To all small business owners:

I’m not going to sugarcoat it, these next few months could get pretty bad for small business, so I’m putting together an Action Plan to help us survive and thrive. The government is stepping in but let’s get clear on exactly what our next steps should be.

Always remember that great businesses have survived and even been created during recessions or disasters so stay healthy, keep your mindset positive and let’s get to work.

I believe we should all focus on these main things at the moment:

Step 1: Do a Quick Break Even Analysis

You need to know how much money you need to keep operating on a monthly or even weekly basis. So fire up a spreadsheet (this doesn’t have to be perfect, just get some numbers down) – I’ve made one for you here – and open your accounting software or books and calculate the expenses which are “fixed” and you cannot quickly change (realistically). This would include things like salaries, rent, utilities, software, insurance, etc.

Then add your income from all sources. Just go through your monthly profit and loss statement and add any of these items to your spreadsheet. I would do a “recent” month to see what’s normal and then a “worst case” to calculate the total to see what we’re dealing with.

If it’s negative (and it likely will be), then we now know roughly how much we may need to cut (or lower prices, etc. to boost sales).

NOTE: If you want to dive into the numbers further, you can calculate your variable and per-unit costs as well. This is a good article to follow for that.

Step 2: Reassure Customers and Pivot If Necessary

If your business has not been closed down then make sure to reassure your customers you are open either via email, signage or even call them and then let them know your action plan. See our action plan here for some ideas; here’s a template you can use as well. Mostly, you want to assure your customers that you are open and are taking precautions for your employees and customers safety.

For example, if you run a restaurant, you’ll want to mention how you’re using gloves, masks, increased sanitizing schedules, etc. to make people confident they can order from you. Basically, if you handle any physical items that a customer will receive you need to reassure them you’re taking precautions.

Some businesses may consider a quick “Pivot” in their business model to deal with the virus. For example, if you’re a restaurant, consider adding delivery or take out. If you sell physical items retail, it’s time to consider shipping to customers if you don’t currently (setup a website as well if you don’t have one). If you typically cater to large events, consider smaller venues or pivot towards smaller events or individuals.

NOTE: There are many quick ways to get an online website and ordering system setup that require “no code” – try Makerpad for example who is offering this for free right now. Yorcue is doing this as well and has an app that can schedule pick up and delivery for your business.

For example, most of the Las Vegas Strip has been shut down but the meat and restaurant food providers are making menus and posting them on Facebook to sell that food to individuals. If you run a landscaping company, you could add on services like delivery or trash disposal for customers. Get creative and see what you can pivot towards for the down turn.

Look how fast this company pivoted:

Other quick business ideas:

• Cleaning and sanitizing services
• Sanitizer and mask manufacturing
• Task services: delivery of anything by trained and sanitized staff
• Remote office consulting and setup
• Twitter thread: What new or existing companies will thrive during coronavirus?
• 10 Industries that will be winners in the stay-home economy
• 100+ Ways to Make Money on the Internet
• Some companies are offering their paid training and other software or resources for free.

Step 3: Cut Expenses

We’ve had several years of a really good economy and I think a lot of us have allowed various things to crawl onto our credit card statements and into our payables inbox, and we just sort of dismissed them. Now’s the time to go through those and cancel, reduce or renegotiate those services.

So go through each item on your spreadsheet and see what you can do to reduce these. The spreadsheet I provided has a column for that. Think outside the box here: call your landlord (or any vendor) and ask for a discount, delay of 30-90 days or similar.

People are going to be understanding now while the panic is starting, but not necessarily in 2 months so start now. Your pitch to vendors like landlords: “I can pay you partially/in 30/60/90 days or I can go out of business and not pay anything – what would you prefer?”.

Unless your business is very dependent on something that is essentially shutdown (travel, sports, events, etc.) then be cautious about dialing back advertising or marketing at this point. You may want to closely review your accounts and trim the fat but don’t fail to get the word out at all. Remember that many businesses thrived in recessions or depressions.

