Hi, new here. I have some questions pertaining to different things so I thought I'd just go ahead and put them all in the same post. Sorry if they should be separated and in their respective forums. I've done some research on this forum and am still undecided quite a bit on what to do. What follows are just my current ideas.

1. I figure I should get this part out of the way first, I'm 17 atm and will be 18 in december. I plan on using these next couple months to get everything set up so that when I'm 18 I can get everything actually up and running asap. My question is actually registering a company, will I be able to get this done myself without involvement (parental) and all aspects of that. I have a feeling not because of things such as filling out tax forms at the end of the year and everything. Just wanted to know if I could do all that on my own. What does all need to be taken care of to get an online business legalized? And if this business provides multiple services, can that all be defined in the one registration? Or will I need to do multiple tings?

2. I'd like to setup a website that functions as a host and sells designs.
a. Hosting
I have access to a large group of people who could be my potential target audience, but they are all too young or too stingy to purchase hosting. I feel I could get a large amount of clients, but they'd have to be free if I went for this target audience. I've noticed quite an influx lately of free hosts that appear to function off of google ads. They provide free hosting, but then require their ads to appear on the site or the user to post X amount of times on the forums, where ads appear. Is this idea feasable and the sites sucessful?
b. Designs
I don't have much information to provide at this time for this section.

3. What billing system can be used that will support the hosting part (if I decide to have pay accounts too) and the designs part? I perused through just some sites last week and only found a lot of systems that just provide portals and that is not what I want.

I believe that's all. Thanks even if you just read all this and help is much appreciated.

edit: and if you do view the site in my profile, that will be the site, but please ignore the current layout. It's just a design I did for a friend to show him what he could for his site, so it's very basic and not a reflection of my site.

HI,

For question 1. I advise you to call a lawyer up or your local BBB and ask them .

By the way what state or country are you from ?

Originally posted by supremenetworks
HI,

For question 1. I advise you to call a lawyer up or your local BBB and ask them .

By the way what state or country are you from ?

Oops, guess I forgot to mention. Georgia, USA.

Ok go here http://www.sba.gov/ga/index.html and call them and they can assist you in starting the business up. They help out for free since they are a None Profit, But they can help you out with all registration information and more.

Good Luck

Originally posted by rej1587
My question is actually registering a company, will I be able to get this done myself without involvement (parental) and all aspects of that.

Since you are already so close to being 18, I would highly recommend that you use this time to research and plan, and wait until you really are 18 before filing the documents to form the company. Once you're 18, you can do everything yourself legally. If you were to jump the gun and do it early, you'd need someone that is over 18 to incorporate the company and sign most documents.

I started a business when I was 16. In order to do so, I had a business partner that was over 18, and appointed my dad as treasurer to sign most legal documents. If was a lot of work to do it that way, and if I were your age (so close to 18), I would just wait it out. Use these next few months wisely.

Originally posted by bqinternet
Since you are already so close to being 18, I would highly recommend that you use this time to research and plan, and wait until you really are 18 before filing the documents to form the company. Once you're 18, you can do everything yourself legally. If you were to jump the gun and do it early, you'd need someone that is over 18 to incorporate the company and sign most documents.

I started a business when I was 16. In order to do so, I had a business partner that was over 18, and appointed my dad as treasurer to sign most legal documents. If was a lot of work to do it that way, and if I were your age (so close to 18), I would just wait it out. Use these next few months wisely.

What you've stated is pretty much my plan. I'm just trying to gather all the information and research. Hence, this post :).

~supremenetworks- thanks for the link.

Still need some help on the other questions, thanks guys.

Originally posted by rej1587
What you've stated is pretty much my plan. I'm just trying to gather all the information and research. Hence, this post :).

If your plan is to wait until you officially hit 18, then yes, you can do everything yourself. You may however want to make friends with an accountant and a lawyer. Regardlesss of your age or the size of your company, having business relationships with those types of folks makes things a lot easier.

No problem

Remeber when you contact them tell them you need help making a strong business plan, and they will help you out in there office no matter if you are 17

Originally posted by bqinternet
If your plan is to wait until you officially hit 18, then yes, you can do everything yourself. You may however want to make friends with an accountant and a lawyer. Regardlesss of your age or the size of your company, having business relationships with those types of folks makes things a lot easier.

Well, my dad used to work for a bank doing small business management and my mom is an accountant :). Don't know about a lawyer, but we can find one. I had just hoped to not get them involved, but it seems inevitable.

Originally posted by rej1587
2. I'd like to setup a website that functions as a host and sells designs.
a. Hosting
They provide free hosting, but then require their ads to appear on the site or the user to post X amount of times on the forums, where ads appear. Is this idea feasable and the sites sucessful?


I would not recommend starting a free host unless you have a solid business plan, experiance with actually making money using advertisments, and a good amount of hosting experiance.


3. What billing system can be used that will support the hosting part (if I decide to have pay accounts too) and the designs part?


I recommend modernbill - It's normally used just for hosting but it can be used to take design orders. What you can do is create multiple "order form" pages (in the admin area). Create a package with 0.00 a month with X amount setup which would function as the price of the design. :)

Modernbill is my fav, though there will be much debate on the issue. :)

Originally posted by VolkNet
I would not recommend starting a free host unless you have a solid business plan, experiance with actually making money using advertisments, and a good amount of hosting experiance.



I recommend modernbill - It's normally used just for hosting but it can be used to take design orders. What you can do is create multiple "order form" pages (in the admin area). Create a package with 0.00 a month with X amount setup which would function as the price of the design. :)

Modernbill is my fav, though there will be much debate on the issue. :)

Alright, thanks. I've been considering going with hostgator for the reselling plan. It's stated that it comes with whmautopilot and I was hoping I could just go ahead and use that?

Yea both are great programs.