Starting a Sole Proprietorship?

[mary]

Hello from a forum newbie ...

I've been investigating starting a sole proprietorship ... this business will be pretty small ... I don't really want to be THAT busy ... I just know that this is a service people have already said they want ... and I don't want to get into trouble accepting money for something ... but I also don't want to pay a lot of up-front legal fees etc. if it's going to cost more than it's worth ... So, I want to see if what I'm coming up with makes sense ...

Does anybody have any contradictory information to the following ...

to form a sole-proprietorship, I need to
- decide on a name (research it to make sure it's not in use)
- possibly trademark it if I want
- contact the clerk of the circuit court to see what liscenses/fees I need...

Also, does anybody know about the timing ... if I've purchased equipement/software thinking it'd be used mainly for this business ... but got it before I actually BECAME a business... does that mean I can't use any of it as an expense?

Thanks in advance for all ideas!
mary