Everyone should at least consider incorporating their small home business. I’m no expert on incorporation, and I could never hope to be, so I’m not going to try to explain this whole process to you. In general, however, you should do some research on this because incorporating may have the following benefits for you (depending upon what type you choose):

• reduces your personal liability for business debts or lawsuits
• saves on taxes
• makes your business more credible
• makes your business easier to sell or transfer

Let me reiterate that I’m no expert (not even close), so I don’t want to give you any more advice on this, because I’m afraid I’d be giving incorrect or bad advice. Obviously, discussing this with a lawyer is a good idea, but in the meantime you might want to do some research online. There are online services that will set up your corporation or LLC for you, with a minimum of hassle. They also have lots of articles and FAQs to help you understand which type you need, why it’s helpful, etc.

The two services I’m most familiar with are Corporate.com and BizFilings.com.

Both have lots of information to help you make decisions, so they are a good place to begin your research.

(from Smash Mouth. "AllStar" Astro Lounge. Interscope Records, 1999.)

Posted on November 20th, 2007 by DazzlinDonna
Filed under: Business Development