Total Tent Rental

So I decided a few weeks ago to throw my hat into the Entrepreneur Arena and start my own business. I thought I might enjoy a Party/Event rental business. The profits seem ok. The work seems easy to understand and do (setting up/delivering/maintaining equipment, paperwork, business general stuff). So I looked at my financial situation (available capital, etc.) and took the plunge.

So to get started I emailed my tax guy. I bounced the idea off of him, and he didn’t (still doesn’t) like the idea. I believe he thinks it’ll be a lot of work for little gain. I believe he thinks it’ll be expensive (it will/might be).

Despite his objections, I decided to power through it anyhow and give it a shot. Maybe I’ll be a success or maybe not. Either way, you can’t hit the sky if you don’t aim for the stars (or, as Skid Row might say, “You can’t be king of the world if you’re slave to the grind”).

Now, for the logistics of (legally) starting a home-based business where I live.

Decatur/DeKalb County Geogia

I live in unincorporated DeKalb County Georgia. This means that I’m not technically in the city limits of Decatur. That’s a good thing because if I did, there would be more legal hoops to jump through.

First off, my tax guy suggested that I begin as a Sole Proprietorship. Later, if it calls for it, I can expand to LLC or Inc. etc…

Now in order to do business in DeKalb County under a Trade Name (like, ‘The Fancy Store’ as opposed to your actual, given/surname) you have to register that Trade Name. You aren’t allowed to register a name that someone else has already registered (imagine the chaos!). So, before you file your application, you are encouraged to visit their office at the courthouse and look through their many, MANY stacks of notebooks, filled with existing Trade Names. In 2024, there’s no digital way to do this, so I took some time off from my 9-5 and drove over (paid to park) and leafed through many MANY notebooks looking for my desired Trade Name.

I didn’t see my name taken (Total Tent Rental), so hooray! I had the application paperwork printed/signed/notarized/scanned and eFiled (that’s a whole nother story for another day).

It was quickly accepted (just about a couple hours) and I had a Trade Name! Woo!

Now according to the county, I have to announce to the world that I plan on doing business under a Trade Name, so in order to pull that off, I have to contact the ‘Legal Organ’ that DeKalb uses to make such announcements. In this case, it’s the DeKalb Champion newspaper.

I emailed the person there that does these types of notices, and attached a copy of my accepted application. I’m waiting for info there.

Next, I had to submit all my paperwork for the actual license to do business in the county (along with the request to allow me to do it from my home).

This consisted of about 6 or so documents, each of which had to be printed/signed/notarized/scanned/uploaded to the ePermitting site that DeKalb uses for such things. I assume I could have filed the physical paperwork somewhere, but what is this, the stone age? Online is the way to go.

I did this leg-work too and the application I made was returned with ‘Notes’. I am unable to decipher these notes (rather, I don’t actually see any notes on the website) so I’ll reach out on phone today and re-submit as soon as I know what the heck they want from me.

This is difficult, and expensive

Upon my drive home, I began to think about who the hell starts small businesses these days. The entire process is difficult (at least cumbersome) and expensive, if you think about it.

A prospective business owner first needs:

1. Several hundred dollars in filing/application/notary/ fees. Hell, I had to pay $6 just to park at the Courthouse
2. Access to a computer/internet access. If I wasn’t able to pour over reams of documents on my personal computer at home in the evenings I feel certain that this process would have taken a lot longer to complete. I would have had to make multiple trips to the Courthouse to acquire documents, and to find a government employee friendly/competent enough to assist me.
3. Of course the Courthouse is only open during standard business hours, so if you have an inflexible job, you need to take time off to do this leg-work (if your employer even allows that). Folks who depend on their daily paycheck would have financial difficulties doing this. Especially if it takes multiple trips (and they don’t have internet/computer access at home, or even dependable transportation. I love MARTA but gah, it’s a chore).
4. Guidance. I have a pretty good tax guy who has several business clients. He’s got good advice, but it comes at the price of $125/hour. Not everyone can afford this type of guidance/service. This of course doesn’t include the Legal guidance I’ll eventually need to draw up my Terms Of Service/Rental Agreements/Other docs. In my experience, this type of work is also pretty expensive.

Then, once you’ve gotten yourself legal, you’ll need to buy:

1. Insurance. In my chosen field, I’ll probably need Liability and Inland Marine insurance. This could set me back several thousand annually.
2. Equipment. I’ll probably have to spend ~$7 – 10 thousand dollars to get started with equipment.
3. Website/Social Media/Marketing. These tie back into the computer stuff I mentioned above. Luckily, I’m a software developer by day, so I have the website/social media stuff down. But, I don’t know crap about marketing, so I’ll probably have to outsource that and pay for it.

I guess what I’m trying to say here is, I started a business. It’s a somewhat complicated process and I can’t wait to get started!