From the course: First Five Things You Have to Do to Start a Business as a Creator

How to set up an entity

From the course: First Five Things You Have to Do to Start a Business as a Creator

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How to set up an entity

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- The best way to set up a business entity is to hire a business attorney that can consult you through the whole process and make sure you don't miss any documents, deadlines, and vital information. You should also contact an accountant, so you can also learn about the tax advantages you have as a business owner, and also what you can and can't expense, plus when and how to pay those business taxes. Also, depending on your state and city, where you're conducting business, you may need to apply for a business license or permit to operate your business legally. Another resource is the SBA and the local SBDC or the Small Business Administration Center. This is how I learned about creating an entity and was offered Sage advice on the basics of starting a business. Now, if you want to do it on your own, you can also use online resources like, Rocket Lawyer, Legal Zoom, or incfile. They have contract templates, various legal resources and guides to help you through the process and also provide additional concierge services to get you in contact with an attorney to further assist you through the process. When you're setting up your business entity, you have to know the name of your business, which state you incorporate, and addresses, where important mail will be sent to. To research for names that already exist in your state, use these Secretary of State website to search for entity names. You can see if your name is already taken, so you can decide how you will name your business. You can also use DBA's or doing business as fictitious names to register a different name under your entity name, but we'll talk about that in the next chapter. For the location of your business, you can incorporate in your own state or find another state that is more favorable on taxes. Although you need a physical business presence in that state and have to keep in mind local state laws, so please consult with a business law professional to get the best advice on where to set up your business. Now, yearly fees for LLCs and corporations vary state by state and sales tax is also different for each state, so if you plan to sell products such as merchandise, you should consult an accountant about those taxes. You will also need to get an EIN or employer identification number to file taxes, but I'll go over that in the next chapter. As you can see there's a lot to do so, do yourself a favor and consult with a business law and tax professional. I'll see you in the next video.

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