How to incorporate your business in the US

Having a strategy in place and immersing myself into a positive mindset were key in getting my business from dream to reality. Once I had followed my strategy and had the mental predisposition to achieve my objectives, it was time to register my business. 

Do it Yourself Option
I started asking friends about the process of registering a business and they gave me all sorts of different answers. Some suggested to have it done by a lawyer and some told me to go to the Department of State. I looked at the two options and got online right away to get more information. I found out from contacting different local lawyers that their fees were more than I could afford at the time.

I then found a great free resource online for incorporating your own business from the Department of State (DOS) where they suggested to contact the local office to get more information on it. I went to the New York DOS website which is the state I reside in. Every State has its own page so you can go to the one for the State you reside in. I found a detailed page with all the resources I needed to learn about the different types of businesses. They had pages on each type of business, what they meant and how to get started. I put in some time into this and got to learn a great deal about incorporating a business. I liked a Limited Liability Company LLC because it limits the liability of the business to the business assets only and separates them from your own. This is a great option if you have the time to put into it because it saves you the third party fee for incorporating the business which are about $200. You only pay the fees required to incorporate the business to the Department of State.


My Decision
I had a day job and did not have time to dedicate do this on my own. My main priority was I needed to get it done fast. I knew the doing-it-yourself option was not what I could do at the time because I could not leave my job to head over the local DOS office to file the paperwork required. I wanted an option between the do-it-yourself and hiring a lawyer. 

Outsourcing the Job
One night in late December 2006, I was watching TV and saw a commercial for LegalZoom offering incorporating services. It was a TV commercial with Robert Shapiro. I recognized him from the OJ trial days and felt it was worth checking out. I went on my computer and pulled up the website. I wrote down their phone number and gave them a call the next day. The people who answered the phone were very cordial and had no problem answering my questions. They talked to me for at least half hour explaining in great detail the different types of businesses I could open and the tax requirements  Soon after my conversation with the agent, I signed up. I was excited that this company took the time and got me through my doubts without pressuring me to buy their product.

Signing Up
The process took about 20 minutes. I filled out the information they requested and in the end I paid them with my credit card. One of the best things was that as soon as I signed up, they contacted me and kept me updated throughout the entire process. It took a couple of weeks to get a package in the mail like the one shown in the figure above. It contained all information related to my business such as my operating agreement, letter of incorporation and my Federal Tax Id number. It came in a nice blue folder (see image above) with all the paperwork nicely stacked together. I had a couple more questions regarding how to proceed to open a business bank account number and file taxes. I decided to give them a call and ask them. I was static when they were very kind and answered all my questions without a problem.

Two Thumbs Up
Using this kind of service was for me one of the best things I did because I needed the process of opening my business to be as painless and fast as possible. I simply could not afford to take time off from work to do it myself. This is why I chose LegalZoom. If you have the time and don't mind going through the regular way, you will save yourself some money on third party fees about $200 savings, but you will have to spend the time do do the ground work yourself. If you have similar stories or easier ways of doing this, feel free to share them with us. 

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