So the easiest method would be to sponsor you for an immigrant visa -- would take 6 to 9 months before it was issued (paperwork pushing is slow) and would cost a couple of thousand bucks before you were finished. This would give you a "green card" on arrival and you would then be allowed to live and work in the US.

The problem is that it seems a little overkill if you're just doing it for a year since you would lose this coveted status were you to move your residence back to the UK after the year.

I can't really think of any other suitable visa. You could come over on a VWP for 90 days but couldn't work. Work here is not defined as getting paid but rather doing something that would ordinarily be paid -- which working in a business obviously would.
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