Minnesota newbie needing advice

[coffeejunkie]

Hey~ I recently bought a Nikon D3100, my first dslr about 4 months ago! Yay for me! I have posted pics on fb of my son and other stuff *slowly building my portfolio* and now I have people asking me to do pics of them and their kids. I do not have a business name registered through the state, I just use my full legal name as my watermark. I guess what i'm trying to ask is what are my "legal" dos and donts as far as: can I charge customers for prints? can I legally charge a customer for anything? Do i have to have insurance incase of someone getting hurt on one of my props? If i do make a small profit off a customer/s, do i have to do anything involving taxes? Can I legally have my own small little photography business without getting too involved in the legal stuff right now? I do eventually want to have my own business, not now, I am just trying to build my portfolio, but I dont want to sell myself short either..Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated! sorry for the question bomb!

[zona5101]

Originally Posted by coffeejunkie

1) I do not have a business name registered through the state,
2)can I charge customers for prints?
3)can I legally charge a customer for anything?
4)Do i have to have insurance incase of someone getting hurt on one of my props?
5) If i do make a small profit off a customer/s, do i have to do anything involving taxes? 6)Can I legally have my own small little photography business without getting too involved in the legal stuff right now:

lots of questions - best answered by a lawyer or your accountant... in the meantime my perspective:
1) You don't need a registered business name, you'd operate as you
2) Yes
3)Yes
4)good idea otherwise they could come after you and your personal assets (and they can anyway but hopefully you have enough insurance to satisfy their claims.) Also when you start charging $$ for your work, your gear is no longer covered by your homeowners policy - you would need a separate policy to insure it as business equipment
5) Of course you would have to report income but you get to deduct expenses
6) Yes but obviously the bigger you get the more risk you expose yourself too. Business structure and insurance can help mitigate some risk...but not all.

oh, and your biggest protection is a contract with your client!

[mshockley]

+1 Agreed with everything Bruce has said.

Look online at your State Website, they are usually chock full of info for small business'. I am pretty sure as far as taxes there is a dollar amount that you can "earn" and still be considered a "hobby", which may help you proceed from here also. And of course, remember to keep track of ALL your expenses!

Using your legal name, at least in the state of Iowa is a good thing for you also, as here we then do not need any sort of different license for using a Trade Name. I'd guess it's a similiar situation for you and you should find that on your County Website.