thinking of starting up my own business

[micah]

hey guys,
been seriously considering here lately starting up my own import performance business online and running out of my house. it would just be something i did on the side unless it got real successful and then id dump more time into it. when i say on the side you have to realize i spend about 8 hours a day on my comp already, any and all of which could be used on the site. i figure i have enough contacts on and offline that i would be able to run a pretty solid/stable business. and of course my hondaswap homies would get a sick hookup

my brother has his own website design business and i had 3 websites in highschool, so that part of it is taken care of. im just wondering what all i need to do about contacting companies, getting vendor and tax exempt licenses and all that bs.

i know B was looking into this and jason from ALLJDM could prolly give me a few pointers (though i havent seen him around lately).

i would appreciate anyone with any kind of advice though. been wanting to do it for quite some time and have been thinking about it more and more recently.

thnx in advance

 

[Capt. Orygun]

The first thing you need is a project car for your company that can really wow the market! I'll let you use mine but you really should aim for no less then 400whp if your serious about it.

 

[90 accord]

i didn't think you could operate a business out of your residence?

 

[micah]

its going to be an online business, not like a shop or anything heh

and i already have 2 personal project cars.

89 rex si
94 sol vtec

between my closest friend i could already have 4 or 5 sponsor cars, but if i was to pick a "postercar" it would be my friends 98 bpu3 tt supra though

 

[BigJ]

Oh yeah, everyone and their brother operates a buisiness out of your house. Its pretty easy to do, you just need the right permits and such from your certain state.

 

[hcivic.com]

go ot your local states web site they have tons of info on there

 

[Havok]

Originally posted by micah@Jul 6 2003, 12:43 AM
but if i was to pick a "postercar" it would be my friends 98 bpu3 tt supra though

What about my car, damnit? Didn't the tranny get shot to shit in that thing? And as for a project car, the sol is definitely a project car--the 1st project--getting it to start

 

[halcyon985]

Originally posted by micah@Jul 5 2003, 11:51 PM
getting vendor and tax exempt licenses and all that bs.

Unless your going to be a nonprofit import business, there is no tax exempt status for you.

I would suggest going as a corporation. You can register as a corporation for under $1000 dollars, and it protects you from liability. If your not into going that route, you can register a dba (doing business as) which allows you to create a bank account and pretty much do business in your companies name instead of yours. Disadvantages to this when you fuck something up or the business goes down the shitter, you are liable for everything. Good thing about it its dirt cheap to get started. After you do that you just need to get your EIN from the IRS and your in business, save for anything else you might need individually from the state. Most states thats it though. Check out your states webpage, they should have it all online. Any other questions, PM me.

 

[Jeef]

Corporation you need 2 or 3 more partners. Get an LLC, it isnt that expensive and you get most of the protection of a corporation. In most states you only need one person to form an llc. Just do a shit load of research and find out what the competition is doing that is good and what they are fucking up on. Also try not to get too big where you can not service your customers in the way they deserve.

 

[micah]

hey nick,
i finally put my car in the shop, they had it all last week. turns out my flywheel was cracked, the part was supposed to be in thursday but ups never showed up, hopefully ill get it back monday/teusday. i also got a friend that works at seminole paint and body in bonifay, the best body shop in the tri county area, and he is gonna paint it for cost of paint 8) my friends supra is at panhandle transmission in lynn haven right now getting fixed as well


i shoulda known about the tax exempt thing, my mind was just wandering i guess.

as far as corporation/llc, i honestly dont know enough about them, guess i got alot of reading to do. i know quite a few people who own there own businesses so hopefully it wont take me long to get the ball rolling on this thing.

 

[posol]

good luck.... and get a good wholesaler. Dealing with keystone and those other shit fucks sucks.

a lot of GOOD comapnies, require a large buy in./.. i.e. - 100 tial wastegates to become a tial dealer. well, 100*200 = 20000 in wastegates. you need money to make money. and thats why im back to ebay

 

[micah]

tried to get any government grants and/or small business loans?

the government will pretty much hand out money to anyone wanting to start a business, or so im told. i havent personally looked into any of it yet either.

 

[BodyDroppedNikes]

get you book on how to start up a small business. it would tell you everything you need to do in order to get one going. thats my suggestion

 

[Domeskilla]

btw.. a lot of ppl want a company of your business license and if you want to install stuff for ppl who come by.. some ppl want insurance.

Its also cheaper to be a shop wanting to buy their part to install vs a place to buy and sell.

When we were going to make Kut Throat Kustoms a place to sell, we had to buy X amount of shit, but since we are just going to do be buying for us and installing shit.. there was no quanity buy in, just amount and it was hella cheaper.

Have fun and good luck.. but the state of florida might request an address of bussiness.

 

[JDMilan]

Best thing for you to do is go to a rather large book store and read read read about starting your own business, gov't grants/loans,LLC's Scorp's etc, you should also speak to others who have actually done this and see if they have input or advice so that you can have a better chance at being more successful.


