Licenses, legalities for your business

Dear Karen: How do I start a small business cleaning offices and showrooms?

Answer: Here’s a start-up checklist, courtesy of business attorney Lee Petillon of Petillon, Hiraide, Loomis & Katz.

Get advice from an accountant and a business attorney about which business entity makes sense for you: sole proprietorship, corporation or limited liability company. Hire the attorney to form the entity or do it yourself using forms supplied by Nolo Press ( www.nolo.com).

Check with the state Department of Consumer Affairs ( www.dca.ca.gov), the city of Los Angeles ( www.lacity.org /finance) and Los Angeles County ( www.lacounty.gov) about business licensing and permits.

Contact the Internal Revenue Service ( www.irs.gov/bus inesses/small/index.html) to get federal tax forms and information. Fill out IRS Form SS-4 to get an employer ID number.

Contact the California Employment Development Department ( www.edd.ca.gov) to get state tax forms.

Open a bank account for your business and make sure that all your revenue and expenses are channeled through it.

Gather numbers to sell a small firm

Dear Karen: I’m selling my small business. What’s the best way to present its value?

Answer: Prepare a spreadsheet showing the numbers from your last three years’ tax returns, with adjustments to add back your salary, depreciation deductions, contributions, interest expense and interest income. “With those adjustments, the spreadsheet will show your discretionary income for each of the last three years,” said Stan Crow, president of S. Crow Collateral Corp.

Next, create a balance sheet that adjusts your assets to fair market value and eliminates liabilities and assets, such as cash and leased equipment, that a buyer will not receive in purchasing your firm.

Take those documents to a professional business appraiser and get an opinion on your company’s value, Crow said. Then work with a qualified business broker to sell your company.

Selling, promoting

your book online

Dear Karen: How can I sell my book on the Internet?

Answer: For your book to be accepted and sold by an online retailer, it must have an International Standard Book Number.

If your book has been published, you’ll already have an ISBN, said Peter Honsberger, president of Cold Tree Press. If you don’t have an ISBN, check with the website isbn.org or Bowker Publisher Services ( www.bowkerpubservices.com), the official U.S. ISBN agency. You’ll need a scannable bar code, which you can get through Fine Line Technologies (www.fine linetech.com).

Talk to a wholesale book distributor such as Baker & Taylor ( www.btol.com) or Ingram ( www.ingrambook.com), Honsberger said. And register with Bowker’s Books in Print, the database most online retailers draw from when they offer books on their sites.

“It is a good idea to create and maintain a website specifically devoted to your book, where you can take orders or direct interested buyers to the online sites that are carrying your book,” Honsberger said. You’ll need to bring consumer attention to your book by promoting it.

Starting a blog, hosting a MySpace page, linking with other authors, participating in literary and genre-specific forums and doing book signings, readings and interviews with local media will draw customers.

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Got a question about running or starting a small enterprise? E-mail it to

ke.klein@latimes.com or mail it to In Box, Los Angeles Times, 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012