It’s important because you’ve taken time to find a name that you like and one that works. Now you need to protect it.

On the surface this can seem like legal mumbo jumbo, but it’s actually quite simple and worthwhile.

In most cases, when you setup and register a corporation it will automatically register a business name. This happens when you file your articles of incorporation, statement of limited partnership, or articles of organization with the appropriate state office. You;ll have guaranteed that nobody else can take your name, within your state.

Many corporations file their legal name but trade (DBA – Doing Business As) under a different name.  For a sole proprietor their legal name  is the person’s name. For a partnership it’s the name on the partnership agreement. However, both can trade under different names utilizing a fictitious name.

Your fictitious name statement needs to be filed at the appropriate office within the state government.

Here are some examples that should make all this clear  when you register business names.

Your corporation name might be “New Business, Inc”. Your fictitious name might be “New Business”.

As an individual called “John Smith” you might want to open up a hair salon called “Highlights”. Your registered fictitious name is Highlights.

As a partnership called “Smith & Jones”, where Fred Smith is the local florist and Joe Jones is the financial backer, you decide to trade under “Smith’s Flowers”. Again, this will be your fictitious name.

Once again, hats off to the United States Government. their website, Business.gov has excellent guidelines for all this.

Why is all this necessary?

The number one reason is when a consumer has an issue with a company operating under a fictitious name and wants to seek legal redress with the owners. The other reason is potential confusion between businesses with similar names.

Not so bad. now you know how to register business names – don’t forget to consider a trademark at some point and then there’s the difficult issue of your web address or URL.

I recently posted about things to consider before you start so you should really check that out as well.

But let’s look at 10 ways people are making money on line.

1: Affiliate Marketing

This is where you promote other company’s products and services on your website. When a sale is made, you get a commission on that sale. You’re going to need to be able to generate your own traffic, write about the products in a way that convinces people that are worthwhile, but retains your credibility. You’ll need to also learn a bit out PPC (pay per click) marketing.

2: Blogging Blogging

A blog is a website filled with articles, reviews, stories, anecdotes and journal-style writing. I’m sure you’ve visited many. You’ll need to build traffic (people coming to your site) and then you can sell advertising or incorporate affiliate marketing on a blog to earn money. You’ll need to be able to write in a way that people find interesting, understand social networking (Facebook, etc) affiliate marketing (see above) and web marketing.

3: eBay & Auction Selling

This is where you buy and sell products on an online marketplace like Ebay, Amazon Auctions, or Craigslist. For example, you spot bargains, buy them and sell them on for a profit. You can also accumulate stuff in the real world from your neighborhood. Now you know why people arrive at yard sales at 8am. You can sell used goods, buy goods wholesale, or use a drop-shipping service. The Ebay learning service is a great resource.

4: Internet Research Business

If you’ve been involved in research and or libraries you can provide a service to companies doing internet research. Think about law firms  and even private investigators here! You’ll take your research skills and add customer service to undertake this top 10 home based business opportunity online

5: E-Commerce

You’re going to take on Amazon! Selling products or a technology-based service on your own website. be careful as this is arguably the most difficult one of all and where many of the biggest failures have occurred. You’re going to need just about every web based skill imaginable. These are the most risky Internet home based businesses.

6: Arts & Crafts

If you have a skill and a passion for creating your own arts and crafts, the web is the perfect place for you to display them. Alongside your creative talents, you’ll need to think about photography (pictures are important here) sales and e-commerce.

7: Freelance Services

Why not use your skills in administrative work, copy writing, photography, programming, etc. You’ll bill at an hourly rate. One of our members started on the administrative route and became so overloaded that she hired a friend, and another, and another…. She now runs the relationship side and farms out the admin work to her team. Once again your sales relationship management and networking skills will be key.

8: Recruiting

Use your network and professional experience to create a resource for companies to hire people. You get a fee  when each hire is made. Focus on your specialized area – a niche. You are going to need sales, relationship building and networking skills to make this a success.

