First, you need an idea. You need to figure out exactly what it is you are interested in doing! Start by making a list of all the things you’re interested in, things you do in your spare time. These could be things like shopping for bargains, working on your novel, painting the garage.
Then, take a good long look at that list and start brainstorming. If you’re a bargain shopper, evaluate how that could make you money! Could you shop for deals and open an online store? Have a weekly yard sale? Offer a personal shopping service? Take five of your favorite activities and write all the options of ways they could make you money. Now, look over those five activities with all their potential and put the list away. Don’t think about it for a day or two.
Believe it or not, the mind continues working out problems whether you think you’re solving them or not. Now that a day or two has passed, note which ideas are still in your head. The best ones will have marinated and developed into something even better than the original. These are the ideas you really want to consider. Run them by a friend that you trust – sometimes mail order pets sounds like a great idea but objective feedback will help you realize it’s not.
Legal Stuff
Okay, now that you have decided what you want your company to be, it is important to check in with your city and state to find out what the laws are.
Sometimes, if you’re opening a company that’s not under your name, you have to list it in a paper under Doing Business As... The Name of Your Company. Here’s a tip on this – choose the smallest circulation possible. Those usually charge the least amount of money for such an ad while still meeting the requirements of the law. In a lot of places, you have to have an actual small business license to have a company, no matter how insignificant you may think your company is. Better to be safe than sorry.
Contact your city council or chamber of commerce to find out exactly what you need to do now to save yourself grief later. Also, it’s time to start considering whether or not you are going to open up a business account for your company at the bank. If you do this, it will easier for you to keep track of your profits and losses at tax time. You can also obtain checks with your company’s name on them.