There are two extremes to starting a business: carefully considering your situation and best steps forward, or throwing caution to the wind and jumping in with both feet.

Most businesses start with a combination of both philosophies—it’s important to avoid paralysis by analysis, forever accumulating information and failing to take action, but it’s also important to use common sense and have a basic understanding of your responsibilities and requirements. In this post, we’ll look at how to start a business while avoiding costly pitfalls or embarrassments.

Your Business Name

If you’ve wanted to start a business for awhile now, you may have had your business name selected for years—but it’s important that you do a little bit of research before running with the business name of your dreams so that you don’t have any nasty surprises cropping up in the future.

Trademarks

When you register your business name with your state or local government, it’s likely they’ll do a name search for availability before placing your business on file. However, it’s important to note that state acceptance of your chosen business name is not to be taken as broad permission to use it, nor does it imply that you have exclusive rights to the name.

Your Secretary of State will search state records to make sure there’s no other business entity of the same type on file with the same name; other business filings, such as county DBA registrations, may or may not be subject to a similar search. But this search is done only to ensure compliance with that state’s name availability guidelines; it does not, for example, check records of neighboring states for business name similarities.

Instead, it’s your responsibility to check trademark registrations, both with the US Patent and Trademark Office and other state and local agencies. Additionally, look into the various public databases that collect and archive information on unregistered trademarks, as registration is not necessary for all trademark benefits.

Signs and Logos

Consider a spa and wellness center called Aloha Dreams Hawaiian Destinations. It sounds like a beautiful place to relax—until you drive up and see a big sign that says “ADHD” out front.

Or what about Peter, who didn’t realize his Military Surplus shop sign would cause 13-year-old boys to snigger about the female reproductive system.

It’s important to look at your business name at all angles. If any iteration of it has the potential to shock or induce giggles, it might be worth reconsidering.

Your Industry Competitors

You wouldn’t enter a fight without checking out the competition, would you? The NFL greats watch video of upcoming opponents to scope out any weaknesses and use them to their best advantage. If you want to attract customers, you need to know what their experience is with your competitors so you know how to make their experience with you a better one.

Try surreptitiously placing an order with one of the giants in your field. If it’s a service, take careful note of their language, how they’re treating you, and what areas you, as a customer, might wish to be improved on. If it’s a product, note the packaging, the presentation, and the product itself.

Now, think of ways that you could not only measure up, but take the lead. If they include a printed thank-you note, you might make yours handwritten. If they use a great deal of packaging, you might make it a point to use less, and advertise your company’s commitment to reducing your carbon footprint.

Always look for ways to make your business better than the competitors. (And remember: if you don’t have any competitors, it’s possible you maybe have taken a wrong turn. All industries have competitors.)

Your Ongoing Compliance Requirements

Simply registering your business name isn’t enough. You’ll need to comply with the requirements of local, state, and federal offices and agencies, and many of those requirements—and the relevant agencies themselves—depend on your business structure and industry.

Publication Requirements

Many states require DBAs, or unincorporated Doing Business As businesses (such as sole proprietorships), to publish notice of their filing in a newspaper of general circulation in the business’s county; examples include California and Pennsylvania. Many other states require new corporations and LLCs to do the same.

Check your filing jurisdiction’s website (typically your Secretary of State or County Clerk) for specific requirements, and make sure you understand all of the details. (Is it enough to simply publish notice, or do you have to file proof of publication with your state government?)

IRS Requirements: EIN

Any time you earn money throughout the year, you’ll need to report your income to the IRS. Not all business structures require an EIN—sole proprietorships, for example, may use the sole proprietor’s Social Security Number, if they wish—but whatever the case, if you’re making money, the IRS wants to know.

State Taxes

You’ll also need to register your business with your state tax office, especially if you have employees, since you’ll also need to pay state taxes. To do this, you’ll receive a State Tax ID number, typically from your state’s Department of Revenue, Tax Assessor, or other office. Contact your Secretary of State—they’ll be able to point you in the right direction!

Business Licenses and Permits

Depending on your activities, you may be required to obtain business licenses or permits from any number of city, county, or state government agencies. For example, you may need a city sales permit, in addition to any regulatory licenses for those sales (gun permit, liquor license, and so on).

