So I'll spare you the sales pitch on why you need to legally protect your business.
After all, you likely already know that business can be risky. Failure to meet certain obligations can lead to fees and fines, and you have affirmative responsibilities as a business owner. BUT, No one teaches us tax basics and even most business classes (if you have taken them) skip over the formation steps. You have expertise in your area, probably in multiple areas, but you can’t know everything. Googling for 38 hours is a poor investment of your time, and handing your trust over to Legal Zoom may not instill confidence that all the steps are being completed.
Wouldn’t it be great to just know when a certain document or payment is due. You wouldn’t need to worry about letters appearing in your mailbox from different agencies telling you that you owe late fees for something you never knew about in the first place.
You wouldn’t need to rely on your accountant or attorney to send you updates. Instead you’d have the knowledge to take affirmative steps to keep your business up to speed, and you’d be able to do this with minimal time investment on your part.
You have likely heard about LLCs and why you need them, but what’s not talked about as often is the importance of an operating agreement and separate bank accounts to protect your business. Get this stuff set up now, so that your biz can run on autopilot.
Ok, so I'm not expecting you to get a full on law degree. I lived my Elle Woods life, but you don't need to incur the student loans to do it too. However, it is important to know why you're making certain decisions and how to manage your business. That means knowing what licenses you need and when they need updated.
The obvious solution to these problems is to hire an attorney, but here’s the deal. I have learned that many individuals just don’t have the funds to do that, they don’t know a professional they can trust, or they simply want to prioritize those funds on something else. That’s why I have been wanting to provide an alternative that gives more guidance and education than Legal Zoom but won’t break the bank. My hope is to provide a clear path of what to do in what order to save you time, money, and worry, and set you up for success.
The reasons why most creatives use one of the above approaches to get their legal docs done are simple. We don’t know what we don’t know, right? For many creatives, a personal attorney seems out of budget, and a service like legal zoom feels like a quick fix.
But here’s the thing, online filing programs don’t provide guidance on what you need to do or why. Many service professionals also fail at this. I talk to many clients who tell me that consultations with other pros in the past have just left them more confused, and they want to know the "why" behind what they’re doing.
If you’re providing a service and are receiving compensation in return, you have taxable income. At that point, it’s to your benefit to treat your hustle as a business. You’re now an entrepreneur! Make this mindset shift to become the boss that you are, save some taxes on deductions, and get your biz legally legit.
I’m all about outsourcing, but here’s the thing. It’s to your benefit to know the basic legal requirements for your business and to understand the tax fundamentals. This will make you a savvy-er business owner who can be empowered to make smarter decisions in your business while relying less on others.
Forming a business entity is not complicated. It’s just forms that ask for your personal information. The reason you pay pros is because it’s tough to know which forms you need. That information I can give you. Now there are a few things I highly recommended hiring out, but I call tell you what you can do on your own and when to rely on a pro. If you trust me on this bit, I can save you some money while making sure that you check all the boxes you need in your biz.
I have taken all the knowledge I have learned through my law degree, my master’s in tax law, and one-on-one work helping small business creatives form their businesses in California along with the research I gathered co-authoring the Small Business Startup Guide to create this step-by-step course to help you launch legally. You will have a meticulous, guide that gives you all the necessary info you need and leaves out all the extra to check the legal boxes for compliance.
Legally Launched is the only program of its kind that:
1. Will help you avoid the mailbox panic;
2. Help you stop relying on others to keep your biz compliant; and
3. Arm you with the info you need to know to make your own decisions & protect your biz
So if you’re ready to legally launch . . .
To check all the same boxes with Legal Zoom, your cost would be 450+, but you wouldn't learn along the way or know that you're taking all the right steps. A lawyer would likely cost north of $1,000. I created Legally Launched to fill the gap in these alternatives.
COST OF LEGALLY LAUNCHED:
50% Complete
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