I'm interested in knowing if anybody here owns their own business?

I work for myself in web development and marketing. Does anybody else work for themselves, or work with a partner on a joint venture?

Basically, who else here doesn't have a boss?

me...
i will have a company in one month from now. :) an internet based company with a portofolio of websites. i will sell web hosting, domains, and other related stuff.

Me...I still work for a "Boss". I'm supposed to be done at the end of this month, but today she mentioned about scheduling me for next month (ugh). I'm a bookkeeper at an accounting firm and a care a lot about my clients. I gave notice mid-July and I think I've been more than fair. I'm trying not to burn any bridges, but I think I'm being taken advantage of because she knows I care about my clients.

I am working on my own businesses helping people with their personal finances using Quicken/QuickBooks (and some non-local businesses). My boss wouldn't deal with personal finance because there is no money in it. But, I think there is a need out there and I already have one client and another one in the works (both from word of mouth). At least I can set my own hours while helping people.

I never, in a million years, thought I would be a business owner. I always thought I would be an employee. But, I filed the DBA, ordered some logo shirts and working on my business plan. I'm almost there!!

Cool, keep us updated on how that goes. Don't say the name of your business, but I would recommend that you register the .com for it before saying the name to many people. Even if you won't use it now, it will be worth the $10 a year just to reserve for future use.

Right after I filed the DBA, I purchased the domain name

See I never doubted you for a second!

(Never hurts to doublecheck. )

Did you file as a corporation? Did you know that you can save a lot on taxes if you end up having a good income from this if you are a corporation?

Tax model A: You own the company, and have no employees. All profit goes to you. Say you make $50,000 a year. You pay income and social security taxes on the full $50,000.

Tax model B: Same as the above, but you are now a corporation. (No employees still). Your corporation makes $50,000 a year (before employee expenses). Now, YOU personally are paid from the corporation, say $30K a year. You pay personal income taxes and social security on that. The corporation is now at a $20,000 per year profit. It pays taxes on that income, but does not pay social security/medicare, etc.

That's just an idea of how it works. There are some other details that I am leaving out, and I didn't even get into C Corp vs. S Corp, or LLC which is also something that will bring similar results. That's it in a nutshell though. Talk to an financial lawyer for the exact details.

I would really like to form a corporation (go the S corp route). Unfortunately, I have VERY limited start up funds. I have to make a bit of money first then I can do it.

I don't like the fact that my personal assets can be in danger while operating as a sole prop

That's another thing I forgot, and one of the big reasons people go this route.

It costs around $400-$500 to go through a lawyer. I would recommend that route to make sure something can't come up later and bite you becaue you forgot to file or do something. Just one of those things that is worth the extra money if you ask me.

Hubby has been self employed for about 20 years. Only when we lived in FL for a few years in the mid 90's did he ever work for someone else (except his father when he was MUCH younger) He was mid 30's before he ever applied for a job! We own a retail business.

Sometimes a great thing....sometimes a real sucky thing! (insurance is one of the REALLY sucky things)!

What type of items do you sell?