Good Luck



Milan

 

[Tonyd0821]

Unless your going to be a nonprofit import business, there is no tax exempt status for you. I would suggest going as a corporation. You can register as a corporation for under $1000 dollars, and it protects you from liability. If your not into going that route, you can register a dba (doing business as) which allows you to create a bank account and pretty much do business in your companies name instead of yours. Disadvantages to this when you fuck something up or the business goes down the shitter, you are liable for everything. Good thing about it its dirt cheap to get started. After you do that you just need to get your EIN from the IRS and your in business, save for anything else you might need individually from the state. Most states thats it though. Check out your states webpage, they should have it all online. Any other questions, PM me.

wow, how fucking stupid can you get?
arent you that same dumbfuck n00b i didnt get a chance
to flame due to a locked thread?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
to the guy who started this thread:

first off and foremost, a COPORATION is NOT the type of business entitiy you wish create for your particular type of situtaion.

corporations involve a lot of expense and effort to create and operate.

will the prospective business owner act as his or her own Promoter?
if so, he/she is PERSONALY liable for any and all contracts entered into during the formation of the corportation.

do you want to take this risk knowing that (i forget the statistic off-hand) 90% (good number) of all businesses fail within the first five years?

Who will be financially backing this operation? if not, then he/she must search out investors. this invovles creating a business plan and months and months of work (assuming he/she is doing it themselves)

second of all, corportations receive the benefit (couldnt think of a better euphanism) of double taxation.

your best bet would be to look into an "S" corporation, sole proprietorship, or even an LLC.

"S" corporations (shareholders that is) have the best of both worlds:
the limited liability of a corporation AND the tax status of a partnership.

only disadvantages to an "S" corp. is that there can only be one class of stocks, 75 shareholders and shareholders can NOT be partnerships or other corporations.
(your dad's multimillion dollar company cannot be a shareholder )

if you are serious about starting a business, you must realize that it will take months and months of hard work and preparation in order to even start selling items to the public. I did not even address the fact that you should take a long hard look at the market in which you are trying to enter and ask yourself:

WHAT MAKES ME, MY PRODUCTS OR MY COMPANY UNIQUE AND INDIVIDUAL, AND SETS ME APART FROM THE REST OF THE COMPETITION?

if you cant come up with a GOOD answer to that question, assuming that you have no prior business experience whatsoever, i would advise you to re-think your plan all the way through.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
now onto halcyon.....


i knew you were some dumb fucking n00b just spouting his bitch ass mouth off earlier, and your ignorance on the law, and the fact that you even ATTEMPTED to give a psuedo-legal answer to the proposed question lets me know i was 100% right.

SHUT THE FUCK UP N00B


<<edit>> the quote button on this version....sucks y0

 

[totalburnout]

Originally posted by karnash@Jul 7 2003, 12:41 PM
wow, how fucking stupid can you get?
arent you that same dumbfuck n00b i didnt get a chance
to flame due to a locked thread?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
to the guy who started this thread:

first off and foremost, a COPORATION is NOT the type of business entitiy you wish create for your particular type of situtaion.

corporations involve a lot of expense and effort to create and operate.

will the prospective business owner act as his or her on Promoter?
if so, he/she is PERSONALY liable for any and all contracts entered into during the formation of the corportation.

do you want to take this risk knowing that (i forget the statistic off-hand) 90% (good number) of all businesses fail within the first five years?

Who will be financially backing this operation? if not, then he/she must search out investors. this invovles creating a business plan and months and months of work (assuming he/she is doing it themselves)

second of all, corportations receive the benefit (couldnt think of a better euphanism) of double taxation.

your best bet would be to look into an "S" corporation, sole proprietorship, or even an LLC.

"S" corporations (shareholders that is) have the best of both worlds:
the limited liability of a corporation AND the tax status of a partnership.

only disadvantages to an "S" corp. is that there can only be one class of stocks, 75 shareholders and shareholders can NOT be partnerships or other corporations.
(your dad's multimillion dollar company cannot be a shareholder )

if you are serious about starting a business, you must realize that it will take months and months of hard work and preparation in order to even start selling items to the public. I did not even address the fact that you should take a long hard look at the market in which you are trying to enter and ask yourself:

WHAT MAKES ME, MY PRODUCTS OR MY COMPANY UNIQUE AND INDIVIDUAL, AND SETS ME APART FROM THE REST OF THE COMPETITION?

if you cant come up with a GOOD answer to that question, assuming that you have no prior business experience whatsoever, i would advise you to re-think your plan all the way through.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
now onto halcyon.....


i knew you were some dumb fucking n00b just spouting his bitch ass mouth off earlier, and your ignorance on the law, and the fact that you even ATTEMPTED to give a psuedo-legal answer to the proposed question lets me know i was 100% right.

SHUT THE FUCK UP N00B

Its that they fail within the first year...because thats the hardest...but w/e

 

[micah]

yeah i realize alot of businesses fail in the first five years i just dont really care. i got nothing to lose. i also have investors lined up if its necessary. and as far as the market goes. there will always be a market for import performance and since this will be a web based business ( at least to start out with ) then finding business wont be that much of a problem.

 

[micah]

and id appreciate if youd keep the dick measuring contests to pm's and not hijack my thread

 

[lsvtec]

I think karnash is completely right. You need to sit down and think through everything. You have a lot to lose and there will not always be a market for import parts.