Things You Need to Know 
When Starting a Business

Whether you are a self employed solo operation, a consultant or a business with several employees and a product line or client list, meeting certain basic "requirements" will help you achieve your goals. 

Here are a few of the basic tips and tricks gleaned from the experiences of successful business owners, to help you get on track quickly:

Permits and licenses:

1. Business license or permit - required in most towns in order to open a business checking account. Apply at your town or city hall if your business will be located within city limits. If outside city, apply at your county government offices. 

2. Fictitious name statement or dba statement - required if you plan to use a business name that is different from your own name, i.e., Jane Doe d/b/a Jane Doe Enterprises. Apply at your county government offices.

3. State business license - required in some states for certain industries such as food establishments, trucking companies or cosmetologists. Filing fees and requirements may apply for corporations, businesses that have employees and other types of businesses. Obtain more information from the U.S. Small Business Administration's web site at http://www.sba.gov.

4. Federal Employer Identification Number (EIN) - required for corporations, partnerships and sole proprietorships that have employees. The EIN will be used to report personal and business taxes and taxes withheld from employees. 

5. Social Security number - required for sole proprietorships with no employees to report personal and business taxes, unless as a sole proprietor you have a retirement savings plans available only to self employed people (Keogh account). Get more information from the Internal Revenue Service web site at http://www.irs.ustreas.gov.

6. Resale permit - required if you intend to sell products. Having a resale license means you do not have to pay sales tax on products you purchase for resale. Instead, you are responsible for charging and collecting the sales tax to customers to whom you resell the products. You will be required by your state to complete a sales and use tax report on a regular basis, at the same time submitting payment of the sales taxes you collected. The frequency of the reporting and payment is determined by your state and can be monthly, quarterly or yearly, usually depending upon the volume of resale business you previously reported or you expect to conduct. Get more information about your state's procedures at the U.S. Small Business Administration web site at http://www.sba.gov. 

Obtain a business tax kit from any 
Internal Revenue Service office, or call 1-800-829-3676.

Record-keeping:

1. Keep and organize receipts. 

2. Keep lists of clients/jobs in your computer spreadsheet or database program -- and keep a printed copy with the records for that year.

3. Obtain a list of tax deductible areas and expenses from your tax accountant and keep those records accordingly.

4. Set up files to make year-end tax organizing and reporting go smoothly.

5. Reconcile bank statements and credit card statements faithfully as you receive them. Don't allow them to accumulate.

6. Set up separate files (in separate drawers) for Accounting, Marketing, Client Records, General Information, Company History/Documents, etc.

7. Separate each year's financial and project records from other years. Label the boxes/files of previous years. This will make discarding those you are no longer required to keep, after four to eight years (depending upon the records), easy.

Appearances:
Give a professional look to every piece of paper that represents your company. This means a professionally designed logo, letterhead and business card; your unique font or logo on your memos, invoices, checks and advertising materials. Resist the urge to design your own materials and logo, unless you have graphic design expertise or you can get feedback on your design from a "real" graphic designer who is willing to share an opinion at no cost to you.

Trademarks:
The name you select for your web site business may already be the trademarked / registered name of a business. After you've invested your money, time and personal efforts toward making your web site meet its goals on a broad scale, or your business successful in your geographic area, you could be sued for infringement or required to give up your domain name by a company several hundred miles away that you didn't know existed! It happens every day to the most unsuspecting, honest and sincere people. So check the Wordpix Solutions trademark page for more information and get off on the right foot with your business.

Got a suggestion to help a startup business?
Email info@wordpix.com.

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