Our culture is full of success stories of businesses that seem to start spontaneously in someone’s garage or a college dorm. We are drawn to this narrative of genius ideas and bursts of inspiration because it’s a more appealing story than someone who lays down the groundworks with a solid plan.

While we all want to believe that having that one great idea will lead to a great business, the reality is that most people need some kind of a business plan in order to test out ideas and execute them successfully. No small business can sustain itself for long without covering the basics.

Think of a business plan as a tool that can help you straighten out your thoughts and priorities. First and foremost, it’s a document written for you and your company. The process of writing the plan can guide you to think about areas of the business you may not even have considered. In doing so, you’ll be able to get an even clearer vision of your company, understand what’s practical and what’s idealistic, and set you on a path toward starting a sustainable business.

The Small Business Administration (SBA) separates business plans into two broad categories: traditional vs lean startup. 

• Traditional: This type of business plan is more detailed and comprehensive, and takes longer to write. The benefit of having a traditional business plan is that you can present it to investors, stakeholders, and banks who will often request the document from companies. 

• Lean startup: The lean business plan is shorter (as long as one page if you want), focuses on the basics, and can be modified and changed easily over time. If you’re still at the early stage of starting a business, you may want to start out with a lean business plan to clarify your company’s objectives and expand it as you go.

We’ve developed our own approach that combines the best elements of both the above––the Startups Made Simple Business Plan.

What is the Startups Made Simple Business Plan?

The truth is, most startups and small businesses don’t need an exhaustive, detailed business plan. When you’re starting out, time is of the utmost essence. The last thing you want is to spend hours polishing a pristine document that at the end of the day will only remain a document. 

Small businesses require a lot of flexibility and testing, especially during the early stages when you’re just starting out. That’s why the Startups Made Simple Business Plan focuses on getting your ideas out quickly so that you can test them and make adjustments based on your learnings.

The idea is to quickly go through your ideas to see which ones are really worth testing––you don’t want to waste time testing something out and spending valuable resources when a simple plan would’ve shown you it wouldn’t be practical––then execute quickly, learn fast, and improve fast. We do this because, at the end of the day, small businesses need speedy execution to grow. Planning alone won’t cut it by any means.

So below is a checklist of the essential items your business plan should contain.

• Vision: What’s at the heart of your business idea and how you see your company scaling over time
• Elevator pitch: A core understanding of your company, succinctly summarized so anyone can understand it easily
• Target market: A clear understanding and articulation of the audience or customer you’re trying to reach, including demographics, interests, and needs
• Tests to run: A list of items and strategies you can execute to test the validity or quality of your ideas and start establishing your company, i.e. surveys, website, mockups 
• Back of the napkin math: Simple, quick calculations regarding your current and future expenses to give you a tangible number to work with rather than chasing arbitrary profits
• Reverse engineer: A practice of envisioning the end product and working backward to see what steps you’d need to take to make that happen
• Worst case scenario: Imagining the worst thing that could happen so you can prepare and come up with a backup plan 

Let’s dive into some of the key points on this list.

State Your Company Vision

If you can’t quickly and concisely explain what your company does, it might be a sign that you need to work on your idea. Just as movies and TV shows have loglines to hook viewers into their contents, your vision of the company should be a quick summary that lets the reader know what’s at the core of your idea.

Tip: Don’t worry if you can’t come up with a clean elevator pitch from the start. It’s normal for your company description to be messy and long in the beginning, but through the process of refining your vision, you’ll gain a better understanding of your ideas and narrow down the complexities into a clear, easily understandable idea.

Define Your Target Market

Product-market fit (PMF) is one of the biggest reasons businesses fail. You may have a great product but if no one wants them––for reasons ranging from a too small market to unrealistic prices––you don’t have a business. This is why any business plan should specify the audience you’re trying to reach with your product.

Thinking about who your product is for and why and how it would benefit them can help clarify your company goals. Defining your target market is one of the most important things you can do in advance to avoid troubles down the road. Other details might be easier to swing or modify as you go, but skipping on product-market fit can have disastrous consequences for businesses unprepared to meet the reality of the market.

Tip: Sometimes you can’t know whether you have the right PMF until you go out and test. Whether through building prototypes, sharing your products for free, or surveying different types of potential customers, have a game plan for how you can test out your target market in advance. 

