Forms are usually available online at your local city government and state government websites. Also check out local free and low cost classes at SCORE. I took a very useful quickbooks class from them. The basic steps are: register your business with your local city or county; obtain a sellers permit from state Board Of Equalization(this will require you to collect sales tax at least for sales within your state so under your easy account turn on sales tax, and you have to follow instructions for reporting and paying sales tax to state); register your fictitious business name and have it published for four weeks (again
instructions are on form); keep records of costs and sales (quickbooks is great for this); report profits or losses on schedule c with your personal income tax. Small business insurance is highly recommended including products liability insurance and general liability insurance. Nolo Press has a useful legal guide for craft businesses but it is largely focused on copyright law. If you hire employees that is a whole other set of laws. This sounds like a lot but taken step by step it is not overwhelming. The forms are reasonably simple for those of us working on our own as sole proprieters (one person running a business on their own). Although I am an attorney this is not offered as individual legal advice because I do not know the details of your business (I have to say that). SCORE and the Small Business Administration are great resources. They offer free mentoring and advice often at your local library. Local and State laws will obviously vary but most are generally similar.
