For many Americans, the idea of starting a business seems alluring. Instead of working for someone else, you can create your own hours and earn your own money. However, most of us believe that the process to start a business is long and complicated. After all, don’t you need to fill out a ton of paperwork and invest a lot of capital? Well, while some companies do need money to get started, that shouldn’t stop you from starting with the basics. In fact, starting a new business can be rather simple, if you follow these steps.
Come Up with a Name
It doesn’t have to be flashy or catchy; it just has to be something meaningful to your business. The fact is that you can always change it or create something more provocative as your DBA, or “doing business as” name. This is the name that you use on all of your marketing materials, but it’s not what you use to file your taxes and such.
Figure Out Your Entity Type
When filing for a business license or anything along those lines, you first have to determine what kind of company you will be. It can be a sole proprietorship, partnership, a Limited Liability Company (LLC,) or a corporation. Each of these has their own benefits and downsides, but it’s imperative that you pick one before you get started with anything else.
Get an EIN
Even if you aren’t planning on hiring any employees, an Employer Identification Number is a crucial component of any business. It allows you to keep your social security number separate from your business dealings, and it will keep everything nice and organized overall. If you’re wondering how to get a tax ID number, the best place to go is www.govdocfiling.com. There you can handle the whole application process and get your number in an hour or so.
File for Paperwork
Depending on where you live, you will need to get at least a business license, as well as things like a seller’s permit (if you sell products) and some tax forms. Once this has all been taken care of, you should be all ready to go.
Even if that sounds like a lot, the fact is that you can get up and running in about a day, as long as you know where to go. Do some research about local permits and fees, and then you can have your own company in no time.