Think About the Cash

Even if you’re not writing up a detailed business plan for an investor, thinking about the cash flow and funding of the company will help you prepare for the more practical side of the business. After all, ideas and visions are great, but without the money, it’ll be harder to execute them. 

Here are some questions you can ask to think about this area:

• Are you planning to raise funding for your company? How? 
• How much capital do you need to start your business? 
• What will your business model be and how do you envision your income stream? 
• How are your competitors or other companies in the market conducting their businesses?

Tip: Businesses often incur expenses that are easily overlooked. To avoid the problem of tacking on unforeseen expenses on your bill, do a quick, calculation of your current expenses (bills, rent, food, office, contractors, suppliers, etc.) to find out how much cash you’ll need to keep the business running. This will also help you set a more realistic price for your product and can potentially help you cut down unnecessary expenses to keep things lean at the start.

Plan for Long-Term Items

In the eagerness to start a business, certain long-term items can easily be overlooked. That’s why it’s important to remember to include them in your business plan. Whether this is the time it might take to manufacture your product, or a long-term lease on your office or warehouse space, thinking realistically about this in advance can save you a lot of headache down the road.

Tip: Give yourself ample buffer for the items on this list. We have a tendency to overestimate our abilities to get things done and underestimate processes that often turn out more costly and time-consuming than we expect. Businesses are always prone to unforeseen expenses such as a supplier running out of materials, weather affecting a delivery, or a machine breakdown that delays production. Especially when starting out, we may not consider these items and get blindsided when they happen. 

Share, Test, and Repeat

The Startups Made Simple Business Plan is not a perfectly polished piece of document. Rather, it’s a tool that can help small businesses launch their ideas in a realistic but efficient way, allowing for plenty of testing and mistakes along the process.

Share your business plan with colleagues, customers, or whoever you want feedback from. Show them your mockups or prototypes if you can. Use survey tools to reach more people. When you find that something doesn’t work, go back and modify your strategy and plan. Then repeat this process over and over until you’re confident you have a solid, viable product that’s ready for a market debut.

Most of all, don’t be discouraged by negative feedback or ideas that don’t work out. This is all a natural part of the process––one mistake means one step closer to success. Always have a backup plan so that you don’t bank all your cash and resources into a single idea. At this stage, it’s more important to try out your ideas and see which ones will stick rather than betting only on one horse that you’re not yet familiar with.

Below is an excerpt from the Introduction of our book Startups Made Simple: How to Start, Grow and Systemize Your Dream Business. Learn more about the book here.  

“I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.” – Steve Jobs

“Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘Press On’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.” – Calvin Coolidge

I’ve noticed the best entrepreneurs are known for their perseverance; they can be trusted to get through the rough stuff. So many of the great tales in business and in life are about the person who simply did not give up, even after many obstacles and setbacks. Resilience, persistence, grit, tenacity, confidence, and relentlessness are related traits, and in general, overcoming fear is a big part of perseverance. 

In my opinion, people have been taught to quit way too quickly. Scammy marketing and advertising has conditioned many of us to expect fast or even instant results. The truth is that many skills take years to develop. Some things as simple as a handstand can take many months of daily practice to master, yet the majority of people give up in a few weeks or if they can’t find a program called “Mastering Handstands in Only One Week!”

This doesn’t mean it will take years to learn how to get your company going; it only means that you shouldn’t immediately give up if you’re not performing like Elon Musk in the first year of your startup. Some startups, the smart ones anyway, may take a year or two to work on their idea, test things in the marketplace, quickly pivot to another product or service, and continue learning from their customers. There will be much more on this in Part Two of this book, and there is such a thing as going on too long. Mostly, the problem lies with giving up too early. 

For now, just know that your first instinct, especially when things get tough, may be to quit. Quitting sounds so comfortable (for lack of a better word) when things are bad. I wanted to quit several times in the first couple of years for, in retrospect, completely ridiculous reasons. 

Make sure that if you’re thinking about quitting that you’re not closer to victory than you think you are. A lot of entrepreneurs quit on the ten-yard line right before they are about to succeed. This is so common that it’s almost legend now. I’m asking you to carefully consider when you feel like giving up. I’ve learned that some days are just going to be a “shit sandwich,” and you have to take a bite. You will have bad days or maybe even bad weeks, and a perseverance mindset will help you greatly. 

Also, business is not nearly as hard as some stories out there about people sleeping in their cars or having nervous breakdowns. In fact, I think a lot of successful entrepreneurs like to embellish their startup stories to motivate their teams and create a hero’s journey for the startup. (I’m certainly guilty of that myself on some occasions.)