Next, be very, very cautious about cutting salaries, reducing hours or benefits until you have all the information about what the Small Business Administration or Federal Government may provide you (see below).

Cutting people, salary, hours or benefits will likely have a demoralizing effect and you don’t want to do it more than once if absolutely required. At the least keep communication very clear with your staff – some may actually volunteer for reduced hours or even a 30 or 60 day furlough to spend more time at home.

Personally, I would try to cut other expenses, boost sales and/or pivot (see steps below) first before cutting staff.

Recommended Articles: How to Cut Expenses and The Virus Survival Strategy for Startups

Step 4: Boost Sales and Cash Flow if Possible

Now would be the time to run any promotions, sales or specials. Cutting prices may be unavoidable to just get cash flow going. So consider having a sale and make sure to promote it after reassuring your customers.

Local businesses, if you have gift certificates then now is the time to promote them. A lot of people want to support small business now and that’s by far the easiest way to get cash in your pocket now. Some places are offering the equivalent of a bond: pay $75 now to get $100 in the future, etc.

If you have outstanding receivables you may want to follow up with those, especially from customers who can easily weather the storm. Also, be careful of taking on new customers that may not pay so be very careful about extending credit without proven payments or deposits.

Recommended Article: Marketing Your Way Through a Recession

Step 5: Understand the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), CARES Act (H.R. 6201) and SBA Loans

The bill was just signed into law and provides mandatory paid sick time and other long term leave for those diagnosed or helping others with Covid-19. It applies to businesses with fewer than 500 employees (but those with 50 or fewer may be exempt). Here’s a few summaries:

FFCRA:

1. IRS Summary of the Bill
2. Employer obligations in the new bill
3. What employers need to know
4. What does it mean for working Americans
5. What it means for small business

CARES Act:

1. Summary of the CARES Act
2. Another summary from Reddit
3. Emergency Loans summary from US Chamber of Commerce

We will update this post with a checklist of items for small business employers as we learn more, but for now, those articles above seem to be the most comprehensive. Please leave a comment if you have a better link or more accurate information.

The Small Business Administration is giving out disaster loans so please check their website for specifics.

Other Sources of Loans:

• Kabbage – Loans & MCA
• BlueVine –  Loans 
• Clearbanc – Loans 
• PNC – Line of Credit
• Forward Financing – MCA
• Total Merchant Resources – Loans & MCA

Fundraisers and More:

Some small businesses have started raffling off prizes and starting a “GoFundMe” page to get community donations and support. Quickbooks is sponsoring GoFundMe’s as well.

Here’s a list of Small Business Relief programs by state.

Anything Else?

Have any other advice or tactics that can help? I will continue to update this page with everything I can. Leave a comment below or email me matt – at – mycompanyworks.com.

Please stay positive, healthy and safe!

Matt Knee
Founder/President
MyCompanyWorks, Inc.

If you’re reading this then you’re either interested in starting your business, or you’ve started one already but found that you built yourself a job, not a business.

You might have read books and articles about genius entrepreneurs building multi-billion dollar businesses, going public with an IPO, and escaping off into the sunset. 

But that’s not you. 

Instead, you want to build a business so your wife can stop working.

Maybe you want a business that gives you time to spend with your kids.

Maybe you’re just tired of your day job and want to build something on the side that gives you more fulfillment.

You’re in luck. 

The books in this article will teach you to think like an MBA, even if you’ve never taken a business class in your life. You’ll learn how to start, market, and scale a business, even if you’re still working a day job. And most importantly, you’ll learn about different kinds of business that others have already built so you have a roadmap for your own journey.

Let’s get into it.

The Foundation of a Successful Small Business

1. The Four Steps to the Epiphany by Steve Blank

This is the best step-by-step startup book you can read. The book organizes the beginning stages of building a business. It talks about knowing your values, being market-driven, focusing on customer development versus product development, and how to go mainstream by making products for early adopters first.

