State’s Web Site Can Point the Way to Permit, Licensing Information

Q: I will be jobless when my company relocates out of state but will have some funds with which I hope to start my own business. I’m researching four career options and hope you can direct me to a good source of information on what permits and licensing requirements would be required for each.

--Pat Duggins, Stanton

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A: The state of California has a comprehensive Internet listing of local permit and licensing information for small businesses. The Web site [https://www.calgold.ca.gov] covers the entire spectrum from city business licenses, referral to city zoning departments, building and safety requirements, references to the appropriate county recorder’s office for the filing of fictitious business name statements, special occupational licensing requirements, contacts for obtaining state employer identification numbers, state and federal tax filings and, if there’s a belief that the business will require special environmental permits, referrals to the appropriate environmental control agency.

All the information comes with specific local addresses and phone numbers for each city department the entrepreneur needs to contact. If the appropriate application forms are available online, a hotlink to the site where the form is posted is provided.

Visitors to the Web site simply select a business type from a menu, then indicate the California county and city in which the business will be located. The business type selection menu is somewhat limited at this time, but there are listings for the 13 Permit Assistance Centers around the state that can be contacted directly for additional help. We are constantly adding new business types and updated licensing information on the site.

There is no other single source of such comprehensive and detailed assistance. If you’re not online, you can get help by calling the Los Angeles office at (213) 977-7900 for information or referrals.

--Don Johnson, director,

San Fernando Valley Regional

Permit Assistance Center

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Q: I am selling my home and anticipate about $35,000 in capital gains. I’d like to open a small South American restaurant in Lake Forest. Can you give me a breakdown for the expenses required to lease and open a new business?

--Thomas Orozco,

Rancho Santa Margarita

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A: What you need to do is create a mini-business plan that includes a realistic estimate of your start-up and first-year costs, because you’ll need to have deep enough pockets to survive the year that it often takes for a restaurant to become profitable. If you are planning to start a restaurant from scratch, meaning you’d be obtaining a new lease, retrofitting a location, establishing a menu and hiring new staff, I would say you’d need $100,000 minimum.

Just for starters, your costs would include finding and securing a location, leasing equipment or adapting existing equipment to your specifications, purchasing start-up inventory, hiring and training staff, covering payroll, purchasing insurance, marketing, OSHA compliance, licensing and permits.

For $35,000, you might be fortunate enough to make a sweet deal with a restaurant owner who wants out of the business and is willing to have you basically just take over the bills. If you found a suitable location and decided to continue in the same direction the established restaurant is already going in, taking over the existing lease, you might be able to do it. If you’re going to try that, I’d suggest you spend time working at the restaurant first, so you understand the customer demographics and you become convinced there really is a need for this kind of food in this area. Make sure that the price point is appropriate. Analyze traffic flow, lunch business, dinner business and weekend crowds to determine if there’s enough interest in the venture to make it profitable for you.

Join the California Restaurant Assn. [https://www.calrest.org, (800) 765-4842], and attend its convention this month in Los Angeles. The group has start-up resources that will help you devise a format for estimating your costs. Make friends with other restaurant owners in your niche and geographic location and ask them for help in estimating your budgets. But be very careful. It’s a very dangerous thing to be a new restaurateur and be short of money in opening.

--Phyllis Ann Marshall,

restaurant and food consultant,

Food Power, Costa Mesa

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Q: I have been married 12 years to a man who is deaf and have seen firsthand how difficult it is for someone with this disability to obtain employment. Could you recommend reading material on self-employment for the disabled?

--Teresa Leyva-Lajavardi,

Anaheim

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A: The United States currently has more disabled people on the job than ever before, and there are some organizations and resources dedicated to helping people with disabilities thrive as small-business owners. I recommend that you tap into the support and resources available through the Disabled Businesspersons Assn. [https://www.web-link.com/dba/dba.htm, (619) 594-8805]. The group was founded in 1991 and has more than 10,000 members. Another group, the National Rehabilitation Assn., (703) 836-0850, also does some work on self-employment for people with disabilities.

* Check with your local Small Business Development Center, as facilities dedicated to helping people with disabilities are forming across the country. Although only four state-sponsored programs on entrepreneurship exist, in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Iowa and Wisconsin, you should still check with local vocational rehabilitation services for possible upcoming self-employment training programs. You may find some other resources through an advocacy group called BOLD (Businesspeople Overcoming Limitations from Disabilities). Their Web site is https://www.bold-owners.com.

--Kimberly Stansell

(https://www.kimberlystansell.com), author, “Bootstrapper’s Success Secrets: 151 Tactics for Building Your Business on a Shoestring Budget” (Career Press), Los Angeles

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If you have a question about how to start or operate a small business, mail it to Karen E. Klein, Los Angeles Times, 1333 S. Mayflower Ave., Suite 100, Monrovia, CA 91016, or e-mail it to kklein6349@aol.com. Include your name, address and telephone number. This column is designed to answer questions of general interest. It should not be construed as legal advice.