How to Start Your Business: Part Three (Let’s Get Legal)

Ok, so you’ve got your plan and your name. It’s time to get boring legal.

The major things you’ll need to do next are:

• Put together a business plan. There are a ton of business plan templates out there at your disposable.
• Open a bank account for your business (and perhaps get a small business loan while you’re there, if you need one. In which case, you’ll really need that business plan we just talked about.)
• Decide on the type of business (Sole Proprietorship, Partnership, LLC, S Corp, C Corp) and register accordingly. Simply Google “register business [name of your state]” in order to do this.
• Learn about the taxes for your type of business.

(This guide has a great section of FAQs under the “Decide on a Legal Structure for Your Business” for step-by-step guides for all of these steps and more!)

Not quite as difficult as choosing a name, but I’ll be the first to admit that this wasn’t my favorite part. I’m not a brilliant accountant, nor am I a lawyer. Lucky for me, though, my Dad has successfully had and held several businesses over his lifetime, so I was able to get his help with a lot of my questions. I also enlisted in the help of an accountant a while back, to get all of my logistic accounting questions answered.

My brother was also a saint and did a lot of research here. (And if I can ever get him to, he’ll perhaps write a little on his thoughts around this!)

If you’re the same as me, and accounting/legality simply aren’t your strong suits, then I highly recommend getting the assistance of a knowledgeable friend or professional. It’s well worth the time and money to do things the right way.

Step 4, check.

Next up? The logo.