As for the business thing, if it is the same as in Canada (which I'm 90%+ sure that it is for the basic laws) then it is perfectly legal to start a "company" selling things out of your basement without any type of legal registration or anything else. However, this type of business has many drawbacks, in that the owner of the business is legally the same entity as the business itself - if the business gets goes bankrupt or gets sued, the owner is personally responsible for paying all debts out of his own pocket. This type of business does not require any type of financial investment to get started, though a $30 domain name would be a good start as far as helping potential customers find you.
The other type of business would be to incorporate. This makes the business a separate legal entity - this requires a second set of books for the company (first set is still the owners), the books need to be checked annually by a certified accountant (this may differ between Canada and the US), the business must be registered, and basically all the other complicated stuff everyone is thinking about is generally required. Many people do start home businesses like this because they are no longer financially responsible should something bad happen to the company. Initial investment is still nothing (though if you want the business to be registered under a name instead of a number you have to pay to do a name search first) but there is an annual cost in accounting fee's.
|