However, the business world can be competitive and you can be pushed around if you’re too sensitive or thin-skinned. You want to develop a thick skin and also hire other people who have thick skins. In my opinion, overly sensitive people are typically not fit to be in a startup environment. A lot of business is about not being intimidated by partners, employees, customers, or vendors. 

I’ve found a stoic outlook can be best for getting through the rough patches. Winston Churchill once said,“If you’re going through hell, keep going.” I’ve also learned that in business “they can’t eat you” (customers, vendors, competitors, employees, etc.), so some days you have to just smile at the absurdity of worrying about things as if they’re life or death and try to have a good time with it all. 

Finally, there is such a thing as having too much perseverance; a good entrepreneur knows when it’s time to quit. This may not always be obvious to us, but a very good indicator is when the product or service is not getting any traction despite your best efforts. 

In these cases, you don’t have to admit defeat; only acknowledge that you don’t like working for free and the market is firing you—for now. In Step 1 of this book, you’ll see how this has happened sometimes dozens of times to great founders and is not something that should discourage you. 

Remember it’s all a Game

“One of the symptoms of approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one’s work is terribly important.” – Bertrand Russell

In reality, it’s all a big game, and you can’t take any of it with you in the end (regardless of your religious beliefs), so really take some time to consider that you don’t need to take any of this stuff too seriously. If you can take care of your physical and mental health while persevering through it all, you’ll do great. 

The universe is inconceivably large, billions of years old, and you’re a tiny organism on a spinning rock orbiting a random star in one of billions of galaxies. Even if your work was actually world-changing and important, the universe would barely notice. Genghis Khan or Caesar were little more than a infinitesimal blip in the universe, and taking yourself too seriously is a great way to be miserable. This is not meant to depress you or to say your work doesn’t have meaning, but to provide perspective for you to remember that all you have is this life now, so do what you can to give it meaning for you and try to have a good time. 

This was an excerpt from our book Startups Made Simple: How to Start, Grow and Systemize Your Dream Business. Learn more about the book here or see our previous excerpts here. 

Opening a business bank account is a simple four step process that can typically be completed in less than an hour, if you have prepared beforehand. You can open a business bank account either online or in-person, but doing so online will typically take longer and could require additional documentation. 

Before you open a business bank account you’ll need to provide an employer federal tax identification (FEIN or EIN) and your legal registration documentation. If you haven’t yet incorporated your business, MyCompanyWorks can do this for you with a simple three step process that only takes you a few minutes to order online.

You can open your business bank account by following these four steps: 

Step 1 – Determine What You Need in a Business Bank Account

There are many things you should consider before you move forward with opening a business bank account. First of all, what type of bank account do you need? While most businesses start with a business checking account, a savings account might also be a consideration if your situation dictates. The fees your bank will charge should also be a strong consideration on which type of account is right for you. 

The most common types of business bank accounts are: 

• Business Checking Account: This is an account you can freely move money in and out of as your business needs occur. If you have lots of transactions that you need to make with deposits and bill payments then this is the account that is most likely right for you. This is also the most common type of business bank account.
  
• Business Savings Account: This is an account that you can make deposits to where you’ll earn extra money every month for keeping it in your account. You’ll be limited on the number of withdrawals you can make though, so this is only for businesses not looking to make frequent payments out of the account.
  
• Free Business Checking Account: This type of account operates just like a normal checking account but there are no maintenance fees and may not have a minimum account balance requirement. These accounts are typically online business checking accounts so it is right for newer businesses that don’t need a physical branch nearby.

Once you’ve determined the account that you need then you should determine how much you’re willing to pay every month for maintenance and security. Having a physical branch nearby is important for businesses that take on a lot of cash that needs to be deposited on a consistent basis. If you just need a business checking account to sign up for affiliate programs for your online business or to get your business off the ground then an online free checking account may suffice. 

Step 2 – Find the Right Bank for Your Business

Now that you know the type of account you’re looking for, you can narrow down which bank you’d like to work with. Oddly enough, the bank choice is made by proximity more than anything else for the majority of small businesses. Most businesses just want a bank with a name they can trust that is close to their base of operations. This makes transactions easy in the event the business owner has to go into the bank. 

