What's the smallest business I can have? / Starting a home nursery business

MetroidZoid

I would like to make a little money on the side this coming spring and summer, and I want to put my talents to growing plant starts to use. Has anyone here started a small business, perhaps in the same scale as online-only or equivalent, that could give me the proper direction to go? As far as I know, what I need is:

A Tax ID (which I contact IRS offices for?)
Business license
And any appropriate permits/licenses that apply to growing and selling plants in Oregon.

So ... where should I go first? Right now, the only thing I've done is buy a few bags of soil and fertilizer, some seeds, and sown perennial seeds for splitting and transplanting later (fall/winter sowing). Not much that so far would be recorded for business expenditures, but things I still have proof of purchase for. I've also looked up the Small Business Development center, which is local ... would they provide free services or is it probably a consulting firm? And what are any liabilities or challenges I should be aware of, given that at most this will be me and my boyfriend running this.

Thanks guys.

Cauld

You probably only need to file a few forms at the Secretary of State's office or website. You will need to decide what type of business you're starting (to get started the cheapest and quickest way you might only need a certificate of assumed name). Once you have your business registered, I recommend you open a business checking account, since it makes tracking your expenses much easier.

You can check out info online for Oregon specific stuff, and the Small Business Administration has a lot of helpful advice. To me, the most important thing is to not get discouraged or held up with questions that ultimately aren't very important. If you want quick advice or help, just call up a local office and tell them what you want to do, and ask for help.

Druhim

If you're renting your home and planning to run your nursery out of it, you may also want to verify your lease allows that.

mr_mich

Even if you own, you'll need to clear it with your HOA or Condo association.

MetroidZoid

Good point @Druhim, I'll check my lease

Liquid Hellz

If people are coming to your property to look at things you will need additional liability insurance. You also going to need an accountant so find one and talk to them. You may also want to think about incorporating to protect yourself and your personal assets from THE MAN and lawsuits. Can talk to an accountant about that. I would say talk to an accountant first.

MetroidZoid

A possible thing I might be looking at is setting up booth at one of the many markets around; therefore avoiding any liability concerns.

DevoutlyApathetic

Uh...if you're still going to be watching kids....what happens if you get into a car crash between the booth and home and one of those kids is paralyzed or something? Setting up a company helps draw the line on where the buck stops. Though childcare is a bit of weird area since the likely screw ups are going to be arguably your fault.

I would be super leery about diving into this on anything but a neighbor's kid kind of way without looking at what the laws are on child care in your state. There may well be all kinds of rules and regulations you'd have to follow. Health records for the kids and what not. All kinds of nightmares.

MetroidZoid

What? Woah wait no. I mean nursery like "I grew these plants from seed, buy them from me please"

Hell no I don't trust myself with kids.

DevoutlyApathetic

MetroidZoid wrote: »

What? Woah wait no. I mean nursery like "I grew these plants from seed, buy them from me please"

Hell no I don't trust myself with kids.

Damn it, I know I read the OP originally but when I came back that fact completely slipped my mind.

Anyways, as a more traditional business the liability has more to do with accounts payable and the like. Until you get into bigger orders that's not likely to be an issue.

I guess there is some small "You sold me some killer tomatoes!" or something that somebody could sue you for all of your monies but that seems extremely unlikely.

Bowen

Likely could be "You sold me tomatoes contaminated with salmonella and my son died," though. You should definitely do an LLC at the least, so you're protected legally from shit like that.

zepherin

Honestly at your level you could probably get away with just a tax id and whatever state fee needed to start a business.

I would also suggest getting a business bank account with your EIN, and keeping it separate from your personal checking account. It makes accounting and taxes so much easier.

Here are sites that can help
To get a federal tax id or ein
http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Employed/Employer-ID-Numbers-(EINs)-


For state instructions
http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Employed/Oregon-3