Other Requirements

This is not to be taken as a comprehensive list of all of your business responsibilities. Rather, it should get you started thinking about what types of government agencies and offices you might need to contact to determine any potential next steps forward after starting your business.

Remember, a corporate lawyer or legal advisor can help you make these determinations and keep you in compliance so you don’t have potentially hefty fines and late fees crop up.

 

[Click&Inc can help—if you're ready to start a business, take a look at our business services to learn more and get started!]

TAGS: business license, business name, competitor, compliance, dba, doing business as, ein, federal, industry, IRS, irs requirement, logo, logos, publication requirement, signs, start a business, state tax, tax id, trademark, unregistered trademark, us patent and trademark office, uspto

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This week’s collection of outstandingly helpful/witty/otherwise awesome blog posts focus on Social Media.

There’s a fine line between using Social Media as a useful free tool, and using it as a colossal waste of time. Here’s how to focus your efforts so that you can spend the majority of time doing what you do best: running your business.

• “Twitter: The Modern Day Complaint Department” by Mark Hayes of Shopify

Sure, you’ve got a Contact Us tab on your website (right?), if a disgruntled customer skips that and jumps right for Twitter, you need to know about it. This article shows us (1) how to know when someone’s talking about you—even if they haven’t used your @handle—and (2) what to do about it. (Spoiler alert: it isn’t “ignore it until it goes away.”)

• “5 Ways to Make Pinterest the Newest Asset To Your Company” by Erin Nelson of Small Biz Bee

Pinterest, that virtual pinboard of visual bookmarks, is all the buzz in the marketing world of late; business owners want to know how they can leverage the explosive popularity Pinterest has accumulated to their own advantage. Ms. Nelson explains.

• “Strategies for Entrepreneurs to Avoid the Social Media Time Suck” by G+decoded

This is a great little article filled with tips to keep us focused on the task at hand. Remember, your greatest asset is your time—don’t waste it with useless social media brain-drains. It’s a trap! Bonus: at the bottom of the post is a collection of tools that can help your G+ experience be a productive one.

• “These 7 Simple Tweaks Will Get You More Blog Retweets” by Stanford of Pushing Social

If your blog isn’t being retweeted, it turns out there’s a simple way to fix that: ask for it. Stanford gives us an overview of how to set up your blog, structure your posts, and follow up with tweets efficiently and effectively.

• “15 Ways to Use Facebook Pages for Business” by Matt Hamilton of Social Media Today

You’ve got a profile, and you’ve uploaded your contact information—now what? Mr. Hamilton sheds light on several areas of your business that Facebook might be able to help you with, some that you may not have thought of!

Have you found any other great resources that illuminate how social media can help your business? Share them here!

TAGS: blog, Business, company, complaint department, entrepreneurs, facebook, pinterest, post, retweet, social media, twitter

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Creative professionals today are more at risk of becoming victims of copyright infringement today than ever before—with everything interconnected and easily accessible, the ability to provide someone else’s recording for download or snag and repost a photo is now child’s play.

But, conversely, it’s now also a simple matter for you to monitor the Internet for improper use. Where years ago uncovering a source of bootlegged editions might take months, if not years, material uploaded to the Internet is discoverable almost immediately. Here’s how you can stay vigil and cast your net for improper use of your material.

Google Images

You know that Google Images is a great way to search the Internet for images by keyword, but did you know you can also use it to look for duplicates of a specific image? If you’ve been doing your Google searches in the little corner tab on your browser, but you haven’t been to the homepage lately (since around June of 2011), you may not be aware of this feature—but it’s key to searching the Internet for your material if you’re a painter, photographer, or other visual artist.

Give it a shot—head over to Google’s homepage and look in the search bar: you’ll see a little camera. Click that, upload the picture you’re looking for, and voilà—you’ll know who’s been hosting your material before you can say Click.

TinEye

Before Google, there was TinEye. This small Canadian company was using image recognition software far before Google implemented it (Google image searches were previously text-based and relied on tags and descriptions), and they have a very small, dedicated team that has been working for years to categorize and make available literally billions of images. Their parent company, Idée Inc, has produced other image recognition software programs that you may find useful on your hunt.

