Making a Start - Business Name Registration

Making a Start - Business Name Registration 

One of the critical things you will need to do early in creating your business is to register your business name. It would be best if you chose a name that encapsulates your business idea and what you hope to achieve. Finding a name and domain names for your website that are still available can be challenging. However, I found it easier because I was using my name and Alison O'Sullivan Coaching was free. 

I found a great video on the Australian Securities and Investments Commission website about all that is involved in registering a business name. It includes information about checking that trademarks (ipaustralia.gov.au) and domain names (auda.org.au) are available, information about setting up a password to be used across all government departments and also information about business licenses you will need (ablis.business.gov.au). It also points out that you will need a credit card, email address and ABN already created to proceed through the process.   

A few points to note about this process when I went through it:   

• Go to the web domain name website and the ABN lookup to check that your business name is free.   

• Create an ABN for your business to be able to register your business name. Be careful to click on the official government site and not the private companies that will create your ABN for a commission (they will come up first on your Google search – I learnt this the hard way!)   
• Your business name and domains will renew each year with ongoing fees.   
• I chose GoDaddy to purchase my domain names as I had heard of the company before and believed them to be reputable. I paid for extra security on each domain I bought, hoping my personal information would stay secure.   
• I purchased alisonosullivan.com, alisonosullivan.com.au and alisonosullivan.au (which became available in March this year). I noticed one of the high-profile influencers I follow recently updated her website and had to use .co after her name as the .com and .com.au was already taken.   

What would you love to call your business name? I can't wait to hear them.