I want to repeat my cautions regarding checking your zoning. Many people see illegal businesses sprout up in residential neighborhoods all the time. So the impression may be that you can set up any kind of business in your home. Not so. It is true that you can engage in many business activities from your home in San Antonio without running afoul of the law. It is also true that some things will get you in trouble.

You can certainly get into trouble if you erect business signs that do not comply with the City Code. The Code is somewhat complicated. But there are limits on the size and location of most commercial signs. That restriction is especially true on business signs in residentially zoned neighborhoods.

Other areas where you will draw the ire of your neighbors and possible interest from the Code Compliance Department is having employees work in your home, customer visits and parking. Although it may be permissible to conduct a home-based business, you may not be allowed to have employees on duty in your house. You should be very careful about required off-street parking requirements that can’t be met under your residential zoning.

If you want to dig into this a little deeper you can visit the City of San Antonio’s Webpage. You will be interested in the Sign provisions that are found in Chapters 28 and 35 of the Code. Most of the City Code can be found at the link found at the website maintained by the Municipal Code Corporation.

However, you will not presently find at that location is the most recent version of Chapter 35. Chapter 35 contains most of the platting and zoning requirements. The explanation why it isn’t posted in the usual place would make this article way too long. However, the San Antonio Department of Development Services has posted a copy of the Chapter on the city website. It is in Adobe Acrobat format so you will need the free Acrobat Reader software.  Find the planning and zoning information you need to decide if you can conduct your business out of your home. (If you have questions about ordinances in other cities, you can check the company’s excellent website to see if it has a web version of the local ordinances.)

The Help.com course did include links to two websites that will be of interest to anyone conducting a small business. The first is the IRS small-business website. I particularly want to direct your attention to a feature of that website. One of the links is to the Online Classroom. You can watch streaming video of its Small Business Workshop and also the Small Business Tax workshop. The latter course is in both English and Spanish. You might want to start with the IRS Introduction to Federal Taxes for Small Business/Self-Employed Course and then explore further if you have additional questions. It is an extremely useful site provided by the Small Business Administration. Particularly helpful is the information on starting a business and links to the various state and federal government agencies.

The other website the course leader highlighted was Businesslaw.gov. Being a lawyer I’m always interested in how people decide they need to consult with a lawyer. It’s also interesting how they avoid consulting with one because of perceptions about the cost. The SBA site presents very relevant information to assist you in determining if you really should see a lawyer for your small business. Heck, it even has some links to help when you can do it yourself.

If you do your own search for legal information on-line, the ABA’s Law Practice Management Section provides ten excellent tips on evaluating websites in Best Practice Guidelines for Legal Information Web Site Providers. You should pay particular attention to item 4 on its list. The authors explain why it’s important to know the difference between sites that provide legal information from those that purport to provide full-blown legal advice.  I would only trust legal advice after having thoroughly discussed all of the relevant facts with a lawyer knowledgeable in that particular area of the law. That probably can’t be done effectively on a website.