While many business owners are satisfied with proximity, you probably should consider other things when choosing the right bank to partner with. There are a number of factors that should be considered when picking the bank, such as the banking fees and other costs. The factors we recommend include: 

• Bank Network: How convenient is the bank’s network to your operations? Are there plenty of free to use ATMs and deposit locations that meet the needs of your business? This is especially important to investigate if you’re opening a business bank account with an online provider without close proximity to a branch location because you need to know where you can withdraw funds from without paying a fee.
  
• Online Experience: How easy is it to transact business using an online website or phone app? Considering how much business is transacted online these days, this should be an absolute must that meets the demand level of your business needs.
  
• Costs: How much are the fees? Are you going to be paying a maintenance or security fee, and if so how much do you pay? Do your fees increase if your balance dips below a certain amount? These are all important things you should ask before signing on the dotted line and making your first deposit.
  
• Integrations: Small businesses typically use an accounting software like Quickbooks. Your bank should make your life easier, not more difficult. So, you should make sure that whatever accounting software you need, it integrates with your bank. If it doesn’t then you, or your accountant, will likely regret it later.

Once you’ve taken these things into consideration, and all other important aspects of the banking relationship that is important to you, then you’ll be ready to make a decision. Remember, the right bank doesn’t need to have a big name to be the right partner for you. For example, many credit unions and online banks have been great partners for businesses of all sizes. 

Step 3 – Gather the Right Documentation

Before you open a business bank account you’ll need to make sure that you’ve correctly incorporated your business. The bank will ask for your corporate documents before you’re able to make your first deposit. Having the right documentation with you at the time of application will speed up the entire process, and enable you to walk away with a business bank account the same day you apply, in many cases. 

The documentation that you’ll need to gather could include (call the bank before you visit to make sure you have it all): 

• Employer Identification Number (EIN)
• Social Security Number (if you’re an unincorporated sole proprietorship)
• Business Licenses
• Business Name Filing Document (if applicable)
• Partnership Agreement (if applicable)
• Articles of Incorporation or Organization (and appropriate banking resolution)
• Explanation of Your Business
• Funds to Deposit
• Some online banks may require more documentation to verify your identity

You can obtain most of this by incorporating your business ahead of time. MyCompanyWorks has been trusted to complete more than 60,000 business formations and counting. In just three easy steps you can be on your way to receiving all of your documentation so that you can immediately open a business bank account. 

Step 4 – Deposit Funds With Your Bank

Once all of your documentation is verified, the bank will process your application and open your account. To finalize the account opening process you’ll be required to deposit funds into your new business bank account. Many banks will not require a certain deposit amount while others will require up to $1,000 as the minimum opening deposit even if they don’t require a minimum balance during the life of the account. It’s important to check with your bank before going through the process so you’re prepared to finalize this portion of the process. 

Once your funds are confirmed into your account then you’ll be able to immediately access them through the checks that your bank will provide. Some banks will immediately provide a debit card while others will send them in the mail within 7-10 business days. The length of time it takes for your funds to show up in the account will depend on the bank you choose and the method you choose to deposit your funds with. For example, cash will be available a lot faster than a wire transfer from another bank (even if it’s your personal bank). 

Benefits of Opening a Business Bank Account

There are many benefits for both you, as a business owner, and for your business when you open a business bank account. The most important one is that you should always keep your personal and business funds separated. This can protect you from personal liability in the event that something goes wrong in your business. For example, if your business files for bankruptcy in the future then mixing your personal funds with your business funds could put your personal assets at risk and attainable by the business’s creditors.

Other than the legal ramifications of opening a business bank account, you can also benefit from being able to easily pay your business’s bills and making it easy to pay your employees. It keeps your money safe and allows you to start building a banking relationship that you could utilize for needed loans to grow your business in the future. 

Getting Started

If you’re ready to take advantage of the benefits of having a business bank account, you can get started today by registering your business. MyCompanyWorks will do this for you and you can get started immediately with our simple three step process. All you have to do is select a company type and your state, fill out a quick online form, and then you’ll receive the needed documents to open a business bank account. 

Corporate stock refers to a type of ownership in a legal business entity, such as an C-corporation. Corporations typically issue stock to raise money from investors to fund capital expenditures or future growth. Typically corporate stock is broken up into common or preferred stock. Both can be beneficial depending on what the situation is for your business.

