how do i start my own summer business for a small expense

Hi Rafe
Since you said "extra" money, I can only assume that this is something you'd do for the love of the game and some spending cash instead of looking to rent space and hire people. If that's the case, here's my opinion:
If I were you, I'd start as simply as possible. I wouldn't worry about business license or marketing or pricing...I would just go and ask everyone I knew if they wanted to have their nerf guns modded. Charge an amount that you'd pay for it to be done and start from there.
Every job you do, you'll learn something new like what to charge, how to find more customers, how to get paid etc. See if you can get 10 people to buy from you in a month using social media, email, relatives, and word of mouth. Don't worry about a business name, a logo or a website–just start doing it and figure out all that other stuff as you need it.
You don't want to spend any more money or time on it than you have to in the beginning; you just need some customers and completed projects you can take photos of. THEN you can build an online store with a portfolio and branding and start dropping money on marketing if you feel like it's something you want to continue doing and it shows promise.
Good luck!

Hi Rafe,

If you want to be totally legit, then your first stop is to get a business license for your business. They tend to run a few hundred dollars in most locations in the US. Once you do that, you can start running your business.

Do you have a business plan? Do you have an idea of how much you'll charge for the products and services you offer? Do you have an idea of what your overhead will be (that is what you need to buy to keep your business running)?

You probably will also want a few things:

1) A website can be helpful to market your business

2) Handing out or hanging fliers at your school can be super helpful in getting business

3) Some social media accounts to show off your product and services and explain why your business is the best

There are a number of way to start up your business from doing business as yourself to creating a legal corporation with its own tax id. I have created a couple of businesses and ventures myself so here is the advice I have for you:

Test the waters with a site like etsy.com, look at your competition there and try to create something that is unique or stands out in some way i.e. (display nerf mods you've made that are different from others or even if you have similar mods you could be a cheaper alternative)

Also, you may want to do some smaller items are cost to get some initial sales under your belt. The logistics of shipping things can be challenging. I used ULine in the past for my shipping supplies in but but you can start small.

Make sure you have a plan to be profitable or an exit strategy too and set a timeline on it i.e. i'm only going to spend this much money before I decide to stop or I expect to be profitable in 3 months, etc. and detail out the steps to achieve the goal specified

If things really start to pick up then you may want to consider forming a legal corporation (you can get many tax benefits from this and protections with limited liability) but I would worry about this once you are a bit more established.

You can probably get started with your craft for as little as $500 - $1,000 and dont forget to try and market on creative blogs/social media with links to your products. Also doing a give a away can help drive traffic to your shop site too