Startups Stack Exchange Archive

Legality and requirements of a simple business or company?

Let’s say I create a very small business like a lemonade stand for example.

You have a worker to run your business.

1.Is this legal in a way?

2.Are you actually required to have some sort of license?

3.Does your worker need to get all benefits of a regular person who works in an office(for example)?

Answer 8759

first step is file DBA- Doing Business As at county courthouse clerks office for 10-20 dollars per DBA .so you can put your business name all over the state and county .. if you want LLC , S Corp you have file at either at court house pay tons of money couple grand at most hire an CPA you can file your DBA nationally or state or countywide via courthouse or legal online services like legalzoom.com or rocketlawyer.com ..

Labor issues are dealt with thru state or local officials .. usually state run hiring agencies will help you out ..

then you need do the marketing , buy a domain and website and build out your brand . success doesn’t come over night . takes a lot of planning like Business plan and business models , cost of start up cost , machines , talking to IRS to get your Federal ID when you come a private business ..if you want come a Public company that is IPO with stock market that is totally different ..usually finding best state to file your company in Delaware and Nevada where the cost and company structure . every state has their own corporate governance and how many officers place over the business and setup of company board of directors ..you go thru Sectary of State for all business matters . certain trades have licenses to get ..

I hope this helps you out , I have small business with 4 DBA’s in my county i want to get LLC or S corp in one in Delaware is better . I like to be aglie i started my 1st business in high school at 18 years old .

Answer 8760

1. It is legal, but not recommended Liability insurance can help reduce risks - anyone who works for you need some level of insurance in case of accidental injury/death (the lemonade stands falls on them or someone shoots them for example).

If there is liability, the employer is held responsible. If the law determines the employer is indirectly responsible, the employer pays. If you are the employer, its your credit rating, your home and everything else that will be assessed. If the employer is a company, its considered a separate entity from you (even if you own the company), so assets from within the company are game, but your private home/mortgage/etc is not up for grabs.

Exceptions to this is where the law determines you did not sufficiently provide care for your employee. It is open to interpretation by the courts - KFCs, McDonalds are held liable every now and then for injuries at work because of robbery or some event which appear at first glance to have been accidental, but then the court see’s that the employer could have provided better training, better equipment or safety clothing etc

2. Some sort of license Some states/countries require a license. Since most services relate to people, many businesses require licenses (handling food, hair products, doing electrical in someone’s home all have risks and some licenses require minimum standards). You need check this out at your local county hall.

3. Benefits Many variables to this - in some juristictions it depends on how many hours they work per week, it depends on how old they are. In the UK I think the deciding factor is if they work more than 15hours a week. Different laws apply for first time workers on a training scheme, or long term unemployed.

Keep in mind, if you pay peanuts, you’ll get monkeys. I had an Uncle who always paid his bar staff minimum or below minimum wage and always cursed that his staff showed no loyalty. My brother would pay above minimum wage and include meals and he would have staff stay with him for a couple of years. My Uncle was nice, a tough boss - many who worked for him would get sufficient training before moving on to another bar that looked after them better. My point here is, I can suspect you are weighing up the cost of going into business, but you need consider if you want to bully people and frequently be seeking new staff, or if you want loyal staff.


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