So I finally took the plunge and started my own thing. First move? Walked into a bank and opened a business account. Didn't even have a logo yet. Felt weird but also kinda official. Anyone else do the boring stuff first?
Banking
I opened a bank account before doing anything else
Honestly smart. I messed around with a personal account for six months and it was a nightmare at tax time.
You need an EIN first though, right? Or did you just use your SSN? Asking because I'm about to do the same.
I got an EIN online first, took like 10 minutes. Bank wanted it.
Bank first? I spent three weeks picking a name and then found out it was already taken in my state. Priorities, I guess.
Wait, you can just walk into a bank and open a business account? I thought you needed a whole LLC packet and a blood sample.
Depends on the bank. Some want the articles of organization, some just wasnt the EIN and your ID. Credit unions are usually chiller about it.
Also watch out for monthly fees. My first 'free' business account charged me $15 a month because I didn't keep a $2k balance. Read the fine print
Bold of you to assume I have $2k to keep in a balance.
Yeah I went with a local credit union, no monthly fee if I do 5 debit transactions. Seemed reasonable.
Credit unions are underrated for small biz. Big banks treat you like a rounding error until you're doing six figures.
This thread is making me realize I've been putting off the bank account for no reason. It's literally just paperwork and a deposit.
The deposit is the annoying part. Mine required $100 minimum to open. Not huge but I was broke that week.
Just use the 'I'll pay you back when I'm profitable' deposit method. Banks love that.
One more thing: get a separate debit card for business expenses. Mixing personAl and business purchases is the fastest way to hate yourself in April.
Already on it. They gave me two cards, one for expenses and one for... also expenses, I guess. Still figuring it out.
You'll figure it out. The fact that you did the bank firzt means you're already ahead of half the people who 'launch' with a logo and no way to cash a check.