June Webb ⋅ Chevy Chase, MD JWebb Inspire ⋅ 17 years experience

Hello Laura,

Your logo is marketing like a website and branding. It’s separate from the LLC (biz name) which is more of an identity (EIN).
A logo often changes over time so it is more “fluid”, but the business name that you register is more permanent for tax reasons and business identity.

June Webb
Linkedin.com/junewebb.com

Jerry Welsh ⋅ Middleville, MI Master Military Transition Advisor/HPS GPO ⋅ 30 years experience

Laura,
Alex is spot on. Your local Chamber of Commerce should be able to provide you with assistance and also access to a local SBA representative. There are programs out there for veterans, also a women owned business will have some special programs. Not sure how the pandemic has hit the SBA or Chamber, but I would hope they are back in some form or another. Push to meet with someone, that will be your best. Worse case scenario do a Zoom meeting.

Joe Engle ⋅ Indianapolis, IN Electrical/Software Eng. + MBA ⋅ 30 years experience

Hello Laura. Wonderful enthusiasm! I recommend you concentrate on your business plan. Estimate for at least 2 years out. Facilities cost, labor cost, materials, employees, market research location, advertising/marketing, monthly revenue, bookkeeping, and so on. All startups should make a good business plan, as it forces you to realistically look at all aspects of running the business. The plan will save you lots of headaches down the road. The SBA is a good source for business plans and there are many more.

I recommend doing the business plan, and defining the type of business (sole proprietor/LLC/Corp) before worrying about logos and trademarks. If you want to do the logo on the cheap, approach a local art school, have the students submit possible logos. Pick the winner. The student gets a nice bullet point for their resume, and you get a logo.

Good luck and thank you for your service.
Joe

Richard Byrne ⋅ Hillsborough, NJ Intel Corporation ⋅ 53 years experience

Back in the 70's I did a startup with two co-founders.
I came up with a name, and drew a logo, then ran it by them.
One of them liked it the other didn't.
We had a two out of three rule.
Years later, venture capitalists wanted us to change the name and re-register in another state.

Today you could have fun coming up with some name that you like, or maybe
a list of five or so names.
Then type them into a Google search box to see who else might have used that name.
Also, with the Enterprise name, you might want an internet domain name.
So you need to have fun coming up with something relevant, and then register that domain
name with an internet provider.
You'll also want to decide what state and what type of Corporation or LLC you want to use.
For that you get to come up with a corporate goal and business intent statement.

I've added some links to my EE website that might be helpful to you under these sections:
http://eehot.com/ee.html#vosb
http://eehot.com/ee.html#mentoring
http://eehot.com/ee.html#funding
http://eehot.com/ee.html#networking

ACP AdvisorNet Staff ⋅ New York, NY ⋅ 10 years experience

Hi Laura,

Thank you for posting your question! 

Although I am not sure who provides free assistance for logo design, you may be interested in taking a look at the U.S. Small Business Administration website if you have not done so already. The website has a page that provides information about different business topics and business counseling if you are interested in that: https://www.sba.gov/.

You may also find it helpful to take a look at the SCORE website: https://www.score.org. The website has a “Resource Library” that has some tools related to different topics that may be relevant. They also provide small business mentors, if that is something that you would find helpful. 


I hope this helps!

Best,
Alex