Sole proprietorship

A sole proprietorship is a form of organization for a business. In this model, the company consists solely of an owner-operator, who usually cannot hire employees. Its main advantage is that it is extremely easy to organize; if a good is being sold, then usually the only paperwork to be done is filing for a vendor's license. If it is a service business, there may not be any paperwork at all. The main disadvantage is that the owner has unlimited liability; if the business fails, the owner's personal assets can be used to pay back any debts.