Starting a Web Development Business

Well, seeing as how I just legitimately formed my first company... maybe I can answer some of these.

Forming an LLC is pretty easy, you just have to fill out a few forms for the state you're registering in, and register for a federal EIN number. On top of that, you may or may not want to consider copyright and trademark applications... that depends on what you're doing, and whether or not your name is worth defending.

Financial information has to be meticulous; however, being that it's an LLC and not a Corporation, you file taxes individually (each person in the LLC files separately), not as a joint entity/company. But either way, all receipts have to be kept, and you have be very sure to not use company funds for anything REMOTELY personal... you can get majorly burned on this.

Hidden fees: Hmm, I'm not sure. But you'd want to consider renting hosting vs. owning a server and colo-ing it. Banks aren't very easy about small business bank accounts, they typically want a large amount of money sitting in the account (I saw one for a min of $4k, and another for $7k). Other fees would be things like business cards, letterheads, etc.

Taxes... haven't gotten there yet. But I know it's not going to be fun. I'm going to be hiring someone to do this for me.

Laywer... no, not necessarily. I didn't, but I made sure to do everything right (aka it took forever). Make sure you do things like check the company's name for availability before applying, otherwise you'll have to get a lawyer involved. But you may want to make friends with a lawyer just incase you get sued for something, or need to protect what's yours.

Permit? For myself, no. I don't know specific state laws, but I'd assume not since pretty much everything you do is non-lethal, digital, and non-destructive. hahah

Other questions would be: Do you really want to design sites for other people, or would you rather have your business develop internet "properties" that would have future revenue potential? Are you motivated enough to work for yourself? Can you do everything on your own (Marketing, PR, Finance, Development, etc)? Things like that...

Past that, you need to consider a business plan and other specifics of how you want to operate. Search around on Google... you can find good stuff, just be careful that whatever laws you're looking at apply to your state.

Hopefully that helps

I have no idea what the rules are like in the US so I won't comment specifically.

In general, you'll want to be very careful about agreements, liability, accounts and paperwork. It will pay to consult with an accountant and a lawyer at some point, to set yourself up with a system of keeping accounts, to formalise contracts, and to ensure you've missed nothing.

Be prepared to spend half your time on mundane stuff like that.

Yes, contracts are important. When we started out it was very hard to draw the line of what constiuted as part of our agreement or was asking too much of us. Even though we weren't charging much, the time spent on projects made it worse and it just ate into our profit margins.

The main problem you have is that you may have created websites for friends and family for a couple of hundred dollars, how are you now going to justify charging thousands?

I would be thinking about a business plan, maybe get in touch with a local chamber of commerce if you have them in the States.

Hello there,

great that you want to start your own business. Here information as to how and where to get your business registered: uslegalcorp.com. They have done my papers and it was done in a couple weeks.

As far as development, that is a great idea, but you might want to consider offering your customers a complete solution: webdesign/development and hosting.

There is a good place to bet cheap servers from for resale under your own business name: Dedicatedserverstore.com.

Hope this helps.