Entrepreneurship & Small Business

Want to get my business going again, where to start..?

  • Last Updated:
  • Dec 23rd, 2019 7:30 pm
Deal Guru
Aug 14, 2007
12807 posts
3837 upvotes
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Want to get my business going again, where to start..?

So, getting back into game console repairs (which will also at some point turn into other board repairs, ie, on phones).

For a website, I know a guy in the US that is going to help me out, so he'd probably know a good answer to my next question but since it has been quite a few years since I had a website, I know that GoDaddy is pretty much hated all around so does anyone have any suggestions for a web host as well as one (or another business) to register a .ca and .come domain? I don't care if it's a Canadian company in the end or not but would prefer to support a Canadian business if I can (if they're good).

As for registering a business, no idea how but I'm sure I can figure all of that out on my own.

I could probably figure out all of it on my own but would just like some input on what you all think here.

Thanks for any help/advice.

Seems like there is high demand for repairs as I've done about 6 jobs so far in about 2 weeks, which paid for the soldering station and heat station so hopefully it keeps going and going.


Also, every once in awhile I see promotions for business banking, etc. I know nothing about business banking accounts and have no idea what the point is vs a regular set of accounts. Could anyone enlighten me on any of that?

Lastly (Sorry I know this is kind of all over the place). How does one accept credit cards like many online stores/sites offer? Obviously I can use paypal however I don't want anything to do with that company for good reasons (I got ripped off a very long time ago and they did nothing in any way to help me as a buyer (long story short, got ripped off for $1100, they said their buyer protection policy helped me by getting me $4 back from their account. And that was that... I got the money back via other methods but in the end you can easily see why I want nothing to do with them). Methods of payment I will accept are EMT, Bitcoin, and credit cards if possible as I will be selling products as well.
7 replies
Deal Addict
Feb 16, 2018
1292 posts
1311 upvotes
For registering a business you need a Master Business Licence. I think it's $90 (can't remember) and it's good for 5 years. You will need this to open various things like a business bank account. Some vendors may require it etc etc. Some payroll companies will require it if you are planning on having staff and doing epay with your employees. Our payroll company required us to update the file last week and we needed to provide a copy to them so we could continue to pay our staff via epay

If you are not incorporated business bank accounts are not necessary and are just a money sink for a small business. They are quite costly to use if you are doing any decent volume.
I don't know how much this will help you as it looks like you are focusing online and some of this may not be applicable but it may if you ever decide to go with a brick and mortar store.

Have you considered a flea market setup on weekends to drum up business?
Deal Guru
Aug 14, 2007
12807 posts
3837 upvotes
--
HghSsociety wrote: For registering a business you need a Master Business Licence. I think it's $90 (can't remember) and it's good for 5 years. You will need this to open various things like a business bank account. Some vendors may require it etc etc. Some payroll companies will require it if you are planning on having staff and doing epay with your employees. Our payroll company required us to update the file last week and we needed to provide a copy to them so we could continue to pay our staff via epay

If you are not incorporated business bank accounts are not necessary and are just a money sink for a small business. They are quite costly to use if you are doing any decent volume.
I don't know how much this will help you as it looks like you are focusing online and some of this may not be applicable but it may if you ever decide to go with a brick and mortar store.

Have you considered a flea market setup on weekends to drum up business?
Thanks. For now and the foreseeable future it will only be me.

As for a flea market thing no, I work full time and do this as a side thing but am now realizing there's quite a few customers I've already gotten so it will stay as a home based business.

Thanks for that info especially about the banking.
Deal Addict
Feb 22, 2007
2268 posts
373 upvotes
Toronto
1) Business Registration: https://www.ontario.ca/page/register-bu ... artnership

I believe I paid $60 to register. Most banks offer $5 monthly fee for business banking and go upto $100+ per month

2) Website design: You can do it yourself. This video is pretty good

3) Payment processing: https://squareup.com/ca/en EMT would probably be the cheapest route, if you're only dealing with Canadians. However people might find it sketchy. There is an EMT option for WordPress.
Deal Fanatic
Sep 23, 2007
5654 posts
2168 upvotes
How much revenue you expect? If you are just going around the community and taking payment by cash, you can probably get away without filing any taxes.

If you want to formalize the process, then incorporate. Then register for a business number with the CRA. If you expect over $30k in sales, you should collect HST. CRA has numerous pages on their website detailing your filing and payment deadlines. If you don't want to become familiar yourself, you're looking at hiring an accountant to manage this which will obviously cut into your profit.

Home office sounds about right for this business. You need a website for what? To attract customers not within driving distance? They can mail you the part, you repair, and you mail it back? I think a lot of people would not trust to send their parts long distance. People would generally prefer a local repair guy, often found via word of mouth or a google search. But to maintain a website is not a terribly expensive adventure so go for it.

For business bank account, the cheapest one for small business is probably RBC. $6 a month last I checked. But this is a base fee only. Easily goes over if you use a lot. Book an appointment and bring your incorporation documents. Pretty easy to do.

You should check your provincial and municipality regulations. In Ontario, I've had to register for a trade name. I forgot if it was Ontario or Toronto but I think you need a master business license.

For payment processing, just google search it and explore your options. Though for small sales volumes, I think it is not worth it to accept credit/debit. You're losing 1-2% upfront to merchant fees.

If you don't think anyone will sue you, consider just starting out as a sole proprietorship. There is no requirement that you must incorporate to run a business. If your sales is small, incorporation seems like a colossal waste of effort. CRA's filing requirement is that business and personal transactions should be separated but as long as you meet documentation requirements and the expenses can be justified as legitimately business related, you can still deduct. Of course, it's always cleaner to open a separate bank account for your business.

As an example, many real estate agents don't incorporate. They simply add their commission income to their tax return. Many will remit the HST collected.
Banned
Dec 17, 2019
1 posts
Informative post. Thanks all for your responses. It's useful for me.
Member
Feb 23, 2015
376 posts
21 upvotes
Mississauga, ON
I spent only $200 for incorporation.
Then I spent $60 for Master Business License (MBL)

You can choose between federal and provincial incorporation. Choosing which is the way to go is not only difficult but the benefits of each are so ambiguous that people giving their opinions on this matter may actually not know what they are talking about.
Not knowing which way to go I took the cheaper one, federal as that was only $200.
I automatically got an Ontario Business Number

Then I applied for MBL by going to provincial gov't site.
Deal Fanatic
User avatar
Dec 20, 2004
5603 posts
2005 upvotes
Toronto
If you are starting small I would start off as a sole proprietorship and then move up to a corporation. The government puts out a ton of easy to follow guides on this and you can definitely do it yourself: https://www.canada.ca/en/services/busin ... rtner.html

I get all my .ca domains from https://www.canspace.ca - they also do hosting, and are here in Canada.

Great summary of small business bank accounts here: https://www.thebalancesmb.com/small-bus ... ts-2947916. One thing to note is that banks are pretty aggressive with business banking - if you walk in to your local branch they may be able to offer you a hefty discount (ie 6-12 months free).

PayPal is definitely the easiest way to accept cards. But if you want to accept cards in person, and want the best rates, you may want to try https://www.costcopaymentprocessing.ca/ - they have excellent (and no haggle) rates and you don't actually have to be a Costco member to get started with them.

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