Business Checklist & Potential Follies

Good morning, my name is Will Matthews and I've recently begun a business in the State of Texas.  I have a partner based out of Japan but everything in regards to starting the US-based business has been my duty.  Prior to this I worked in the energy industry for 4.5 years as a Manager of pricing and analytics in the retail brokerage space.  Prior to that I worked in Japan for about 9 months in sales of telephone service and equipment.

I've begun this blog as an exercise both for myself (in remembering what I've done and what steps I need to continue to take) and others who may be interested in beginning their own small business.  Today I just want to briefly go over a checklist of some very rudimentary tasks one needs to complete in order to insure successful beginning to their business.

1)  Name Availability
Once you decide upon a name for your business, be sure to check with your state registrar on name availability.  While across the nation many businesses have similar names or the exact same name, there are provisions preventing a new business from taking the name of another business in the same geographical territory, unless they get written consent from the company currently using that name.

2)  Business Incorporation
You've got a name but now you need to incorporate.  You can incorporate directly with your individual state, but there are also incorporation services that take care of this task for you.  For my business I used MyCorporation.com (http://www.mycorporation.com/), which was a simple, hands-off way to achieve this step.  In addition to filing the documentation on your behalf after a quick phone interview, there are also options to expedite incorporation, receive boilerplate operating agreement documents, and other beneficial services.  There is a cost involved but for the amount of hassle you are saved and also the extra services I found this well worth the money.

3)   FEIN (Federal Employer Identification Number) Registration
The next step you need to take involves Uncle Sam.  You need to obtain an FEIN (Federal Employer Identification Number), basically a Social Security Number for your business.  This can be done via the IRS website (http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=102767,00.html) online and is quite simple.  One word of advice, save the form generated once you complete the task.  You will only see it once and never again after that so be sure to save the documentation generated.

4)   State Sales Tax Registration
If you are going to be selling items you will next need a state sales tax permit.  This is done through your local state tax office (links should be available online) and is a very important step.  Operating in Texas without this alone can cost you up to $500 / day.

Upon completion of these four steps you should be incorporated, registered with US government and registered with your state government.  There may be more taxes you need to register for or licenses depending upon your business, but these four steps will place you solidly on the road to independence in owning your own business.

Next Friday I'll talk about additional tasks and potential follies in making your first steps as a new business owner.