Cali Kid Corals

Opening up a new business

Just call Steve Jobs. I think he started his company just like you!

Fictitious business name statement in a local paper.
State Board of Equalization to pay the sales tax that your supposed to charge in California.
Print some business cards.
Pray.
 
+1 on Legalzoom.com

That's where my wife and I incorporated out business. You don't need to go through them if you are only looking for a sole proprietorship and want to save some money. We used them to form an LLC.
 
Unless you are going to be doing a big business you really don't need to do all that (at this stage). I consulted with a business lawyer recently on this and that is exactly what he told me.
 
JAR said:
Just call Steve Jobs. I think he started his company just like you!

Fictitious business name statement in a local paper.
State Board of Equalization to pay the sales tax that your supposed to charge in California.
Print some business cards.
Pray.
Click to expand...

Steve was a partner, not a sole owner ;)
 
At the least you need to do this stuff.

Fictitious business name statement in a local paper.
State Board of Equalization to pay the sales tax that your supposed to charge in California.
Print some business cards.
Pray.(optional)

Trade mark stuff would make sense also.
Once you start Mfg & selling a product you may want some basic liability insurance.
 
JAR said:
At the least you need to do this stuff.

Fictitious business name statement in a local paper.
State Board of Equalization to pay the sales tax that your supposed to charge in California.
Print some business cards.
Pray.(optional)

Trade mark stuff would make sense also.
Once you start Mfg & selling a product you may want some basic liability insurance.
Click to expand...

Nope not what the CA business lawyer said. I was amazed as well.

You still have to collect tax but you don't need register. They don't care as long as you pay them. Their is a ceiling to this but it was like $30K or something awfully high like that.

Business cards are just paper fliers and mean nothing other then to pass out your information. Not required.

You don't even need to do the fictitious statement either. You do that to get your business license.

Trademarking is only as strong as your pocket book and lawyer. If you can't fight for it, don't get it. A trademark suite can costs ten of thousands of dollars and there is no guarantee you will even win.

The only thing on your list I agree with is the liability insurance since he has a electronic product.
 
That's what I was told.

I would go a different route though and do it as a LLC to help protect yourself. People are vulchers now a days. Using a service does cost money but it's a lot easier then doing the LLC yourself. My partner went through actual hell setting up our LLC.
 
GreshamH said:
That's what I was told.

I would go a different route though and do it as a LLC to help protect yourself. People are vulchers now a days. Using a service does cost money but it's a lot easier then doing the LLC yourself. My partner went through actual hell setting up our LLC.
Click to expand...


I agree with, that especially since it is a product and not a service, you really don't want to tie your home/family in with it if possible and that's what a sole proprietorship does.
 
I guess things have changed since I set up my two retail stores jeez like 20 years ago.
Those were the basic things I was instructed to do back then.
In order to get a resale license I needed to register with the State board.
In order to register with the State Board I needed a business license.
In order to get a business license I needed to file a fictitious business name statement.
This is from the deep archives of my brain. I could be mistaken or things may have changed.
I guess business cards are only worth what they are printed on but they do give one a sense of legitimacy, especially if you title is "owner" or "president". :bigsmile: And..... As an added bonus you can give them out to people that want to buy your stuff! :D


At some point as my company grew we incorporated.
All this did for me was increase my paperwork.
 
I have a San Francisco taxi license because i help my dad move his taxis sometimes. You cant move a cab without a license even if it's out of service. Recently they made all the taxi driver people set up independent contractor/businesses type thing. Since technically taxi drivers are independent & self-employed, this way taxi companies don't get in trouble for not supplying health insurance. (and they shouldn't, drivers pay to rent a cab and go make money, they aren't employees of any company)

back to the point, I have to pay San Francisco a tax because technically I operate a business in San Francisco. But I didn't fill out any state paperwork and I never have to do any special tax paper work because I don't make any money + even if I did I'd just report it as regular income.
 
There is no corporate veil of security.
If something goes way wrong the vultures will come a pecking.
That is what I am told anyway.
Tax attorney quote... "You are only worth as much as your Insurance policy"
 
^this , if you're Incorporated some how there's that extra layer of security. You get double taxed but if your company goes under it wont take you with it. If the vultures come preying you'll lose your company but not your house. There are the variations but I couldn't tell you exactly what the differences are off the top of my head
 
JAR said:
There is no corporate veil of security.
If something goes way wrong the vultures will come a pecking.
That is what I am told anyway.
Tax attorney quote... "You are only worth as much as your Insurance policy"
Click to expand...

True to a big extent but it is another layer of protection, minor, but something more then not having it at least :). Ultimately you're only as good as your lawyers :lol:
 
JAR said:
I guess things have changed since I set up my two retail stores jeez like 20 years ago.
Those were the basic things I was instructed to do back then.
In order to get a resale license I needed to register with the State board.
In order to register with the State Board I needed a business license.
In order to get a business license I needed to file a fictitious business name statement.
This is from the deep archives of my brain. I could be mistaken or things may have changed.
I guess business cards are only worth what they are printed on but they do give one a sense of legitimacy, especially if you title is "owner" or "president". :bigsmile: And..... As an added bonus you can give them out to people that want to buy your stuff! :D


At some point as my company grew we incorporated.
All this did for me was increase my paperwork.
Click to expand...

That's still how everyone does it, and how I was taught in school about it, but you don't have to do all that to run a business is what he was telling me.
 
can someone explain this to me? At first glance, this sounds...silly
"In order to get a business license I needed to file a fictitious business name statement."
 
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