2. Great by Choice by Jim Collins

This book tackles the question of, “Are successful companies just lucky or are there replicable patterns they follow?” 

Centered around the tenets of discipline, calibrated creativity, and a healthy sense of paranoia, the book teaches you how to create a foundation for your business that will let it thrive amidst uncertain environments.

3. Good to Great by Jim Collins

If you’ve ever wondered what separates good companies from the ones that are truly great, then this book holds the answers. Concepts in the book, like the Hedgehog Concept and the Flywheel, show you the qualities and mindsets you need to cultivate in yourself and in your employees to build a company that lasts.

4. Purple Cow by Seth Godin

This book is about how you and your business can stand out… And how to handle the risk that comes with being different. You’ll learn about creating remarkable products and services, and identifying the first few customer-slash-evangelists who will excitedly tell the world about your business

How to Start a Successful Small Business

5. The Personal MBA by Josh Kaufman

You should read this book if you think you need an MBA to build a successful business (spoiler alert: you don’t). You’ll learn to ask the hard questions that will help you make the right decisions so your business succeeds. You’ll build a framework for business decisions like getting outside funding, vision, marketing, negotiation, and collaboration.

6. The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber

Coupled with The Personal MBA, this book is for anyone who is great at what they do and now wants to build a business around that expertise. You’ll learn about the nitty-gritty operations side of the business: how to plan for growth from day one, what to put in place so that you’re building a business and not a job for yourself, and how to (eventually) find and train people to run your business for you.

7. The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss

If you want to build a business and not another job for yourself, then you need to be intentional about this from the beginning. This book will teach you how to redefine why and how you work, help you eliminate as much busy-work from your plate as possible, and prepare yourself for entrepreneurship — even if you’re still at your day job.

8. The Lean Startup by Eric Ries

Building a successful business is simple but difficult. It’s not about how fast you grow. It’s not even just about how much revenue you make. Instead, it’s about finding a profitable business model that can stand the test of time. 

In this book, you’ll learn the right and wrong reasons to start a business. You’ll learn how to test to make sure your business idea is profitable before you release your product. And you’ll also learn how to bake marketing into your product so that it sells itself. 

9. Zero to One by Peter Thiel

The most difficult stage of building a business is taking it from 0 sales and customers to the first ones. That’s much harder than going from 1 to 2. In this book, you’ll learn why successful founders tend to be weird oddballs, the sequence you need to follow if you want mass-market success, and the 7 crucial questions you need to ask yourself before you start your business.

How to Find Your First Customers for Your Small Business

10. This Is Marketing by Seth Godin

This is the best high-level marketing book you can read. Good marketing is about painting a story about how your business can help your customer improve their life. And This is Marketing gives you a framework for the marketing strategies and tactics that you’ll learn in other books.

11. Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne

Stop trying to be better. Just try to be different.  This is the main premise of this book — and it’s the most important positioning concept you need to learn in a world of commodities and choice. The book teaches you to be different, to carve out category or niche (blue ocean) and to stop seeking out crowded markets (red oceans).

12. Tribes by Seth Godin

The health of your business is dependent on the audience or tribe you built around the change you’re trying to make. Tribes is a short book that goes into detail on how communities start and thrive, and how you can start, nurture, and build a tribe around your work.

13. Show Your Work! by Austin Kleon

If you subscribe to the “build it and they will come” model of marketing, then you’re in for a rude awakening. These days, your marketing needs to start as soon as (or even before) you build your product. This book shows you how you can start documenting the process of building your business… So that when you finally launch, you won’t launch to crickets; you’ll have people who are eager to buy.

14. Traction by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares

If you want a systematic way to grow customer demand as early as possible, then you need to read this book. It runs you through the 20 possible channels you can take to find customers, and with ‘The Bullseye Method’, teaches you how to systematically test each one until you find the ones that give you the most bang for your buck.

