator. These four competencies could come in fewer than four people, of course. The main problem here is timing. It would be great to identify these people right away, and have them help me to develop the business plan details, and then launch. But their employment situations might not be that flexible, or they might not be interested in investing time until there is an associated paycheck. But I will continue my low-grade search for them until it becomes critical.
3. Identify victim-offender mediators and arbitrators that "get" our business model and hopefully put a VOM casebook in their hands along with the great VOM books by Charles Barton.
4. Pick location for launch.
5. Complete business plan documents. I have a number of these in draft form, but when the business launch is near, I will likely enroll in an E-Myth program to make sure I have covered all the bases. At the very least, I will complete one year of proforma income statements, balance sheet, and cash flow; plus, following the terms in The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur, my Immutable Laws, Focus Five, Prosperity Plan, Quarterly Plan, and Daily Metrics -- all of these have analogs in the E-Myth program.
6. Ensure I have enough money to meet the cash flow plan.
7. Develop marketing plan and materials. This is kind of included in point 5 above, but it's big enough to be its own item.

All of this could be done in one year, I think. There are hidden to-do's -- saying that I complete the business plan documents implies that I decide on patrol transportation (cars, motor scooters, bikes?), scope (24-hr? partial day?), etc., and saying that I pick a location for launch implies a final marketing study that informs that decision -- but I think it can all be done part-time in a year. I could start on this list after March 2011.

At launch, I expect that I would work on the business full time for at least 12 months, but it's really hard to project such things.

What I have learned by writing all this down in the last few posts is that the launch for the business could happen as early as March 2012. I will be 41 years old, and my daughters will be 9 and 13 years old. Oh, and that will give us a solid 9 months to operate until the world ends :)