How To Start a Business

Have you dreamed of opening your own business, but didn’t know where to start? Do you operate a lucrative side hustle and thinking about making it your full-time job? Well, you’ve come to the right place to answer your biggest question, “How do I start or legitimize my business?”. Below I have listed the first 5 things you will need to get started and the costs associated with them. Don’t worry, I’ll walk you through the entire process of getting everything established a bit later.

The very first thing you will need is a name for your business. I personally recommend being prepared to purchase your website domain prior to performing a search for your business name. Why?

Story time: I decided on my business name, performed a search for it and WOW it was available! I didn’t have the startup fees listed below. I figured I’d come back and purchase my website domain in a week or two. When I returned to purchase my domain, it was already taken. Completely blindsided! I was upset and looked for an answer. Well, it turns out that much like searching for plane tickets to destinations, when you enter information into the query it becomes a popular search on the internet. The next person comes along and has something similar in mind and voila! Their search provides them with recently used ideas for business names, YOUR business name! The one you worked so hard on creating is now taken and you have to start over. I’ve seen this happen many times, unless of course your business name is a truly unique one. Even then, brilliant minds think alike. So, err on the side of caution and be prepared to purchase when you start your search.

Startup Actions & Fees

1. LLC creation fee: $125.00
2. EIN fee: FREE
3. Website domain creation fee: Minimum $12.00 for a year.
4. Website hosting startup fee: $31.00 (savings of $76.40 – use code: www.hostgator.com/unlock) *More on this later.
5. Email monthly fee: Gmail $12.00 signup then $6.00 monthly; Outlook $5.00 monthly.

There will be additional fees associated with maintaining your business from the list above. For example, the state of North Carolina charges an annual fee to maintain your business. There will be annual fees associated with your website domain and website hosting as well. Your business email will be a monthly fee.

Additional Fees Broken Down

1. LLC Annual fee: $202.00 filed electronically; $200.00 filed paper form. As the owner of an LLC, you will have to file annual report that is due by April 15^th each year. It is a mandatory filing that must take place for your business to remain in compliance with your state. Each state has its own fee. You will need to check with your state for pricing.
2. Domain annual fee: Based on domain name and payment cycle. You will incur an annual fee for your domain. Check with your domain provider for details.
3. Hosting annual fee: $107.40. There are website hosting fees that are incurred either monthly or annually. Check with your hosting provider for details.
4. Email monthly fee: Gmail $6.00; Outlook $5.00. These are the email subscription fees associated with Google Business and Outlook.

There are a few extra steps that you will need to take like opening a business bank account, obtaining a Dun & Bradstreet number, listing your business with Google My Business, and 411 via List Yourself. Let me be clear, these extra steps need to take place for many reasons such as obtaining business loans and accepting payments from your customers/clients, starting your business credit journey, and marketing your business. However, they do not necessarily need to happen on day one of your new business journey, but they do need to happen. I have included them for you in the guide below. To learn more about business credit, read my Building Business Credit Blog.

Ready to Get Started?

Thus far, I’ve given you the basics on what steps to take and the fees associated with those steps. Now without further ado, here is your guide to making it happen :

1. Decide on a name for your business and search it to make sure it is available for your business – Click here to verify your business name is available in the state of NC. Those not located in NC can visit their state’s website and search “Business Registration” to verify that your business name is available.
2. Create your business domain. You have chosen the name for your business, and now you should verify the website domain using your company’s new business name is available. I recommend using GoDaddy for the website domain provider, but you can definitely use Google if that’s your preference. Once purchased, your website domain provider, Go Daddy in this example, will offer to match your business domain with your email (i.e.: info@yourbusiness.com). You can take them up on this offer for an additional fee, or you can move on to the next step to create it yourself.
3. Create your business email. I recommend Outlook for email (because I already had Office 365 installed on my PC, and working for many organizations as an admin, it’s what they use the most), but you can use whichever provider you choose. The domain will match your business email (i.e.: info@yourbusiness.com). Click here to sign up for Outlook for business email. Alternatively, click here to sign up for Gmail for business email.
4. Go to your state’s Secretary of State website and fill out the application of business formation. Once you have completed the application and paid fees, it can take anywhere from 1 to 7 business days to receive your official documents via email – due to Covid, these times can be longer.  Click here to register your business only if you are in North Carolina. If you are located in any other state, Google your state’s Secretary of State website to register. Additionally, here is the link to the Tutorial For Creating & Submitting Business Registration Forms Online provided by the NC Secretary of State.
5. Apply for your EIN – It is FREE! (*This step is only to be completed after you have received official documents from the Secretary of State approving your application of business formation). Click here to apply during their hours of operation: Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.
6. Register your business through a 411 website such as List Yourself. Also register with Google My Business.
7. Get your Dun & Bradstreet Number (DUNS) – It is FREE! This number is the social security number to your business. It is exclusive to the business credit reporting agency Dun & Bradstreet. Once this step is complete, you will receive you DUNS via email. It will take about 2-3 days for your business profile to show up on the D&B website. Be sure to review your company information for accuracy once it has populated on the website. You will need this number to apply for business credit. Click here to apply.
8. Open your business bank account. (This step can only be completed after the formation of your business, and you have received your EIN. They will require proof of documentation at the time of opening the account.) I recommend using Chase or Navy Federal Credit Union. The options on choosing a business bank account are endless. Do your research and choose the best one that works for you.
9. Choose your website hosting provider. When you are ready to create your website and/or launch it so the public can see it, you will need a hosting provider. There are tons of providers available that specialize in offering this service. I personally recommend HostGator. As I mentioned earlier, I built my website (as a first-time builder/newbie) using WordPress and launched it using HostGator. However, I must give credit where credit is due… I used Tyler Moore’s YouTube video on How To Make a WordPress Website – 2022 to help me build my website. Tyler offers an amazing discount code for HostGator website hosting in his tutorial. He makes creating your first website a breeze! I 100% recommend subscribing to his channel so you never miss out on new tips and tricks in the world of building and maintaining your website! (This is not a paid endorsement. Tyler’s tutorials just really helped me out when I was just getting started!)

***It is important to note that your LLC paperwork and your Dun & Bradstreet number will NEVER be mailed to you via USPS. ***

The only exception will be a post card that you will receive from Google when you sign up for Google My Business. This post card will have code on it that you will use to verify your company on their website. (Google does not use email or text messaging for business verification purposes. Seldom, Google will call to make this verification.)

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