Afford to Stay Home

by 1 person | Log in to rate

Ranked #22,740 in Business, #272,811 overall

In My Blood

Having a business is in my blood. Having a business on home territory is definitely in my blood - my father was a self-employed dairy farmer, my grandmother owned and ran a restaurant business, my significant other (of 12 years) owns and operates a successful landscaping/excavation business (that I helped and cheered him on to start 10 years ago!)

So, is it odd that I should also want a business of my own and "afford to stay home?"

My desire to be a work-at-home mom and grandmother goes back to the early years of having the enjoyment of staying home to raise my young family. These are years I would not have missed for the world.

As circumstances would have it, I eventually had to join the work force. My two kids were then ages 10 and 14. At that time in their life, I became a single parent.

So, I became a school bus driver. The working hours complemented the school year schedule and the pay was decent. Eighteen years later I'm still working with the same school district, the last 8 years in the pupil transportation office.

The desire to stay at home working from home has never left me. So, four years ago I opened the Wildbird-Shop.com online - and continue looking for opportunities to make money using the Internet. And I don't mean looking for opportunities to exploit others! No, I am not a slick internet marketer - and I don't mean to imply that all internet marketers are "slick." There are many who market products on the Internet in an honest way.

So, if I make a recommendation to you, it will only be because I think it has value and will benefit you in some way.

Upward and onward! Thank you for visiting my lens!

Starting A Business

Opening a business is not as difficult as you may think.

Whether you are thinking along the lines of opening a "brick and mortar" store, offering a service business (such as my friend with his excavating business), or an online store selling products, there are a few things of a legal nature to get your business started in the right direction.

Even if you're thinking to sell products on the Internet through eBay or an online store, you need to become legal.

Where do you find wholesale products to sell? You need to offer something that someone will buy - or a store is out. And unless you sell second-hand products on eBay, you will need to find a source to find products to offer to customers.*

I have always been intrigued by the term "drop shipper." What's a drop shipper?

A drop shipper is a supplier or manufacturer of a product or products that agrees to (for a small cost) ship a product to your customer. The supplier uses a packing slip with your business name so your customer does not know that it came from the supplier. The supplier charges you the wholesale price for the product, the handling charge and shipping costs - which you pass on to your customer.

This is great for us who don't own warehouses or have enough space to buy products in bulk from a wholesale distributer.*

Perhaps I'm making this sound too easy - and it really isn't difficult.

There are some "legal" things you need to do before a wholesaler will sell to you. Here's the short list:

1. Go to your local government center to apply for a business license.

In New York State where I live, there is a legal form that is completed called a "Business Certificate" also called a "DBA Certificate" (DBA meaning "Doing Business As" - This allows you to do business in a name other than your legal name). The form can usually be found in an office supply store such as Staples or Office Depot in the business forms aisle.

You complete the form, have your signature notarized, and visit the County Clerk's office for processing. They accept cash only for this transaction.

When I registered my business 4 years ago, the basic cost was $25.00 with charges for additional copies of your Business Certificate. You will need at least one additional Business Certificate to present to your bank to open a business checking account.

2. Apply for an "EIN" - Employers Identification Number

You need to apply for a Federal EIN.

It's free and only takes a few minutes to apply (painless), and they will provide you with your EIN number. Be sure to print out the page or write your number down. You will need this information to apply to your state for a license to collect sales tax.

3. Now you will need to apply to your state in order to collect sales tax from your customers. In New York State this is called the "Resale Tax Certificate".

4. Visit the bank of your choice to open a business checking account. Bring your Business Certificate with you.

Now laws may vary from state to state about opening a business, so be sure to do your homework and follow through their directives.

AND - these steps must be accomplished before you can apply to a supplier for wholesale pricing. They will not sell to you without being a bona fide, registered business!

These are the first steps in starting a business.

Good luck to you!

Jo

-----
*I use and highly recommend Worldwide Brands as a resource to find suppliers for your products. I used them to find a supplier for my Wildbird-Shop.com 4 years ago. They continue to add suppliers to their database daily. If you visit their website, be sure to download Chris Malta's free book, "Starting Your Internet Business Right."