Freelance/self employed?

[edible_hat]

Does anyone on here have any experience being self employed or running their own business? What kind of corporate structure do/did you use? etc.

I'm thinking of starting my own business to develop and sell a few game ideas I've had, and want to hear about other people who have done something similar.

I'm not looking for legal or financial advice (when I'm at that stage I'll go to a lawyer or accountant), just want to hear about people's experiences, positive and negative.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

What kind of game?

My husband and I ran a LARP for 5 years. The plan was the run for 5 years, then evaluate if it was worth continuing.

We made a nice profit. It was not quit your job money, but it was substantial. We decided at the end of 5 years it was not worth continuing as a business. It was fun, though. And absolutely grueling.

We were very into creating various types of games for a while from board games, to RPG, to computer.

Logistically, it was not going to be anything more than weekend money, ever. So we quit.

What kind of thing did you have in mind?

[Mr Yuck]

Does anyone on here have any experience being self employed or running their own business? What kind of corporate structure do/did you use? etc.

I'm thinking of starting my own business to develop and sell a few game ideas I've had, and want to hear about other people who have done something similar.

I'm not looking for legal or financial advice (when I'm at that stage I'll go to a lawyer or accountant), just want to hear about people's experiences, positive and negative.

My wife owns/operates her own recycling company. She operates it as an LLC. Liability for any company related issues then fall on the company, and therefore we can't lose our house in a lawsuit, etc, etc.... (I know you said you didn't want to hear legal stuff, but it kinda goes along with the corporate structure question)

Anyways, she loves owning her own company. She has to bust her ass to always be looking for new customers, make sure people are paying their bills. But at the end of the day, she is the boss, she calls the shots. She loves what she is doing. That's the great thing about owning your own company. Most people start a company doing something they love to do. In my wife's case.....recycle and saving the planet.

[edible_hat]

What kind of game? What kind of thing did you have in mind?

Java games for mobile phones. I've got a few ideas I haven't seen done anywhere yet. So far it's all at the ideas stage, nothing's been programmed or designed yet. Something I can maybe sell through those services where people can download games for $2 a pop. Also I want to keep the intellectual property so I can develop for other platforms later on.

(I know you said you didn't want to hear legal stuff..

I don't mind hearing about legal stuff, just that I wasn't looking for legal advice. Hearing what potential problems people have run into and what they've done to prevent it is always useful.

[JLRodgers]

I've had technically 6 "businesses" that I've run in the past. I say technically as actually I'm doing the same thing throughout, only the name/structure/services have changed lol.

Sadly.... unfortunately (as it's my only income), it's not as profitable as it'd be in a city (ever hear of a town that thinks the web is a fad and all computer things should be free? well I live in one -- and I'm a computer-related thing "mainly").


Anyway.... Originally it was an "unofficial" sole proprietorship thing done under my name (literally, no business name at all -- town/state said not to register it as there was no name). Later it became *my last name computer consulting* (sole proprietorship).... then I completely removed my name from it and it services were increased (2 sole proprietorships -- with checking account and everything!). Then I started a third service! Couldn't get any cash checking places to use for online things as it's considered a "high risk" (online classifieds had a personals section, it was split off to make it family friendly -- then the personals were considered high risk).
Only way to get credit card handling was to be a corporation. Not a LLC, not a LLP, but a Corp/Inc with stock things and all that crap....er... stuff. Guess what? Single person wasn't allowed to have one in my state the time I had looked prior -- and I was the only employee. So..... time passed, they allowed it, so I created a corporation! And it "bought out" the sole proprietorship (they just changed structure really) -- the corporation has assumed names that are the old sole proprietorship, and added a new one. Since each costs $150 every 5 years (ex: $450 every 5 years for 3), the new services are listed as "corporation name -- service" so I'm actually using the corporation as intended now lol.

Of course, how to setup a business depends on a lot of things... for one, there's the tax things. If a corporation has only so many investors, the tax is easier (i.e. not double taxed so much) as if there's more. Technically as the sole owner of stock in my company I have voted my shares of stock to appoint myself as the president of the company so I work for myself and appointed myself. I wouldn't even think of doing my own taxes now. I'm "paid" by the company in a sense, not just "all income is mine".

It's also, technically, more safe and secure as everything I enter for it uses it's FEIN not my SSN (although, some things do require both). Getting a checking account is harder/requires more paperwork (I had to sign like 40 different places for the 4 different accounts [corp, assumed name, assumed name, assumed name -- no account in assumed name = no cashing checks written to the assumed name] -- only two or three times for a personal one).

Also there's the other thing, might depend on location though.... LLC/LLP requires 2 or more people to be the bosses. Corporation doesn't (always).

Sometimes you choose the business structure -- sometimes the business structure chooses you.

