Debating on perusing online business? Need Feedback

Hello, I am the owner of Sofa Creations. We have 3 retail locations in San Francisco bay area. We sell custom sofas that are made in California. All our models can be made to any measurement down to the inch. And all models are made within 10 days. Plus they come with a 7 year warranty. We do well because of our quick turnaround time and because our models are made down to the inch at affordable prices.

I don't have my site setup for eCommerce and I never persuaded it because I find it hard to believe someone would spend over a thousand on a sofa they can't sit on but I could be wrong. The other major reason I do not sell online is the shipping costs. Yes I would charge the customer, but what happens if they want to return it. Do I eat the shipping costs both ways? Or say they have to pay to send it back? We have shipped out of state to family or past customers about 7-8 times now with no problems so maybe this is something I should do. Also, I was thinking instead of changing my whole site to eCommerce. At first to have my staff leave comments on social media and blogs to try to offer our sofas to see how it goes. They have a ton of downtime during the week so I was trying to think about ways to keep them busy while also trying to create new business.

Let me know your thoughts. Thanks.

Trade name v.s. business name v.s. trademark

Ok here's goes, I'm in the process of establishing a business within the State of Maryland. My business name is not my name but it's a fully spelled out acronym of three words. It is not fully registered yet. Yet I see information that I also need to specify a trade name. So I guess my question is do I have to specify a trade name or can I just use my business name. My situation is similar to this example below.

I'm registering my business name as...

International Business Machines LLC.

However I will commonly use the following within documents etc...

IBM, L.L.C.

In addition I see that I need to register a trademark. I did some quick search and found that the trademark that I"m intending to use does not exist. So I guess my trademark is simply the logo that I intend to use that represents my business correct?

Thanks

Hello everyone

Hi everyone. My name is Mariana and I'm a freelance SEO consultant helping small to medium businesses increase their Google ranking and get more visits to their website.
I live in Toronto Canada but I travel all over the world. My passion is to travel, and have the freedom to work from where I am. Right now I'm in Europe working from my laptop and enjoying life. Next month I will be in Mexico... As long as I have fast internet it's all good...;)

Just had a post not work

Wrote a moderately long post. Got a message that the post was to short, clicked the back button. The post was erased.

*Market Research Survey*

Hey everyone, my name is Ryan Smith and I'm currently a general manager at a ski shop in N.J. On my spare time I am trying to create a business plan for a specialty music retail shop. I have done most of the number crunching and business planning now I'm filling in the blanks with some market research. I created a 10 question survey most of them are multiple choice if any musicians or music enthusiast will complete it I would greatly appreciate it! I am also looking for feedback and suggestions so please feel free to post! Thank you:cool:

http://ift.tt/1SFh2Bd

Home office IRS Info

I'm in the process of have man to man chats with the IRS.

An interesting comment or two. They are very professional and just doing their job. Guy I'm dealing with a guy who was very pleasant. But he has specific guidelines he needs to adhere to. We still BS'd a little bit about this and that. He was also extremely smart.

One surprising thing: If your a mom, staying at home with a business and a baby you need to care for, if you have a crib or play toys in the office for your kids, it no longer qualifies as an office. You can't write it off. Things change radically if you are working at an office outside your home. Your office needs to be an office exclusively.

And keep good records. He suggested keeping and putting receipts in a 12 slot accordion folder by month. Makes sense.

He also implied 'don't be a dickhead or lie to me or I'll make your life miserable". So if this ever happens to you, be honest, pleasant, and sell yourself.

Just a few details of an unpleasant but professional experience.

Choosing a structure type

Hi all,

My father and I are starting a small contracting/remodeling business and we aren't sure if we should just make it a sole proprietorship or get an LLC. For now it's just the two of us, but we'd eventually like to expand and hire on a few employees.

Any thoughts?