Business Name Blues is a 3-part series in which I talk about the experiences I had in naming my business and give tips based on lessons I’ve learned in the process. Part 1 explores choosing the business name. Part 2 looks into the online aspect of business naming. Part 3 closes with the legal and tax steps necessary to ensure your business name is protected. Also, as I go through each part, I will be updating the Resources page with a Business Naming section to assist you with resources and links to help you make the right moves when naming your business.

Don’t miss the end of this article where I summarize all I’ve learned with a list of 8 easy steps to naming your business!

Not Quite Done Yet

Come up with a good name for my business. Check!  Register my business website domain.  Check!  Time to start mailing fliers and knocking on doors right?  Not so fast! (more…)

Yes, as of 9:01 PM EST, yesterday, September 11th, 2008, I am officially a business owner in the great state of Maryland!  That is the time that I received an email from LegalZoom stating that my DBA and Business License paperwork had been approved and received back at their offices.  It was a process three months in the making, and I’ll talk about why it took so long in my next article.
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A while back I was thinking it would be smart to consult with a lawyer to see what kind of things need to be done to set-up my business and trademark my business name.  I was pretty sure, at the least, that I’d need to file for trademark protection for my company name and file a DBA (Doing Business As) which will allow me to start a bank account under the name of my business.

So I called a local lawyer who specializes in helping small businesses.  You’d think that, being someone who is supporting the cause of the small business owner, she’d charge fees that small business start-ups can afford.  Boy was I wrong.  Here are some of her fees: (more…)