First, careful read the specifics of the grant award and it’s purpose. I’m not an accountant (you should consult an accountant; financial services), but if you are required to pay any taxes on that grant, you will have to pay em no matter what; likely whomever funded the grant reported that as their own write off. You don’t want to be audited.

If the grant was specially for equipment costs, then you cannot write that off as a business expense (at least as far as I’m aware). Only your income outside of that grant that was used for equipment could be written off.

Now, if the grant was not specified on its purpose, then you might need to prove that the grant money “wasn’t” used on supplies; then you might be able to write it off.

If you’re in the US, and make over $600 in income from something, then it needs to be reported as self employment income(aka sole proprietor). So having already made $2500, you are already in business as far as the IRS is concerned.

Again, I am not an accountant, and you should contact a local financial planning service to consult with them on it. Operating a business that includes grant money for its reported income can be tricky. If it’s incorrectly reported, you could end up being required to pay it back in full, or even with a fine attached. Consult a professional. It will be worth the money to do so.

While you are absolutely encouraged to run whatever kinda business you want and makes you happy, I would recommend (from my own experience) that you start by thinking in an entrepreneurial mindset.

Start with books; can probly find me online or at the library. Biggest thing I see is to “think about a major problem people have and figure out a way to solve that problem.”

If I’m being honest, your business ideas so far sound like they came from youtube business “gurus,” and I would avoid watching videos like that; they’re gimmicky, and not really helpful for you. Instead it just helps to funnel i come to them, and often they never offer any real value.

Like POD for example. It’s incredibly oversaturated, and because of that, it will pose a huge challenge to make it a meaningful income.

Does that mean you shouldn’t try either of your ideas? No! I think you absolutely should. But my point is to make sure you’re getting meaningful information and making sure you have a solid plan to keep revenue flowing.

Don’t be afraid to experiment with different ideas either; by that I mean, when you get asked the inevitable “so, what do you do?,” you can say “I’m experimenting with ……”

Yes! Absolutely dive in! But be smart about it too. Don’t just blow 100k on inventory and then not know how to sell it haha

That’s why you need to do your research; but depending on your business, you may not have a lot of startup costs; like, my business is a production company. I already had the majority of tools and equipment from previous work and schooling, so I had little startup costs; so it was easy to jump on in.

Some more advice: sometimes you need to just do it in order to research and understand how running a business works. So I recommend you start in an “experimental” phase. Give yourself a solid timeline to learn and try things out. Give yourself objectives you want to learn, and then a timeline of when you want to learn it by; what information/experience you want to get from it.

Do your due diligence and market research.

Even if the market is saturated, do it anyway; don’t let the idea of competition prevent you from starting your business. Who cares if there’s millions of independent cafes/bars/toy shops/clothing brands/etc; add one more and give people another option.

BUT

If you want your business to thrive, make sure you do your research; study your intended customers and the market. Get to know your business intimately.

Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. The longer you hesitate, the longer it will take you to achieve your goals; why wait?

Godaddy is garbage; especially from a web developer perspective. Shopify hands down

Why do you need to establish it as an LLC?

You need to understand your state’s tax laws, but in general LLC would be for separating you from any of your assets; otherwise, unless you are making upwards of like 70k in net business income per year, you may not need to file as a LLC.

As for licenses, check your state laws. Depending on your business, and it’s structure, you may be required to obtain necessary licenses. You may need to register your business with your state as well; again check your state laws.

In most cases, there’s really not a whole lot you need to do to establish your business. Most of the time it’s literally just saying “my business is launched!” Once you have any needed licenses, you’re set to start operating.

Honestly, Google is your best resource here; can find most of the answers to your questions by searching there.

Other things you may need to consider: -marketing and advertising -location of operation -overhead and startup costs -if you’re filing as LLC, what kind? How will you pay yourself? -keep track of ALL business transactions -do you need other employees?

8a-1a daily!?

You already need an assistant imo; even a part time one would be helpful.

I also think you should outsource to a weekly housekeeping company; likely wouldn’t be too high a cost and you could avoid cleaning

though I gotta say, that particular behavior is exactly what I expect from all of my superiors. It’s a lesson in leadership imo; don’t ask someone else to do the work you aren’t willing to do yourself.

I know you’re the owner of course, but in regards to managers or supervisors, it just shows your team that you’ve been in their shoes and are working alongside them: not just doling out orders (not that you are!)

My point is I value seeing that so kudos to you :U

But ya, I’d say it would be worth hiring a part time assistant and booking a cleaning service to come in regularly.

As business owner/operator it can be hard for us to juggle many different tasks; our time is valuable too! Delegate whatever you can to other people and give yourself back your time.

For the assistant, setup a firm task list of what you need them to accomplish each day for you. This role should be one that sorta fills in any gaps within your workforce.

Also, not to shove myself into your business, but as someone who has worked in a few assistant roles across various industries, I might offer myself as a temporary virtual assistant (or at least a consultant); in case you need help to figure out your gaps, and advise ways to fill them.

I didn’t think to do this, but this is actually a great model! I think I’ll be adapting it for my own business :3

I’m not a professional but I’m looking for work to improve my portfolio! Op let me know if you’re interested!

Some state laws require it regardless of industry; depends on your work settings.

I’m not sure what’s entailed with furloughing, but perhaps that might be an option you could give them? especially if they’re quality employees.

First, you get what you put in. Put yourself in the employee’s position; how would you want to be treated?

Second, establish your expectations from the interview; reaffirm then upon hiring. This requires keen communication skills, in that, you need to tell people what you want/need them to do. And if this is an entry level position, then you should expect to teach your new employees. On average, It generally takes 30 days to teach a new employee their entire job. It takes another 30 days for familiarity; and finally, after another 30 days is what you can expect employees to be autonomous enough that you don’t need to be constantly supervising. This is of course different from person to person and based on previous experience.

Third, never underestimate people. Just because someone doesn’t have a previous job title that’s exactly the same doesn’t mean they don’t have the same skills needed from other kinds of positions in their history/education. I’ve found that in general, people are teachable; when you set firm expectations of what they’ll need to do, and can successfully get them past the 90 threshold, they are likely to be a solid employee.

For more skilled positions (like anything requiring a specialized education, such as engineering or plumbing), they likely won’t need as much hand holding during the first 90 days; but people cannot read your mind, nor should you expect them to. Give them that 90 days to get acquainted with your business operations and expectations.