Look all around you, and you will find various big and small names floating, such as, Apple, Samsung, Pizza Hut, Jimmy Choo, to quote a few. You will say, “ Yes, these are brand names, what about them?” Well, before being brand names, these are actually the businesses first that made themselves official. Isn’t it? So, the best service making a business official does to you as a business owner is – it gives you identity. It also brings along the virtues of credibility, organization and legality.
How to make a business official?
Making a business ‘official’ is a stepwise process. It takes into account the processes you need to go through to register it with authorities that do this work. Every country is run on the shoulders of the business owners who in some or the other way of helping build its economy. To get identified as a recognized contributor, one needs to make business official. Steps for doing so are:
a. Start with a brand name legally possible to acquire
Giving a name is the first thing that is required everywhere. Business, too, does need the name to be known uniquely. So, to ensure uniqueness, you should first confirm if it is legally available to you. If not available and you didn’t bother finding too, you are inviting legal actions and copyright issues to crash your flight even before it has started moving on the runway.
To accomplish this, you can use some business name search tool. Like in the online world, you do a domain name search to acquire a domain name available, in a tangible set of things also, you sit down and find if the business name you thought is available in your state or not.
Once you have found the business name, you can also ascertain its legality by doing trademark such. If the name has been picked for trademark registration by some other business, it is not for you.
b. Next you register the business
After having decided the business name, you give it an identity by defining the type it is. Available types you might come across are proprietorship, partnership, LLC, Inc, and so on. Actually, it denotes the size of the business in terms of turnover expected, people working for it and other related aspects. It also tells about the type of ownership the business will have.
Registering business as a proprietorship is the simplest thing to do. Since it does not involve bringing more people on the board for registration purpose, you can find it time-saving too. it involves the least paperwork. But what it also involves is high risk. The owner and the business become the same and so the owner cannot shield away from the repercussions of the business activities.
Registering as LLC is another option available for those who have time, patience and most importantly, a good reason for doing so. LLC registration requires lengthy paperwork. There is a close check on the way income is generated and passed to the stakeholders. It does separate the business owner from the business and provides shield to the owner in case of insolvency or any other mishappening.
Registering as a corporation option is reserved for large size businesses. These businesses have plans for going public and there is a definite stock structure provided. The complicated paperwork makes it a bad option for small businesses as you are opting for the grilling process which may not be worth the outcome.
Choosing the correct type is an essential step as the tax liability is raised according to the entity you register your business as.
c. Complete the licensing formalities involved
To give a unique identity, apart from the name, you will need a logo, and other graphics works for designing the workspace or branding activities. The selling part requires acquiring a sales tax license. If in the food business, you need to have approval in documented or license form from the health department too. Also, to carry out the business as a whole, you need a general business operation license. In the case of consultancy businesses or professional services, occupational and professional licenses are the requirements.
d. Get Tax Identification Number
Business gives a source of income. It is expected to pay back to the society whose infrastructure it exploits for meeting its business objectives. This paying back is in the form of taxes. So, as a business owner, you need to give access to income records to tax computation authorities. It is done by acquiring a TIN or Tax Identification Number.
e. Open a bank account for business transactions
Business proceedings cannot be parked in a savings account. Therefore, you need to have a business account or a checking account in a bank. The banks do need the TIN mentioned above for completing the account opening formalities.
These are the essential steps required for giving a business a legal identity.
Other steps involved in the process of achieving the image of an official business are:
· Preparing the brochure and business cards
Brochure tells about the offerings you have to make to the consumers. Business cards let people know who to contact for any purpose. These things cannot be copied from other businesses that have taken the cover of copyright laws.
· Knowing employee laws and designing code of working accordingly
It is an operational requirement useful for running a business with responsibility. Workers will look forward to associating with your business when you are just, fair and law-abiding in your dealings. Knowing about the compliance requirements is also useful while learning how to make a business official.
· Announce it on social media!
Though not necessary at all, it has actually become a trend, a sort of unspoken rule. Making business official on social media can give way to opportunities of expanding reach and promoting concept far and wide.
To conclude,
Being official means being responsible and credible. Businesses certainly can go a long way when these are started with seriousness in intent and with an aim of making a difference to the world around. By going official, you can ask people to join in your journey and promise them a stable, safe opportunity to grow and hit new milestones together.
