Last week, we kicked off a new podcast series, New Business Roadmap — an exploration of how we would approach starting a new small business from scratch. The best part about these episodes is — whether you’re considering starting a new business, or you’re an experienced business owner who wants to solidify the foundation of your existing business — this series can serve as a truly helpful resource for strengthening your small business from the inside out… essentially, creating a strong and solid business from which you can experience clarity, purpose, and meaningful growth. 

This week, in part 2 of 5 of our New Business Roadmap series, we’re exploring the foundation-building to-dos needed to form a solid foundation for your small business. In other words, now that you’ve answered the foundational questions from part 1 of 5 — who you are, what you do, who you serve, what your minimum viable product will be, and what resources you need to get started — what should your next steps be?

Today, we’re sharing foundation-building to-dos to help you create your small business. Of course, every small business is unique, and we’re hopeful these to-dos will help to jump start your small business in a purpose-driven way.

Foundation-Building To-Dos

Whether you’re starting a new small business from scratch, or you’re hoping to solidify your existing small business, the foundational decisions you make for your business matter. It’s never too soon or too late to ensure the foundation of your business is strong — because a stronger foundation can mean a stronger business. 

Once you’ve decided upon the basics of your small business, what should your next steps be? Today, we’re sharing 10 to-dos we recommend completing. Again, because every small business is unique, these to-dos may vary — but we’re hopeful they will jump start your business and get you headed in the right direction. 

Choose your business name.

Looking back, With Grace and Gold would have likely benefitted from including the words brand design, web design, or simply design within our business name. We recommend choosing a business name with both clarity and longevity in mind. If someone were to read your business name, would they know what your business has to offer? If you can envision selling your business in the years ahead, could your business name be seamlessly understood or used by any owner — present or future?

Create a business plan.

There are business plan templates through the Small Business Administration, your local Small Business Development Center, online, and elsewhere. Creating a business plan can help you to begin your business in an organized way — creating a plan not only for the launch of your business, but also for the way your business will operate in the months and years to come. In 2014 when we booked our very first client, we were so excited. Then, we turned to one another and asked, “What is our next step?” Being a small business owner is made up of many daily decisions, so having a business plan can equip you to make decisions with clarity and purpose.

Determine how your business will be structured.

As an example, With Grace and Gold is a Partnership LLC. Determining how our business would be structured helped us to determine our business registration requirements, taxes, and more — all of which can vary from state to state. Though we aren’t able to provide legal or financial advice, we do recommend working with an accountant — specifically an accountant who specializes in working with small businesses —  to ensure your small business is established correctly and legally. 

Work with a legal professional to register your business, obtain your EIN and Tax ID, and apply for any necessary licenses or permits.

In collaboration with a legal professional or accounting professional, ensure your business is properly registered. The federal government and state government may have unique requirements, so working with a professional will ensure you have registered your business properly. Some states also require you to obtain an EIN — an employee identification number — and a tax ID. So, again, working with a legal professional can help to ensure you’ve done all of the legal and technical steps needed to create your business. 

Open a business bank account.

Having a bank account separate from your personal bank account will help you to maintain organization when it comes to any payments you receive, payments you make, or business expenses you have. Organization is key, because yearly, you’ll submit your financial statements to your accountant — and you’ll want to have a completely accurate handle on your business finances. 

Choose a system for client quotes, contracts, and invoices — or for customer payments.

For service-based businesses, systems like 17Hats, Dubsado, and Honeybook are great options for providing client quotes, contract, and invoices or payment plans. For product-based businesses, systems like Stripe or Square can be beneficial. Determine a system or systems you’ll use to manage all of your client or customer details, contracts, and payments. Doing so will help you to maintain organization from the start. The system we use, 17Hats, also has built-in bookkeeping features, which are helpful for understanding our upcoming receivables and for providing financial statements to our accountant come tax season. 

Choose a system for project management.

Even if your business has just started, and you are working up to serving several clients at once, having a project management system equips you to create clear processes and workflows for each client you serve. Then, as your business grows and you begin serving several clients at once, you’ll be so grateful you organized your processes and workflows within a client management system. At With Grace and Gold, we use and recommend Basecamp.

Secure your domain name.

Through a domain name provider like GoDaddy, BlueHost, or Google Domains, secure your domain name — such as yourbusinessname.com. Choosing a .com domain name extension — rather than extensions like .net or .info — is recommended for user-friendliness and for search engine optimization. So, if possible, choose a .com domain name extension for your business.

Create your brand and web design.

One common question we receive at With Grace and Gold is, “If my business is brand new, is it too soon to pursue professional brand and web design?” Our answer is, “No, it’s never too soon to pursue professional brand and web design.” The reason is, the brand and web design you launch your small business with will set the tone for how your business converts its online audience from visitors to paying clients or customers. Your brand and web design are the first impression your audience will receive, so having a polished, elevated, and connection-driven online presence can help your business to earn more, convert more, and experience greater success as soon as possible. 

Secure all social media profiles and handles.

Lastly, visit each of your desired social media platforms — Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, etc. — and secure your handle. Your handle should be as close to your business name as possible, so you can create consistency among your domain name, your website, and your social media profiles. We also recommend choosing the same profile photo and cover photo, if relevant, for each social media profile. This will help to create brand recognition. 

Summed up, your small business foundation-building checklist includes:

1. Choose your business name.
2. Create a business plan.
3. Determine how your business will be structured.
4. Work with a legal professional to register your business, obtain your EIN and Tax ID, and apply for any necessary licenses or permits.
5. Open a business bank account.
6. Choose a system for client quotes, contracts, and invoices — or for customer payment.
7. Choose a system for project management.
8. Secure your domain name.
9. Create your brand and web design.
10. Secure all social media profiles and handles. 

Whether you complete each of these to-dos, or these to-dos spark inspiration for you to create a checklist of your own, we’re hopeful today’s episode equips you to build a strong foundation for your small business.

Tune in next week Monday for part 3 of our New Business Roadmap series, where we’ll be discussing your minimum viable product — ways to present your business, to build your audience, and to market your business — leading up to the full launch of your business. Having a minimum viable product — or launching your business in a minimal, curated way — allows you to save time, save money, work kinks out of your products, services, or processes — and so much more.

About Brand It, Build It Podcast, Hosted by Kelly Zugay

Hosted by Kelly Zugay, co-founder of With Grace and Gold, The Brand It, Build It Podcast is a leading small business marketing podcast for small business owners, creatives, founders and entrepreneurs. Enjoy weekly, actionable episodes to build a successful, sustainable small business from the inside out.