Starting Heli. Company
The best bit of advice I can give you is make sure you have loads of dosh ! Myself and 2 friends started a commercial operation a couple of years ago but we have since wound it up due to not really making any money. First you will have to set up an AOC which will set you back approx £14,000 and take months , although there are consultants around who will do it for you for a hefty fee I'm sure. Next come all the ops and maint. manuals which will be at least another £5000. You will have to set up an approved maint programme and be EASA compliant. For pleasure flying you will have to provide your own fire cover at the location, including all the equipment plus suitably trained personnel. You can hire companies in for the cover but they charge £30 - 40 an hour just to have them sitting there all day - that makes quite a dent in a days pleasure flying ! Finally you have to find the work - it takes a lot of calling, mailing etc to get anything plus there are a lot of established operators out there already.
Do loads and loads of research or maybe you have some things lined up already, anyway I wish you the best of luck and I'm sorry for sounding all doom and gloom but I'm sure you would rather know before you start spending