Your company’s image and how your target market perceives you as a company is so important.  This is something that needs to be considered from business inception.  Faking it until you make it can bring you further as a company – have you watched Leonardo Dicaprio in The Wolf on Wallstreet?  At the very least, taking some small steps can make your company seem more organized and makes it easier for customers to trust your company.

Below are a few ways to make your new business seem established without any large upfront fees.  All of these suggestions that I am making are things that you will eventually need anyway and will make your business look more established right away if implemented on day one.

You need a website

I’ve connected with new business owners, who talk excitedly about their business and just as I get intrigued and ask to see their website, they tell me they don’t have one.  My saying is that if you don’t have a website, you don’t have a real business.  There are so many services to create a website, but if you are lost, let me help you with a recommendation: Blue Host.  Blue Host has an easy integration with WordPress.Org which has a ton of different plug-ins that makes it easy to create a website.

If you don’t have a website, how can prospective customers of your service or product see what you are able to provide and/or how to find you?

Don’t use a free e-mail service

Nothing screams amateur and unestablished like a @gmail.com, @hotmail.com, @yahoo.ca and don’t even get me started with a @sympatico.ca e-mail.

My firm uses GSuites to host our e-mail.  It also brings together all of our calendars and allows us to share calendars easily.  There are a slew of tools that come with GSuites that I use on a daily basis for my business.  I’m not sure how I can run a business without GSuites.  I like that every time I sent out an email, I am promoting my business brand.

Does setting up an e-mail address with your personalized domain seem too daunting?  Contact us, and we can refer you to someone who can help set you up.

Accepting electronic payments

If you are accepting cash-only for your business, you are more than likely turning away potential clients.  If you are accepting personal e-mail money transfers, this can look unprofessional and can make your business look less established (not to mention create a bookkeeping nightmare).

There are many ways to accept electronic payments from customer.  There are many solutions out there for payment processing that can process credit card payment to direct debit payments.  I will do a separate article on electronic payments, but if you need some help with this you can contact us to get setup.

Your Start Up and E-Commerce Accountant

Jenny Tran, CPA, CMA