I would not even begin to be an authority on this (or anything else actually, it just invites heated challenges).
You have to think about several things. First, what type of business? I will assume you want to start your own knifemaking business and you are the only employee. Right?
Then your location (state) makes a difference.
I live in Texas. There is no such thing as a business ####### in Texas. Go to your county courhouse, tell them the name of your business and pay a fee of about $15.
It would be smart to have your business name and about five or six alternatives since they will not let you name your company the same as any other business in your county. You will also want to try to avoid infringing on someone elses trademark. You may do it without knowing it but the other company may make you change your company name later.
You then go to the tax office and get set up with them so you can pay your taxes and get a tax number. They will send you your sales and use permit to post in your business (you have seen these with a dollar in a frame). Some people post this with the first dollar the business makes. They also give you a booklet with the tax amounts to charge for every location in the state. for a knife business this is no problem cause you just charge tax from your location. I do custom ironwork also and have to sell in other cities so I have to charge the tax there sometimes if I build the ironwork there.
You can visit
www.sba.com and go through their business startup tutorial.
Also, go to
www.score,org and get a counsellor. Score is an organization that retired business people volunteer their time to help new people get started. They have experts in everything. They will help you set up your books and find loans to get you started. They will even teach you how to interview and hire people. ALL FOR FREE. They even assist you by e-mail.