More great advice guys.

Here’s the interesting part; I’m not really looking at trying to make a lot of money at this right now as I have a full time job and other activities. I hope to retire in less than five years and then could see branching out some more; maybe designing and making my own tools.

The old owners say that they just get a couple repairs a month, which is fine by me. The other big plus is that I’m a customer too and if any of my tools need parts; I know a guy, me!

Rutager

Yes.... I did an LLC with my business first then went to an S corporation status on the advice of my tax professional. In my case, it was a significant difference in tax consequences. Please inquire on this as each business situation is unique but tax and legal advantages are different between these two entity types.

angela

It is almost funny the different states and different rules. Maye scary is the right word.

We talked to an attorney, and for a while he chatted with my CPA. That chat was expensive. In the end, we formed another LLC on the advice of the attorney, and the CPA. The taxes are 100% pass through, as in the LLC pays no taxes ever, just the owners. Every quarter you will run a report in QuickBooks, and send in estimated tax payments. You will absolutely need a CPA. Ask his what accounting package he prefers. Use that. My CPA is a QuickBooks wizard and prefers it. I suspect you will never have employees and just want to protect yourself from the sue happy jerks. An LLC should do that just fine.

I use QuickBooks desktop. The on-line version is likely OK, but more prone to hacking as it is online 24-7, 365. My computer is here, and never leaves. It is not a laptop. If the hackers can get data from the IRS, Apple and even the FBI you have to trust your service provider for security. My system is not invulnerable, but I am just a little peon in a vast ocean of data. And when I turn the computer off at night, the worlds best hackers can't get to my data.

We don't use the QuickBooks method of accepting money. I went with a Square reader. It plugs into my phone and I can run credit cards, but we average one credit card per year. We mostly get checks or bank transfers, but our business has just a single service or product at $80 and goes up to much larger transactions. Aerial photography and mapping is not a inexpensive product.

Hi Angela,

Thanks for the information, I’ll keep it in mind if my business ever makes any money! My expenses will be in the hundreds each year and I bet my income will be less.

I do have plans to ramp up in a few years after I retire, so things may change.

Best,
Rutager

Great info Glen,

I too have a hard time trusting the “cloud” I will probably be doing exclusively credit cards as the invoice will rarely be more than a hundred dollars- I’m not leaving the ground!

Do they still let you buy stand alone software? Though I guess if I use a card service, I need to be online.

Thanks,
Rutager

The Square reader plugs into a cell phone.