I want to start a home based business, don't know where to start.

[staceyv]

Everybody here is so smart, I thought it would be a good idea to bring it to you guys.
I have both of my dogs on a raw diet. I have to go to a pet store off the island about 40 minutes away just to get it. The pet store on the island recently started selling raw frozen food, but only 1 brand that is a little too expensive and doesn't have a lot of variety.

This is a growing trend in pet care and I want to jump in early. By the way, it's something I truly believe in and have a lot of knowledge about.

Basically, I'd be selling frozen raw food for dogs and cats, supplements and books. Here is the major brand I want to carry: http://www.bravorawdiet.com/index.html
along with maybe a few smaller brands.

My idea is to to deliver the food to people's homes on the island once a month or every two weeks and give them a date to put their orders in by. If they run out, they can call me and I'll keep a little extra on hand, but I don't want a retail store, I want to deliver. I was thinking I could advertise and send a brochure or have a meeting for a free consultation with potential clients.(Tell them about the benefits, myths, choices they have, differerent price levels, how much to feed, how much to order every month, etc, etc.)

My grandfather owns his own home and would be willing to let me keep my freezers in his basement and just pay him for electricity.

This island is full of rich people and pet lovers. The local pet store only sells organic and all-natural pet foods and people dish out the money for it. More and more people are learning about the raw diet, more breeders are raising puppies on it and recommending it and companies are all starting to put out their own versions. I'm telling you- it's a growing industry and it could work!
Hell, we even have a poop-scooping service on the island, a million busy dog-walkers, 3 pet stores on one road, etc.


SO, my question is, where the hell do I start???
Don't I need a license of some sort to have a business? What legal issues are involved? How the hell do I keep track of stuff for taxes? Is there a great program that's easy to use to keep track of sales, expenses, profits?
How do I copyright my fantastic idea for a name? What else do I need to know?

[seakdivers]

Gosh - I don't know the answer to any of your questions, but I just wanted to comment about the popularity of this diet. When I got my Doberman back in 1998, the breeder had all his dogs on that diet. I had never heard of it, and I tried looking it up on the internet, but came up with pretty much nothing. I ended up switching him to regular dog food because it was just too inconvenient to keep him on the raw diet.

Both of my sisters just got brand new puppies this month (one pup is a solid black German Shepherd from Canada, and the other is a Bernese Mt Dog from here in Alaska), and both of the breeders have their dogs on that diet.
I am sure my sisters would both continue to keep the pups on the diet if they had a way to get pre-packaged meals. I think your idea is a great one!

Best of luck!

[SteveDallas]

If it's a business name, you don't want a copyright, you want a trademark. That's as much as I know about it!

I believe what kind of license(s) you need is heavily dependent on the type of business and local regulations--you should probably talk to somebody nearby. But if your state has sales tax, you are sure to need a license from the state so you can collect it on the stuff you sell and so you don't have to pay it when you buy stuff that will be resold.

Oh and start talking to a bank about handling credit cards--make sure you understand the costs and account for them properly in setting your prices.

[shoot]

Ive had my own business for about 15 years and I highly recommend 'Quick Books'.An amazing program that takes all of the work out of the bookwork involved with running a business. You can probably download a trial version of it and check it out... good luck with your endeavor