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It depends on what and how you structure your business - ie, sole proprietorship, S/C corporation, LLP, LLC, etc. Regardless of the company/business structure, you must file papers with the appropriate authorities. It also depends on what state you are in because the licenses vary depending on state to state, but you'll need to look at:
1) California Small Business Guide | Business.gov
This is the best place to start (assuming you are in California) as it outlines everything you'll need to get started here. If you follow the link, they'll list EVERYTHING out - tax, EDD, business license, workers comp, environmental agencies, etc.
2) You'll have to check if there are any governing agencies specific to your product. For example if you open a restaurant, you'll have to check if you want an alcoholic beverage license, health and safety inspection, etc.
3) Insurance - super important and I can't stress that enough.
4) This ties in with #2, but you have to check whether or not there are laws governing making lotions out of your home or if there are any equipment that is needed. You also have to check whether or not there are HOA or local governance that allows specific types of work to be done out of your home or not. For example, you can't create a auto repair business out of your home and have customers come by or create a restaurant and have customers come by due to local zoning laws and health and safety regulations.
Other than that, that first link will pretty much provide you with everything you'll need to get filed and started.
In addition to all of the business licenses and sales tax license (state, city, county) that may be required ...
Don't forget to check if your home based business is legal in the residential zoning you live in. You may find that only certain businesses are legal in your area, and manufacturing may not be one of them. Additionally, if you live in an area with covenants, they may also prohibit your business. Many of these laws/covenants may seem broadly restrictive and make no sense, but they were typically written in broad terms with the specific intent to keep home based businesses out of the residential area.
With personal care products as your business, pay particular attention to compliance with ingredient lists, testing of the products for adverse reactions, and labeling of ingredients. What type of quality controls/testing willl you have on your raw goods? I know that's kind of basic ... but consider that raw goods may/may not be what they are supposed to be. For example, if you were to use honey in your formulations ... did you know that a primary source of honey in the USA today is from China? Did you know that the Feds have found a lot of contaminated honey coming into the USA, but a lot of it has gotten past their inspections? What about your source for various oils? What if the company also handles peanuts, for example ... and has a minute cross-contamination of another oil which you use? What about your sources for herbs if that's what you're using? Do you know enough about the chemistry of your product to know what it's shelf life and storage requirements are? Do you know what might need to be added to stabilize your product so it doesn't go rancid or spoil?
With personal care products and potential adverse reactions from people, it's advisable to have business/product liability insurance ... and lots of it.
I've seen a number of people go into this business with what appear to be commonly available "natural" and "herbal" product formulations without a clue as to what they were offerring the public ... thinking that they were creating something that was better and more natural than the commercial products. In reality, they didn't know what they were selling, and got caught short when a customer had an adverse reaction to an ingredient or a trace contaminant. Some of them didn't have proper batch controls, mixing equipment, or packaging equipment to meet basic quality controls for consumer personal care items .... there's a lot more to this business than simply stirring up some ingredients and putting them in to a nice looking container with an attractive label and peddling the merits and benefits you think you've created ....
My wife gets catalogues from a number of "natural" suppliers and she, too, makes everything from soap to lotions to shampoo, but just for our own consumption. I wouldn't consider having her sell this to anybody ... even though she has formulations for our mild "goat's milk" soap from our own goats which she likes to use and don't irritate her skin, we really have no way of knowing and haven't tested this to a level where I'd want to take the risk to sell the product.
Wait . . . I thought the USA was the bastion of free enterprise, the shining beacon, kept lit by the spilled blood of thousands of brave soldiers. What do you mean, license to start a business?
Wait . . . I thought the USA was the bastion of free enterprise, the shining beacon, kept lit by the spilled blood of thousands of brave soldiers. What do you mean, license to start a business?
This is the business forum, not the politics forum.
Since you doing lotion, you might need a certificate or license just to sell.
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