Anybody here ever start a small business?

I'm about to go into, amongst other sundry but hopefully legal things (selling photos, video and audio restoration), doing PC consulting work on the side as a business venture.

If I could get your help or advice, are there any sources that could help me out or warn me what to watch out for so I don't get into trouble? I don't like getting into trouble, it's very troublesome and troubling... Especially as a cop intercepted a couple of kids selling magazines at my door a few minutes ago and mentioning something about needing a license, I'm in no position right now to spend another cent on anything. (I'm hoping credit consultation will prevent the need for chapter 13 or 7 bankruptcy; my possessions are my life right now...)

Thanks!

They helped me.

If you have a lawyer friend or relative, take them to dinner.

good advice that.

as an office manager and a temp. My recommendation is to keep good records. It isn't hard-an old looseleaf notebook and some manila envelopes and paper is all you need. Make sections for expenses, cost of goods sold (this would include your inventory, taxes, etc. That's what the paper is for. Put an envelope behind the paper to put in receipts, etc. If you need to write notes about something, use the paper or the envelope. You can recycle old envelopes.

Make sure you know your state laws about filing and sending in sales tax. Here in AR, you send in a monthly report, even if your sales are zero. Check with the irs if you have questions about business taxes-don't know if you need to file a special form unless you are incorporated, but they can tell you. Believe it or not, the irs folks are helpful, and when they put you on hold, they play classical music!

Hope these ideas help.

You have to file a separate scedule as a part of your 1040 form. It's scedule 'C' "Profit and Loss from Small Business" I do believe. You're right to say keep good records. On that form you figure up your profit or loss as well as tallying up your expenses. It's very important to keep track of your expenses because they are all deductable. It gets pretty detailed. For instance, if you own your own home you can deduct a certain amount if you use a room for a home office for your business.

It has been interesting. A few suggestions.

1. Write a business plan.
You will probably throw it out in a few months but its a good exercise.

2. If you can go into something that will give you some reasonably immediate income. For example take some clients that you already work with.

3. Keep your options open and look for any opportunity even if it's not related to your current expertise. Trust me on this one. I stared out in the industrial supply business and I now furnish the military products that I designed ( they say that I am saving them millions of dollars) and even have a patent pending on one. I am on my way to becoming a manufacturer only because I was at the right place, at the right time with the right answer. You never know where things will lead but you have got to keep your ears open.

4. Get ready for the times that you are really going to feel down and question what you are doing. You have to be dumb enough not to know that you can't possibly succeed. If there is any way you can then stick with it.

5. Don't listen to the people that say it's a lousy time to start a business. There is never a good time. If you are any good at what you do then you will succeed. If not then you won't.

Gotta run and if I can be of any help you know where I am.

By the way. The SBA was of little help to me. My problem was that I didn't know enough to know what i didn't know. The SBA guy probably thought that I was a nut starting a business.

Unlike the other poster, I found no help from the Small Business Administration. The SBA thinks a small business has 50 employees, I have none.

For most businesses, yes, you need a license. It shouldn't be more than $100 or so. You need to find out the regulations for YOUR county, because it differs from state to state and county to county. For instance, in my parish, there is an inventory tax, so you can't buy things to sell on eBay because then you would have inventory and the tax would eat all your profit. (That's a rare one though.) Everybody and his brother around here thinks he's a consultant but maybe it is different where you live. I wouldn't bother buying a license until I had actually received some receivables from customers who were going to provide repeat business...until then it's a "hobby" and your local constabulary is unlikely to take much interest in it.

If you have customers coming to a residential area for a photo shoot or for any purpose...you realize that you can never, ever, ever get in a dispute with your neighbors about any damn thing because they will then report your unlicensed business.

Some of your possessions are protected from bankruptcy. For instance, because I live in a homestead state, when my friends had to declare bankruptcy because of the husband's cancer, they were able to keep their house. Each working adult also gets to keep his or her car. And, trust me, they really don't want your clothes, no matter how fashionable we may feel that they are. Oh, and they can't take your professional tools for making a living...in your case, your photography equipment. Perhaps your state has similar laws...check it out! If you are being choked by debt, bankruptcy is sometimes the only way.

Good luck! My worst problem is finding it almost impossible to get health insurance but again this varies state by state.

If you are in the type of business where you need goods on hand, keep your inventory as low as you can. And pay your bills! Wait till the very last moment as much as possible, make partial payments if you have to, but do pay the bills! Get a decent, accessible lawyer and accountant (if you can afford it) - if not, as the others said, keep the best records you can. And don't let anyone talk you out of it - there will be days when you wonder what you've gotten into, but you'll never know what you're capable of until you try! Good luck!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

and I've just begun figuring things out-- never having dreamed of owning a business before, it all still freaks me. I know I will make many mistakes.

I just hope no one catches me when it happens... :evilgrin:

the LL stands for limited liability. In places where this form of organization is available you can get some protections not otherwise available to sole proprietorships or partnerships.

Good Luck.

This seems to be the part of the SBA more geared to startups, rather than the small business already operating with up to 50 employees as mentioned above. Around here they're affiliated with the local Downtown U's business school, but apparently this varies from state to state. http://www.sba.gov/sbdc/sbdcnear.html

1. Keep good records. You'll be glad you did at tax time when you can deduct that box of paper clips you bought for your office.

2. Learn about how the tax laws apply to you: Schedule C and Estimated Tax are two phrases that should become part of your everyday vocabulary.

3. See if there is an Internet mailing list for your type of work. I have made countless professional contacts (and some actual friends) through the international mailing list for translators.

4. Tell everyone you meet about your business. I once got a job that ended up being worth $20,000 over two years because I struck up a consversation with a guy in a coffee shop.

5. Get a business card and stationery. But don't think that you'll get business just by leaving your card on public bulletin boards. All I ever got were phone calls from sellers of pyramid schemes who were wondering if I knew any Japanese people who wanted to buy their product.

6. Clients will also expect you to have a fax machine.

7. Get used to the "feast or famine" cycle, and use the "famine" periods to keep up on bookkeeping and hustle for new clients.

Good luck!

You seriously need a notebook to keep your tax information in. It keeps it in order and it keeps you form worrying about it. In fact - put everything in notebooks - it is very helpful.

Balance the checking account every month.

Keep a journal of you business. It is very helpful to look back over the years and see how you managed different situations.

It doesn't come to you - you need to hustle.

Don't bother with the SBA.

Have fun and good luck!!!!! :hi:

"If I build it, they will come" only works with fictional baseball stadiums.

If there is a brand-name store (eg. Staples) that does what you're proposing to do, people will go there first.

and here in Colorado at least, the Secretary of State's office has some good info.