Most Commonly, I get inquiries/quote requests (from the consumer-side) for people wanting to start their own business(es). Stop please, for your own sake, save your money and utilize the abundance of new resources available online to do everything from ensuring compliance for various types of businesses to fully incorporating your business.
**I get no referral money, incentive, or otherwise from the sites I am about to mention, I am simply providing the one's that I know of and/or have utilized myself at some point**
You want to start a business in _____ industry?
1. Stripe Atlas is by far the simplest and most efficient incorporating service I have personally utilized.
STRIPE ATLAS - They will incorporate for you in DE (optimal, and since no one lives in DE [sorry DE residents], you will Foreign Qualify yourself in whatever state you are going to operate in (more on that later, but it is a very simple process through which I would recommend yet again using one of the abundance of websites that offer such services)
Plus, they will also provide merchant processing services for you.
Pricing - Startomatic - Especialyl since Stripe is a bit API heavy to customize (coding knowledge makes a big difference with your experience with Stripe) - Startomatic is a new startup I discovered recently, that will help those of you who are a bit technologically behind and could use simplification of getting your business into the online realm as they will also create social media profiles, your website (registered at least), and help with logo and other services (at All-In-One pricing)
Other Alternatives to Stripe Atlas worth exploring: Gust Launch, Blook | Register Your Company In The U.S globally!
2. Legal Concerns for your future company? When you are just starting off and are not at a point at which having counsel either on retainer or on payroll is a feasible idea, utilize a service such as LegalShield for Small Business - they get the job done very well, at extreme value. Questions about licensing? They will help. Handling a random C&L from a bigger corporation trying to bully you? They will help. Any legal questions further? They will help!
Believe it or not, using one of the services mentioned in Step 1, and signing up for LegalShield has you at a solid foundation for most of your immediate needs.
3. Need an accountant? Abundance of on-demand Accountant/CFO services are widely available. A simple google search will show as such!
4. Logistics? I.e. Warehousing, Shipping, Fulfillment - once again, as with every aspect of starting a company, there already exists a service that simplifies any logistical concerns you may have - i.e. some form of 3PL (3rd party logistics) such as ShipBob, Shipstation, google the rest as there are simply too many for me to list in a reasonable amount of time.
5. Web traffic and internet presence? I'd ALWAYS recommend starting off with eBay/Amazon/online marketplaces - you simply can not match the amount of traffic they generate at an infinitely cheaper cost than organically building your own - at least at first. Of course later you'd ideally trademark your brand, gain brand loyalty and optimize spend-profit ratios but that comes later. One step at a time.
Most importantly, tell that risk-averse nagging voice in the back of your head to quiet down. It is true that nothing is guaranteed in business, but what is even more true, is that not taking that "risky" first step and seeing something through, could end up costing you infinitely more in both opportunity-cost and future net worth. Was that $2000 you made in a year from buying Amazon stock with your expendable income really worth it? Maybe. But maybe not, maybe had you opted to take the risk to do/start what you've always wanted to but could never get yourself to pull the proverbial trigger on, you would be sitting comfortably in the Maldives with all your bills already paid for and accounted for instead.
Low-Risk, High-Reward - that's the ultimate dream scenario. And with all the amazing services that either exist, or will exist in the nearing future, take advantage!
As always, please do send in simple-ish questions you may have, if I can help, I'd gladly do it - free of charge! My normal fees I really only consider a fair deal to you and me if you have established most of the basics/foundational aspects of running a profitable operation and are looking to expand, grow, optimize, et cetera.
Signing out, happy holidays everyone!
To be discussed: Quantum Computing and the Consequent Death of Bitcoin and cryptocurrrency (as we know it at least)