The Webmaster BUSINESS Masters Course was written for Webmasters who are ready to stop dreaming and | Page 2

about design, business, working
at home, etc. I took classes at the local community college in design and
business. I also made every mistake I could possibly make (honestly, some of
them I repeated two or three times).
As a result, these positive and negative experiences taught me loads of valuable
lessons. I even wrote these lessons down in a book, “Start Your Own Home-
Based Website Design Business.” I am sharing some of them in The
Webmasters BUSINESS Masters Course but there are many more outlined in
the book. (Additional details about the book are available at the end of the
Course.)
I don’t claim to be the world’s greatest expert on this stuff. However, I have been
where you are now and I have found a path that will also take you where you
want to go. I can tell you what to do to get started on the right foot, and better
yet, I can help you stay out of trouble by telling you what not to do.

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So, follow the valuable guidance offered in The Webmaster BUSINESS Masters
Course. Not only will you receive answers to questions you might have, you will
also receive answers to questions that you didn’t know to ask.
As an added bonus, the Course will point you towards an excellent business-
building resource, called Site Build It!. Its comprehensive system of tools will
help you deliver traffic-generating, successful sites (good for your clients’
business) in less time and with a profit (good for your business).
Now that our introductions are finished, let us get on with the Course…

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2. The First Steps
Your own business… sounds impressive, doesn't it? It conjures up visions of
office buildings and row after row of designers producing Web sites while you sit
back and rake in the cash.
Okay. Get your head out of the clouds. The office building is a desk in your
spare bedroom. The rows of designers, nah… it’s just you. It’s time to quit
fooling around. You have a business to run.
There is a lot more to starting a business than just saying, “I want to start a
business.” There are legal requirements, forms, permits, licenses, and fees to
pay.
But before you attack the paperwork, sit down and decide just what it is you want
from your business.
Take some time to think carefully about your new venture and how you will define
“success.” Think about what kind of hours you can put in at home, how hard you
are willing to work, and any other personal factors that might influence your
business decisions…
• Are you looking to make a little money from your Web site design hobby?
• Do you want to generate income in your spare time?
• Would you like to work in the evenings to supplement the income from your
present job?
• Do you want to build a business that will let you work at home full time?
• Are you planning on becoming a major force in the Web site design market?
After you have given your “vision” some sort of framework, talk it over with
someone else or a few people. Don’t skip or rush this exercise. The clearer
your goals are, the stronger your business foundation will be.
Great! At this point, you are ready to establish…
Your Business Structure
A business is considered a legal entity. This means that it has real rights and
real responsibilities as far as the law is concerned. It can…
• Open bank accounts
• Write checks

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• Pay taxes
• Generate income
• Distribute profits
(Generating income and distributing profits -- that’s the good stuff!)
Where you live determines what types of business options are open to you.
Each country has its own set of rules and regulations. These rules can even vary
from one place to another within a given country.
That being said, when you start looking around, you will find that almost every
place has a version of the three basic legal business structures…
• Sole Proprietorships
• Partnerships
• Corporations
Each structure is different from the others and each has its own set of
requirements, advantages, and disadvantages as you will soon see…
1) Sole Proprietorships
A sole proprietorship is a business run by one person.
As a sole proprietor, you will provide products and services under your business
name, but there is no legal distinction between you and the business. All of the
profit from the business goes to you and is taxed as personal income. All
business losses are your personal losses and they come out of your pocket. If
you stop working, the business stops.
In short, you are the business.
To start a sole proprietorship, go to your favorite Search Engine and type in “sole
proprietorship” and the name of your state, municipality, etc. You will find links to
your federal and local regulatory boards.
These government sites will tell you