You Have Choices ...

As a business owner, you have four real choices when it comes to business structures, and two bad choices:

• C Corporation
• S Corporation
• Limited Liability Company
• Limited Partnership
• Sole Proprietorship
• General Partnership

You can learn more about your four good choices by clicking the Corporations and LLCs and LPs buttons on the left. To learn why Sole Proprietorships and General Partnerships are so dangerous to you and your family, read on.

A Sole Proprietorship is Bad ...

Have you heard the saying "You get what you pay for?" Well, you normally don't pay anything to start either a Sole Proprietorship or a General Partnership. Of course you don't get anything, either. Unless you count the following as valuable business assets:

The reason for this lack of protection is because neither of these structures is considered a separate legal structure. Instead, they are considered personal extensions of you, if you are operating as a Sole Proprietorship, or you and your partners,if you're operating as a General Partnership.

And, because these business types are considered personal extensions of you, you don't have any protection from them. That means:

• If your business owes money, you are personally liable for that debt

• If your business is sued, you are personally named as a co-defendant

• If an employee injures someone, you are personally liable through the business for those injuries

• If your business doesn't have enough money to pay a judgment against it, you are personally responsible for coming up with the cash. If you don't have it, your house, your car and your assets are at risk of seizure and sale by a judgment creditor to pay that judgment debt.

But a General Partnership is Downright Ugly!

It gets even worse if you are operating with a partner as a General Partnership. That's because not only are you responsible for all debts and agreements you enter into in the name of your business, you're also on the hook for all of your partner's actions in the name of your business as well. This can be devastating if your partner is financially irresponsible, and, because either of you can bind the partnership, you have zero protection from your partner.

If you've been doing business up to now without a business structure, both the IRS and your state government have defaulted your business into either a Sole Proprietorship or a General Partnership. And that means you're exposed.

But it doesn't have to stay that way! You can begin protecting yourself immediately by forming a proper, protected business structure and moving your business into it. And, we'll help you do it, every step of the way.