How to Grow and Scale Your Small Business

15. Company of One by Paul Jarvis

This book is about perspective and priorities — how “successful” doesn’t have to mean big, and how ‘“staying small” might actually be a better definition of success for your business. You’ll learn to focus on the people who are working in the business (for a small business, that’s probably just you) and the two things you should emphasize to build a successful small business.

16. Small Giants by Bo Burlingham

This book is for business owners who want to keep control of their company. You’ll learn why staying private might be a good idea in this time of high growth, IPOs, and unicorns. You’ll also learn what it means to be community-focused as a company, both internally and externally, so that you grow without outside funding.

17. Work the System by Sam Carpenter

If you’re reading this, then it’s likely you struggle with perfectionism and control — two common traits that entrepreneurs share. More than just learning to build systems, this book will teach you how to let go of perfection and focus on controlling the parts of your business that you can change.

If you want to learn how to scale a business without making a job for yourself, then this book is for you. 

18. The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker

As a business owner, you have to wear a lot of hats and that can get overwhelming. In this book, one of the history’s foremost thinkers on business and management helps you take your effectiveness and efficiency to the next level by asking, “Is this decision even worth making?” 

You’ll learn why and how to delegate based on strengths and not weaknesses, how to make decisions when you have to, and why holding longer decision-making meetings might actually save you more time down the road.

19. The 80/20 Principle by Richard Koch

Whether it’s dealing with toxic customers, having too many business ideas, or just having too much on your plate, entrepreneurs are constantly stretched thin. The main premise of this book — that the largest share of your results is produced by just a small fraction of the work — helps you simplify your professional (and personal) life.

By focusing only on the 20% of products and customers that actually drive your business, you’ll spend more time on the most important tasks, instead of managing your time.

20. Startups Made Simple by Matt Knee

Drawing from his experience running an INC5000 company, Matt helps entrepreneurs start and run their businesses. In this book, he distills lessons from the best business thinkers and books (including ones from this list) and organizes it into a step-by-step system you can follow to start and grow your own business.

Next Steps

Did we miss one? Let us know in the comments!

Below is an excerpt from our book Startups Made Simple: How to Start, Grow and Systemize Your Dream Business. Learn more about the book here.  

Very closely related to Clear Vision is how you will reverse engineer your Vision into Clear Goals, concrete action steps that need to be taken to turn that Vision into reality. This is where most visionaries drop the ball and remain in the thinking part, not the doing part.

In a well-run company, not only is there usually one big, obvious goal (called a “Big Hairy Audacious Goal” or BHAG®️ made famous in the book Good to Great by Jim Collins), but you should have realistic (but aggressive) yearly and quarterly goals that you’re looking to accomplish that moves your company forward to that big goal. Each employee should have an individual goal and that’s usually (but not always) tied to the company goal. 

For example, let’s say my Vision was to build the next “LinkedIn for Businesses” platform and my BHAG was to have 1 million businesses on my platform by 2029. Here’s how I might quickly brainstorm and reverse engineer the steps to make that goal. Note that these are just wild guesses and things will change each year or even quarter.

1. Write specifications for beta version of website 
2. Design mockup and logo for website
3. Get a marketing list of 1,000 random small businesses of all types for testing
4. Build and test website 
5. Invite marketing list for free beta signup and to provide feedback 
6. Interview 10 users a week and build around their biggest feature requests 
7. Launch “Invite my Address Book” functionality 
8. Reach 10,000 signups 
9. Launch targeted ads and newsletter functionality 
10. Reach $10,000 in monthly revenue 
11. Launch “Message my Business” functionality 
12. Launch mobile app
13. Launch national digital advertising campaign 
14. Reach 100,000 signups 
15. Launch “Recommended Vendor” functionality 
16. Reach $100,000 in monthly revenue 
17. Reach 250,000 signups 
18. Launch premium membership option
19. Launch national radio advertising campaign 
20. Reach 500,000 signups 
21. Launch national TV advertising campaign 
22. Reach 1 million signups 

Based on that very rough list of possible goals to get to our BHAG, you can close in on the likely goals you’ll need for the next year or so and then further break down those goals by quarter. So you’ve taken a long term vision and now have a solid sense of what needs to get done in the next year. Now break down what needs to happen this year by quarters, make them measurable and assign them to a responsible person (likely yourself at first). 

