Are you thinking about starting a business in Florida? Well, we got you covered. Here’s what you need to get started!
Starting a business can be one of the most challenging steps you will have in life, if you don’t know the necessary steps to take to make the process simpler. Whether you want to start a restaurant or a construction company, there are certain steps that you must take initially but as the process lengthens depending on what type of business it is will determine what you must do. In this article I am going to break down all the initial steps that every business must take before they get to the part where steps must be taking pertaining to that specific business.
Name Your Business
Obviously the first thing that you need to do is come up with a name for your business. Depending what type of business, it is will determine whether you want to trademark the name or not. For instance, if your business is a clothing line and you will make money off the brand that you are selling you might want to trademark the name of your company so no one else will be able to sell things with the name of your company on it and make a profit. You would want to trademark the name so only you have exclusive rights to sell products with your name on it and if you want to give an individual or business the right to use your name you can. On the other hand, let’s say you are starting an electrical company, typically you will not be selling items with your company’s name on them or at the beginning at least you will not be franchising the company so there is no need to trademark the name because you really don’t need exclusive rights to it at the beginning.
Type of Corporation
After you have come up with a name the next step will be to go to www.sunbiz.org, click on Search Records at the top of the page, and then click on Name. When you click on Name another screen will come up and it will have a search bar that says, “Entity Name” and in this search bar you will type in the name you want your company to be. Once you type the name you want your company to be, you are going to click Search Now, and it will bring up a list of entities names with the same name or anything that is common to the name you searched alphabetically. If you do not see your company’s name, then you are off to a good start. With thousands of companies forming every single hour, most times when you want to form a business the name is already taken. If this situation occurs there are different things you can do to not hinder you from moving along with the process of starting your business. One of the best things to do if your name is already taken on www.sunbiz.org is to change up a letter or a word/letter in your company’s name. From previous experience I have had to implement this method. I remember once I was starting a company called Joe’s Car Wash and the name was taken, so what I did was added Mr. to the company’s name and to my surprise no one in Florida had a company named Mr. Joe’s Car Wash. I could have done a few other things like changed the Car Wash to Auto Detailing or added a “es” to the wash. There is a great deal of things besides letting a name hold you up from starting a business. The key thing to know is you can not let small things hold you up, you must figure out a way around them and keep moving on to the step because there will always be another obstacle.
When this step is completed you will have to incorporate your business by going back to the homepage of www.sunbiz.org and clicking on Forms and Fees. Depending on whether you are going to start a corporation, or an LLC will determine which option you will choose. For the sake of this article let’s assume that you are starting a corporation so that is the choice you will choose after you click Forms and Fees. After clicking the Corporations option, a screen will come up and it explains that you have two options to file your articles of incorporation which are by paper or electronically. I have never done it by paper because I don’t see the point in waiting longer for something that you can get faster electronically. Below the section where it explains the ways you can file there is an option for filing your article electronically and it says “EFILE NOW” and this is what you want to click on to do it electronically. When you click that button, you will be prompt with a page that asks you to agree to the terms by checking the box and you will have to click a button that says, “Start a New Filing”. The “Start a New Filing” is going to bring up a page where information about the members of the company will be and the amount of shares you want to start your company with. This page is self-explanatory but one thing that you want to remember is to pay for both certified copies proving that you have incorporated the company. You will need these copies later to get your business account. When the information is filled out properly on that page the site will prompt you to pay for the processing which should not be more than $100 with the certified copies included. In less than two days if it is not a weekend or a holiday you will received your certified copies of your corporation via the email you put to have it sent to.
Obtaining Your EIN Number
When you get your certified copies, it be will time to get your Employer Identification Number which is often referred to as the EIN. To get this number you will have to go https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/employer-id-numbers and click on “APPLY ONLINE” of course because you do not want to do it by paper because that will only slow the process up to getting your business started. When you fill out the electronic form to get your EIN online, it will ask you basic questions that you will already know like Name, Date of Birth, Social Security Number, Address, Name of your Business, and what type of business do you have.
Obtaining an EIN number electronically is totally free, while many companies will charge you $75-$200 to obtain it for you. Once you are done filling out the form the system will automatically generate you an EIN, if you filled the form out with no mistakes. After the computer generates an EIN for you, you will need to print out the copy that shows your EIN and proves that it has been filed. Now you will have what you need to open a business account at a bank.
EIN Online Application Page
As far as choosing a bank I don’t have any recommendations besides choose a bank that doesn’t force you to keep a high minimum balance it your account. I say this because if you are just starting a business, there are numerous things you can use your money besides letting it sit in a bank account to maintain a balance for a business that has not made money yet. I personally like banks that gives you a withdrawal limit above $600 per day in case you have an emergency and the bank is not open, a bank that has ATM deposits, so you can deposit money or checks in case the bank is not open, and a bank that does not attacks your account with overdraft fees like Wells Fargo does.
When you get to the bank you will have to speak to a banker and she will ask you for your corporation articles, EIN number, driver’s license, and your social security number. I advise you get two different accounts under your business account, one for expenses and another for payroll. The reason behind doing those two accounts is so that when you go to your account at the end of the year he does not have to figure out which debits and charges on your accounts are expenses and which ones are payroll.
Now you have your business formed and you have your business account you are ready to get a space operate out of or maybe you will start off at home. Whatever the case may be, you will need a logo and a website. Opulent Marketing Group is the perfect company to assist you with designing an amazing logo and website. We also specialize in search optimization, making prototypes, business plans, pitch decks, and many more services to help you grow your business to the next level. I hope that this article helped you.
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me at opulentmarketinginfo@gmail.com Good luck with your business and we look forward to hearing from you!
