what should be the first step once i have found a name for my business?

Question

i have found a name for the company but now what? i found that naming the company was really difficult, and am now ready for the next step. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. thanks team! xox

Answer 1

Your absolute next step is to develop your business plan. Although you don't say what business you are in, I assume since you have a name, you also know what you will be doing/selling.

There are a lot of resources available to help develop your business plan. Check out the small business administration website, they have tons of checklist, resources, etc.

Answer 2

Make sure no one else has trademark or common-law rights to the name.

I listed some links where you can do some preliminary name checking. However, please be aware that this is merely scratching the surface of what's out there.

Only comprehensive research will tell you if the name is truly available. But, these links are free & a great place to start, so I'd try them out first.

Comprehensive research consists of looking at marks that are similar in Sound, Appearance or Meaning in the pending & registered Federal AND State trademark files as well as the US National Common-Law files.Then, if clear, you can decide if you would like to file for a Federal or a State trademark.

If you are only conducting business in one state, then a State trademark is most appropriate. If you conduct (OR are planning to conduct) business in at least 2 states OR between the US & any other country, you can file for a Federal trademark.

To register a trademark, that's done either through your Secretary of State for a State trademark or the US Patent & Trademark Office for a Federal trademark.

There are other sites that offer free searching capabilities in conjunction with their commercial services, so I'm not able to post those links due to the Yahoo! TOS. You'll also want to check domain names & yellow pages, so simply do a search for "free domain name search" and "national yellowpages" and the appropriate links will pop up.

Hope that helps! I wish you much success & happiness in all your ventures!

Answer 3

I would have thought that the first step was deciding what the business did/made/sold!??
Next steps might be:
Get finance
Get a business plan
Get Premises
Get Known (logo letterheads etc, - I can help there)
Get customers
Get rich.

Good luck

Answer 4

Protect the name. Go to your state's website and see how to register the name for your particular entity.

Answer 5

You need to compose a business plan.