Personally, as someone who has worked a home-based online business for the last ten years, I'd avoid anything that you can't easily scale up or any line of business where your working hours define your possible earnings. By this I mean that there will be a physical limit to the number of cookies you can make/pack/ship in any single day and your earnings are limited by this. Conversely, if for example you were to sell cookie-making books as an Amazon affiliate you just need to drive people to your website & Amazon take care of everything else so your potential earnings are unlimited. ---This post was edited to remove a commercial link. Read our discussion policies for more Community best practices.

'I am not sure that you will need any specific lic. or permit if you are selling over the internet.'   AFAIK, you are required to have an entity if you are selling anything. Otherwise it would be tax evasion.

I am not sure about florida - but, you could call a small business development center (SBDC) in your area. They are free to use and should know your state's and local requirements. Or, go directly to the source and call the office of the secretary of state in florida and ask them - I am sure their website has tons of information and contact information.

Hi kristin01, Have you already started your home-based cooking business? Here are just some more resources you may want to look into: Starting a Home-Based Food Production Business: Making Your Culinary Hobby Your Job What’s Cooking? Food Preparation Options for Home-Based Food Businesses Tips for Starting a Food Service Business Feel free to check out our Food Industry Guide as well.

Personally I would recommend Amazon. They literally sell the product for you and all you have to do is ship it when the orders arrive. Once that works and you see what sells best online you concentrate all your energy on those products and open your own store centered around them. And sstill keep the Amazon one and try Ebay too for the same product... Basically dominate the market and google rankings for that one product so that when people search for it they will onliy see your stores and buy only from you. Once you have done that there is no way on earth you should not ba making 2 000$ a month from selling books or cd's or even hair products. If not then look at the competition to see what sells and how to present it. If you are not making good money after a year then this business is not for you.

Anytime you are looking into starting a new business, start with getting inc. or LLC...which will seperate you from the business. The next step is to begin building and establishing business credit which will allow you to get funding in the business name only...learn more at strongbusinesscredit.com to help get you started..Hope this helps...

There's also a related article by JamieD called 'What’s Cooking? Food Preparation Options for Home-Based Food Businesses'

Do i need to get some license to get started.I think it depends on what business are you in. why does my computer keep freezing? Message Edited by NicoleD on 12-03-2009 10:49 AM

If you plan to bake the cookies, you will need to have a commercial kitchen to do so. Your local health department can provide the information you need.

The LLC is more in line with most small business owwners.  It comes at a small cost (depending on the state), and provides a layer of insurance.