So you want to go pro #5: Becoming Legal

Well, hell, let’s get back to it. First off these entries will be coming sporadically. You need to know we do have a business to run. And it’s tax time. I have started something here that could be way over my head. After all English is like a second language to me. No, no, no, it’s because I attended Los Angeles City Schools, not because I’m an immigrant.
Hell, I took dumb bell English many times at Santa Monica City College. So it takes me a little longer to write these than most of you. Thank you Karson and Martin for telling me about “copy and paste” from my word processor. And thank “mac” for a very easy to use dictionary. As Dadoo “wood” say, “nuff said” …. ONWARD !

Becoming legal is the glue that will hold your business directions together. There are so many pit falls here waiting for you. Here is the order in which I handled these things. I got this advice from only one person, a CPA friend who does our taxes. He advised us to go with sole proprietorship rather than forming a corporation. It had something to do with having to file our corporation meeting minutes with the state. It does protect your personal property against law suites that are filed against your business. A lawyer will tell you to incorporate. This is one reason we carry a $1,000,000.00 liability insurance policy.

Number two was to get a business license from the county. Before they issued the license to me, I had to go to departments such as public safety and the county fire marshall (lacquer is very flammable). These were all in the same building complex, so it was a piece of cake. It took three hours tops. They waived the usual fee of $125.00 because of me being a Viet Nam veteran. I love Placer County. Oh, there is one question they asked me: “ what about the noise and your neighbors ”? I told the truth about only using the power tools between 9:00 am and 5:00 pm out of respect for my neighbors.

This is going to be a little longer than I wanted, but lets get this topic out of the way. For those of you that have been to our web site, you probably noticed we used our sir name as part of the name of the business. This was to avoid going through the fictitious name for businesses process. In California you post your fictitious name in a newspaper for three weeks. This way, anyone already using it can stop you, ha ha. Fat chance they’re reading a Truckee newspaper. Anyway, this is why we are not just “Dust’n Lint”. Our sir name isn’t fictitious, and therefore no process to go through.

And last but not least the dreaded State of California resale number. This allows you to collect state, county, and city sales taxes … Oh Boy ! I was not looking forward to dealing with the state. Well, would you believe, they made it very simple to collect everyones money. I waited for ten minutes, then sat down at someone’s desk, and answered his questions while he typed the form. I then looked it over, signed it, and then he gave me my copy. And then I was legal. I was free to go sell, sell, sell.

This is a sign in our booth that brings a lot of laughs.

The same shameless promotion: http://www.dustnlint.com

-- Odie, Confucius say, "He who laughs at one's self is BUTT of joke".