There are so many valuable lessons to learn in life. This year I am celebrating my thirty year high school class reunion and I am finding that I can still learn new things. A year ago I was complaining about the long commute I had to work, the poor supervision I was getting and the endless paper work that piled on my desk. My husband suggested that I look into starting a home business. There were so many opportunities advertised that he figured there would be one out there that would fit our values, budget and lifestyle. After several months of research I decided to sign up as a dealer for a major environmental company. I liked their products and the support from other business owners was wonderful. I had so much to learn it seemed like each day there was another thing to think about.

Once we decided to become dealers we needed to get the word out that we had this business. We had to decide on a name so that we could get cards and letterhead printed. We came up with our name and had cards made. I called a friend of ours who is a CPA and asked him some tax questions. He asked me if I had done a business name registration. I told him that I did not know what that was. He said I should go to the official website for our state and do a business name registration. By doing this no one else could pick the same name we did for their company. A business name registration is not mandatory, but if we would build a successful business and did not have the business name registration someone else could take the same name. This could confuse customers and we could lose business. Even if you have been in business for years someone else can come and register the same name if you have not already done so. The registration can be done online on the state’s website and there is not cost. At the time that you are registering your business a search will be done to insure that the name has not already been registered to someone else.