Search in Quotes

And then there’s my personal favorite, useful for locating written material: just go to your favorite search engine and type in the first sentence or two in quotes. The results will show you where the written material has been reprinted. (It’s also a serviceable, if inelegant, way of connecting snippets of lyrics to the songs and bands responsible, I’ve found.)

At the end of the day, it’s important to be aware and engaged. And if you do find that your copyrighted material is being hosted somewhere without your permission, it’s always a good idea to send a friendly request that your music is taken down. After all, not everyone is aware that it’s not legal to repost pictures or photographs belonging to someone else; there may be no malice intended, and the person using your work might take it down immediately with apologies. (Or, of course, it’s your right to allow them to keep using the image, provided they attribute it to you and link back to your sight.)

And if you don’t receive a response, there’s one more alternative before jumping into a legal battle: a Cease and Desist form.

Happy hunting!

 

[For more information, check out our April '11 post, "Cease And Desist Letter: The Affordable Way To Battle Copyright Infringement."]

 

TAGS: cease and desist, copyright, copyright infringement, copyrighted material, google images, idee inc, image recognition, painting, photo, tineye

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Good things are happening in the business blogosphere, and we want to share them with you! Below are five standout posts we’ve noticed this week, and we believe they can help you and your small business. Perfect light reading for the weekend!

• “The Power of the One-Page Strategy” by Michele Welsh of Young Entrepreneur

Somewhere between the formal business plan and the cocktail napkin to-do list is the one-page strategy, an excellent way to make sure your business is headed in the right direction. (Spoiler alert: Without a plan, your business is going in no direction.)

• “Free Online Tax Resources for Small Business Owners & The Self-Employed” by Adam Gottlieb of The Frugal Entrepreneur

Just like the title indicates, Mr. Gottlieb has brought together an excellent list of helpful links, including IRS-provided assistance, tax-preparation tools, and other resources. Bookmark it, and be happy.

• “How Gordon Ramsay Can Increase Your “Expert” Value by 23,900%” by Amy Harrison, guest blogger on ProBlogger.com

Ms. Harrison breaks down the five stages of blogging into restaurant terms, from generalist/fry cook to expert authority/food critic, explaining how to push your blog to the next level! You’ll be red-faced and screaming at people in no time.

• “How to Get the Sales You Want” by Diane Helbig of Small Business Trends

In this article, Ms. Helbig shows us by example how not to run a business, then explains where your business’s focus should be: your customers. Ask not what your customers can do for you; ask what your business can do for them.

• “Pitching In The Big Leagues: Perfecting Your Elevator Pitch” by Matthew Toren of Young Entrepreneur

You might not be literally pitching your business to a potential investor in an elevator, but pretend you are—you should be able to explain your business concisely and succinctly in about as long as an elevator ride might take. Baseball fans will appreciate the metaphors; everyone will appreciate the sound business advice.

Have a great weekend!

TAGS: blog, blogging, Business Owner, entrepreneur, friday favorites, investment, investor, Small Business

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“Going green” is all the fad—but for many businesses, it’s a fad reminiscent of the food industry’s obsession with “natural” marketing, where the term was bandied about as a marketing chip and any meaningful connection with health was essentially lost.

Similarly, a barrage of corporate “green” marketing terminology does not a truly green company make, and it’s easy to become numb to the idea that there really are good businesses out there doing really good things for the environment in ways that transcend marketing and self-promotion altogether.

But in business, the ability to assign value is king, and perhaps the problem with ecocommerce is that there’s no standard for really quantifying it. But thanks to Tim Gieseke and EcoCommerce 101, now we can.

According to Gieseke, “EcoCommerce . . . provides the framework to build an ecological intelligence system that allows the public arena of commerce to define sustainability.”

Gieseke shows us that economic development and bio-ecological preservation are more inherently connected than you might think, and that the  two goals can be met (and, in fact, are one and the same) with coordinated effort and a renewed dedication to seeing economy and ecology through the same lens.

Gieseke points out that “sustainability” is defined by us, the participants in the economy. EcoCommerce 101 is a roadmap for reshaping the market to support a sustainable future we can all be proud of.

