[Hidden-tech] Starting my own small Business Website

[Robert Heller]

At Mon, 20 Dec 2021 09:58:26 -0500 Peter S <psienk.ext at gmail.com> wrote:

> 
> Hello Hidden Techers,
> 
> I want to apologize up front for what is a serious 'newbie' question.. 
> but I was hoping to draw from your collective wisdom, if possible.
> 
> I've built a small website that essentially aggregates all of my home 
> utility data (from the various utility websites) into one dashboard.  
> It's been a personal project of mine for the past few years, written in 
> Django, that I've essentially developed/hosted on my home Linux server.  
> Its written to be scalable, so that it works for any US State/City, 
> assuming the web crawlers were written for the utility web sites.  I see 
> this as a hobby venture (that could grow to be more).
> 
> I'd like to go live with it, and make it available to some of my 
> friends/family, if they were interested in using it.
> 
> While I've been buttoning up things from a security perspective, I've 
> also been researching the associated costs of actually running a website.
> 
> Specifically:
> 
>  1. Purchasing/Sustaining a domain name via Namecheap
>  2. Web hosting (maybe multiple nodes... one for main Django app, one
>     for Redis Queue workers, one for Splash Javascript rendering
>     support) via Digital Ocean, Heroku, or AWS.

    You probably don't need/want multiple hosts for something small. 
    (Avoid Digital Ocean.)

>  3. Email Hosting..

    Some web hosting services include Virtual Email forwarding.

>  4. (Possibly) SSL Certificate purchase

    Some web hosting services include the SSL Certificate (Deepwoods Software 
    does) at no extra cost.

>  5. More?
> 
> I haven't yet decided on which hosting services etc to use (multiple 
> topics for other conversations).  My assumption is that in the short 
> (and most likely long term) this won't turn a profit, and would just be 
> a small money hole.

    Google Adsense can be used to bring in a little money to cover costs.

> 
> I thought it might make sense to at least capture these costs under some 
> sort of 'small business' umbrella.  My naive hope is that maybe it would 
> have positive tax implications.

    Sure.  If the business is a net loss, it becomes a deducting from your 
    gross income and possible hold you to a lower tax bracket.  Since these 
    costs are fairly small, it is not going to have a huge impact.

> 
> I've never started a business of any kind before.
> 
> So.. what do I need to do?  I need to get an EIN from the IRS. I've 
> heard an LLC may be more than I need.  What would be your suggested 
> approach?

If this is a one-man operation, you just need to visit your Town Clerk and get
a "Business License". You may or may not want to come up with a catchy name
for your business. ("Peter's Utilities" ?) You don't need an EIN, unless you
plan on hiring employees (eg have a payroll and deal with W2 forms, etc.). A
"sole-propriator" business can just use your individual SSN as your business
tax id, both on your 1040 Schedule C and for things like Sales Tax -- you only
need to get a Sales Tax id, etc. if you are selling *physical* items -- eg
t-shirts or some such.

There is little reason to bother incorperating, unless you have multiple 
principals.  

> 
> Thanks in advance for your time and wisdom (and patience for my newbie 
> question),
> 
> ~Peter
> 
> 
> 
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-- 
Robert Heller             -- Cell: 413-658-7953 GV: 978-633-5364
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