Great Article About Sole Proprietor vs. Incorporation or LLC
I just found a great article on FoxBusiness.com that helps explain why you may or may not want to consider different types of business structures. This is definately worth a read. Go to: http://smallbusiness.foxbusiness.com/entrepreneurs/2011/03/11/pros-cons-sole-proprietorship/
After reading this article, we would love to help you file your company. Remember, we are the top rated website (by Customers) for Business Incorporation and LLC Formation.
New Business Incorporations Grow Even As Jobs Return-Why?
New business incorporations and LLC formations are continuing at a record pace, even as the jobs market seems to be recovering, so what’s going on? Well, even though hundreds of thousands of jobs are being added back into the economy each month, they simply aren’t the kind of jobs we had before the Great Recession. Studies are showing that the new jobs pay less and are offering fewer hours. Here is a sampling of what I mean:
- High wage industries took a beating during the recession, with job loss rates of around 40%, but in the new job market they only account for 14% of the jobs gained. Lower wage industries fared somewhat better during the recession, accounting for only 23% of the jobs lost, however, 49% of the jobs created over the last year are in these same industries. For you and me, that means when we look for a job it is far more likely we will find openings in retails stores than in traditional corporate arenas.
- In addition to pay per hour changes, more of these open positions are part time instead of full time when compared to pre recession. A new Gallup poll shows that almost 20% of part time employees really want a full time job, but seem to have settled for less while they continue to look.
As we review the numbers of unemployed vs. employed Americans over the next few months (the traditional way to measure a return to normalcy following a recession) it may be worth digging deeper to see what the quality of those jobs is. Are people finding similar employment opportunities and pay to what they lost when the economy went south? So far, the numbers look grim and this is driving record numbers towards self employment and entrepreneurial opportunities, leaving new business incorporation and LLC formation starts at a 15 year high.
Build a Business Website for less than $500
These days, having a website for your business is not optional. More and more potential customers go to the web to research every decision and purchase they intend to make and your success may very well rely on how customers perceive you online. The online world can be a tremendous stream of opportunity for your company, but it can also be extremely daunting. Costs for professional websites run thousands of dollars and large corporations can often pay in the millions for their sites, but great results can come from very small expenditures.
Your business is on a budget (or should be), so what can you do for the least amount of money and is it worth it? For many small businesses, their website has become the new business card. It tells customers who they are, what they do, and offers a price. This type of website can be done easily for well under $500. Here is a short list of how I would do it:
- Review your competitor’s websites. What functionality do they offer? Do they have an 800 number? Email? Can you buy products on their site?
- Buy a domain name. Often times the domain name is the same as the business name and the domain can be searched and bought through online services like GoDaddy.com for as little at $10 or $12.
- Decide where you will host your site. This is the computer server location where your website information is stored and accessible for viewing on the web. If you are tech savvy, you may decide to host it yourself on a computer you own. If not, there are ample online services that can help. GoDaddy.com can host your domain for as little as $4.99 a month and Hostgator.com lets you host for as little as $6.95 per month.
- Next, decide on a platform that will let you manage the website and the information you put in it. WordPress may be the most popular right now, but others that come to mind are Joomla or Drupal. For most new website owners, any of these will work fine. Costs for these services vary depending on how you use them, but you will find them to be very affordable.
At this point, your expense is still very low…probably less than $100, but the next step may have a more significant cost. Now you need to edit the platform you selected so it looks like you want and add your content. The going rate to have a local web developer do this is usually around $300 to $400. Going that route will easily have you at the $500 price tag I promised, or you can do it yourself…maybe for free. YouTube can be a great source to learn how to do some or all of the work yourself. Additionally, you may be able to learn all you need to know from the platform website. They offer pretty easy to understand guides that may get you through this step. If you have decided to accept payment over your website, consider PayPal. This can be integrated to your site for just a few dollars and may be an acceptable alternative to having a regular merchant account.
While this process never stops, this should get you on your way to developing a web presence you can be proud of and that will drive customers to your business! Good luck!
Thinking about business incorporation or forming an LLC? Let us help!
Business Incorporations and Start-Ups Surge…and Boost Hiring
The difficult economy has certainly changed the way Americans view jobs. Those who have them are hanging onto them dearly and those who don’t are turning away from traditional corporate jobs in favor of starting their own businesses. New start-ups and business incorporations are reported at a 15 year high which is boosting hiring in some studies, but the results may depend on what group you talk to.
Here are some fast facts:
- Last year, 565,000 start-ups were created each month
- Business incorporation numbers have risen steadily since 2006
- Immigrants, particularly Latinos, are twice as likely to start a business as someone who is American born
- High School dropouts are among the most likely to start their own business
- Construction businesses consistently rank at or near the top for new start-ups
So what does this mean? “It certainly appears that the recession and its resulting high unemployment are driving the majority of this trend” said Scott Weddle, Manager of an online business filing firm. “Our customers are largely driven out of necessity. They simply can’t find employment in many cases.” Businesses started out of desperation don’t typically drive hiring growth. Instead, these new business owners tend to stay self-employed and hire few, if any, employees.
Small business as a whole, however, is continuing to improve. This sector of the economy lost around 2.7 million jobs since last March, but has added around 100,000 in each of the last three months. While I wouldn’t call that a recovery, I would be willing to call it a start.
Business Incorporation 101: Estimating Cost and Profit
For anyone considering starting or buying a business, incorporation (or forming an LLC) can keep you safe from many liabilities, however, underestimating costs or overestimating profits are much more likely to cause your business to fail. This means it is vital for you to take as much time as is needed to consider what must be included in your costs and to carefully (and honestly) review what will be your profit.
There is ample evidence that as much as 90% of businesses fail within the first five years. This number is staggering. It is scary. It may even cause you to question starting a business, and it should. The number one reason for a new business to fail has nothing to do with how good an idea it is or how talented the individual is who may be starting it. The number one reason is underestimating costs and not being prepared for how long it will be for the company to make money. We’ve all heard about the latest .com millionaire who launched his business and immediately had thousands of ‘hits’ and Time Magazine is calling him the next big thing, but the truth is that for every story like this there are thousands or maybe millions of businesses that struggle along for years before they begin to realize success.
Fortunately, there are tools available to help you with this task. Here is a list of some of the more commonly helpful calculators that we have found:
Business Start Up Cost Calculator: http://www.businessknowhow.com/startup/startup.htm
Cash Flow Calculator: http://www.bplans.com/business_calculators/cash_flow_calculator.cfm
Break Even Calculator: http://www.entrepreneur.com/calculators/breakeven.html
Earlier, I said that as much as 90% of new businesses fail within the first 5 years. If you are looking into starting your own business, there is a strong clue in that statement. You should be prepared to the odds, meaning that if you are prepared to weather the storm of the first 5 years, you chance of success goes way up. The largest majority of these failures happen within the first 3 years, so it might stand to reason that if you can’t survive without a paycheck for three years or if your funding source isn’t strong enough to last that long, you may want to consider another option. Too many businesses are started with the owner looking for profitability in months rather than years and the odds are stacked heavily against them.
Also, don’t forget…if you get through this part of the planning, don’t forget that this is only step one. Choosing a business incorporation strategy is step two and shouldn’t be overlooked.