Home Based Business Requirements

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Home Based Business Requirements

Starting and running a business can be very confusing at times! Here you will find links about Fictitious Business Names, Government Regulations For Your Business, Business Plans, Setting up your Website, Domain Names, and Local Resources. Before you begin to go through this links, click here for your printable Business Basics worksheet.

Is business ownership right for you? Take this interactive questionnaire from the small business organization to find out!

Diaper Business Start up Guide
So you want to start your own cloth diaper business? Not sure where to start? Diaper Decisions exclusively offers the definitive start up guide, appropriately titled So you want to start your own cloth diaper Business?: A Start-up Guide. The guide includes information that will help you decide if you want to become a manufacturer or a retailer, which diapers offer wholesale options and which diapers offer cottage licenses. You will learn about copyrights, trademarks and patents and what that means in the cloth diaper business. You will also find information about what the IRS and your state wants from you! The guide is 50 pages and bound with a plastic comb. Visit the Diaper Decisions store to purchase your guide!

Business Structure for our international friends.

Fictitious Business Names
Your business name is an important part of setting up your business. Not sure how to choose? How do you know if it’s already taken? Any business that uses a name other than the owner's must register the fictitious name with the county as required by the Trade Name Registration Act. This does not apply to corporations doing business under their corporate name or to those practicing any profession under a partnership name. For more information contact your state or local government.

After you register your name you may want to trademark your name and logo.

Government Regulations and Your Business
Do you need a business license to run your business? Canadian business licenses are governed by each individual city. Please check with your city government to determine if you need a license. Does my Australian business need to apply for any licenses? Does my UK business require any licenses?

Federal Employer Identification Number

(U.S.) Do I need one?
(Canada) How to register for a business number.
(Australia) Do I need a business number?

Business Plans
Business plans are a crucial part of business planning! Why do you need a business plan? How will you use it? Your business plan will serve as a road map of sorts for your business. You will never reach your destination if you don’t know where you are going.

Don’t want to write a business plan? We will do it for you! Visit the Diaper Decisions store for more information.

Websites!
Most of us plan to do a lot of business online. To attract customers you need a professional website with a reliable host and shopping cart. Below we have listed a few website resources.

Web Hosts and Shopping Carts:
Your website is your store front. This is where you will display your products, sell your products and make your money. It needs to be pleasing to the eye and easy to navigate. If your site is hard to understand and the customer isn’t clear on how to purchase an item, you will lose sales. Below are links for shopping carts, web hosts and web designers!

Shopping Carts:

Web Hosts:

Opening an ebay store is also an option:

Don’t see a host or shopping cart you love? Email us and let us know!

Credit Cards:
With today’s technologically advanced and impatient society, you really must be able to accept credit cards on your website. Will you have a merchant account or use a third party merchant?

Domain Names:

When purchasing a domain name, most people usually just pick a name and register it. We recommend going a few steps farther. If you plan to be in business for any time at all, you will need to consider registering many versions of your name, for a few reasons. First, you want your customer to find your site, no matter how they misspell your URL. Second, an unknowing WAHM may pick a name similar to yours. Or an unethical WAHM may even try to piggyback on your hard-earned reputation by changing just one letter and registering it as theirs.

For example: www.icecreamcones.com can quickly become:

www.icecreamconZ.com
www.iscreamcones.com
www.icecreamcones.net (or .org, or whatever!)

When at all possible, register the closest misspellings to your site name, and with all the “dots” you can. If a name is already purchased, keep watching for it to expire and then purchase it (if a site is not already up!)

We encourage ethical business practices by all people. Please use caution when choosing your website name. Do not try to use a name that is already in circulation by changing just one letter. This will not help your business. Not only will you potentially lose customers to the other website, but you may be held liable for taking business away from the other website. Please research all potential business names on the internet, with your state's business registration office, and with the trademark office. Be original, even if it takes more time to come up with a name.

Here are a few places that you can buy a domain name.

Australian and International

Canadian

United States

Web Designers:
A web designer is someone who takes what you want your site to look like and makes it happen. Web design can be confusing and time consuming. If you are unfamiliar with web design, it’s in your best interest to hire a professional. Yes a person can build a house for themselves, but if you are not sure how, it’s probably better if you hire someone who knows what they are doing. Same thing for web design! Even if you can’t make room in your budget when your're first starting your business, it’s best to have someone in mind when you are ready.

A designer also knows how to effectively create your web page for the very important task of search engine optimization (SEO). Simply submitting your site to search engines is not enough. SEO involves creating/organizing the code of your site to optimize its pages for the highest search engine rankings and therefore the most visitors to your site.

Resources near you!
Click Here to Find Local Resources

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