[Mr Yuck]

I've had technically 6 "businesses" that I've run in the past. I say technically as actually I'm doing the same thing throughout, only the name/structure/services have changed lol.

Sadly.... unfortunately (as it's my only income), it's not as profitable as it'd be in a city (ever hear of a town that thinks the web is a fad and all computer things should be free? well I live in one -- and I'm a computer-related thing "mainly").


Anyway.... Originally it was an "unofficial" sole proprietorship thing done under my name (literally, no business name at all -- town/state said not to register it as there was no name). Later it became *my last name computer consulting* (sole proprietorship).... then I completely removed my name from it and it services were increased (2 sole proprietorships -- with checking account and everything!). Then I started a third service! Couldn't get any cash checking places to use for online things as it's considered a "high risk" (online classifieds had a personals section, it was split off to make it family friendly -- then the personals were considered high risk).
Only way to get credit card handling was to be a corporation. Not a LLC, not a LLP, but a Corp/Inc with stock things and all that crap....er... stuff. Guess what? Single person wasn't allowed to have one in my state the time I had looked prior -- and I was the only employee. So..... time passed, they allowed it, so I created a corporation! And it "bought out" the sole proprietorship (they just changed structure really) -- the corporation has assumed names that are the old sole proprietorship, and added a new one. Since each costs $150 every 5 years (ex: $450 every 5 years for 3), the new services are listed as "corporation name -- service" so I'm actually using the corporation as intended now lol.

Of course, how to setup a business depends on a lot of things... for one, there's the tax things. If a corporation has only so many investors, the tax is easier (i.e. not double taxed so much) as if there's more. Technically as the sole owner of stock in my company I have voted my shares of stock to appoint myself as the president of the company so I work for myself and appointed myself. I wouldn't even think of doing my own taxes now. I'm "paid" by the company in a sense, not just "all income is mine".

It's also, technically, more safe and secure as everything I enter for it uses it's FEIN not my SSN (although, some things do require both). Getting a checking account is harder/requires more paperwork (I had to sign like 40 different places for the 4 different accounts [corp, assumed name, assumed name, assumed name -- no account in assumed name = no cashing checks written to the assumed name] -- only two or three times for a personal one).

Also there's the other thing, might depend on location though.... LLC/LLP requires 2 or more people to be the bosses. Corporation doesn't (always).

Sometimes you choose the business structure -- sometimes the business structure chooses you.

Yeah, the LLC must be a location thing as you point out. An LLC is how my wife operates, and she IS the sole proprietor.

Also, have to disagree on the credit card thing. She takes payment for services via. check, online-auto withdrawal and online-credit card payment. It did cost her a few bucks to set up the software for auto-withdrawal & credit cards.

[edible_hat]

Yeah, the LLC must be a location thing as you point out. An LLC is how my wife operates, and she IS the sole proprietor.

Also, have to disagree on the credit card thing.

Local laws vary depending on where you are.

[JLRodgers]

Yeah, the LLC must be a location thing as you point out. An LLC is how my wife operates, and she IS the sole proprietor.

Also, have to disagree on the credit card thing. She takes payment for services via. check, online-auto withdrawal and online-credit card payment. It did cost her a few bucks to set up the software for auto-withdrawal & credit cards.

Oh I could get credit card processing for everything as a sole proprietorship even -- but not personals (online "dating" website) it's considered high risk (up there with porn, gambling, etc -- extremely high charge backs listed as the reason). I checked with my local (i.e. local and national) bank chains -- and even they were hesitant for it. They required $500 or more to provide me with an answer (I'd have to fill out an app, pay that much for it to be processed, and see what they said). One even said, "you'll be accepted for normal processing; but doubtful for the other -- if you don't need us for that, don't waste your money". But that's just because it's considered an "adult" website -- they want more security or something as backing, and basically just don't want to deal with it.

For other things, as long as it's legitimate or you can prove you can pay for chargebacks or whatever they want, they'll accept you regardless of the business structure (more or less).

I just mentioned it as I ran into it.

[Luna Baby]

Hubby has a tool and die business as a corporation (S-corp, not C-corp) and has had it for 10 years. He and I are listed as 50% each shareholders and no one else. I am no longer a paid employee even though I still prepare all the quarterly tax forms. I will NOT touch the annual tax reports. Those are a headache with me having only basic accounting knowledge. The best thing about the S-corp is that if for some reason the business goes bankrupt, our personal belongings (house, vehicles, boat, etc) are protected unless it can be proven that he has intentionally misused the company money to cause the bankruptcy. And that's not gonna happen.

I would suggest you meet with a CPA and discuss the pros and cons of each type of structure for the type of business you desire to operate. They would be best to advise you of the way to go. Good luck to ya.....