Well, this is my first post.  Last week, I started my own software consulting company named Grove Hill Software, LLC.  It’s been quite a bit of work to set things up, but I think it will be well worth it.
 Here are some of the things I’ve done so far:
 - testing the waters to discover what work was out there and what it would pay
 - researching the cost of and how to obtain benefits, such as health, disability, and worker’s compensation insurance
 - the same for general and professional liability insurance
 - researching the options for the legal form of the business: sole proprietorship, S-corporation, LLC, and C-corporation
 - finding a lawyer and an accountant
 - deciding on a company name and actually forming the company
 - setting up a domain with email and webhosting
 - putting together a skeleton homepage
 - opening a company bank account
 
 Here are some things I still need to do:
 - Investigate options for and set up a retirement account (SIMPLE, 401(k), SEP, etc.)
 - coming up with a logo (I have the advantage that my wife is a designer)
 - putting together a real homepage and overall website (the content will be the hard part)
 
 I’ll come back and fill in more details as I go.