9: Consulting

We have two consulting businesses. You’re again going to take your skills and experience and sell them on a contract base. Don’t underestimate sign off times for big companies. Relationship management, sales, customer service and presentations skills are critical.

10: Tech support

Small businesses can’t afford full time tech support for their PC’s, Mac’s and networks. Take your skills in this area and start a virtual support business. you can either negotiate contracts or hourly rates. There’s a huge demand for this. In addition to your tech skills you’re going to need patience by the truck load (but you know that!) and relationship and sales skills.

There you have it, the top 10 home based business opportunities online, complete with the skills you need. At We Dared To Dream we can help you work out which is best for you and take you step by step till you’re making money.

You’ve probably noticed that there are many websites promising you instant wealth, guaranteed six figure monthly income and all from your sofa in your pyjamas for 2 hours of work per day.

It sounds great! Pay them some money and now what? Here’s the first of two parts showing you how you can make money.

We’ve built several Internet businesses, we’ve been backed by VC’s and we’ve made real money. So let’s get the good news out of the way first.

You can make money on line from home. We do it, you can too. In my next post I’ll show you ten great ways to make money. But check out these 5 tips first – it’s important.

In fact, you can make a lot of money and you can have a lifestyle that will be the envy of your friends and neighbors. One of the weirdest things Rob and I experience is when we try and explain our business to non web savvy people at parties. We get these glazed over looks. They love the idea, but have no ability to comprehend how it’s possible. But they are fascinated… and jealous!

Check out these 5 tips first

1. To start Internet based home businesses and make money you’re going to have to do some hard work. Your revenue will not grow to great heights over night. Most people significantly under estimate the time it takes to build any business.  That’s because they’ve read the success stories and are optimists at heart. We all want to believe.
2. You’re going to have to learn some new skills. You’ll need to cover the basics of html, SEO (search engine optimization), social media marketing, website marketing, niche marketing and traditional marketing and sales.
3. Don’t give up your day job – you can start your on line business in a few hours a day and you’ll need the ongoing revenue from that other job.
4. Develop a realistic approach that factors in how much time you’ll spend on your new web business.
5. Create a financial plan that does not have you earning $100k per month after 12 weeks! You’ll thank us for this as it will stop you becoming quickly disappointed help you plan out the next year of your own personal cash

Don’t despair though. At We Dared To Dream we help people with all of the above and the planning and finances of your business. our goal is to make you successful as quickly as possible.

I’ll show you the ten best Internet based home businesses in my next post!

You plan may be the centerpiece of a loan application to a bank, friend or even a Venture firm. That single typo can set the mood and it’s not a good one. I’m also going to show you something cool about the word as well!

One of the most common mistakes is to spell business wrong. Be careful and make sure you use your spell check, ot at the very least proof read your plan.

Do you want to get some great free support that will save you a ton of time and research when you’re writing your business plan? Angelique and have developed a 35 page free guide to starting your own business. It covers financial planning, the bussines plan :-) and a whole lot more and it’s your completely free.

Don’t let anyone convince you that the business plan is a mountain that you just can’t get over. Don’t let this be the reason that you don’t start your own business. With a step by step guide you’ll not only write a great plan, you’ll learn loads about your new business, the market you’;re going to operate in and how much cash you’ll need up front to succeed. You don’t need software packages, special courses and all that stuff. With the right support you’ll be amazed at what you can do and how fast you’ll fly through it!

So here’s a thought for you – Etymology is the study of the history of words. So what are the roots of the word Business?

It actually comes out of two parts – busi (busy, occupied, diligent) and ness (a sense of work or occupation). It was first recorded over 550 years ago.

So there you have it. From a members typo I wondered about the word itself. At We dared To Dream we’ll help you avoid many pitfalls when starting your own business and in this case I stopped the dreaded bussines plan.

Apart from running multiple real world businesses I’ve worked with MBA courses and professors at business schools,, I’m going to overview some of the different types of courses that are available and then show you what you should look out for.

