Guide:Starting a Business

**Click Here to Go to the Next Guide: "#10 - How the Party System Works" →**

**This is the ninth guide in the series of ten, this guide details how you can open your own business in the Triumvirate, visit the Guide page to view the others**

Starting a business in the Triumvirate is an easy process and this guide is here to help you get started and get running! For further information on how to start a business in the Triumvirate if you are NOT a Triumvirate citizen, see this page.

## Steps

### Step One: Requirements

First make sure you fufill all the requirements to start a business:

* You are a Triumvirate citizen: see citizen records to double-check!
* The business is original, with an original name and service.
* Be sure you have a basic understanding how the economy of the Triumvirate works, that you know how to make transactions, and that you are pretty familar with the Triumvirate in general.

### Step Two: Business Plan

It's not necessarily required but it's always a good idea to have a draft of what your business will do, how it will work, and how you will make money. You need to decide which classification your business falls under before it is registered: this largely depends on what service it will be providing, and what form of ownership it will take. Here is a handy chart of each type of institution:

Generally firms start out as a company or partnership (privately owned, allow you to develop) and move on to become corporate as they get bigger and go public.

### Step Three: Application

It's time to get started on building your business up from the ground. Visit the application page (TDC:Account Registration) an apply for an IOF Account. IOF stands for Institutional Ownership of Finances and it is the account your business will use for transactions. Be sure to follow the instructions on that page so that the information is correct.

Within a few days after you submit the application the Department of Commerce will send you an e-mail stating it has approved your business and then your business will be added to the listing of all accounts (TDC:Spending Accounts). From that point forward you are an official business owner in the Triumvirate!

### Step Four: Building

Create your own page for your business on this wiki, be sure to make the name of your page be the official name for your business that you submitted on your application. The Triumvirate can help you put starting information on that page if you want some help. Start offering your products, services, and other things you are selling and get ready to make some money!

Best of luck!

## Spending With a Business

Spending and recieving money via your business is almost the same as doing it individually. You still use the TDC:Transactions page to do it. If you are the owner of a business you can write the business name/IOF number in the contributing party column, and the funds will be withdrawn from the IOF account rather than your own. To have people buy from your business they should put the business name/IOF number in the recieving column.

If you ever want to pay yourself personally or your employees from your business/IOF account you simply use a transaction check and list the business as the contributing party and you (or whomever you are paying) as the recieving.

You can always ask the Head of Commerce and Industry if you have any questions.

## Further Options

Once you own a business and are participating in the market there are plenty of options for where you go with your business from there:

### Transferring Ownership of Your Business

To transfer ownership of your business to someone else (WARNING: TRANSFERRING A BUSINESS IS PERMANENT) make sure everything is prepared for the transaction of the business to another. After doing so both you (as the current business owner) and whomever you are giving the business to (as the future business owner) must send a letter to the Head of Commerce and Industry. The Department of Commerce will update its records shortly after that is done.

### Dissolving Your Business

To dissolve your business follow these steps (WARNING: DISSOLVING YOUR BUSINESS IS PERMANENT):

1. Transfer all funds out of your IOF account to another account (such as your own personal account). If you do not do this the money in the IOF account will go to the Triumvirate government.
2. Send a letter to the Head of Commerce and Industry asking to have the business dissolved. The Department of Commerce will dissolve it shortly.

**You have finished the guide on starting your own business. Move on to guide #10: Guide:How the Party System Works next to learn more about the Triumvirate**