If you are new to starting a small business, then you have likely begun to discover that there are several steps necessary to starting a new business that has to happen before you ever provide a product or service to a customer. You might be at the point where you have written a business plan that outlines the objectives of your business, and perhaps you have obtained start-up funds through your own savings or loans to help begin to get the new business off the ground.



At these beginning stages of forming a new business, you will want to consider incorporation. While many new small businesses begin as sole proprietorships, the problem with this form of business is that if sued, your personal assets become at risk to pay off your business debts. This is a big reason why incorporation becomes attractive to the business owner, because it protects your personal assets should your business get sued. There are several services on the Internet that can help you incorporate online or form an LLC. Although you can get assistance from a lawyer or accountant to help you set up your corporation, those options are sometimes out of a new business owner's price range. The cost-effective and easy solution is incorporating online.

An online incorporation service can help you decide which type of business format is right for your particular business and needs. Some require more people to be involved in your business than others, and some must be maintained with a greater amount of recordkeeping. These are a couple of items that you will want to consider before selecting a type of incorporation that will best meet your needs.

There are four basic types of incorporation: the LLC, or limited liability company, the S-Corporation, the C-Corporation, and the non-profit corporation. The LLC requires the least amount of paperwork as compared to the others, but it is limited in certain benefits that the others are not. You will want to hire a service that will complete and file your articles of formation for your company.

If you are doing business under a name other than your own, then you will also need to register with your secretary of state your DBA, or Doing Business As name. If you will conduct business in states other than the one in which you reside, then you will want to think about finding a Registered Agent, who will represent you in these other states if legal documents are sent to you.

You may need to obtain a trademark for your business, which must be patented. If your business will hire employees, then you will also need to get a Federal Employer Identification Number, and obtain a business license and pay the fees for each state in which you wish to conduct business.

With this myriad of details to keep track of when you want to incorporate, business owners often turn to online incorporation services for the ease of incorporating online.