I’ll also explain some of the tricks and traps you should avoid. You’ll quickly see what you should be doing.

What’s available?

The two most popular online business courses generally come in two flavors. Downloads and drip drip sessions. here are some of the traps that people get stuck in.

The download is where you pay money and literally download a file (usually pdf). That’s it. Our point of view here is that you’re better off getting a book out of the library than paying for these downloads. it will save you lots of money and probably be just as good. Don’t beleiev promises of instant riches either.

The drip drip sessions can be equally problematic. You pay for part one and realize that you need 16 parts and soon discover that most of the valuable information is, guess what….. at the end.

if you’re going down the the sessions approach make sure that your payment gets you everything and there are no additional charges.

What should you do?

Business online classes at top business schools feature a well thought through course that are overseen by experts who are available for you. people spend up to four years and sometimes, a hundred thousand dollars to attend the top schools. But note the two key elements – a well thought through course and coaching.

The problem with business school is that it’s really expensive and takes years of work.

This is what you should look for in business online classes.

1. Clear fees with no hidden extras. Avoid, at all cost, sites that start charging for stuff that should have been in the package that you originally paid for. It’s like buying an airline ticket and then being charged extra for food, baggage… whoops they already do that :-) You know what I mean!
2. A step by step easy to follow approach that lets you work at your pace. You probably have a job today and are looking at setting up your new business in your spare time. You may me a mother with kids. You can’t spend 40 hours a week on this at the moment. The system needs to understand this and be flexible.
3. Coaches who have real experience – not people who were losers with no experience and suddenly discovered a miracle solution. For example, we have had senior positions at household name companies and now run multiple business ourselves. We’ve stood in your shoes.
4. Coaches who are available when you need them. You’re going to have moments when you’re confused and unsure. We want you to be successful and actually really enjoy helping people and hearing about their wonderful ideas.
5. A guarantee – if you’re not 100% happy you should be able to get a full refund over the first couple of months. If they can’t offer that you know something is wrong. We do, because we know that people love using our system.

There’s a reason that professors from the 3 top business schools (Harvard, Kellogg and Chicago Booth) in the US, really liked our approach at We Dared To Dream. We don’t promise you overnight riches. there are no hidden charges and there is a 100% satisfaction guarantee. What we offer is simple. A proven step-by-step system developed over years. Coaching from experts who have done it themselves.

Business online classes are important because they are going to support you at a crucial moment. make sure you ask the right questions and make the right choice. Good luck!

I’m going to quickly show you the key things you need to consider and help you reduce the pain.

This is more complex that you might think as there are multiple factors – so read on!

So what do you need to consider:

The name itself

To be honest naming a business is really hard because you’re hopefully going to be stuck with it for a long time. It’s also a very personal issue for many. So you need to find something that communicates to your customers and that you personally like.I’ll go into more detail about this another time.

It’s strange how some people make really awful and ultimately funny choices.  A few miles from our offices in Berkeley is a great example. There’s a hair salon called “Style 2000″. This might have been a wonderful idea in 1990. But in 2010, it sounds dated, just like the whole frontage. I put up a photo to give you an idea. Angelique reckons that in 20 years it will be retro and back in fashion! So be careful!

Trademarks

You may want to trademark your name. So you’ll need to know if anyone else own the trademark. The best service here is the search facility at the US Trademark office.

You’re now on your way to understanding your business name availability. When you search for trademarks don’t be put off by someone having the same name. Trademarks are filed by different business areas. So for example a music publisher can be called Apple and so can a computer maker.

Your URL

Yup, your online address may be a problem. This area causes the most frustration as companies have acquired literally millions of URL’s and just sit on them waiting for you to come along and pay them for ownership.

In 2004 Angelique and I launched a website for women that now has over 6.1 million users. Finding the URL took many late nights of frustration as great idea after great idea was shot down by people sitting on them doing nothing and then asking for exorbitant fees. There’s a reason that companies like Go Daddy can afford Superbowl ads. We finally found a blogger who owned a URL we liked and did a deal with him! To see if your name is available you can use Go Daddy or Register.com to perform easy searches that will let you know.

