Business registration laws change from state to state, so it may be smart to check out your state website, or make a phone call to your city hall and explain your situation, they should be glad to help you.

If you were to run the business by yourself, you could register as a sole proprietorship down at your city hall and get your business license (usually around $65 a year). If you are going to have actual employees, that is a whole nother deal. Then your talking benefits, taxes on your employees wages, etc, etc, its a lot more complicated, and requires a couple more forms, some of which need to be aquired from your state government.

Again, if running the biz by yourself, you need a Ficticious Name statement (that is unless you want to name your company "Joe Smith Design"), available at either your county clerks office or sometimes your local newspaper as well (the newspaper has to announce that you are doing business under a different name than your own). This is usually around $20 and a one time fee.

As for your staff members, the easiest way to do things is to just call them contractors. That way your not liable for them, their payments, blah blah blah, and you can simply pay them under the table.

Registering your business is a valuable step in becoming established and recognized, which is more important on a local level. Joining the Chamber of Commerce in your area can also be a great business move, because the chamber loves to network, and if you dont have much competition, your sales can pick up very rapidly.

If you have any more questions let me know, but I would suggest registering as a sole proprietorship as I described. Hope this helps.

Also guys, I believe the law in california at least is that if you make somewhere around 500 a month on a non-business venture, it is considered to be a business after that point, and you need to pay taxes. If your a registered company, you pay taxes as long as you dont file for a loss (losing more money than you made = not good )

...one last addition. if you go into business for yourself, you can be any age. the laws simply prohibit the hiring of kids under 14, and from 14-16 usually you need a work permit. there is no law that says a 12 year old can not own a company as far as I know, but whether they would be able to do it well is the other question.

-kevin