Running a Good Business, Book 4: Start-Up and Legal Matters: Running a Good Business, #4

By Claude Whitmyer

Book 4 in the series of stand-alone, hands-on guides to managing the ins and outs and ups and downs of starting and growing a small, micro or one-person business driven by personal values and offering the unique lifestyle of self-employment. This volume focuses on start-up and legal issues such as:

Table of Contents
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Chapter 1 Setting The Stage
-Do I have what it takes to start and run my own business?
-Do I have the necessary "tradeskills?"
-Will My Business Idea Work?
-Are there customers?
Chapter 2 Getting It Going
-The Legal Form Of Your Business And Its Tax Implications.
*Choose a Legal Form for Your Business
**Sole Proprietorship
**Partnership
**Corporation (C-Corp and Subchapter S Corp)
**Limited Liability Corporation
**Relative Merits
-Legal Obligations to "The Government."
*Comply with zoning restrictions.
*Register any name by which you will do business, that isn't your own legal name.
*Obtain all necessary city and county licenses and permits.
*Register to pay local, state, and federal taxes.
-Obligations To The People You Work With.
*Open A Business Bank Account.
*Set Up A Basic Bookkeeping System (And Plan It For Making Tax Time Efficient).
*Choose The Right Location For Your Business.
*Buy Appropriate Insurance.
*Create A Business Plan.
*Hire Good People.
Chapter 3 Keeping It Going
-Market Widely.
-Set the right price.
Resources

• Language: English
• Publisher: Claude Whitmyer
• Release date: May 7, 2011
• ISBN: 9781452485768

Claude Whitmyer

Claude Whitmyer is the co-author of Running A One-Person Business, and editor of two anthologies, Mindfulness and Meaningful Work: Explorations in Right Livelihood and In The Company of Others: Making Community in the Modern World. As a business consultant with more than 30 years of experience, he has provided resources, training, and guidance to many hundreds of individuals seeking creative and meaningful work in both the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors. He has also worked with managers in such corporations as the American Hospital Association, Apple Computer, Hewlett-Packard, Fujitsu America, NASA, Pacific Bell, and Southland Corporation.

Book preview

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Running a Good Business

Book 4: Start-Up and Legal Matters

By Claude Whitmyer

Published by FutureU Press, a division of The University of the Future, LLC

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2011 by Claude Whitmyer. All rights reserved.

Discover other titles by Claude Whitmyer at Smashwords.com:

Running a Good Business: Self-Assement for Tradeskill

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal use only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of the author.

This ebook is not meant to be a substitute for legal or professional advice. It is the reader's responsibility to verify that the facts and general advice in this ebook apply.

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Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Setting The Stage

Do I have what it takes to start and run my own business?

Do I have the necessary tradeskills?

Will My Business Idea Work?

Are There Customers?

Chapter 2 Getting It Going

The Legal Form Of Your Business And Its Tax Implications.

Legal Forms Especially For Good Businesses.

Legal Obligations to The Government.

Obligations To The People You Work With.

Chapter 3 Keeping It Going

Market Widely.

Set the right price.

Resources

About the Author

What Should You, The Reader, Do Next?

What is this Smashwords Series of Ebooks Really All About?

My Other Titles On Smashwords.Com

Why Smashwords.Com?

How to Give Me Feedback

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Every business start-up is a story in three acts:

1. Setting The Stage: Your pre-start-up self assessment and business idea reality checks.

2. Getting It Going: Your actual launch activities including legal and planning matters.

3. Keeping It Going: The actions you must take to make the business survive across time.

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Chapter 1 Setting The Stage

Prior to launching your business you need to complete two reality checks. First, you must answer the obvious question,

Do I have what it takes to start and run my own business?

Second, you must do enough preliminary market research to answer the questions,

Will my business idea work?

Are there customers?

Is it a big enough idea to keep customers coming in the first time and coming back again?

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Do I have what it takes to start and run my own business?

Too many people launch a business without a diligent, honest look at their own strengths and weaknesses and the needs and goals of their family. As you begin to explore whether you have what it takes, jot down some notes as you probe more deeply with these questions:

- What have you done in your life so far that has been business like, related to business or actually doing business?

- What do you consider to be your major accomplishments so far?

- How much education do you have? Both formal and informal?

- What stands out in your work history as work that you both like and have the talent and skill for?

- Do you already have a specialized skill that will be the central income generating aspect of your business idea?

- How about your personality? Do you have personality characteristics that will work well with the business idea you're thinking about? Is your personality a good match to your business idea?

- Do you like to work with people? things? data? machines? animals? indoors? outdoors?

- Does your business idea offer enough of the work you like?

If you can give yourself honest answers to questions like these you will quickly begin to see whether you and your business idea are compatible.

Do I have the necessary tradeskills?

Another way to go is to give yourself a thorough