Are you the kind of person who has always wanted to start a business, and are ready to take the leap into entrepreneurship for the first time? Or has a tough job market prompted you to re-evaluate your goals and try to create something new? Wherever you stand on the spectrum of entrepreneurship, congratulations on deciding to start a business and create new opportunities for yourself and others.
Ready To Start A Business?
If so, you’ve come to the right place. Over the next several weeks here on Small Business Trends, we’re kicking off a series of articles in our guide about starting a business and choosing the right structure. We will tell you what you need to know about how to incorporate a business, how to form an LLC, and how to navigate the complexities of managing the business filings along the way. But we won’t stop there.
We will help you learn more about how to start a business:
- How and when to use DBAs (“doing business as” names)
- Who needs a DBA
- All about S Corporation
- Everything you need to know about C Corporation
- Where to incorporate
We will also will also help you:
- Name your business
- Create Business and Marketing Plans
Our guide will provide you with tips and advice on hiring and managing your employees, as well as getting to know employment laws and regulations.
In this series, we will lead you through the process of how to start a business as well as incorporating and launching your own business – one of the most important endeavors of your life. So let’s get started to help make your dreams come true to start a business.
All About Incorporating A Business
When you start a business, many entrepreneurs choose to incorporate as a legal entity. Incorporating a business is a step that goes beyond simply filing a DBA. One of the best ways you can establish your credibility, make your business a legal “entity” beyond your identity as the business owner, and protect your personal assets is to incorporate your business.
Incorporating gives you the ability to protect your personal assets from those of the company, which keeps your personal finances safe from the “worst-case scenarios” of doing business.
There are several options for incorporating your business, including forming an LLC, or incorporating as an S Corporation or C Corporation. The chart below compares business structures. It provides a high-level comparison of the most popular business forms across important attributes to consider when forming your business:
If you want to incorporate your business, the most popular choices are the LLC (limited liability company), S Corporation and C Corporation. Each of these options has its own unique advantages and complications, depending on your type of business and your overall goals.
No matter which type of incorporation option or business structure you choose, incorporating your business will keep your personal assets safe from lawsuits or judgments against your company.
Depending on your tax filing status and which business structure you choose, there can also be significant tax benefits to incorporating your business; instead of paying self-employment taxes as a sole proprietor, incorporating a business can help change the tax treatment of part of your income, leading to more money in your pocket at the end of the year.
In the next article in our series, you’ll learn more about the specifics of each option for incorporating a business: the LLC, the C-Corporation and the S-Corporation. Each of these business structures offers unique advantages depending on your business goals.
Get Ready To Start A Business Now!
We’ve simplified things for you by creating a quick quiz to help you decide which business structure is right for you. So get started and take the quiz — it’s as easy as 1, 2 3.
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Starting a new business or buying and existing business? What’s your take on it? You have a great article by the way.