Small Business, What Steps Should I Take?
 

Hello,

I have a few ideas for some simple woodworking tools that I would like to make/sell. Best part is I have a day job, so I'm not worried about putting food on the table or raising capital.

So, what are the steps I need to take to get a business up and running? I'm in MN.
Registering with the State?
Trademarking my business name?
Do I need to hire someone to search names/web domains, etc.?

Thanks for any help,
Rutager

You need salable Product, A camera, and E bay.

KISS.

Registering with the State? Yes
Trademarking my business name? Maybe, depends
Do I need to hire someone to search names/web domains, etc.? No

Go the MN secretary of state's web site. They should have guidelines for establishing a business in the state. If there is even the remotest possibility of any liability arising from this tool, form an LLC and sell it under the protection of the LLC liability limits.
You can probably do the trademark search and filing yourself but I just hire an attorney. It costs about $700 around here.

JP,

I know that could be an option, but I heard it might be more expensive with all the fees?

I would also think that from a longer term goal of selling other products to an audience for high end tools, that they might get cold feet buying from me?

I also heard Amazon is a quick and easy way to sell, just heavy fees too.

Thanks,
Rutager

What would be the pros and cons or need to trademark?

Thanks,
Rutager

Just went to the State sight, lots of information- of course maybe even more questions!

Thanks,
Rutager

Marketing anything is going to be expensive. You need to include the cost of marketing in the price of the product. I don't understand the reasoning behind your second paragraph. Why cold feet?

I meant that if I just sold on eBay without a nice website, might be hard to sell to a fickle high end tool user- the current tool I'm working on is actually a tool that is for aligning a very specialized product from another company. The President of that company is very supportive of emerging tool makers and would very likely help get me in front of his customers, good chance also that he might put it on his website too. I just emailed him my idea this morning for his thoughts.

Well, back to the drawing board, I heard back from the President of the company and he pointed out that the reference surface I was going to use, probably wasn't a true reference to the parallel motion- dang, my idea was so simple and could have been made very easily.

I still have a "pile" of other ideas, so starting a business is still a worthwhile idea, just don't need to rush it now.

Rutager

The single best reference for starting a business is Legal Zoom. Most people haven't had to ponder the vast amount of paper hanging that must happen at the federal level let alone State specific requirements to engage in commerce legally.

Start there. If you can stomach that slough then start the next level of business planning.

The key to the whole thing is to be absolutely meticulous in everything you do, including forming the right business Corp to protect your personal assets...make sure that your personal assets are protected.

Have you protected your personal assets yet:)

The rest is fairly easy...

Great advice Paul, someone at work had mentioned Legal Zoom as well- wasn't that expensive either if I heard him right.

Thanks

Small Business Marketing
 

If you need some help with building a website or marketing I can definitely help you. Building a site is relatively easy enough but getting it seen and driving traffic to it is tougher. I can give you or any business owners some tips on marketing your business online or a free website evaluation with some tips on increasing traffic to your site. RANK^RING ​​Marketing - Home of Rank^Ring Marketing Los Angeles, CA Web Design and Marketing firm

In OH
I picked a name and registered it with the state. I believe there was a site I could go to and check for availability. I decided to create an LLC so I paid a relative who is an attorney to file the LLC paperwork. I live in a rural setting so I went to the township and requested a zoning variance for conditional use of my property as a business and that was about it.

For marketing specialty tools I would want a presence on eBay, Amazon, and YouTube with a link to my website for easy transactions however the buyer wishes to buy. Sell at consistent pricing and track your sales/costs to see if it makes sense to sell on eBay for the highest exposure. After a year you should have a good idea which avenue is generating the best results.

Protect your assets first. ��

Regarding incorporating, etc. I will simply say that using something like 'legal zoom' is tantamount to practicing law and unless you are an attorney (which if you were you'd know better) you should NOT be practicing law.

You don't know what you don't know. Stay away from made in India legal advice.

Regarding your product i'd think you have two avenues; 1-make it and put it out there for sale or 2-hire a patent attorney, drop several thousand dollars and get it patented THEN put it out there and be prepared to spend the money to defend your patent.

if it's specific to a branded product you may want to consider selling your design to the company that makes the product it complements.

I agree with all of the above, however, Legal Zoom is the best place to start and get comfortable with the necessary steps required to move forward. Best to have some familiarity with the process than hire a lawyer cold.

I should have been more specific.

Concerning a Patent, the cost can vary widely (I hold two) but plan on $10K.

Simple, free (other than your time)....

Public Facebook page and Instagram account. For IG, the appropriate # HashTags need to be used. Also helps with the public FB page.

Here's mine for my shift knobs...
https://www.facebook.com/917shiftknobs/

Updating with frequency is key - both sites.

Outside of that, complying with local/state/federal tax laws or licenses. After that, if things go right, as others mentioned, LLC... INC...

My .02c from where I live. YMMV... I didn't sleep in a Holiday Inn Express last night, nor have I slept at all.... TIWAGOS...

Lots of great advice here guys, which of course I knew I would get- lots of smart and knowledgeable folks hanging around here!

I'm going to take baby steps on this, I am a bit risk adverse, for better or worse. Luckily, including everyone on the site, I know lots of people who do different things and even have basically free access to a CNC mill to make prototypes.

Rutager

My advice is to contact FastCap and see if they'll bite. If so, they pay you royalties and they do all the prototype, development and marketing. That's what they do. The owner Paul is a Porsche guy to boot. Click on the "ideas" tab.

If you want to have a garage business you'll need whatever licensing your state / city requires and a commerce friendly website like the ones Squarespace offers. You'll also need a federal tax id which can be your SS# if you're a sole proprietor. If your products have even the least probability for liability (bodily injury) I'd seriously consider setting it all up as a LLC. At minimum you'll want product liability insurance.

I've been in business for over 30 years in the woodworking business. I can say without a doubt it's a hustle. The FastCap route is by far the least pain for the most gain.