What are the steps I need to take to start a business?
- Choose your business structure: sole proprietor, corporation, partnership, limited partnership, or joint venture
- Select directors, shareholders, employees. Set out resolutions and obtain a shareholders agreement and employment contracts. These are called governance and organization documents.
- Open your bank account and tax accounts and obtain loans and lines of credit.
- Secure your business with commercial contracts: distributor agreements, supply agreements, service agreements, among others.
- Register all tax accounts with government offices. If you run a corporation, you will require three tax accounts: general corporate taxes (RC), GST/HST (RT), and payroll (RP) accounts. Also open a Workplace Safety & Insurance Board (WSIB) account.
- Obtain commercial liability insurance
- Select a trade name, brand name, logo, and social media accounts. Prepare a marketing, advertising plan and budget.