So business name availability has several components after you’ve decided that it works for your customers and you like it.  You’ll need to think about a trademark and finally the hardest of all, a URL.

But we can really help you here. First lets talk about what this is and why it exists.

Think of your small business tax number as the social security ID of your business. It’s how the government ID’s your new business.

The correct terminology is EIN Employer Identification Number. It is also known as a Federal Tax Identification Number, and is used to identify a business entity. Generally, businesses need an EIN.

Do remember that if you’re a sole proprietor you can continue to use your SSN and file personal tax returns. Today, I’m not going to get into the tax benefits and challenges of your business legal organization structure.

Do I need a Small Business tax number?

In the following cases you’ll need to apply for an EIN, (I’ll show you how to do that in a moment)

1. If you have employees
2. If your business is going to be a corporation or a partnership
3. If you withhold taxes on income
4. If you plan to file a tax return
5. If you are involved with any of the following types of organization - Trusts, IRAs, Exempt Organization Business Income Tax Returns. Estates. Real estate mortgage investment conduits. Non-profit organizations. Farmers’ coops. Plan administrators

How do I get an EIN?

Here’s the good news. It’s really easy and will take you minutes. The IRS has a great site that enables you to do this on line, phone fax or mail. the process takes minutes and is free. You can use it immediately for:

• Opening a bank account
• Applying for business licenses
• Filing a tax return by mail.

However, it will take up to two weeks before your EIN becomes part of the IRS’s permanent records. You must wait until this occurs before you can:

• File an electronic return
• Make an electronic payment
• Pass an IRS Taxpayer Identification Number matching program.

The IRS site is here

It’s good to be able to compliment the IRS occasionally, as let’s face it, they are hardly everyones favorites. But they’ve got a great application process for your small business tax number.

One of the reasons we started WDTD was the nightmare I had starting my first business ten years ago. There was little help available and I made many administrative mistakes, wasted countless hours and dollars and got very frustrated. I hope this helps you!

Over the past two years we have developed the “We Dared To Dream” coaching club, step by step, following our own principles.

It’s been quite a journey that I guess started when the two of us were introduced by a business colleague in 2003.

We have some very exciting news…

A few weeks ago we decided to seek feedback on our Coaching Club. We wanted to know how we could improve.

We contacted leading business professors at the top 3 business schools in the US and asked them for their feedback and their critique on the Coaching Club.

We reached out to the very best.

• Stanford Business School
• Kellogg School of Management
• Chicago Booth School of Business

We just got off the phone and exchange emails with the professors and their feedback was consistent and specific.

Let’s talk about Professor of Marketing – Michaela Draganska at Stanford.

“The brilliance of Rob & Angelique’s system is that they took their amazing experiences, the best and latest thinking and turned it into an easy to follow plan that anyone can follow to start their own business.”

“Their personal coaching is the key and I don’t care if you’re starting on line marketing or a local store. You’re more likely to succeed with We Dared To Dream.”

Professor of Management & Strategy – Shane Greenstein at Kellogg continued:

“We see people launching into new businesses with no support, systems or even ideas. Rob and Angelique are successes on their own.”

“Their combination of coaching and a step-by-step approach dramatically increases the chances of success.”

and if that was not enough, Professor of Economics – Brent Neiman at the Chicago Booth School of Business echoed:

“Starting your own business can be daunting. Rob and Angelique’s approach understands this.”

“You will be able to move step by step whilst receiving support provided by superb mentors. Your chances of success just increased.”

That felt good!

Of course we were thrilled to read and hear their comments. We’ve put a great deal of work into building the Coaching Club.

If you’re starting your own business, looking to work at home, or simply want to increase your income, we couldn’t have said it better. We can increase the chances of your success.

And staying personal, let me embarrass Angelique in public.

Well done partner! It’s been a rewarding, exciting and fun six years.
Rob

Of course the most popular source of finance is yourself. Your own assets. However, we’re going to give you an overview of the different sources available, but before we start a quick word of advice.

