Something Tess said in another thread got me to thinking. She was discussing how establishing your business entity makes your more professional and makes her more willing to work with you (which would probably be the case for most business owners)

My questions is...what have you done to establish you business entity?

I just started a couple weeks ago and so far I have
1) Thought of a name and registered it with the state
2) Bought the domain name that coincided with my business name and started a website.
3) and ordered business cards to hand out

I am also working on a marketing plan that will help keep me focus. I plan to do a combination of mailings to my niche market. The first one being an informational mailing in a nice presentational folder. The second mailing will probably be a card with a message inside etc. I also plan on doing a monthly or bimonthly newsletter as I believe that is a great way to stay in front of people.

One other thing I hope to do is add a blog to my website. I am having difficulties figuring out how to to that right now but hopefully I can find someone to help.

So with all that being said, What are you doing to help establish yourself?

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-Amanda
www.virtualsolutionsmadesimple.com

Amanda, you've covered some major pieces of the puzzle so far
I think one other thing you might consider (and I think you've actually done this but I can't recall for sure) is to create a portfolio of sample work: ALL of the marketing materials you create for your own business can be included and your newsletter idea is a great way to establish yourself as an 'expert' in your niche.

Did you ever figure out how to add a blog to your site? If you enjoy writing that can be an excellent way to establish your business entity even more so - people (potential clients) migrate to intelligent resources of information - and so do the search engines!

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Amanda, your off to a great start. I recently completed the LLC process to establish my business as Limited Liability Company.

In addition to that I have joined several organizations local and online to network and establish affiliations for myself and my business.

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Monique Terrell, CEO
Sparkle Professional Office Services, LLC
www.sparkleofficeservices.com