Dress Up Your Startup

When you're new in business, it's hard to be taken seriously so don't make it even harder on yourself by not projecting the right image. Do a few things to get your start-up noticed:

If you don't have an address, get one. Lot of start-ups start from home. You're literally starting from scratch. Your potential clients don't need to know this though. Get a virtual office or a co-op work space address. Most virtual offices will even let you buy an address from them each month without even renting virtual spaces. I started with a virtual office space. I had 16 hours allotted where I could meet with clients in-person, I had a receptionist, a personal office space, a personal business line, a business mailbox, a business fax and a snazzy business address in my first year. All for $200/month. Find one in your area by simply typing in executive offices or virtual offices into google. Be mindful, there is a difference between co-op space and virtual offices. If you are a service-based consulting business, I recommend virtual/executive offices.


If you have a PO Box on your business card, remove it now. This my friends, is SO tacky. I'll just be honestly blunt with you. No one wants to see that. If you're working from home and don't want to include your home address on your business card, I wholeheartedly agree with you. Here's what I want you to do, go to UPS and get a post office box. Ask them for the option where you get a street address. So instead of your address saying, PO Box 1234, it may say 1234 East Main Street. Remember, it's the little details that matter.

Get an office phone number. Most people would advise getting a 1-800 number. If you are selling products and will have a lot of customer issue calls, then go ahead and do this. It may give you a customer care department look and feel. However, 1-800 numbers are not really needed these days. Think about it, everyone has a cell phone with free long distance. If you will have a 800 number, please don't have ten thousand departments with voicemails and no one answering the phones. That's called 800-number harassment. Another option is to have a VOIP phone system set up that will be transferred to your cell phone when someone calls, but will give them an office number instead of your cell phone number. I've seen most people also utilize phone answering services and then have their answering services transfer calls to their cell phones. Do what works for you.

Dish the AOL addresses. If you have a website, which you should, there is no reason to have an aol email address on your card. Get rid of it as soon as possible. If your website is abc.com, then your email should be sharon@abc.com There is no reason or excuse for not doing this. Yahoo has easy-do-it-yourself systems to help you get started.

Answer your calls like you mean business. I called a "business" number yesterday and someone answered, "hello?" Don't give people your cell phone number if you won't answer in a professional manner. The only exceptions should be clients you're comfortable with, who already understand that they're calling your cell phone. Even then, your tone should be professional. No potential client wants to call a business and get a non-business response. And no one wants to call regarding a customer service issue and hear a party going on in the background. Answer in a professional tone with a smile in your voice and listen to the response that you get. Try it if you haven't already.

Keep in mind, these tips are not to get you to trick people. So please don't take them a step too far. The purpose is to get you thinking about what people expect so that you know how to present your start-up business.

If you have suggestions or comments, we would love to hear them. Please tell us what you've done that works to help dress up your start-up.

If you need to get personal advice on start-up planning, contact Cheryl Isaac, Start-up Business Planner & Owner of Isaac Business Services, The Business Startup Company. She is also the creator of The 12MonthBizPlan.com; an online business planning center where business owners can work with a personal advisor for a year, to plan their new business