In our previous post, we discussed the first things you need to take care of when getting your business off the ground (setting up domain, emails, and general workflows).
Now that you’ve got those basic things out of the way and have an official email/phone number, it’s time to start setting up all of the various accounts you’ll need to operate your business.
IMPORTANT: One of the biggest mistakes beginners make is mixing personal banking/credit with business right off the bat. This is a HUGE mistake and your accountant will hate you for it. Avoid this mess by getting these things taken care of one day one.
We’ll be covering what to consider when setting up checking, credit, and vendor accounts below.
Step 1: Banking/Checking
This isn’t an overly complicated topic here but there are some important things to consider when going through initial admin set up. By far, the most important thing you need to do:
Go to a bank and set up a dedicated checking account in your businesses name. DO NOT USE YOUR PERSONAL ACCOUNT.
I realize when you’re starting a “side hustle” that you may not think it’s overly important to do this. However, you want to be as legitimate as possible from day one and that means having all of your ducks in a row.
When you get setup with accounting software, you’re going to want to have all of your banking linked online and you do not want to be intermixing personal/business transactions.
The process for setting up a business checking account is simple and does not take a lot of brain power. You’ll need:
General Business Info (name, number, address, email, etc)
Federal EIN
A Few Considerations:
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