[font family=”Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif” size=”18″ color=”DE0202″ textshadow=”2″ alignment=”left” weight=”bold” style=”normal” lineheight=”110″]Some stuff below may not apply if you are just a sole proprietorship doing business for yourself. Always check with your own State’s policies. If you are not going to have a website, much of below doesn’t apply for your business.[/font]

This checklist is a good starting point for you as you begin your business. It is intended as a springboard for your business development and is in no way meant to be a substitute for professional advice or counsel. For further information about starting a business, contact your local Small Business Development Center:

• Choose a business idea, product or service.
• Research the business industry.
  • What will you sell?
  • Is it legal?
  • Who will buy it? How often?
  • Are you willing and able to do what it takes to sell your product?
  • What will your product or service cost to produce, market, sell, and deliver?
  • What compliance issues do you need to address?
  • Can you make a profit?
  • How long will it take for your business to make a profit?
• Write a Business plan and write your Marketing plan.
• Complete Master Application with your State
• Complete City License application and additional documents if needed –its ILLEGAL to operate your business in your city or other cities without City Business Licenses.
• Using a domain registry service, see if the business name is available for use as an Internet domain name.
• Register the domain name even if you aren’t ready to use it yet.
• Choose a location for the business.
• Check zoning laws and get proper permits if using a location that you don’t own or rent.
• If you are doing any construction or prefab of your building or space, electrical, or plumbing, make sure you get the permits and hire legal contractors to do your work…it’s ILLEGAL to do any construction work yourself without required permits or hire unlicensed/bonded/or insured contractors….check with L&I in your State or City Permit Center for details
• File partnership, corporate, or Limited Liability Company papers with the Secretary of State’s office. (N/A since you are being a sole proprietorship)
• File state tax forms with the Franchise Tax Board.
• Contact the Internal Revenue Service for information on filing your federal tax schedules. See www.irs.gov/business/small for more information.
• Apply for a seller’s permit.
• If you will have employees:
  • Apply for employee ID number with the Employment Development Department
  • Find out about worker’s compensation.
  • Investigate business insurance needs.
  • Get tax information on withholding taxes.
  • Get tax information on hiring independent contractors
• Register or reserve your federal trademark/service mark
• Register copyrights.
• Apply for patent if you will be marketing an invention.
• Order any required notices of your intent to do business in the community.
• Have business phone or extra residential phone lines installed.
• Investigate business insurance needs.
• Get adequate business insurance or a business rider to a homeowner’s policy.
• Get tax information such as record keeping requirements, facts about estimating taxes, forms of organizations, etc.  (You will be paying Federal and State taxes….be prepared)
• Open a bank account for the business.
• Have business cards and stationery printed.
• Purchase equipment and/or supplies.
• Order inventory, signage, and fixtures.
• Get an e-mail address.
• Find a Web hosting company, have it designed and set up
• Have your Web site designed and set up.
• Have sales literature prepared and call about Yellow Pages Advertising as needed
• This checklist is intended to help you start your business. Due to various policy and legislative changes which frequently occur, some of these steps may be modified or may not apply to your business or industry. Please consider that there may also be additional steps required by your businesses which are not mentioned above. As always, legal counsel is strongly advised.

[font family=”Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif” size=”24″ color=”DE0202″ textshadow=”3″ alignment=”left” weight=”bold” style=”normal” lineheight=”110″]Download PDF Version below…[/font]