Start & Run a Real Home-Based Business. Dan Furman

was a roadblock that served no logical purpose. Don’t worry about the money until you actually make some. Paying a lawyer to form a corporation is a bridge you can (and perhaps should) cross later on, but at the beginning, before you’ve made a single dollar, it’s a meaningless worry.

      So go start your business. It’s very easy to do. Pick a name. Go to your local county building (or in Canada, your CRA office) with some ID, fill out a simple form, and pay the fee. That’s all you need to do to get started. This can also be done easily online.

      The business you start won’t change your life at all unless you do something with it. In other words, you can start it, and if you never do anything with it, well, so be it. Nobody will call you, and no men in dark suits will come to your house and make you do push-ups or anything like that. So you have nothing to lose by starting it.

      I want you to start it because in order to succeed, you actually have to do something. Starting your business is that little step that puts you ahead of 99 percent of people who are all talk and no action.

      Select a Business Name

      Naming a business is one of those psychological roadblocks that prevents many people from starting in the first place. They hem and haw trying to find the perfect name. They ask family and friends. They design endless logos on the computer. They go over all kinds of names in their heads … “Bill’s bug killing”? No … “Bill the bugman”? No … “Buggy Bill blasts the belligerent black bugs back into the big blue — ” No …

      If you can’t come up with anything, use your initials or your name. If your name is John Smith, call it JS Enterprises, or Smith Technology, or JS Tech, or something similar. And don’t worry if someone else in the country has the same business name — chances are, they do (how many Tony’s Pizzas do you think there are?). It’s likely only your local area that you have to worry about, and the people who help you register your business will let you know if your name is okay.

      What I’m trying to stress to you is do not let the name stand in your way. Since starting a business is so easy and inexpensive, if you come up with a better name later, you can easily go file that one. For now, get started.

      Try not to let your business name pigeonhole you. That’s why a nice generic name is best. Naming your business Bill’s Slug Removal pretty much limits you to removing slugs. If someone wants to have bees or ants removed, they likely won’t call you, even if you do remove bees and ants.

      Bill’s Pest Services is a much better name. Then, be it slugs, bees, or even stink-bugs, you’re covered.

      Also, don’t worry too much about an Internet domain name for your business. If you can get www.billspestservices.com, great (just go to register.com or godaddy.com to check and buy domain names). But if your preferred name is already taken, other superb Internet names are always available. You just have to get creative. For example, if you are starting a pest service in Florida, how about www.ikillfloridabugs.com? Or www.floridabugkiller.com? When it comes to an online name, the more clever it is, the better. Creative, witty, easy-to-remember names like this are always available, and can be had dirt cheap. Just use your imagination.

      The important thing is to pick a name and start your business.

      Open a Business Bank Account

      On your way home from starting the business, go open a checking account for it. This is another vital step, both for tax reasons and for psychological reasons. Having a bank account for your business makes it seem like you truly are in business.

      Again, nothing has to happen with this account. If you don’t do any business, your account can just sit there, but having business checks with your company name on them is very uplifting in a motivational sense, and I feel it’s a very important step.

      Once you get the business started, the bank account opened, and an Internet domain name secured, you are ready to go. Scared? Don’t be. While it’s true that it can be a very trying ride at times, trust me when I tell you there is nothing like owning your own home-based business. It’s the best feeling in the world.

      Which you’ll soon know firsthand.

      4

      Partnerships Are Usually A Bad Idea: Here’s Why

      Ahh, the partnership. That type of business where two friends or family members decide to take on the world side by side. Started with the best of intentions, and with the duties clearly spelled out and divvied up (“Jen will do the business stuff; I’ll do the sales”), partnerships almost always end badly.

      I won’t beat around the bush. I think the underlying reason why most partnerships fail is the true reason they are usually formed in the first place: Nobody wants to go it alone. I put “true” in italics because nobody will really admit to this. People say other things, like, “I’m the idea person and she is the production person,” or “I’ll do the selling and he’ll do the books.”

      But the real reason they are going into a partnership is that they are simply scared and want someone else to lean on (or go down the drain with). And you know, I can definitely see the attraction in partnering up. It’s simple, really: Would you rather explore a spooky house alone or with a friend? Well, business is like a spooky house. Having someone there with you is definitely attractive. I did this in my first business, so I understand the allure.

      However, let’s not pretend: A partnership that starts because “two is better than one” gets everything off on the wrong foot. It’s definitely a problem if the partners are in business because they feel better together, not because they work better together.

      Now that I’ve identified the primary reason why most partnerships are formed in the first place, let’s look at a few problems-in-waiting in many partnerships.

      Unequal Roles/Limited Skills

      When two partners do not have clearly defined skills, often one partner will do the more glamorous work and the other partner will be in a lesser role. Nothing as blatant as “I’ll come up with the ideas, and you can clean up the worms”; more along the lines of “I’ll do the marketing/selling, and you can do the paperwork.”

      This usually happens because one partner is, for some reason, deemed “better” at something than the other. Unless one person is clearly better (as in being a professional), this usually will cause problems. I’ll accept the fact that my accountant knows more about taxes and accounting than I do. If we ever become partners, the taxes and books are his by default. I’m sure he’ll agree. But if I started a partnership with a neighbor, I shouldn’t have to do the books because I “know computers better.” That will eventually cause problems.

      To further illustrate this, let’s say two people named Marie and Dina are going into business. Marie says Dina should do the paperwork, “Because she’s good at it and I’m not. I’m more of a bubbly people person.” And Dina agrees — Marie couldn’t even spell “taxes,” never mind do anything more than basic math. So she’ll do the paperwork, and Marie will get the accounts.

      But trust me, unless Dina really, really loves doing paperwork, there will be trouble. Oh she’ll do it, but over time, she’ll begin to resent it. Because she didn’t get into this partnership to do only this kind of work while Marie gets to ignore it completely. Again, the disclaimer here is that if Dina is already an accountant, this division of work is fine. If she loves doing paperwork (like my wife does … or so she tells me), things will be fine.

      But assuming she doesn’t dream about doing paperwork, she will take exception to having to do it day after day. And that resentment will build. It will probably fester until one day, after an all-night session fixing Marie’s “cute guy discount,” Dina grabs a (sharp) pen and