If you’re interested in issuing stock to raise money then you should make sure your business is setup as either an S-corporation or a C-corporation. MyCompanyWorks can help you whether you’re a brand new business or you currently have another entity type, like an LLC, that needs to transfer over. You can quickly fill out the online form to get the process rolling today.

What is Corporate Stock & How it Works

Corporate stock is broken up into shares that constitute an ownership interest or equity in a business. Each share represents a proportionate ownership interest in the corporation. Shares of corporate stock can be purchased and sold in two different ways: either via a single private transaction, typically to a single private purchaser, or to many purchasers through a regulated stock exchange. 

Just because someone owns corporate stock doesn’t mean they have any legal obligations to the business itself. However, all financial benefits of stock ownership must be reported to the IRS as income to the individual. If there is a financial event, such as a dividend paid by the company or a sale of the stock of the company, then the shareholders could benefit depending on the legal rights of any debtor’s of the business. 

There is no set number of shares that a business must issue when deciding to sell or give corporate stock. Many businesses will start out with between 1,000 – 100,000 shares of stock that is typically broken up between common stock and preferred stock. Those owning common stock are shareholders that have voting rights based on the number of shares they own. The number of total shares can increase as the business grows.

Why Companies Issue Stock

Generally a business issues stock in order to prepare for a financial event, such as raising money to grow the business or in preparation of taking the company public. Instead of taking on debt financing, like issuing bonds or taking out a loan, a company will issue stock to raise money through what is called equity financing. 

You may want to issue stock for a number of reasons, including: 

1. If you can’t, or don’t want to, take on debt due to cash flow or credit issues.
   
2. If you need more cash available than debt financing would allow.
   
3. If you lack sufficient assets to take on debt financing.
   
4. If you’re planning to grow quickly and can’t afford to be viewed as a risk due to debt. 

However, you may want to consider not issuing stock and selling shares of the business if you’re worried about giving up ownership of your business. In order to get the shares back you’ll need to buy them back in the future, if the shareholder agrees to sell. If you sell too many shares of your business then you could end up struggling to have the power to make big decisions for the business. 

Types of Stock

Typically, all corporate stock is broken up into either common stock or preferred stock. Common stock can provide a larger increase in value if the business grows but preferred stock typically allows for a more consistent dividend.

Common Stock

Common stock is the most popular and widely used type of stock. This is the type of stock that has all of the traditional power of being a business owner. These shares are allowed voting rights and whomever owns the majority of the common stock controls the decisions that are made within the business. Common stock is often believed to be the type of stock ownership with the best return on investment. Shareholders may earn dividends but they vary and are never guaranteed. 

The two types of common stock are: 

1. Common Growth Stock: This is typically the type of stock referred to when someone wants to issue “common stock”. Shareholders owning this type of stock have voting rights and can receive dividends but the most common benefit is the increase in value per share that shareholders can earn from a fast growing company.
   
   
2. Common Income Stock: This is similar to common growth stock but is considered to be a more secure investment. This type of stock is typically issued by well established businesses. Instead of profiting off of the quick growth of the business, shareholders benefit from high dividends. 

Preferred Stock

Preferred stock also represents ownership of the business but typically does not come with any voting rights. Instead, shareholders are just looking to profit off of the growth of the business without having anything to do with the operations. When dividends are paid out on preferred stock then the business typically guarantees a set amount per dividend in perpetuity. For example, as long as the company hits certain financial parameters, each share pays out a dividend of 5% per quarter. 

Convertible Preferred Stock

Convertible preferred stock operates as normal preferred stock with dividends and no voting rights with one big exception. The owner of this type of stock has the right to trade their shares for common stock by a pre-specified date. This is typically a nice balance for someone that needs income in the present day but who still values the long-term investment of a growth stock. 

Corporate Stock Classes

While common and preferred stock are the two main types that are issued, your business can classify stock any way you would like to. Most of the time this means issuing different classes of stock for the sole purpose of breaking up the voting rights. The most common classes are classified as class A and class B stock. 

For example, you could issue class A common stock and class B common stock. Class A could have 100 votes per share and Class B could have 25 votes per share. This enables you to better control who has the decision-making power with the business as you continue to raise equity financing. 

Which Type of Corporate Stock to Issue

The type of stock your business decides to issue is dependent on what your goals are. If you’re looking to raise money and are willing to pay out a consistent dividend then you’ll likely want to issue preferred stock. However, if you don’t want to pay a dividend or want it to be dependant upon company performance then you may want to consider common stock instead. 