The important thing is to have the vision and general roadmap to getting there and adjust along the way. With this example, I know I need to get working on the specs and design for my website right away. Finally, assigning deadlines (even if those are guesses) to your goals is a very effective way to encourage their completion and add a sense of urgency to getting them done. 

A frequent question I get is, “When am I supposed to find the time to work on goals while I’m busy working in my business?” The obvious answer is that building your business should already be based on clear goals, but if not, then you should make a roadmap like I’ve listed above. As I discuss in the section on the superpower of Productivity, there is Real Work and there is Process Work. Process Work is the stuff you do daily to provide your product or service. Real Work is working on Goals and things that move the company forward.

If your vision and BHAG are big, then realize you’ll never get there doing the Process Work all day. I recommend you brainstorm goals yearly and assign goals each quarter to individuals and make sure they are measurable. We’ll go into more specifics about creating a plan for your company in later chapters, especially Step 5. 

This was an excerpt from our book Startups Made Simple: How to Start, Grow and Systemize Your Dream Business. Learn more about the book here or see our previous excerpts here.

Below is an excerpt from our book Startups Made Simple: How to Start, Grow and Systemize Your Dream Business. Learn more about the book here. 

Superpower #4: Momentum

Hopefully you’re starting to see how critical energy is, and how you can use it to your advantage. Anyone who has watched a sports event where a team comes back from behind and then dominates knows exactly what I mean by momentum; you can feel it in the air. It’s one of the best sensations in business and life, and I highly recommend you use it to fuel your startup. Momentum supercharges energy. 

So, how do we build momentum? As you are probably starting to realize, all these superpowers work together in many ways. As we’ll see later, having a great Vision and learning to Execute will create momentum, which is infectious, your team will naturally be motivated by your momentum, just like the sports team example above.

The reason why I separated it out as a superpower is that I just want to make sure you recognize the power of momentum and use it to your advantage. You’ll feel it typically as a gut feeling and possibly a rush of energy that may last hours or weeks. Use it! Sometimes, I’ll only hit a good surge of momentum once a week or even once every few weeks, but one thing I never do is waste it. I know when I’m in the zone and use that momentum to get a massive amount of things done, push big projects forward, get things done around the house, or even knock off a bucket list item. (You can use momentum for fun!) 

One final tip I have concerning momentum is to try to preserve a little so you can reignite it the next day. I’m somewhat infamous to those who know me for being able to work 18 hours in a row on a project or idea. While that allowed me to get great things done when I was younger, there was always an inevitable crash afterward. The older, wiser me knows that I should cut out after the momentum begins to fall off a bit and simply reignite it the next day, letting my brain work on it and continue being excited while I sleep. 

Energy Best Practices

Having plenty of Energy is usually a matter of doing some very basic things but I realize a lot of this goes out the window while doing a startup. Here are some best practices:

