The Fictitious Business Name (FBN), otherwise known as the Doing Business As (DBA), is a way for government to connect any business name with the business's legal owner(s).

It can be a bit messy trying to figure when you need to do one, but generally speaking, if your business name includes the Last name(s) of ALL the owners AND no other owners are implied (& Associates, & sons, Group, etc.) then no FBN is required.

Similarly, Limited Liability Companies (LLC) and Corporations that operate using the exact corporate name do not need a FBN, but if they operate with any other name, then they will need a FBN.

1. Make sure you can describe very clearly what you want your business to accomplish. The best way to do that is to write down some SMART objectives for your business.

2. Make sure you can describe what motivates your customers to buy your product or service. What you really need to know is "Who Cares about your Product or Service?" and "Why?"

3. Find something (product or service) your customers really, really want, and are Motivated to pay for AND that you really, really want to provide or do.

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4. Make sure you understand and use the correct Value Proposition (Pricing) strategies. Above all, remember that you are in business to make a profit so you must charge enough money to cover your costs and still have some profit left over.

5. You must know and understand your business and product or service well enough to believe that it is worth the amount you need or want to charge.

"Your customers will NEVER pay you more for your Product or Service than YOU BELIEVE it is worth"

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What does "routinely" mean? What if I only do business in that city once a month or once a year? Only at the Wine and Cheese Festival or Farmers' Market?

What does "do business" mean? Some cities have stated in writing that as insignificant act as handing out business cards within the city limits constitutes "doing business" in the city and therefore requires a business license.

Wow, even more troubling is the question asked by many businesses about doing business in a whole bunch of nearby cities - Do I need a business license in each and every city? Again the answer is not simple. If you have customers who come from those cities, but come to your place of business, then the answer may be no you don't need a license in all of those other cities, only the city where your business is located. But if you go to those cities to provide your product or service then the answer may be yes.

Hmmm, and what if my business is NOT in any city? That typically means you are located in an Unincorporated area of the County. If your customers come to you or you sell on the Internet, then the answer is likely to be that you don't need a business license. But see above if you do go to cities to do your business even though your business is located in an unincorporated area. You will likely need a business license in the cities where you do a significant amount of business.

On the bright side there are a few cities that do not require a business license except under special conditions.

Once you have done all of the development, research, calculations, and so forth, how do you know if you have the right pricing for your product or service?

Remember the following:

"Your customers will never pay you more for your product or service than YOU BELIEVE it is worth!!"

You need to develop and then use your Value Propositions (your answers to the questions Who Cares about my Product and Why?) to convince your Customers AND YOURSELF that your product or service is worth more than other alternatives.

If you don't believe your product is worth the price you are asking, you better believe that your customers will "know" it, too!