Creating A Home Business Identity

​Today, having a home-based business is normal, and very few enterprises question it.  The biggest issue that the entrepreneur faces is ‘how to create their professional identity.  

Creating A Home Business Identity
By Pierre Mouchette | Real Property Experts LLC

Today, having a home-based business is normal, and very few enterprises question it.  The biggest issue that the entrepreneur faces is ‘how to create their professional identity.’  This identity will be used for contact information, business documents, and marketing tools.
 
The Home Business – to write this ARTICLE, we are making the following assumptions:

• Your business is based on something that you love to do.  That is, your business is your passion, and you are determined to make it run and motivated to grow it.  Creating this business will allow you to perform regularly what you enjoy. 
• The business has a foundation.  You already know and have a background in the industry, or the company requires a relationship with people you know.

 
Business Name – a good business name is crucial in promoting your business.  It tells who you are, what you do, and encourages long-term memory within your target demographic.  To select a business name:

• Make a list of keywords and attributes that describes what your business does.  Look at the names of successful companies having similar businesses and analyze what makes their names effective and memorable.
• Consider whether you should have a direct, straightforward name or one that is descriptive, allusive, arbitrary, coined, or comprised of initials.  Acronyms work well if the company's full name is lengthy or the initials happen to spell something catchy.

Make a list of ‘several suspect names’ to confirm that another business is not using them.  You can do this on your own using the internet, hire an attorney, or use a service like BizFilings to do it for you.  In addition to the preceding, you must decide what type of business entity you will operate as.
 
The type of business entity you choose will depend on three primary factors:
liability, taxation, and record-keeping.
 
Business Address Options - since you are operating your business out of your home, you must consider privacy.  Since your address will be used on many physical and electronic documents, you may not want your home address to be public knowledge.  Knowing this, you have two options if you would like a different address:

• Open a post office box with the US Postal Service.
• Obtain a box at a local mail store, such as a UPS store.

In part, your decision may depend on the image you are trying to project for your business.  Some prospects may view your use of a PO box address as if it's small or not fully established or that you operate a fly-by-night company.  The mail store option can give the appearance of a business with a physical address, which might make some clients more at ease working with you.  With a mail service, your address is the mail services address plus your box number.
 
Business Telephone – all businesses need a business telephone.  However, many home business owners start off using their current phones.  A huge mistake that must be avoided at all costs.  Always keep your business and personal life separate!

• Do not forget faxing - whether you need a separate fax line depends on the volume of faxes sent and received.  You can set up a fax line on your landline using your phone company's distinctive ring or a business line.  Note:  The Internet has made faxing easier because you can scan and email forms.

Business phone options:

• Landline options – you can either add a second number (distinctive ring service) to your existing phone or have a second line added to your home. 
• Internet phone or VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) - you can use this virtual phone system for your home and business internet calling.  This phone system is an excellent means to reduce phone bills because of its low costs, many features, and superior voice quality.  These products are like landlines in that the dial tone, phone numbers, and area codes are the same. 

VoIP phone systems come in different forms.  Some common types are:

• Conference phones - an IP conference phone is like a regular phone.  It allows effective internet calling between several people at once.
• Desktop VoIP phones - this is a standard VoIP phone with features of a traditional telephone and benefits of VoIP technology.
• Softphones and USB Phones - a softphone is often a software application instead of an actual phone.  Once you install it on your computer, you will be able to make and receive internet phone calls from a VoIP phone number.  A USB phone can be connected to a computer through a USB jack allowing you to communicate like you would use any standard telephone.
• Videophone – when you use this phone, you will be able to call online and see others, making it easier to give presentations as if the other party was in the room with you.
• Cell Phone Options – this technology allows you to be accessible even when not in the office.  Like your landline phone, you can get a business number added to your existing phone service or use an online service to create a business line that forwards to your cell phone.
• Virtual Phone Numbers – this is a phone number not tied to a specific phone.  These numbers are usually programmed to forward incoming calls to pre-set telephone numbers.  Virtual numbers can be sent to mobile, fixed, or Virtual VoIP lines.  They are not limited to voice calls but can carry text messages.