I have my own small pet sitting business. I don’t need a license, there is no pet sitter license in my state.
I doubt there is any kind of blogger/website owner license.
AFAIK licenses are for businesses that affect health and safety, or require a certain level of skill or certification to practice. Barbers, carry-outs, plumbers, therapists, kennels, roofers, caterers, etc
I use my own SSN, you can get a Federal EIN but you don’t have to.
I didn’t have to register my business, but I did register with the state, that way my company name was mine and no other pet sitter in my state could use it. I stopped renewing it a few years ago because I am slowly letting it fade away.
I got a coupon book from the state each year for me to send in my employees’ state tax withholding each quarter but since I had no employees I didn’t have anything to send. Every quarter I’d get a threatening letter from them warning of the 10% penalty on late payments but since 10% of 0 is 0, I ignored them, until they called me and marked my account that I had no employees. There was something about workman’s comp as well but since I have no employees I don’t have to carry that either.
If you ever get big enough that you need to hire help, that is when things get complicated. You have to decide if you want employees or independent contractors, and you have to be really careful with that distinction. The IRS gets a little pissy if you treat your contractors like employees.
When I lived in a different county I had a different home based business and that county required home based businesses to be registered. Mostly all they were concerned with was how many people would be coming to my home and how my business would affect traffic and parking. There were a few questions about how much of my house would be dedicated to the business and how much product I would be storing on the property. I think they wanted to do a home inspection, but then decided it wasn’t worth coming out. All I was using was a phone and a file cabinet.
Really, I think all they are concerned with is how your business is going to affect the neighborhood. I know people who run tupperware or avon businesses out of their homes and even with the weekly deliveries they never have any problems. The woman who ran an escort business did, too many people coming and going at all hours. If you are not doing anything to disturb the neighbors, nobody is going to know what is going on.
If your friends’ blogs/websites are their business they may want to deduct what they pay you as a business expense, in which case they will want to give you a 1099. If they don’t offer then don’t ask.
If you want to keep this money separate, when you open a new checking account don’t go for a business account, they charge you for everything. Get one in your name with DBA (doing business as) your business name. Banks won’t let you deposit checks made out to a business name into your personal account, but unless or until you get big just have people make the checks out to you.
If you are dealing with friends I wouldn’t worry about it, but if you get to where you are dealing with ‘clients’ you may want to look into some type of liability insurance in the event you cause a site to crash or something. I don’t know enough about what you are doing if that is even something to worry about though.
I have never used any kind of contract, some pet sitters do, but a lawyer client told me keep it simple. If you get bigger that is something else to think about.
If I were you, I’d just keep my mouth shut and do what you do unless or until you have so much work that you want to make it a business. Keep it as simple as possible for now. Good luck and have fun!
Oh, and I forget what the IRS rules are, but you have to show a profit I think in the first 3 years and so many years out of the first 7? years. If not, your business becomes a hobby and you lose all your business deductions for some of the past years.
I never had to worry about that part, but I had friends who bred horses who did.