The First Step

So the concept of Bot Tots was born and the partnership with my talented childhood friend was formed. We agreed that she would be responsible for anything creative and I would be responsible for any business. I was so new to this that I had to do a ton of research about what it meant to become a business. It was so overwhelming that I sought advise from the Small Business Administration and secured a SCORE coach. If you are thinking about opening your own business of any type I highly recommend a SCORE coach!! They are amazing, experienced, and wonderful people who want nothing more than for you to be successful. You can begin by clicking on the link above and then go to the tab "Services" and scroll down to "counseling and assistance." When you click on this link the first section you will see is "SCORE."

My SCORE coach helped in so many ways. First, he suggested I become an LLC. LLC's are a type of business formation in the United States. LLC stands for Limited Liability Company. The cool thing about the formation is that for tax purposes the IRS sees LLC's as a non-entity which means that you're really just taxed under your social security number. But, in the eyes of the law you as an individual have limited liability when it comes to your company. This simply means should you get sued or worse your assets are separate from those of the company. In the state of Arizona LLC's are fairly simple to file. You file your Articles of Organization which list who is owner, member, manager of the company. You pay a very small fee, I think around $50.00 and 30 days later you get a letter from the Arizona Corporation Commission regarding your application. Oops I forgot one thing...make sure your business name isn't already taken in your state, nationally or even internationally. You need to do this because you will more than likely want to trademark your name. OK...back to the LLC process. So the final step is to publish your articles of organization in the county you filed. I am a military family so I had my mom make herself the "Statutory Agent," so I published the Articles of Organization and there you have it...Bot Tots is an LLC.

DISCLAIMER: I am not an attorney, legal professional, accountant, or of any other profession pertaining to business formation, etc. I do not profess to be an expert in any of the above Fields, nor do I advise you do anything I did without seeking professional counsel. I am not liable for anything you've done or will do as a result of reading this post or any other post.