• Good sleep. Prioritize sleep above all as your main source of energy and renewal. Sleep at least 7 hours (and more if necessary) and make sure you practice proper sleep hygiene (minimize blue light at night, cool room, no noises, etc.). There are many good sleep apps, trackers and even special beds and “light blockers” available to optimize sleep. 
• Clean diet. Most startups are run on a consistent supply of donuts, pizza and other junk and while this is fine occasionally, you’ll want to keep your diet as clean as possible to maintain an ideal weight and to provide plenty of energy. Consider intermittent fasting which is getting very popular among high-performing people as a source of energy and clarity.
• Exercise. We all know we should do it so make exercise a priority. Even jogging around the block or bodyweight exercises at the office are helpful and a big key is finding an exercise routine you like doing. Realize that exercising actually gives you more energy, improves sleep and optimizes mood. 
• Purge negative energy. Negative people, thoughts (negative self-talk) and media should be removed from your life as much as possible. You want to remove anything that drains your energy including abusing alcohol or drugs.
• Emotional self control. Work on becoming thick-skinned and “highly undisturbable”. I recommend a few books in the Chapter Resources. 
• Sunlight. More data is coming in every day about how important sunlight and your vitamin D levels are for overall health and energy. Get plenty of sunlight, have your vitamin D levels checked regularly and supplement or use a light therapy device to resolve any issues. 
• Supplement.  Get a regular panel of blood work for the various markers of health and supplement accordingly. Apparently, vitamin D, magnesium, iodine, omega-3 and other nutrients are at historically low levels across the western population and can usually be resolved with simple supplementation. I list some tests in the Chapter Resources. 
• Meditation or relaxation. As mentioned, a huge percentage of highly successful people have a regular meditation or relaxation routine. There are many books, apps and websites that make this ridiculously easy to learn and I list some in the Chapter Resources as well. 
• Sense of humor. As discussed, it’s all a game and you can’t take any of it with you. Maintain a sense of humor, even in the face of bad situations and you’ll tend to get through things just fine. Laughter is a powerful cure to many problems. 

This was an excerpt from our book Startups Made Simple: How to Start, Grow and Systemize Your Dream Business. Learn more about the book here or see our previous excerpts here. 

Opening a business bank account is a simple four step process that can typically be completed in less than an hour, if you have prepared beforehand. You can open a business bank account either online or in-person, but doing so online will typically take longer and could require additional documentation. 

Before you open a business bank account you’ll need to provide an employer federal tax identification (FEIN or EIN) and your legal registration documentation. If you haven’t yet incorporated your business, MyCompanyWorks can do this for you with a simple three step process that only takes you a few minutes to order online.

You can open your business bank account by following these four steps: 

Step 1 – Determine What You Need in a Business Bank Account

There are many things you should consider before you move forward with opening a business bank account. First of all, what type of bank account do you need? While most businesses start with a business checking account, a savings account might also be a consideration if your situation dictates. The fees your bank will charge should also be a strong consideration on which type of account is right for you. 

The most common types of business bank accounts are: 

• Business Checking Account: This is an account you can freely move money in and out of as your business needs occur. If you have lots of transactions that you need to make with deposits and bill payments then this is the account that is most likely right for you. This is also the most common type of business bank account.
  
• Business Savings Account: This is an account that you can make deposits to where you’ll earn extra money every month for keeping it in your account. You’ll be limited on the number of withdrawals you can make though, so this is only for businesses not looking to make frequent payments out of the account.
  
• Free Business Checking Account: This type of account operates just like a normal checking account but there are no maintenance fees and may not have a minimum account balance requirement. These accounts are typically online business checking accounts so it is right for newer businesses that don’t need a physical branch nearby.

Once you’ve determined the account that you need then you should determine how much you’re willing to pay every month for maintenance and security. Having a physical branch nearby is important for businesses that take on a lot of cash that needs to be deposited on a consistent basis. If you just need a business checking account to sign up for affiliate programs for your online business or to get your business off the ground then an online free checking account may suffice. 

Step 2 – Find the Right Bank for Your Business

Now that you know the type of account you’re looking for, you can narrow down which bank you’d like to work with. Oddly enough, the bank choice is made by proximity more than anything else for the majority of small businesses. Most businesses just want a bank with a name they can trust that is close to their base of operations. This makes transactions easy in the event the business owner has to go into the bank. 

