How to start a business in Ontario?

Question

Hey everyone.

I was thinking about starting my own photography business. Anyone know how I should go about this?

What process do business owners go through when selecting a name? How do they find out if the name hasn't been already chosen?

Thanks!

*10 points best answer!*

Answer 1

You have a grace period of a few months between starting the business and registering it, so if you want to go ahead and start snapping pictures, certainly you could do that while you sort out the rest of the details.  Registration was $60 when we did it a couple of years ago.

Ontario Business Gateway: http://www.gov.on.ca/ont/portal/!ut/p/.c...

It's a really comprehensive site by the Ontario Government, and it has more information than I could ever post here. Good luck!

Edit: As to name selection, it's a good idea to do a title search (a lawyer can do this) or check the CIPO database http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/app/cipo/trade... for registered marks, but for the most part, names are a free-for-all if they're generic, descriptive, and not too close to an existing name. If you were to call yourself "Creative Photography," for example, that would be available to you and the 354684 other businesses with the same name because it's afforded no protection in the courts. I've always thought that creative businesses which share the name of their founder have carried a little more prestige, so if you went that route then the risk of a conflict is pretty much nil.

Answer 2

Last Saturday's Wall Street Journal had an entire section devoted to your question.  How to get started from scratch.  They had wonderful advice from experts.  You can pay godaddy.com (not my website) to get you started. /