Day 1 of my 30 day challenge to start a business and get one customer. I started off by creating a list of tasks that need to get done in the next 30 days in order to get that one customer. I tried to think of everything possible that I would need to get done. I’m sure things will pop as I go that I didn’t think of, but this way I can use my time more wisely.  So I started today and got two key elements done in order to start my business.

1. Registering Business Name

First thing I did today was register my business name with Service Ontario as I am located in Ontario, Canada. Registering was easy. I did it online on Service Ontario website. Took 10 minutes and only cost $60. They email you a PDF version of your business license right away so no need to wait for it to come in the mail (Although you can get it mailed if you like. takes about 10 business days to come in.) Getting my name registered and getting that master business license makes this journey feel more real than ever before. I am now registered as a sole proprietorship business owner! Boo-Ya!

I chose to start as a sole proprietorship for a couple of different reasons. The main one being cost. I am trying to start this business on a budget without draining my savings account. To incorporate would cost about $1000 in registration and legal fees vs the $60 to register as a sole proprietorship. Another reason I chose not to incorporate at this time is the sheer time it takes to complete all the paper work. Even if I hire a lawyer (which is expensive) to do it, it’ll still take a few days to get everything completed. I just don’t have the time right now to get that done. And to be honest don’t want to deal with creating by-laws, and shares and bla bla bla bla… I do plan on incorporating my business in the future once I get some income coming in and things start to get more serious.

Along with getting my business name registered i signed up for a tax number. Boring stuff, but I figured I’d get it out-of-the-way now.

2. Domain Registration and Web Hosting

I already registered my domain name a few months ago, but never got a hosting package for it. I currently have a hosting package with SiteGrounds for this blog, so I upgraded my service to Hosting Plus, which allow for multiple domain on the same account.

I chose SiteGrounds because we used them as our hosting company with my previous business and had no issues with them. They have great customer service and tech support, resolving issues within 24 hours.

When I originally registered my domain I had to settle with a .ca domain instead of the preferable .com. The .com domain was registered by a domain buying company and thankfully they had it listed to sell. I tried to get in contact with them and never heard back about my bid. Needless to say I didn’t follow-up on it. I did check again and it’s still listed to sell. I sent another email offer $200 for the domain name and will follow-up with them if I don’t hear back this time.

I had my domain transferred to my blog account and pointed the domain to the new server. Should take 24-48 hours to update the DNS information and then I will be able to start work on the site.

Didn’t do too much today overall but got some good foundation work done. Total time spent on the business today was about 1.5 hours. Registering the business name took the least amount of time, only about 20 minutes. Transferring my domain and upgrading my hosting package took a little over an hour. It probably would have taken less time, but my account wouldn’t switch over to the Hosted Plus and had to call their tech support.

All in all good start, hope to get more done tomorrow!