If you're operating your own business — or if you're interested in getting into business — then Amazon can help.

There are two ways the company can support your business: the first is by helping keep your workplace supplied with all the material goods you could need, from reams of paper to folders to toner to desk chairs. The second is by facilitating sales of merchandise that can put profits right into your account.

Whether you are interested in using Amazon Business as the chief supplier for your workplace or you are primarily interested in working with Amazon as a seller yourself, this guide can help.

If you or someone at a managerial level in your company already uses Amazon Prime, then you can sign up for Business Prime Duo for free.

That subscription gives the party that joins access to all the many benefits of Amazon Business, from low prices on office supplies to fast and free shipping of said materials. 

If you want more people in the office to access Amazon Business, you can open a Business Prime Essentials account. That costs $179 annually and gives three people access to Amazon Business. No Prime account is required for Business Prime Essentials.

Slightly larger operations can sign up for the "Small" plan for $499, which lets 10 users access the Amazon Business account. A "Medium" subscription costs $1,299 and allows up to 100 users to share access. At the same time, an "Enterprise" account allows more than 100 people from a given company to use Amazon Business. Also, it opens up access to what Amazon calls "Optimal Deployment," which it describes as a way to "achieve optimal visibility and policy settings via your Business Prime features with expert assistance from Amazon Business Professional Services." That option costs $10,099 per year.

An Amazon Business is, ironically, quite distinct from Amazon Business. Whereas the latter is a subset of Amazon itself, from which you buy office supplies, janitorial goods, IT hardware, and more, the former is a business making money by selling merchandise with the support of Amazon.

When you sell products via Amazon, you get the advantage of the company's vast network of potential buyers. Amazon offers your business — be it just you and your computer or you and your team of three dozen employees who have been running brick-and-mortar operations for years — amazing opportunities to get eyes on your products and to convert those views into sales.

And when you do make sales with Amazon Business, you have options for how you want to fulfill those orders, too. We'll get to that in a moment. For now, know that Amazon Business is a B2B setup, meaning a business-to-business arrangement, namely itself being in an arrangement with you. You partner with Amazon and use many of their services while you sell your products via Amazon to customers all around the nation or even around the globe.

The short story is that Amazon Business can save your workplace money on essential supplies and/or can connect you to countless potential customers for your products. The longer story is that, depending on which Business Prime plan you select, Amazon Business offers you survey and analytical tools that can help you track your conversions and sales, study customer behavior and trends, and help boost revenue; it offers Amazon WorkDocs, which includes templates for things like invoices and sales receipts; it offers you buying guidance that will help you make the most of your office supply budget.

These and several other services can allow even smaller businesses to run with the efficiency of a much larger operation, as much of the work usually handled by a full HR department is managed by Amazon.

The primary difference between Amazon and Amazon Business is that the former refers to the company's general online retail wing, whereas the latter refers either to sales of products specifically oriented toward workplaces or to the partnership you can set up with Amazon as you sell products yourself. Amazon and Amazon Business are not distinct entities, but they are separate divisions of the same company.

You do not need to have an LLC, or limited liability corporation to start an Amazon business and to start selling via Amazon. A sole proprietorship wherein you are the business entity is perfectly acceptable. 

As your business grows, getting an LLC is wise, though. In many states, you can file for an LLC for less than $100, while in others, the cost is somewhat higher. An LLC can help protect your personal wealth and assets should anyone ever take legal action against your company.

As long as you have enough money to purchase and ship a single product, you can technically start-up as a seller on Amazon. But if you plan to move any appreciable product with Amazon Business, the general rule is to have $10,000 on hand if you'll use an Amazon FBA seller model.

FBA means "fulfilled by Amazon," and this is an arrangement where you have Amazon warehouse your goods for you and handle the shipping whenever orders come in.

The initial costs of an FBA arrangement can be pricey, as you pre-buy a lot of merchandise and then have to wait for many sales to see a profit, but not needing to store and ship products is ideal for most sellers. For smaller operations, a more affordable Amazon FBM business model may be better. FBM is an acronym for "fulfilled by merchant," in this case, the buyer makes their purchase on Amazon, but you ship out the products you have been storing directly. There is much less overhead cost, but the warehousing and shipping are all on you.