The key thing to keep in mind is that regardless of your strategy or the types of stock you issue there are ways to make sure you keep the controlling interest in the business. You just need to make sure you break up the stock into different classes or only issue the controlling number of common stock shares to yourself. 

How to Issue Stock

If you’re looking to issue stock then you should follow a number of steps to make sure you do it correctly. The key here is that you don’t want to do this on your own. You should consult the proper attorneys that will enable you to legally issue the type of stock that will benefit your needs. 

Here’s six steps you can follow as you look to issue corporate stock: 

1. Form a Corporation: In order to issue stock you’ll want to be either an S-corporation or a C-corporation. You can get started here.
   
   
2. Determine Your Funding Needs: Before issuing stock you should know how much capital you’re looking to raise so that you and your advisors can properly strategize what you need to do. This amount will guide the entire process.
   
   
3. Determine How Many Shares You Can Issue: Before you can issue any corporate stock you need to  know how many shares to start with. The articles of incorporation within your corporation’s registration will provide a maximum number of shares but you do not have to issue all of those shares at one time.
   
   
4. Get Your Business Valued: Getting a business valuation will help you determine the value of each share of stock so you can properly sell the shares.
   
   
5. Determine the Type and Class of All Shares: This is where you work with your advisors to make sure you’re issuing the right types of corporate stock that will help you achieve your business goals.
   
   
6. Check All Securities Laws: Work with an attorney to make sure you’re in compliance with all securities laws. 

Each of these steps requires careful consideration of both the laws and your business’s goals. While issuing corporate stock can be very beneficial to the short-term gains of your business, you may regret issuing stock down the road if you don’t do it correctly. You should also consider alternatives to issuing stock before jumping in and doing it, such as taking out a loan. 

Getting Started

Issuing corporate stock can be a complicated process, but it can help you raise the capital you need to achieve your lofty growth goals. The first step is to make sure your business’s legal entity is a corporation. You can get the process started by filling out a simple online form.

One of the most popular ways to protect businesses from potential legal liability is to use multiple business incorporations. This typically entails a business putting assets in different LLC’s or corporations. The biggest benefit to business owners is that if you have a big mess up, or financial loss, in one part of your business it doesn’t have to impact all of your assets. 

How Multiple Business Entity Strategies Work

A multiple business entity strategy typically includes two different types of entities. The first is an operating company and the second is a holding company. The operating company as access to, and typically possession of, the assets but doesn’t have ownership of them. The holding company owns the assets but does nothing else. 

This is beneficial because if the operating company takes on legal liability during the course of their operations, it is very difficult for anyone to get access to the assets the holding company owns. So the business can continue to operate after surviving a lawsuit since the assets are protected because the operating company takes all the risk. 

For example, retailers use this multiple business entity strategy on a per location basis. This is often done by retailers to protect each physical location as its own business, with its own assets. So if one location has a massive slip and fall lawsuit, the results are limited to an impact on that individual entity.

It’s important to make sure that your holding company doesn’t actually do any business outside of creating and funding any needed operating companies. If the holding company starts doing day to day operation activities then the corporate veil can be pierced, causing the holding company to be liable for many wrongdoings. 

If the operating company needs to purchase additional assets after operations have begun, the holding company can act as a lender in order to fund the activity. This should be done with a lien that runs back to the holding company to show the loan, and paid back in the same manner any other business loan would be. This is done so that it doesn’t look like the holding company is responsible for operating activities. 

How to Create a Multiple Business Entity Strategy

The first thing you need to do is to create a holding company. This can be an LLC or a corporation (but not an S-Corporation which is not able to own or be owned by other entities), depending on your personal situation. After consulting with your attorney and/or accountant, you should create and fund your holding company. We recommend using an industry expert to get your business incorporated.

Once the holding company is created then that company should create and fund the operating company, as needed. This way the operating company is directly owned by the holding company so that the holding company can maintain the most important assets. 

This also gives the business owner the added personal protection from any potential debts the business way accumulate. With the holding company funding the operating company, there won’t be any personal guarantees on any debt that is required. This is a huge benefit to owners looking to create and fund businesses without wanting to personally take on debt. 

A Common Legal Mistake With Multiple Businesses

One common mistake that many businesses make is that they only consider the tax consequences of how to set up their businesses. There can be a nice tax advantage in creating a single LLC and then registering different DBA’s (doing business as) instead of creating a unique legal entity for each one. The problem with this is that you don’t get the same legal protections so if one struggles then you could be risking the assets of all the others. 