While many business owners are satisfied with proximity, you probably should consider other things when choosing the right bank to partner with. There are a number of factors that should be considered when picking the bank, such as the banking fees and other costs. The factors we recommend include: 

• Bank Network: How convenient is the bank’s network to your operations? Are there plenty of free to use ATMs and deposit locations that meet the needs of your business? This is especially important to investigate if you’re opening a business bank account with an online provider without close proximity to a branch location because you need to know where you can withdraw funds from without paying a fee.
  
• Online Experience: How easy is it to transact business using an online website or phone app? Considering how much business is transacted online these days, this should be an absolute must that meets the demand level of your business needs.
  
• Costs: How much are the fees? Are you going to be paying a maintenance or security fee, and if so how much do you pay? Do your fees increase if your balance dips below a certain amount? These are all important things you should ask before signing on the dotted line and making your first deposit.
  
• Integrations: Small businesses typically use an accounting software like Quickbooks. Your bank should make your life easier, not more difficult. So, you should make sure that whatever accounting software you need, it integrates with your bank. If it doesn’t then you, or your accountant, will likely regret it later.

Once you’ve taken these things into consideration, and all other important aspects of the banking relationship that is important to you, then you’ll be ready to make a decision. Remember, the right bank doesn’t need to have a big name to be the right partner for you. For example, many credit unions and online banks have been great partners for businesses of all sizes. 

Step 3 – Gather the Right Documentation

Before you open a business bank account you’ll need to make sure that you’ve correctly incorporated your business. The bank will ask for your corporate documents before you’re able to make your first deposit. Having the right documentation with you at the time of application will speed up the entire process, and enable you to walk away with a business bank account the same day you apply, in many cases. 

The documentation that you’ll need to gather could include (call the bank before you visit to make sure you have it all): 

• Employer Identification Number (EIN)
• Social Security Number (if you’re an unincorporated sole proprietorship)
• Business Licenses
• Business Name Filing Document (if applicable)
• Partnership Agreement (if applicable)
• Articles of Incorporation or Organization (and appropriate banking resolution)
• Explanation of Your Business
• Funds to Deposit
• Some online banks may require more documentation to verify your identity

You can obtain most of this by incorporating your business ahead of time. MyCompanyWorks has been trusted to complete more than 60,000 business formations and counting. In just three easy steps you can be on your way to receiving all of your documentation so that you can immediately open a business bank account. 

Step 4 – Deposit Funds With Your Bank

Once all of your documentation is verified, the bank will process your application and open your account. To finalize the account opening process you’ll be required to deposit funds into your new business bank account. Many banks will not require a certain deposit amount while others will require up to $1,000 as the minimum opening deposit even if they don’t require a minimum balance during the life of the account. It’s important to check with your bank before going through the process so you’re prepared to finalize this portion of the process. 

Once your funds are confirmed into your account then you’ll be able to immediately access them through the checks that your bank will provide. Some banks will immediately provide a debit card while others will send them in the mail within 7-10 business days. The length of time it takes for your funds to show up in the account will depend on the bank you choose and the method you choose to deposit your funds with. For example, cash will be available a lot faster than a wire transfer from another bank (even if it’s your personal bank). 

Benefits of Opening a Business Bank Account

There are many benefits for both you, as a business owner, and for your business when you open a business bank account. The most important one is that you should always keep your personal and business funds separated. This can protect you from personal liability in the event that something goes wrong in your business. For example, if your business files for bankruptcy in the future then mixing your personal funds with your business funds could put your personal assets at risk and attainable by the business’s creditors.

Other than the legal ramifications of opening a business bank account, you can also benefit from being able to easily pay your business’s bills and making it easy to pay your employees. It keeps your money safe and allows you to start building a banking relationship that you could utilize for needed loans to grow your business in the future. 

Getting Started

If you’re ready to take advantage of the benefits of having a business bank account, you can get started today by registering your business. MyCompanyWorks will do this for you and you can get started immediately with our simple three step process. All you have to do is select a company type and your state, fill out a quick online form, and then you’ll receive the needed documents to open a business bank account.