How to Register a DBA for Your Small Business
Post #14: a DBA can make it easy to have a memorable customer-facing business name, and save time with reporting and operations.
In this Substack, I will walk you through the process of starting, operating, maintaining, and — if needed — selling or closing your own small business.
Today, I’m going to help you with registering a DBA under your registered legal business name.
Registering a DBA offers business owners flexibility and creativity within the marketplace while helping to reduce overhead, reporting, and operations effort.
👉 Subscribe to this Substack if you want to learn how to setup, operate, maintain, scale, etc… a small business. The Journey began with Post #1.
To review:
You decided on what service or product you want to offer, and realized why you chose this one, and you made a list of ideas for potential business names [Posts 1 & 2].
You searched for your business name ideas via web search, the Secretary of State business entity search, the US Patent and Trademark Office TESS (online search tool), DNS (for website domains), online map apps for brick and mortar business names, social media for existing handles, and WIPO’s Global Brand Database to ensure that your name has not already been claimed [Posts 3–10].
You conducted a variety of tests to make sure that your new business name would stand out to potential customers and not cause confusion [Post #11].
You chose the right business structure for your new business and registered your business with the local Secretary of State [Posts 12 & 13].
What is a DBA?
A DBA — short for “Doing Business As” — is a registered name under which a business operates that is different from its legal name.
Registering a DBA is just designating a legal brand name that effectively points back to the legal business name and which allows the business owner to operate under a more recognizable or relevant brand without having to change their official business structure.
For example, if Jane Smith runs a Sole Proprietorship registered legally as “Jane Smith Fine Art & Supplies” but wants to sell her art at the local art coop and use the more memorable or friendly name “Jane’s Handmade Creations,” she’ll need to register “Jane’s Handmade Creations” as a DBA.
In this case, “Jane Smith Fine Art & Supplies” is the legal name that Jane registered with the Secretary of State for her new business, and “Jane’s Handmade Creations” is the name - a registered DBA - that she can put on a sign for her booth at the art coop.
Jane may also want to sell art supplies to other artists from her basement under the DBA “Jane’s Art Supplies”. This additional DBA allows Jane to have two kinds of businesses operating under the same registered business name “Jane Smith Fine Art & Supplies”.
Registering a DBA for Your Business
A DBA is not a required component to registering and operating your business.
Generally speaking, DBAs help with:
Brand Identity: Operate under a name that reflects your business’s products or services.
Professionalism: Enhance your credibility with customers and partners.
Ease of Banking: Simplify opening a business bank account under your DBA name.
Legal Protection: Prevent others from using your business name in your jurisdiction.
Steps to Register a DBA
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