Comment to win!

We’ve got three copies of EcoCommerce 101 to give away, and we want you to have one of them! Simply leave a comment explaining how your business has contributed to a greener economy (or plans to in the near future). We’ll select three comments at random one week from now, on Tuesday, February 21st, and we’ll contact you for your shipping details if you win. Or, order your own copy from Amazon now!

 

***Congratulations to our winners! We will contact you for your shipping information. The rest of you—don’t miss Click&Inc’s next Business Book Giveaway!

TAGS: eco commerce, ecocommerce, sustainability, tim gieseke

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When you’re starting a small business, time is of the essence. The sooner you file your Articles of Incorporation, the closer you are to opening your doors and sharing your business with the world—so it’s important to fully understand your incorporation requirements from the beginning to avoid any lengthy delays or rejections.

In most states, having a registered agent on file is one of those requirements. This Q&A is designed to better understand your registered agent requirements as well as highlight potential concerns involved in acting as registered agent yourself.

What is a registered agent?

When a business is incorporated, it becomes a legal entity—a legal person—just like you and me. (Of course, a corporation has limited rights and powers; a corporation cannot vote or be married, for example.) But for practical reasons, a corporation must have an individual as the point person for the business, someone to whom correspondence may be sent or legal papers may be served. (It’s hard to have a face-to-face interaction with something as abstract as a business entity.)

A registered agent is that point person. If the state needs to send a notice to your company regarding any compliance news or filing deadlines, they send the notice to the registered agent. If someone sues your small business, the registered agent is served on behalf of the corporation. Or if another company needs your permission in order to register a name similar to yours, the contact information available to them is the registered agent’s.

What types of businesses need a registered agent?

Any business that has been organized at the state level and is a separate legal entity from its owners is required to have a registered agent on file: corporations, limited liability companies, and nonprofit organization, for example, are all required to provide a registered agent in their Articles of Incorporation (or Organization, in the case of an LLC). Foreign corporations—businesses that first incorporated in one state and then expanded into and registered with another—are also required to list a registered agent in each state.

[Note: there are a few states, such as Minnesota and New York, that do not require a registered agent, though they do allow businesses to list them in their records.]

Does it matter who is the registered agent?

In terms of state filing requirements, no, it doesn’t matter—anyone can act as registered agent, provided that person is a resident of the state of incorporation and has a physical address there. This person can certainly be involved in the company in other ways (and in many single-owner businesses, the owner frequently acts as registered agent as a matter of course), but he or she is not required to have any other connection to the corporation at all. The important part is that the registered agent’s address is listed as the registered office address of the business. (The registered office can be, and quite frequently is, different from the principal office address—where the corporation is physically located.)

Of course, there are other factors to take into account. Since a registered agent’s information is a matter of public record, a small business owner may want to think twice before putting his family’s residence address down in a freely searchable government database in connection to the company. And you can’t just put a friend of yours down as agent and plan to tell him later—acting as registered agent means having a legal responsibility to be available during business hours, and it is the registered agent’s legal duty to pass on state and other correspondence and notices to the business principals.

Can registered agents be hired?

Yes: registered agents can be either individuals or business entities themselves, called “commercial registered agents.” While available to any corporation, commercial agents are especially useful for three types of business owners:

1. The home business owner who wants to secure the privacy of his family;
2. The entrepreneur who wants to incorporate in a state in which he does not live;
3. The business owner looking to expand into neighboring states by filing as a foreign corporation in these new states.

It’s not difficult to find a good commercial registered agent—there are many national companies that have offices in all fifty states, so it’s simple to locate one for whatever state your business requires.

Last note on registered agents: when searching for a commercial agent, it’s worth your while to compare terms and conditions—many registered agents offer perks, such as document scanning, compliance newsletters and reminders, and updates on new state regulations and legislation that affect your industry. Registered Agent Solutions, inc. is a great one that we’ve worked with quite a bit, but however you go about it, you should be able to find a commercial agent for somewhere between $100 and $150.

TAGS: Business, Business Owner, commercial agent, commercial registered agent, corporation, Incorporate, incorporated, registered agent, registered office, Small Business

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