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A Home Business
Regulated
Industries -
Do You Need a Business License?
by Jeff Cohen
I once knew a guy whose fantastic idea for
a ‘home business’ was to a run poker tournament from his home.
Needless to say, that didn’t last long once the police got
wind of it
If you think you’ve got an idea that can make you big money,
there might be a reason why everyone else isn’t doing it –
and that reason could be related to the law. Many types of
businesses are strictly regulated and controlled by governments.
Gambling
However fun and profitable it might be to put one-armed bandits
(slot machines) in your house, run a mini card casino or just
invite the local old people over to play bingo, it’s almost
certainly illegal without a license. Gambling is an industry
that’s almost always strictly controlled – it might be fine
to gamble privately with your friends (or, depending on where
you live, it might not be), but as soon as you start running
it as a business you’re on very dodgy ground. You’ll also find
that most places have laws against for-profit lotteries – sorry.
Applying for a license to turn your home into a gambling premise
is unlikely to succeed. If you wonder why, consider what would
happen if people in your area could do that. It would get ugly
fast.
Alcohol
Yes, it seems odd to some people that you need a license to
serve alcohol – after all, you can invite people to your own
home for a drink legally, can’t you? As soon as you start charging
them for those drinks, though, the nature of what you’re doing
changes drastically in the eyes of the law, and you’re going
to need a license. If you don’t get one, then you could be
heading off to jail for quite a while.
Again, you’re going to have trouble getting an alcohol license
for your home, unless you’re holding some kind of special event
there and the drinking is just incidental. Alcohol licenses
are usually subject to appeals from people who live near the
premises being considered, and you can guarantee that your
whole neighborhood is going to turn out to say what a bad idea
it would be.
Medics
If you plan to do anything medical, then you’ll probably need
a license. When I say medical, I mean doctors, dentists, opticians,
and even vets. You might think it’d be fine to turn your home
into an ‘animal hospital’, but you need to be qualified and
licensed. Of course, if you’ve previously been a doctor, dentist,
or whatever, then you shouldn’t have too much trouble getting
licensed to do the same thing from home.
Children
People get jumpy around children, and you’re very unlikely
to be able to look after any as part of your business without
jumping through all sorts of hoops. Just to be a nanny, there
are all sorts of courses to take and regular inspections to
go through. If you ever wondered why there’s a shortage of
small-scale childcare, it’s because it’s so hard to keep within
the rules while making any profit.
Food
If you’re going to sell food, you usually need to register,
for hygiene and safety reasons. Imagine if just anyone could
sell you food, without any checks! For various reasons most
local government agencies are especially strict if you plan
to handle raw meat. It’s usually fine to sell cooked meat,
but raw meat is considered more dangerous. Food licenses aren’t
too hard to get, anyway, provided you have a relevant hygiene
qualification and you’re willing to have your kitchen and products
inspected at regular intervals.
More...
This list is nowhere near exhaustive – it just covers some
of the most common kinds of businesses that people think of.
If you’re planning to do something more unusual, then you really
need to check your local laws.
Should I Bother?
Most home business owners don’t know about the rules that
apply to them, and don’t especially care either. Every day
you operate in a regulated industry without a license, though,
you risk being shut down. It’s only going to take one upset
customer or neighbor to get you into big trouble – so unless
you want to be worrying all the time, make sure you’re properly
licensed for whatever you want to do.
# # # # # SolveYourProblem.com : 2007
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