Business Question: How much does it cost for paperwork/startup?

[dxkj]

I was thinking of starting up a very small business building custom computers. (Yes, I know the headaches of warranty, etc) This thread is mainly asking is it worth to "start up" a business, or should I just build the computers and claim it on my tax returns? This would be mainly for any college students who want to buy a computer in this area, but if I actually made it a business I might advertise in the local paper, etc.


Any suggestions? I'm basically wondernig how much it will cost to register the business legally, etc. I can build the website, and run the company (order, build, etc etc) by myself. If I add additional employees does that open a lot more issues?


Thanks in advance.

 

[Spoooon]

Good luck!

Some friends of mine did it while they were going to UT. They gave it up because they got tired of providing techsupport.

Limiting your clientele to college students might minimize some of that, but who knows.

 

[dxkj]

Originally posted by: Spoooon
Good luck!

Some friends of mine did it while they were going to UT. They gave it up because they got tired of providing techsupport.

Limiting your clientele to college students might minimize some of that, but who knows.

I have a plan for the tech support issue. I guess we will see how well it works when/if I put it into practice.

 

[dxkj]

err bump

 

[Red]

I think it costs $50-100 to register a single-person corporation in your state. After that, get a free EIN IRS tax number, build up some D&B credit, start getting business credit to build your computers... make some money.

(I'm 20 and plan on opening up a store, woot woot!)

 

[Spoooon]

place to start
If you search around, there is place with some guides and stuff about getting loans and things like that. 3 or 4 years ago, my roommate and I started looking into doing some of that, but school got in the way. But I had found some website that had lots of information.

 

[jmgonzalez]

In California, I recently did the following:

$70 Partnership Agreement with the State
$10 County Fictitional Name Form
$49 DBA Filing in local paper (your fictitional name posting in paper for 4 weeks)
Free EIN through the IRS

http://www.gonzalezpartners.com is my site in progress. (I'm not looking at this as an advertisement; just giving you guys an idea on what I am offering folks)

 

[HappyPuppy]

Can you build and sell computers as cheaply as Dell, GW, HP and Compaq? Can you provide 24/7 support? If you need to replace a motherboard will your customer have to wait 30 days while you RMA it and then try to find the time to go to their site to replace it?

I admire your desire to start your own company, but what will happen the first time one of your customers sues you for not honoring your warranty in a timely fashiln?

Go for it, Bro. Michael Dell and Bill Gates were just knownothing college kids when they started.