Have you ever thought about starting a legit business where you can actually make money from it, and it’s not just your hobby? I am here today to tell you and show you how to start a business online with only $100 or maybe a bit more, depending on your business, of course.
Owning a business is the best thing you can do right now, and you can grow your audience/customer base as long as you are consistent.
01.
What Kind of Business Do You Want?
1st thing first, what kind of business do you want to have? Do you want to start a business with an e-commerce store or a brick-and-mortar store? Do you want to sell physical products or digital ones? Are you willing to use dropshipping or have your own inventory? These are the types of questions you need to answer to proceed with the next few steps.
02.
The Business Structures
This will be a bit long cause therse is a lot of business. There are Sole Proprietor, LLC, C-Corp, S-Corp, and so on. So here are the full details on the differences between each one and which one is literally the best for your type of business.
| Feature | Sole Proprietorship | General Partnership | LLC (Limited Liability Co) | Corporation (C Corp) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ownership | One person | 2+ people | 1+ members | Shareholders |
| Liability | Unlimited Personal | Unlimited Personal | Limited | Limited (Best protection) |
| Taxation | Pass-through (Personal) | Pass-through (Personal) | Flexible (Pass-through or Corporate) | Double Taxation |
| Setup Cost | Low/None | Low | Moderate | High |
| Formation | Automatic | Informal/Agreement | State Filing | Articles of Incorporation |
| Continuity | Ends with the partner leaving | Ends with partner leaving | Flexible/Perpetual | Perpetual Existence |
| Capital | Hard to raise | Limited | Moderate | Easy (Sale of stock) |
The best one for a startup is honestly the LLC, whether you are doing it alone or with more people. This is ideal for you since you want to protect your personal assets. An LLC offers many benefits regarding assets, business setup costs, and more. Most big companies are LLCs, and they can file for bankruptcy without affecting their personal assets, such as stocks, houses, cars, and so on.
03.
Funds
Now this part is different for a lot of people. Every business must be registered in your state, and depending on your state, you may pay $50- $ 125 just to register the name legally. Keep in mind your name is only valid for your state. If you ever move, you’ll have to file a different form to have it transferred to your new state. To see how much you have to pay to register your business, go to the SBA (Small Business Administration). They are the ones who can tell you where to register your business online and whether your business requires a permit or license. If you live in Florida, go to Sunbiz to register your business.
04.
EIN
Get an EIN once you get the letter/email saying your business is now registered. An EIN is free to get through the IRS. You might get letters in the mail saying you owe x amount, but you don’t. Those are just fake letters. The EIN is free, and that’s it. You can add the EIN online when you complete the annual renewal or update the document.
05.
Taxes
We all love taxes when we receive them, but not when we have to pay them. As a business owner, you have to pay taxes; therefore, check your state’s tax requirements and how to register. If you live in Florida, here are two sites you can visit. Make sure you do this even if you haven’t made a penny yet; it’s important to sign up for taxes.
The Binder
06.
The binder is where you hold all of the legal documents in one place. Now you can do this for free, or you can buy a binder online and have the company fill it out for you. This is more important if you form a corporation. Trust me, building on by yourself will cost you maybe $20, and that includes the binder, the sheet sleeves, and the documents if you have them sent to you. Honestly, make your own and keep it moving.
07.
Business Plan
Build a business plan, or have ChatGPT or Claude AI make one for you. Having a business plan is crucial for your business. AI can help you make a schedule for when you can start making money and how to do it at each step as you build it. Trust me. Here is a prompt you can use, and let it do its thing.
I would like you to build me a full, detailed business plan that includes everything a business plan should, but tailored to my business and LLC. Can you please do that for me? I need it to be detailed enough for my future plans and for my investors, because I do eventually want to open a full business with my own _____________. But I need my business plans to be very detailed from the very start of my ______________, to the very end of my business, meaning my ____________, all of that stuff included, as well as my _________, and everything else outside of that. Remember, I need this to be as detailed as possible, step-by-step, of the whole business plan. I need it to have the execution, the vision, the mission, the amount of money I will have to fully invest into every single aspect of the business from the beginning to the very ending of everything, including also the actions that I will have to take, my demographic that I should be looking for, as well as all the social medias where I should be posting and also put in a schedule from today’s date, which is _____________ to December 31st of 2026. So let’s start this right now, Chat, because I’m running out of time, and Time is definitely money, and I’m losing millions of dollars right now.
08.
Have Fun With It
Starting a business is stressful, but remember why you started and have fun with it. Keep doing your research with the links I have shown you, and dig more into it. Talk to AI if you must to help you a bit more, but remember you need to talk to it as a professional. Make sure your chat is set to “thinking” instead of “quick responses”. This is only available for those who pay a monthly subscription.