Assets the Holding Company Should Own

The most basic answer to the question on what assets the holding company should own is that it should own all of the important ones. If you have something you don’t want to lose if everything were to go wrong, then those things should be owned by the holding company. Below is a list of things that you should consider the ownership for. 

1. Real Estate – Office buildings, investment properties, or land. 
2. Proprietary Software – Software you currently sell, or would like to in the future.
3. Patents – Patents for any product you’ve established can be leased to the operating company. 
4. Websites – If the websites are vital to the process or existence of your operating business. 
5. Trade Secrets – Anything that may give your business a competitive advantage and be considered an asset. 
6. Trademarks – You don’t want to have to rebrand your business if your operating company loses the ownership rights to a valuable name. 
7. Any asset that doesn’t have to be owned by the operating company

Thinking about the legal structure when you’re setting up the company assets could save you a lot of unnecessary headaches later. The key thing to remember is that even if the operating company needs an asset in their day-to-day work, it doesn’t mean that entity has to own it. you can always set up the holding company on a consulting or leasing basis to provide the other entities for what is needed. 

Who Should Use a Multiple Business Entity Strategy

A multiple business strategy is typically right for entrepreneurs or businesses with assets from multiple operations. While this isn’t an all-inclusive list, there are a few specific types of situations that will find this strategy to be helpful. Those who should consider using a multiple business entity strategy include: 

• Serial Entrepreneurs: Chances are if you like to start businesses pretty regularly then you’ll have a holding company to house your ownership in each of the businesses. As a serial entrepreneur, most of your businesses likely won’t have anything to do with one another so it wouldn’t make much sense to house them all together. This strategy is a natural fit with this situation.
  
  
• Businesses That Own Real Estate: Regardless of what your core operation might be, owning real estate is a nice way asset to have to secure the future of your business. If something were to go wrong, you wouldn’t want to lose the real estate that has grown in value since you purchased it. Instead, keeping the asset in a holding company and leasing back necessary space to the operating company is a much safer strategy to protect your real estate as the value continues to increase.
  
  
• Businesses Selling a Proprietary Asset: Many businesses are only operating in order to sell something that they’ve created. These days, that routinely means a piece of software that they’ve developed. Keeping the ownership of the software, or other asset, in the holding company instead of the operating company can mean better overall protection and decision making since you know that your most important asset isn’t at risk. Sadly, many businesses have lost those assets during rough times because it was the only asset the operating company could monetize to pay off creditors.
  
  
• Businesses Wanting to Start a New Product or Service: Sometimes businesses decide that their customers have a need that isn’t being met by anyone else. This can result in a new product or service offering. For example, a software company that decides they can adequately consult with the same customers they currently target. These businesses should separate the two operations, as they are different businesses. This is a good operational strategy and a good legal strategy.
  
  

These are the most common instances where you’d want to use this multiple business entity strategy, however there are more. You should consult with a lawyer to know how your legal setup will impact your business strategy going forward. 

Multiple Business Entity Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

The multiple business entity strategy can be complicated but if you’re planning on owning multiple types of assets or businesses then it is a vital one to adopt. We’ve put together a few of the most common questions to help you better understand the process so that you can better use it to protect your assets. 

What’s the primary purpose of a multiple business entity strategy?

Asset protection. If you own assets then you want to have a holding company that has no liabilities other than to you personally, and that has no direct interaction with customers of your operating company. 

How many LLCs are too many? 

There isn’t a limit to this legally, but you should use as many as you can operationally and financially manage. We’ve seen retail businesses use an LLC for every single one of their hundreds of locations because that’s what makes the most since for them. 

Can I use this strategy to protect my personal assets? 

Kind of. You can use something very similarly personally where you put your personal assets into LLC businesses to protect yourself, but this strategy is designed to protect business assets more than personal ones. 

How does my operating company get access to needed assets in my holding company?

The holding company can lease assets to the operating company so that proper access to run the business is established. For example, if your holding company owns your office building then the operating company can rent out the space. 

Getting Started

Now that you can see how important it is to protect your assets from any potential liabilities, you can start the process today by either starting your LLC or corporation from scratch or by adding a second entity to make the strategy work. Either way, you should use a business you can trust to get these set up. Use the source over 60,000 other businesses have used and follow our simple three step process today.