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
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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