Hey small business owners, I have some questions, need some direction (Oregon)

[SZEWZE]

My wife is starting up a small alternative healthcare type business in a few months. She will be the sole employee. We have enough capital set aside to cover the initial expenses (equipment, office lease, etc..) so there will be NO business loan. Registration with the state is done. Insurance is in the works. It'll be an LLC. She will sublet office space from an associate that operates a business in a field that should create referrals. Office space rental will be well within our initial budget. I can't begin recall all the things we have to discussed to try and get off on the right foot, but that should cover the basics.

Anything to throw my way to help make for a smoother start?

Phone service - Does using Google Voice as a business phone number make any sense? She would generate a standard 10-digit Google Voice telephone number and the calls will come to whichever phone number she chooses (most likely her cell phone). Or is a dedicated land line more appropriate? I suspect she'll be doing little if any faxing. Or would adding another cell phone to our Verizon family plan be a better option? It would only be an extra $10/month and I wouldn't need to increase the minutes. I'm not concerned about about $120/year tax deduction for the telephone business expense.

I'm not sure I understand this one. Someone suggested buying the equipment out of our personal account and leasing it to the business. The reason was to keep the equipment safe from legal action if that were ever to happen. I would only be able to write off the lease expense therefore losing my ability to write off the purchase as business related. I would also have to claim a profit on my personal income tax for the rental of the equipment. I'm not sure I want to go this route unless someone can tell me something I'm seriously overlooking.

It'll be a general health type business, not some hipster herbal place you find in Portland. And my wife has agreed to continue to shave her legs, forever --- it was the only way I was going to agree to the deal

Thanks guys. Keep em' center mass!

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[byronnlunz]

Phone service - Does using Google Voice as a business phone number make any sense? She would generate a standard 10-digit Google Voice telephone number and the calls will come to whichever phone number she chooses (most likely her cell phone). Or is a dedicated land line more appropriate? I suspect she'll be doing little if any faxing. Or would adding another cell phone to our Verizon family plan be a better option? It would only be an extra $10/month and I wouldn't need to increase the minutes. I'm not concerned about about $120/year tax deduction for the telephone business expense.

I've been using a Google Voice number as my business number for over a year with no problems. I don't get too many calls but it's been working great for me, including using their voicemail on my Android smart phone. One nice thing is that you can forward to TWO (or more?) phones at the same time. Pick one up and the other stops ringing. So mine forwards to both my home line and my cell - except forwarding to the home line is disabled from 11PM to 7AM so oddball calls don't wake us up. Starting out with a GV number, you can always switch to a different number later, having your old GV number forward to the new number. Frankly I doubt you'll change once you find out how well the GV number works.

 

[SZEWZE]

Frankly I doubt you'll change once you find out how well the GV number works.

Thanks for this info. We are looking to save money wherever we can and this just might be the ticket.

 

[talntid]

Phone service, I recommend using VOIP, and a free PBX called Asterisk or Trixbox. You can find someone on craigslist to configure it. It can do everything google voice does, and also give you automated prompts like "Thank you for calling..." etc..

For the equipment, it depends on the cost of the equip. It may make sense to start another business, too, that leases the equip to the first business. That protects both businesses, and your personal finances in case of anything.

My biggest piece of advice, is keep IMMACULATE records. If you are going to use QuickBooks, begin now. Make fake transactions, etc. Learn how to set up QB the proper way. Or, do it somehow else. Either way, keep good records.

You will need to make sute you set aside the governments part of the pie. Don't forget to pay them.

 

[byronnlunz]

Thanks for this info. We are looking to save money wherever we can and this just might be the ticket.

One last comment: Use GV to also make calls whenever you can. Otherwise if you call someone directly from your cellphone or land line, they often then save that number and subsequently start calling you directly, bypassing your GV number.

 

[SZEWZE]

Thank you both for the input. I'm a W-2 type of person, my wife is the entrepreneur. The entrepreneur has an easier time adapting than a lifelong W-2 wage earner, every bit of info helps me stomach a change in the family schematics.