[tiger_handheld]

In your situation all you need to do to be legal is register a company. the small business name search / registering place is right at waterfront skytrain station. if you plan to work as John Smith - they you dont need to register. however if u plan to work as John the Handy Man then you need to register that name. I believe it costs >$100 to be incorporated. although inc'ing limits your liability, im not sure if its worth it to u at this point, and since ur small, no one(the banks) would care if ur inc'ed- they'd still want a personal gurantee for any credit.

As for payment, all you need to do is purchase a basic accounting software such as quickbooks or simply accounting (simply FTW!!) and it'll help you create professional looking invoices that you can email to your clients. to collect payments you can ask ur clients to pay you via paypal, then they can pay using their visa card. paypal charges you the receiver 3% for service fees ( almost the same as visa/mc fees). then you can transfer the funds to your operating bank account.

as for insurance -i'm not too sure. i just know about the finance side / business registration process.

the waterfront business registraton location has a library for everything you need to know about starting a business in canada. from getting import permits to exporting dangerous goods.