Starting a business: the records that start on day one

Are you ready to start a business?

Whether it is a side project that grew up, a shop, a studio or a full leap into working for yourself, every business starts with an idea and, very soon after, a folder. Sometimes several folders. Sometimes several folders, an inbox and a photo of a receipt on a phone.

None of this is a sign of doing it wrong. Small businesses are built in the gaps between everything else. Knowing which records tend to matter makes those gaps a little tidier.

The founding documents

Depending on how a business is set up, it collects a handful of formal documents early on. Which ones apply, and what each involves, varies by business type and by state, and an accountant, an attorney or the state's business filing office can explain what fits a particular situation. Common examples include:

• Formation records. Whatever was filed to create the business, if anything was, and any agreements between owners.
• Tax identification. The numbers the business uses for tax purposes, and the letters that confirmed them.
• Licenses and permits. Local, state or industry ones, each with its own renewal date.
• Contracts. With clients, suppliers, landlords, contractors.

Do you know where each of these is? Could a business partner, or the person who does your books, find them without asking?

Money in, money out

Keeping business and personal money apart is something plenty of owners find makes life simpler, and accountants are the people to ask about how that applies to you. Either way, the money side produces records:

• Bank account and card details for the business
• Invoices sent and payments received
• Receipts for expenses, ideally somewhere other than a coat pocket
• Payroll records, if there are employees
• Tax filings and the correspondence that comes with them

Tax time is when all of these get asked for at once. Having them in one known place is the difference between an afternoon and a long weekend.

The people behind the business

A business is also a set of relationships. Who is your accountant? Your insurance agent? The bank contact? The person who knows the website password? If you were unreachable for a week, could someone else keep things running, or at least know who to call?

A one-page business snapshot listing the key accounts, contacts, renewal dates and where documents live is one of the most useful pages a small business can have. It is also one of the most rarely written.

Dates that sneak up

Renewals have a way of arriving at busy moments. Licenses, insurance policies, domain names, software subscriptions, filings. What would help you notice them coming? A calendar, a list, a reminder: any system that is not memory works better than memory.

Building as you go

No one starts a business with a perfect filing system, and a perfect system is not the goal. Ready is. The BUSINESS READY page gathers what owners most often go looking for, and MONEY READY covers the accounts and policies side of life, personal and otherwise.