EmpireSheets

Course

Start a Business in Canada

The decisions the government cannot make for you: what to build, what to call it, what to charge, how to get paid, and where the money comes from. Canada edition, September 2026.

6 modules · 23 lessons

Read the first lesson freeGet the course, CA$149.00

  1. 1.What are you actually building?

    The four decisions that are hard to reverse, made in the right order and for the right reasons.

    • Do I need to register anything to start?Probably less than you think, and the honest answer has one part this course will not guess at.free
    • Sole proprietor or corporation, for me?Four factors decide it. Only one of them is tax, and it is rarely the one that should decide it first.3 checks
    • Should I register now or wait?Waiting is usually cheaper and occasionally very expensive. Here is the line between them.3 checks
    • What am I actually selling?One sentence a stranger can repeat. Until you have it, everything downstream is harder than it needs to be.3 checks

  2. 2.The name, and being taken seriously

    What the name has to survive, and what actually signals competence when you are one person.

    • How do I pick a name I will not regret?Three constraints, and one trap that catches almost everybody.3 checks
    • What does branding actually mean for one person?Not a logo. A promise you keep the same way twice, which is the only thing at this size that compounds.3 checks
    • What is the minimum I need to look real?A short list that matters, and a long list that does not. Most people build the long one.3 checks

  3. 3.What to charge

    The floor below which you are paying to work, how to structure a price, and the words for raising one.

    • What should I actually charge?Start from the floor, not from what other people charge. The floor is arithmetic and nobody can argue with it.3 checks
    • Hourly or fixed price?Hourly puts a ceiling on a solo business. Fixed price puts the risk on you. Both are fine, for different work.3 checks
    • How do I raise a price without losing the client?Most of the difficulty is in the sentence, not in the number. Here is the sentence.3 checks
    • How do I quote so the scope does not eat me?Scope creep is not a client problem. It is a quote problem, and it is fixable in four lines.3 checks

  4. 4.Getting paid

    The account, the invoice, the chase, and the money that was never yours.

    • Do I need a separate bank account?No law makes you. Do it anyway, in the first week, before there is anything to untangle.3 checks
    • What has to be on an invoice?Two different questions wearing one hat: what the law wants, and what gets you paid.3 checks
    • What do I do when they do not pay?A ladder, with the words at each rung, and the point at which you stop climbing.3 checks
    • How much should I set aside from each payment?A habit, a percentage and a place to put it. The exact rate is not ours to give you.3 checks

  5. 5.Books that survive a year

    The system, not the tax rules. The rules are the other course, and they are linked from here.

    • What is the least bookkeeping I can get away with?Less than an accountant would like, more than you are doing. Here is the floor.3 checks
    • What do I record every week?Ten minutes, the same slot, four things. This is the whole habit.3 checks
    • What happens when a spreadsheet stops coping?Four signals, and the honest cost of moving, which is mostly your time rather than the fee.3 checks
    • I have kept nothing. What now?Recoverable, in a specific order, and most of it is still there whether you realise it or not.3 checks

  6. 6.Money to start and grow

    Whether you need funding at all, which kind you can actually get, and how to filter a list fast.

    • Do I need funding, or three more customers?The question almost nobody asks first, and the one that saves the most time.3 checks
    • Grant, loan or equity: which am I actually eligible for?Three different things, routinely discussed as one. Two of them are usually irrelevant to a sole proprietor.3 checks
    • What does a lender look at with no trading history?Four things, and you can prepare three of them this week.3 checks
    • Where do I look, and what wastes my time?How to filter a programme list in an hour, and the four tells of one that will waste a week.3 checks

This course is for education and planning only. It is not legal, financial, tax or accounting advice, and EmpireSheets is not a regulated adviser. Where it touches a rule it links to the authority rather than restating it, because rules change and a restated rule goes stale quietly. Structure, liability and insurance decisions with real money at stake are worth an hour of a professional's time. Canada edition, September 2026.