A Laundry List of To-Dos when Starting a Small Business

Recently I met up with an old friend who is contemplating starting up a small business. We had a great discussion and I didn't want to lose the notes, so I thought I would share them with my readers.  This discussion is divided into four sections:  business structure, physical/virtual storefront, social media channels, and getting the word out. I undoubtedly missed some items; will update as I see holes.
Business StructureIdentify an attorney, tax accountant, and insurance broker - you'll definitely need all three to some degree.Decide on whether your business will be an LLC, Subchapter S, or sole proprietorship.Set up your company with the state.You can name your company with a nondescript name, i.e. mine is "Consetta Group" and then add trade names which are more descriptive of your company.  My trade names include projectmanagementadvisor.com, Pacelli Publishing, and Growingupautistic.com.Set up your federal tax ID and any required state/city tax IDs.  Be diligent about doing this; you don't want to get in trouble with the government :-).
To set up a bank account, you'll need a federal tax ID. You'll want to definitely set up a business checking account.  You don't specifically need a business credit card, you can use a personal credit card and just designate it for business use.Set up Quick Books, Quicken Home and Business or other record keeping software.  Keep good records and update information on a timely basis.  Don't wait until end of year to post transactions.Physical/Virtual StorefrontSet up a website.  I use Weebly.com and have done so successfully for a number of years.Set up a Paypal business account, including doing shipping from Paypal (which I highly recommend).If you intend to sell products, set up Paypal Here which allows you to take credit card payments through your android or iphone.  You can also use Square to do; I use Paypal Here.Get business cards; I use vistaprint.com. You can also put a JPEG of your business card on your phone and have people take a picture of your phone or you can text them a copy of the jpeg. I have both hardcopy and jpeg business cards.
Get a good kitchen scale if you plan on shipping product so you don't overpay for shipping.Social media channelsDecide on the social media channels most relevant to you.  Click on hyperlink to see mine:Facebook company page
TwitterLinkedIn personal and company pages
Pinterest
Vimeo
YouTube
Instagram
Watermark any intellectual property that someone can lift from your site (i.e. pictures you take) and use for their own purposes
Setup Youtube trailers.  I'm a huge fan of these.  See my trailers that I set up using only PowerPoint saving them as .MP4 files
Getting the word outBlog regularly and distribute to your social media channels.  I use Hootsuite to syndicate content.  Have interesting things to say and let people see you as a person, not a distant entity.
Be mindful of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) so your content can be found and prioritized on search enginesLive where your target customers live.  As example, if you are a project management expert, set up an account on projectmanagement.com and be active in discussions. As mentioned above, these are pretty raw notes but hopefully notes that can be helpful.  I hope there is a nugget or two which you find beneficial.
Lonnie Pacelli
Keynote Speaker | Board Director | Autism Advocate | Author | Project Management Expert | Microsoft/Accenture Veteran 
See his books on Amazon.