Tick the step. Then mark the day.

Register the business. Today.

Secretary of State business search, then IRS.gov EIN Assistant, then a credit union

A plan that stays in a tab is a hobby. Walk into the county clerk, or file online if your state allows it, and get a real name on a real piece of paper. That one act turns the rest of this sequence from advice into a schedule.

Implementation

1. 1Open your state’s Secretary of State business-entity search. Type the working name. If it is taken, add the neighborhood or the craft (“Passyunk Pressure,” “Fishtown Bookkeeping”). Screenshot the “available” result.
2. 2Search the same name as a .com (or a clean .ai). If it is under $15, buy it. If not, take the .com of the geographic variant. Do not sit on five domains.
3. 3File the entity: LLC articles of organization if you want a liability shield; a county DBA / trade name if the budget is under $500 and you are testing. Pay the fee. Save the confirmation PDF.
4. 4Go to IRS.gov, search “Apply for an Employer Identification Number (EIN) online,” and complete the EIN Assistant (about 10 minutes, no employees, sole owner). Save the confirmation letter.
5. 5Walk into a local credit union or community bank with the EIN letter, the filing receipt, and a photo ID. Open a free business checking account. Photograph the debit card and put it in the same folder as the PDFs.

Say this

I’m opening a local service business, one owner, no employees yet. I have the EIN confirmation and the state filing. I need a free business checking account and a debit card today.