Cool Company Names and Logos Are Effective

If you don’t have a cool name for your small business, go get one.  There are two ways you can accomplish this:  The fast and easy way, or the slow and painful way.

Most companies who are established and launching a new product brand or category will spend millions of dollars of research and user testing to find the right brand name and logo.  Don’t waste your time.  Spend your time making a good product or service instead.

A few things you should ask yourself are:

Does the name need to reflect my product?  If I have a consulting company, I may want to have the word “consulting” in my company name.  If I’m selling cool hybrid sandals and shoes, “Crocs” may be good enough… if my product is cool enough.

Am I infringing on someone else’s brand or logo?  Before you start printing new business cards, signs, etc, make sure your name is available through a trademark search.  Start using the “TM” by your name/logo, but also file for a trademark registration.  You file online with LegalZoom or MyCorporation, who can also perform a trademark search for you.

Are my company name and logo COOL?  You need to come up with something people will remember.  Spice up your logo, or make your company name unique so people will remember who you are.  Logoworks is an online company that will have artists create a logo for you.  It’s a fairly priced service, and you’ll get a good product.  The $500 you may spend will allow you to work on something MUCH more important – making your product or service better!

Protect Your Business Idea with a Provisional Patent

Remember the time you read about or saw a really successful product, and said to yourself, “@#$!, That was MY idea!?”   Or, have you held on to a really cool idea because you didn’t want to tell to many people about it, but didn’t know what to do next?  Well, I’ve got some good news for you…  You can pay Uncle Sam $100, and protect your other ideas through a provisional patent.

Getting a patent filed can be very complicated, expensive, and timely (the entire process typically takes 2-5 years).  Luckily, the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) came to realize this challenge, and so they created a new way to temporarily protect your idea through a provisional patent application.

When filed correctly, a provisional patent will protect your idea for one year from the filing date, which is roughly the date you send your application to the USPTO.  This will allow you to ’shop’ your idea around so you can see if it’s worth future investment.  I’ve also met a handful of patent attorneys who are much more excited about helping you write your full blown patent application once you can prove your idea is compelling to potential customers or partners… which means they might help for almost free to spread word of mouth, or maybe get in on your idea.

But, before you go too far, spend a couple hours searching your idea on the USPTO website to make sure your idea isn’t already claimed.  Or, hire a patent attorney to do a search for you (should cost less than $500). 

Once you feel comfortable that your invention hasn’t already been claimed, writing a provisional patent application is actually pretty easy.  There are some basic guidelines you should follow to make sure you capture your invention correctly.  One pitfall of provisional patents is submitting too detailed or too broad of an idea.  I’d recommend reading Nolo’s Patent Pending in 24hours (available on Amazon), or LegalZoomhas a decent online application process, but it will cost you a few extra bucks – they charge $199 on top of the USPTO filing fee to help facilitate the process.

Best of all… as soon as you file your provisional patent application, you can start using “Patent Pending” to describe your invention!

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Intuit Jackrabbit Small Business Community

Intuit recently launched a new beta website called Jackrabbit that they claim is a “Place to Start Your Business.  After reviewing the site, I found a few interesting components:

Steps to Start Your Business gives advice on several early steps on starting a business, from setting up business structures (Inc, LLC), to business identity (naming your business, and reserving the name), to Marketing 101 (finding your unique selling proposition), Taxes, Getting Paid, and more…

In the Tools and Services section, Jackrabbit goes one step further by giving readers a recommended way to complete the tasks above.  Many of the recommendations come from Intuit products, like TurboTax for Business or MyCorporation.com online incorporation services.  Others link to 3rd party companies, like getting business cards from VistaPrint.

A third component of the site is a Community that allows users to connect with other small business owners or potential partners, and share resources with other users.  After doing some searching, it’s evident that the current community is very small, with many Intuit employees making up the base.  A search for “Accountant” only yielded ~30 contacts, and no attorneys.  However, if Intuit can help grow this base, it could be a great resource for small business owners.

Hopefully Intuit will continue to invest in the site, and help drive new content to see if this can catch on.  Post a reply if you find anything else interesting on the site..

Should I Incorporate or Form an LLC for my Business?

Since I’m not an attorney, I probably need the typical disclaimer that I, in fact, am NOT an attorney, but I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express, so this is NOT legal advice.  Here’s the way I answer this question for myself.  First, I consider the potential advantages of forming a formal legal entity for my business:

• Save money on taxes – If my business isn’t making a lot of money ($50K+ per year), this probably doesn’t apply.
• Look more professional – There are plenty of ways to make my business look professional… a nice website, business cards, how I present myself, etc.
• Easier to get funding – Unless I’m talking to venture capitalists or plan on doing so soon, I’ll save this for later.
• Liability Protection – THIS MATTERS!  If I feel like my customers, suppliers, employees, etc. could sue me for ANYTHING, then I get serious about setting up a corporation or LLC for my business.  In the very unfortunate situation that I get sued, a corp or LLC is what will protect my personal assets, like my house, from being taken if I am found liable for damages.

Second, I think about the hassle & costs that are involved.  If you do your research, setting up and maintaining a corporation or LLC can be quite simple and inexpensive these days, though.  I’ll save this for later.  In the meantime, some things to consider are:

• What is the costs to set up and maintain my corporation or LLC?
• How will I ensure my corporation stays in “Good Standing?” 
• How difficult will it be to separate all finances for my business?
• Will my tax situation get much more complicated?

The good news is that all of the costs and hassles can be minimized with online incorporation sites.  But, you have to be VERY careful who you choose.  You also need to figure out if an LLC, Corp, or S-Corp is right for you, and if it’s worth setting up your business in a “business friendly” state like Delaware or Nevada.

More to come…

Do I REALLY Need a Business Plan?

The simple answer is YES.  But… it can be a lot simpler than you think.  The purpose of your initial business plan should be an assessment for you… so that you can know if your business is viable, and if you have the right assets (money, skills, tools, resources/friends) to make it happen.

Don’t make it fancy.  I typically start out in a simple text document outlining what is important to get my business off the ground.  Here are some common categories:

• Product - What am I selling?  How am I “making” my product? 
• Investment – How much money do I need to spend before I can start selling?
• Competition – Who is your competition?  Think broadly. 
• Profitability – Based on everything you know, can you make money doing this?
• Marketing – How am I going to get customers? 
• Network – Who are the people I’ll rely on?  Suppliers, consultants, friends, etc.
• Timing – Map out your first ~year of operation

Start really simple… list out the categories, and jot down a handful of thoughts and concerns for each category.  Every few days, review what you have an add or modify your plan based on what you’ve learned.

You can find a zillion business plan templates on the internet.  Don’t buy anything yet.  When it’s time for you to ask for more help from investors or potential employees, you’ll want to think about putting some formalities around your business plan, but you’ve probably got time…

SmallBiz Fizz…

After many years of living and breathing small business, I’ve decided to start a blog to help small businesses learn from my successes and mistakes.  Through experience, research, and word of mouth I’ve learned more than I’ll ever remember to pass on… and, I understand many of the challenges you’ll face. 

The goal for my blog is to help small businesses prosper by giving them a place to get good, simple help. Nobody can lose from a small business becoming successful… the owners, the customers, the economy, and the world (maybe that’s a little ambitious, but you get the point).

Running a small business is stressful.  It takes perseverance, guts, and LOTS of time.  I’ll keep my posts short and sweet, but hope to provide real help in every one of them. 

 Enjoy…