Before you lend anything, focus on reducing your loan requirements. At WDTD we have a variety of tools to help you do this and save you money. So let’s look at your options.

Before we start, we’re assuming that you have a well prepared business plan. If you don’t, you should stop reading this and get that part done as it will reveal just how much cash you really need. Our free 35 page business start up guide can help you with this.

So what are your options when looking at finance loan business.

1) Family and Friends

By far the most popular source of funding after your own pockets. make sure you’re 100% honest about the upside and the risks and also document everything including the amount loaned, the terms of payback and any additional promises you have made. You need to do this in case things don’t work out.

2) Line of Credit

A line of credit is essentially an agreement between you and your bank that they are prepared to advance you $x whenever you need it. It’s based on your income and credit worthiness. Interest rates are variable as you take the advances, but you choose when you need the cash.

3) Loan from a bank

You’ll most likely succeed with a bank where you already have a relationship. It’s well documented that banks are currently very slow in lending money. Do your homework and compare the terms of local and national banks. A well prepared plan and presentation is a must. banks are not lending as much at the moment, but it’s how they make money, after all.

4) Government sponsored organization

Depending on the business you are in, if you’re a minority and many other factors you may be able to secure a loan from the government. one of the main challenges here is navigating through what seems like endless administration.

Be clear about the difference between a loan and an investment.

A loan is something you are committing to pay back along with interest. It’s usually secured againsy an asset of yours, often a house.

An investment is wher you seel a part of your company for cash. Angelique and I have worked with Angel and Venture investors. They will give you  cash in exchange for part ownership. However, these tend to be for large business ideas with major potential and upside.

It’s a tough time for finance loan business. With a great plan and the right support it is not impossible. Good luck!

When you start your own business, even when you’re working at home, you need to think about insurance. We’ll show you what you really need.

We’ve put some guidelines together for you. We’ll cover what you legally have to get and what you should consider as you take your decisions.

Here are two golden rules:

• Insurance is all about covering reasonable risk. It’s not about trying to think of the most obscure possibilities.
• Insurance is about protecting yourself against calamity and disaster, so don’t try and insure for minor events. You’ll lose money.

So what Small Business Owner insurance  should you get?

1. Workers Compensation (often called Workers comp).If you plan on hiring anyone this is a legal requirement in all states except Texas. It basically covers you for injuries to your staff. You as an owner, don’t need this and it also not necessary for contractors and volunteers.
2. General liability – Covers legal expenses for claims of negligence that relate to injury or property damage. From my perspective, these are the two main insurance policies. Now there are others you may want to consider.
3. Criminal insurance - This is covering you for theft of equipment and inventory, employee embezzlement , vandalism. We’ve never used this type of insurance, mainly because most of our businesses have been built around IP 9intellectual property) rather than inventory and physical goods.
4. Internet business insurance - Insurance companies have tried to sell this to us endlessly, but we’ve resisted in most cases. You’re covering yourself against hackers, viruses, electronic copyright infringement, etc.
5. Home based business insurance – Be careful if you’re working out of home because your home owners policy does not cover your business. In our experience general liability insurance and workers comp covers most of what you’ll need here.
6. Key man insurance - At Rob’s first company the venture investor insisted that this was taken out to cover him. the idea is that a persons death or illness will critically damage the company. It’s an unusual policy for small businesses at an early stage as you are your own key person!  it seems to be more a venture investor requirement.
7. Malpractice insurance - Generally taken by professionals such as doctor’s and accountants
8. Others - There is a variety of other policies from the obvious  commercial auto insurance through to executive kidnapping. Yeah, when I was running global marketing for a multi billion dollar business, I sat in hotel bars in Latin America with other execs and this was a frequent topic of discussion.

Different businesses have different needs. if you’re dealing with dangerous manufacturing equipment, you have a different risk profile to the person working on their computer at home.

We wanted to show you what’s available. Ultimately you need to decide the best small business owner insurance for you.