The BC Business Registry is a well-done one-stop-shop for starting businesses in BC.

You can read about all this there, but here’s the short version:

1. Pick a name. You need to pick and reserve a unique name before you actually register. Costs about $40* and takes about a day.
2. Complete your registrations. This is where the real power of an interactive registration form comes in. You fill out a short questionnaire about your business and the site points you to all of the provincial and federal paperwork you need to fill out.
3. Remember that JIT is good enough and most forms can be back-dated. You only need to complete the first step, adding yourself to the business registry, to be “official”. GST, PST, Workers’ Comp., Income Tax, etc. can all be done later, as-needed. Costs about $40* and is done instantly.

Aside from some issues with timeouts and bad SSL certs on the registration site (right organization, wrong domain) I can tell that the site saved me a huge amount of reading and searching (and possible future fines).

Good job BC Government!

So those are the key steps to starting a Sole Proprietorship or Partnership. If you’re incorporating then your lawyer will probably do it all for you.

And yeah: This is a topic they don’t cover in business school.

* Remember to keep your receipts — save the billing confirmation pages. Outlays like this are either straight deductions or can be added to your ECE pool and depreciated at the statutory rates. Check with your Chartered Accountant.