A registered business name, it's mine, woohoo

It seems like ages since my last post. No wonder. The local business advisor that had solicited the business name forgot to get my phone number and couldn’t reach me when the name registry was complete. Yeah. Anyway, I finally called them to find out. Wow, I have a registered business name. Step one complete!

Today I met with my EU new business consultant to go over his comments on my business plan. He said everything looked financially sound and reasonable. He found all the figures to be very accurate and realistic. He did say that I didn’t properly amortize a few things, not enough years, like R& D and machine purchase costs. He said that was good because the financials should look even better to a bank. This afternoon he e-mailed me the revised financial plan which I printed right away. It actually looks better than the original and has the EU business consulting office logo on it. I also reprinted the cover to my marketing plan to reflect the registered business name.

The consultant also spoke to me about government backed financing and said he felt I should be able to get approved for such a business loan. The loan, the ICO, comes through a bank but the money comes from the government. Banks offers may differ some but basically the loan will have a lower interest rate than the regular bank business loan. 2007 funding for this loan by the government credit bank will not be available until Spring, so he suggested I get a relay loan in the interim that would convert to ICO loan as it becomes available.

Finally, he said that the registering should be a matter of a few days. As soon as I get the business registry papers, I’ll meet with him again to register my business in the EU Business forum and exchange. The club gives access to free business courses as well as opening up member business contacts.

Now, the next step is to register the business through a notary. I have an appointment tomorrow morning to fill out the business registration paperwork.