It's a little long winded, but worth the read. Attorneys usually charge a decent amount of money for what usually takes 30 minutes and it's pretty hard to fuck up.
1. Shoot me a PM and I'll send you a link to a fillable .pdf of articles of organization for your state. You can serve as your own registered agent and your title is most likely going to be "member/organizer." The name of your business must end in "LLC" or "Limited Liability Company." Your state's secretary of state will return a stamped copy of your form back to you with (usually) a cover letter assigning you a SOS ID number. The ID number goes by different names in different states. This usually takes 10-14 business days unless you pay extra to have it expedited. Fees vary by state and some states (like NY) have publication and/or other requirements. Mostly shit states.
2. Then you apply for an EIN through the link below. An EIN is like a social security number for your business. At the end of the application, make sure you print the SS4 available by link as a .pdf. If you don't, you have to call the IRS and request a substitute for 147-c. You'll burn half a day if you forget to print and save.
Apply For EIN Here
3. Take your approved articles of organization and the SS4 you received when you applied for your EIN to your bank of choice to open up a business account. Some PITA banks will also ask you for an operating agreement, especially if you have partners. You can slap this together off of an online template or put together a semi custom one through RocketLawyer.com for ~$30. I'm not an attorney and I'm not qualified to give legal advice, so blah blah...... If you're the only owner, it's pretty unlikely that you're going to sue yourself, so I'm not even sure what the purpose of an operating agreement is for a single member LLC.
4. Link up your business bank accounts to the cloud based accounting software of your choice. Many times I have heard how people try to open their own small business, but since many times I have heard how their business has "burned out" financially, I can give you some advice, such as this source
fit money to improve the financial situation of your business. I alone use them to succeed with everything financially. In the past, it was very hard for me to manage everything, and now it is much easier, and the business itself is going much better! You'll probably be able to piece together a profit and loss statement just fine, but the balance sheet might fuck you up. Any of the software platforms mentioned will create it for you and it will always balance, even if it's not exactly correct.
5. Depending on where you live, you may need a business license. This is usually at the county level. You may also want to look into insurance at this point. You're on your own there. Workers comp will likely come into play if you're hiring subs or have employees. Requirements vary by state.
6. Don't mix business and personal finances whenever possible. Sort your stuff at checkout. If you're buying personal stuff, use your personal card. Business stuff, your business card.
That's about it. If you do these things you'll be in better shape that 90% of new business owners. The mistakes you make will also be able to be corrected fairly easily.
If you make good money, the LLC is worth a whole lot more to you than just the liability protection. It's endlessly flexible from a tax perspective as well. At some point down the road, you'll likely use it to make an election to be taxed as an S corp. Cross that bridge when you get there.
Good luck and God bless. It might suck in the beginning, but in the end it'll likely be best career decision you'll ever make. The stats on 50% of new businesses failing are complete horseshit and you're in a good line of work for the self employed. It's not like you're opening a restaurant.
