Business Finances

Once I had the technical pieces (website, Google Suite and logo) in place it was time to get the financial part going. I have been a BECU credit union customer for many years and have really enjoyed their service so I decided to set up my business banking account there. They have a lot of great information on their website that helped me get a handle on what was needed to get things set up. Most anything can be done online but setting up the account initially has to be done in person. The whole process took a little over an hour and the representative covered all the options they offered. In the end I went with a standard, interest bearing, checking account.

With the bank account set up I was able to get my payment processing system in place so I could start invoicing customers. I have had some experience with Square in the past so I decided to use them initially for this venture. They have some really great tutorials on their site for setting up the account and setting up estimates and invoices. I really like the estimates piece as I can easily convert that to an invoice once the client accepts it. Once I got my account set up I was able to easily link it to my business bank account. 

Within a matter of days I was able to get the financial aspect of the business up and running. Now all I had to do was start working with my client!

Website and Logo

The next step in my business adventure was to set up a website and create a logo.

The first piece was to secure a domain name for the business. I have used GoDaddy in the past for securing and managing my personal website domain (aduckworth.com) so I decided to use them again to purchase my duckworthinnovations.com domain. The process was pretty simple and I was able to secure the domain for two years at about $35.

My next step was to start building out the site. I was paying for G Suite for the business so I decided to use Google Sites to create a simple website. The process was pretty straightforward, except for adding the domain to the site. It took a little back and forth with Google Support but I was able to get it configured and running.

Finally I needed to get a logo for the business. I am pretty comfortable with manipulating graphics so I decided to search the web for any logo creation tools out there to get an initial idea started that I could tweak later as needed. The site I settled on was FreeLogo Design. Their online app had a really intuitive interface and they had a large selection of design options. I also liked the fact that you could select the kind of business you had and they were able to narrow the selection down a bit. Once I had a log created that I liked I paid $39 to get the SVG and PNG images. The SVG images are great as I could open them up in Adobe Illustrator and tweak further as needed.

All of this gave me the basic building blocks for my online presence and I was ready to start exploring how I was going to handle the financial transactions!

Business Licensing

On my journey of setting up my own business, the first stop was getting my business licensing squared away. I live in Washington State and will focus on my process so your mileage will vary depending on the State in which you live.

I initially started researching the application process for Washington so I ended up at the Department of Revenue website application information page. This page was great as it had all the information I needed and a lot of handy links. The best part of the site was the application wizard. The wizard made it extremely easy to get set up. As part of this process I also had to register for a Unified Business Identifier, which was quite simple. One thing to keep in mind, again if you are in Washington, is to identify all of the cities you plan on doing business in the first year. I found it pretty easy to add the city in which I am located and the one I planned on doing most of my business last year.

The next step was to register for a Federal Employer Identifier. This one I was not sure I needed right away as I was not planning on hiring anyone for the business but I decided to go through the process anyway.

All in all the process took about an hour and only cost me about $70 and I got a nice printed license to hang on the wall. I was quite impressed with the simplicity and the helpful information that Washington State provides. I will need to renew the license each year, but again the process was quite simple.