I hired accountants and attorneys to teach me what I didn't know. I dismissed government sources like the Small Business Development Center at the College of DuPage because I thought a free service might not do me any good. I was so wrong. Not only didn't they have any hidden agendas, they counseled me throughout the whole process. I could have save a lot of money.
Timing is everything.
I naively assumed that the process of starting a business would follow a reasonable time schedule. Too many factors are involved to predict that. Prepare for delay. If I were to do it over, I would have developed company policies well before I began hiring more than a few people. It's easy to convey your expectations to a few people, not to many.