How do you start a web design "company"?

[firegash]

Hi,

Do I have to do anything, like register a company name (copyright and those stuff) in order to start earning money as designing web pages? Basically, I'm a freelance web designer, people can come to my site and see my portfolio, and contact me if they want to hire me. And they'll pay me through PayPal. Something like that.

Thanks for any help in advance!

[DaveSW]

What country are you in? If US, what state?

[Compguy Pete]

Basicly your doing what you have to do already.

The company name this is ONLY really needed if you do a combination of things.

-Use a name other than your own legal name.
-have other people working with or for you.
-If the laws require you to pay taxes for webdesign in your area.

[AdamGundry]

Under UK law at least, the answer is no. You can register as a limited company, but AFAIK it is not required, even for the reasons Compguy Pete mentioned. Of course, registration gives you a certain credibility, and limited liability in case of problems.

Adam

P.S. The laws may be different in the US or elsewhere - this only applies to the UK.

[Compguy Pete]

Thats not even counting local laws...

I know many cities here in the states that require you to have a permit inorder to even operate a home business!

Many times there are places in your area that have free or low cost classes on helping you get started as a business. I suggest looking into one of those.

Not sure where to start.... Most colleges have a business or management department call them for ideas or tips.

[Jona]

I'm guessing this also implies that I must be eighteen or older, and I must have the exclusive company name copyrighted, does it not? Too bad I'm only fourteen... Does this make Computer MasterMinds (http://cmm.sonoracabinets.com/) illegal? (I have never stated once that it was copyrighted on my site, though, and I am unaware of any others using this name, if any exist.)

[J]ona

[AdamGundry]

Copyright applies to works, not names, so that is not a problem (you are probably thinking of trademark legislation). I believe there is no age limit on copyright ownership under the Berne convention (on which UK and US law is based).

I can't advise you on business trading in the US, but in England you do not even have to be 18 to be a company director, though it makes getting a bank account tricky. :rolleyes:

Adam

[zachzach]

first, you learn how to design webpages.lol

[Jona]

Originally posted by zachzach
first, you learn how to design webpages.lol

Does this imply that I do not know how to design Web pages?

[J]ona

[AdamGundry]

Hmm...valid HTML and CSS, probably a WCAG A at least, works in Lynx. What more do you want?

Nice work, Jona.

Adam

[Jona]

Originally posted by AdamGundry
Hmm...valid HTML and CSS, probably a WCAG A at least, works in Lynx. What more do you want?

Nice work, Jona.

Thanks! I'm also working on creating a forum in PHP that is valid HTML, CSS and WCAG compliant, at least level A. Heh, not going to be really easy, but it's coming along well. Right now, though, I am in the process of manual removal of three Trojans! :p How they got there, nobody knows, but at least they're all low-risk worms. I need AV software, 'cause DSL without any protection and no firewall/proxy is not the safest way to surf the Web... lol. (Yes, and I have been that way for more than six months!!)

Wow, we are really getting off-topic... I need to see if I can get my name registered... Actually, I'm thinking about changing it from Computer MasterMinds to something else... Something like FrekDesign or something like that... Hmm, not sure. Any ideas?

[J]ona

[PeOfEo]

Sometimes you have to bend the rules a little when you are doing something with a server side langauge like for instance (this is my big one) if you are outputting a tag and it had an attribute you cant just use a " around the tag so you have to use a ' instead or sometime syou cant even use "s or 's at all and that can cause a site to give the w3c validater some heartburn.

[Jona]

Yes, but in that case sometimes it is better to use ". (Actually, I'm not completely sure that would work, but it should. If it doesn't, you can usually use escape characters for your attributes.)

[J]ona

[pyro]

Originally posted by PeOfEo
...if you are outputting a tag and it had an attribute you cant just use a " around the tag so you have to use a ' instead...You can in PHP, you just need to put a \ before them:

echo "This is a <span style=\"color:red;\">test</span>";

[PeOfEo]

Ill have to look around for an asp.net solution because when you think about it there has to be one, I just remember always having this problem when I used regular vb too. The & quot; thing wont work, it will just dynamically create an & quot; in the source of your page so you will have a " display on the screen but it wont be read like a ".

[firegash]

I'm in California. So is there a permit required here?

Like Jona's website, I can start doing to same thing as him?

Thanks.

[Jona]

Ah, the modern conveniences of using ASP.Net, right, Peo? :D

Firegash, I'd suggest looking around and possibly seeing if there is somewhere nearby that you can talk to someone that would know about such things... Either that, or look for a Government site about it.

[J]ona

[PeOfEo]

Well like all languages / processes there are things I would do differently, but as a whole asp.net is very refined and very logical and I enjoy it, I did not have to do a whole lot of new learning when I picked it up. Not to say that I know it all, I am still learning, Infact I have a msdn webcast on uploading files with asp.net paused right now.

[Jona]

Heh, it was a joke. No language is perfect, and I have a problem with loudly voicing my preference.

[J]ona

[PeOfEo]

I know it was a joke, lol, I have a sence of humor and I can tell sarcasm apart from normal text. I am not blind and or dumb... well maybe a little slow but not dumb!

[Jona]

That wasn't meant as an insult to your intelligence... Perhaps we'd better end this chit-chat before the thread ends up locked and the person who posted it doesn't get the answer he really wanted...

[J]ona

[PeOfEo]

So now your saying I am bad at answering questions the way they are supposed to be answered. I see how it is. Lol, anyways, moving back onto topic.

[Ribeyed]

PeOfEo, PeOfEo, PeOfEo


So now your saying I am bad at answering questions the way they are supposed to be answered.



lmao ;) your posts allways brighten my day, good on you ;)

[PeOfEo]

Lol I am the comic releif... no one takes me seriously around here so why not! As khaki would say... 'The Bathtub Frightens Me'. Lets all spam khaki's email until we can get here to come back to the forums too.

[pyro]

Originally posted by PeOfEo
Lets all spam khaki's email until we can get here to come back to the forums too. http://forums.webdeveloper.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=17782 :D

[PeOfEo]

I doubt she would nuke our smtp servers though... Dont directly conect to her on aim, watch her bust out the netstat and get your ip...

ping youriphere -l 5550 -t