One of the copies of your Fictitious Business Name Filing is for you to give to your bank. You’ll want to open an account specifically for your business. Doing your taxes is much more logical when you keep your personal and business expenses separate. Choose a smaller local bank where you can develop a relationship with the business banking officer.
Business cards are a must, but the kind of business card will depend on the business that you have. If you are promoting quality, your cards should scream quality. If your business touts a cost-saving service or product, then your card should not be embossed and shine with foil stamping (about $1 per card).
I’m on my fourth version of my business cards. This is my fourteenth year in business and I have a new logo (emblem that identify’s my business) designed about every five years.. My first cards were plain text, black ink on white paper. A couple of years later, one of my Elite Leads members designed a simple logo that I used nearly five years, with minor changes in the typestyles and then I added the second color and upgraded to a very fancy paper about five years ago. Refer to the Reference section for resources to find out how to get your printed materials.
The next question is, should you advertise in the local phone book? One of my dear friends put his ad in three of the yellow pages areas. It cost him $1,000 a month with a one-year contract. He never received a single call from the ads. So, my answer is no!
Each of the various businesses we’ll discuss as we go along will have their own type of marketing strategies, and ways that you can accomplish a lot more for a lot less than $1,000 a month!
And now, the adventure begins!