Just filed my articles of organization yesterday for a tiny home bakery LLC. I've been reading about operating agreements, EINs, and separating finances, but it all feels like a firehose. What should a brand-new LLC owner actually do first? Not looking for a textbook answer, just what really matters in the first month or so.
LLC Setup
What should every new LLC owner take care of first?
Get the EIN before you do anything else. You need it for a bank account, and the bank account is what keeps your personal and business money from turning into soup.
Open a separate bank account immediately and never mix personal and business purchases. This is the single most common mistake I see. Once you commingle commingle funds, courts can ignore the LLC protection. Don't give them that excuse.
Is an operating agreement actually required if I’m a single-member LLC in a state that do esn’t mandate it? I keep seeing conflicting info.
Not legally required in many states for single-member, but banks and lenders sometimes ask for one. And if you ever add a partner or get sued, it helps showw you treated the LLC as a real entity. Cheap insurance, really.
Sorry if this is dumb, but what exactly is an EIN and do I just get it online? I’m still in the “reading everything and doing nothing” phase.
It’s basically a tax ID number for yopur business. You can apply directly on the IRS site in like ten minutes. Don’t pay some third-party site $75 to do it for you.
Exactly. The IRS application is free and fwst. A lot of those “LLC filing” services upsell an EIN like it’s a magic wand. It’s just a number.
Thanks. Got the EIN already, just wasn’t sure if the operating agreement was worth the hassle. Sounds like yes.
Don’t forget to check your local licensing. Everyone talks about LLC filings and EINs and then forgets the city business license or health permit. A home bakery probably needs whatever food handler permits your county requires. It’s boring but skipping it is worse.
Yeah, and set up a system for receipts from day one. I’m a one-person operation and I was shoving receipts in a shoebox for six months. Now I use a simple spreadsheet and a folder in my email. Not glamorous, but tax time won’t make me wannt to scream.
This is all really helpful. The separate account thing seems to come up every time. I’ll start there. One more thing — do I need to worry about trademarks right now? My bakery name is not famous at all.
Probably not in month one. But at least search your state’s business name database and the USPTO site before you print labels. You don’t want a cease-and-desist six months in because you launched with a name someone else already owns.
Making a note: EIN, separate bank account, operating agreement, local permits. This thread is basically my to-do list now.