In the US, anyone can sell good or services and do business without formally registering as a business. You're automatically classified as a sole proprietorship, with your legal name as the business name. But there's no liability protection, since you and the business are the same legal entity. That's where LLC or incorporating comes in, along with lots of other reasons to want to formalize the business as a legal entity.
I have a number of smaller businesses/products that are part of one business entity:
- IT Consulting practice
- Eletronic device business (sells a single product via internet/mail order)
- YouTube channel/blog
- Fledgling SAS product that's not yet launched (consumes money, not makes it)
I live in the US. To incorporate here, you file paperwork with your state. You don't need a lawyer, just send in the filing fee(s) with the completed paperwork. If I remember correctly, fees were somewhere around $100-$200. I have an accountant do my corporate taxes. He charges me $400. I file the sales tax paperwork myself on my state's web site. It's basically: How much do you owe us? And then you pay it. Most eCommerce storefronts keep track of the sales-tax stuff for you so it's easy.
It’s not that bad - make an LLC right now (in most states, it’s a single form to start one), then you have no excuse. Taxes are easy.
You probably don’t even need the LLC, but I like having a bit of a legal umbrella (though chances are, no one is going to sue you unless your project gets big)
do you make a separate LLC for each project?
how much did it cost to launch the business and what does is cost to keep running (lawyers/paperwork/admin)?
i'm scared of starting my own tiny projects, because of all the bureaucracy involved to even get started