It’s time for the world to meet your business! 

Whether it’s a first-time meeting or a reintroduction, you want to make the best impression possible. That doesn’t mean you need to blow them away; what it really means is that you need to be specific, clear, and honest about your business’s core information.

Exercise 1: Create a Business Profile Online

For the purposes of this exercise, we’ll be creating a Google Business Profile. Having this profile ensures that you have control over the information that shows up when people search for you (or try to find directions to your location) online. You want to make sure it’s both complete and accurate.

1. Go to https://business.google.com/en-all/business-profile/
2. Sign in with your business email (you can create a new business email in the process, if you want).
3. Enter your official business name, and its business category. (NOTE: Your category is the type of business you operate or the main service it provides, such as “salon.”)
4. Tell Google where your business location is, if you have a physical one. (Say “no” if you operate online, have a traveling business, only do deliveries, etc.)
5. Enter your best contact information, and decide if you want Google to offer customers the ability to contact you via text through their platform.
6. Add your hours of operation. Keep in mind that this is how your customers know when they can or cannot expect your services, so be accurate!
7. Add your business description using the copy blocks you’ve created so far.

Once you’ve filled in your business information, you can move onto the next step.

Exercise 2: Add Great Photos

Here’s some of the types of photos you might want to include:

• Your business storefront location/building
• Your point of sale counter (what customers see when they walk up/in to your business)
• Your team
• Visual examples of the products you sell or services you offer
• Photos from events your business attended
• A menu or example list of products/services

While it’s important to have at least one photo to build trust, remember that you should only put the best photos you have online. Choose quality over quantity!

Exercise 3: Tell Us Who You Are as a Founder

Your business wouldn’t exist without you! You had the idea to create it, and you put in the work.

Now, it’s your chance to tell the world how—and why—it happened. 

• Write a brief (<150 words) description of yourself and the big reason you started your business
• Pick a professional-looking photo of yourself to accompany this founder brief

Remember: people buy from people. They’re more likely to trust your business or care about its offerings when they know who started the business and what you, as the owner, hope to accomplish by running it successfully.

You can include this information on your “From the Business” section of your Google Business Profile.

Exercise 4: Copy this information into the Elevate by Grameen America Member Directory

The three items you created can now go into your business profile in the Elevate by Grameen America Member Directory.

1. Start a new business profile
2. Enter in your business name and basic information, including your location and who you serve
3. Add your founder/owner information and brief narrative
4. Upload a few photos, including one that serves as the thumbnail icon that appears in Directory search results

Now that you’ve got everything down, it’s time to review! You can also use all the progress you made to build even more profiles, giving more people more opportunities to find your business. Get it done by completing Practice Exercises 6 and 7: https://grameenelevatedirectory.com/2026/10/01/directory-listing-101-bonus-activities-for-an-even-better-business-listing/

Click here when you’re ready to move on to Part 5. (Post not live yet, link URL TBD)