Starting Small Business From Home, What Do I Need To Know?

[natnat150880]

I'm going to be publishing a small magazine which I will distribute to around 2000 homes in my local area.  Can anyone point me in the right direction of where to start??  Do I need to register myself as a company?  Register myself as self employed?  Get insurance?  Anything else??  I thought it would be ok to do nothing for the first few months to see if it's actually a success...what do you think?

[nke]

Certainly the tax man will be miffed if you don't inform him that you have become self employed.  Banks and government sites offer a lot of info to starter businesses - and some LEAs run courses.

[Didwot]

You do not have to register business as a limited company, but the main advantage of doing so is that if you project fails then you are not personally liable for the debts of the business, unless you did not tell your creditors that it was the company they were dealing with, or unless you gave personal guarantees to creditors. If you form a limited company the tax man will write to youi as if by magic!
Insurance is compulsory for employers, and highly recommended for most busiiness activities. Yoiu will need a bank account. a trading name which can be youir name if you wish, you will need to think about ordering stationary etc.
A circulation of 2000 seems tiny. You will presumably be using the services of a commercial printer, and will find that print runs of many times that do not cost much more, and the greater the circulation the more ads you can pull in, and the more you can charge for them.
Your local chamber of commerce may have a scheme whereby start up businesses can get some free advice.