The first step in solving the equation \( 8(x + 7) = 0 \) is to isolate the expression inside the parentheses. You can do this by dividing both sides of the equation by 8:
\[ x + 7 = 0 \]
After this step, you can proceed to solve for \( x \) by subtracting 7 from both sides:
\[ x = -7 \]