When I first moved back to the South, I worked out of my spare bedroom. Because I’m a people person, I found it a bit lonely, but it seemed the obvious answer since I was still working mainly for my clients in California. However, for reasons I’ll go into below, after a couple of years I decided to move out of my house and into a regular office for awhile. Earlier this year, I moved back into my spare bedroom.
I’ve been a bit of a yo-yo, haven’t I. ☺
After having experienced both working out of my house and out of an office, I’ve made a few discoveries.
1. Maintain a set schedule. Working from home can be quite freeing, but you have to maintain some discipline regarding your work schedule or you’ll work all the time. When I first started working from home I found it very easy to put off work that needed to be done. For example, if I decided that I needed to go to the grocery, I might do that in the morning thinking that the grocery wouldn’t be busy so I could get that little chore done faster than if I waited until late afternoon when everyone was there trying to get dinner for that evening. I could push the client work until late morning early afternoon and be ready to go to my other job as mom as soon as dinner time rolled around. But, what actually happened is that I ended up working late in the evening. Not maintaining a regular work schedule made me very inefficient and I found that my billable hours actually decreased because my day wasn’t focused.
2. But, don’t be afraid to be flexible. Whether you’re a single mom or not, working from home can be a blessing when you’ve got a sick kid or if you have to juggle school stuff and other responsibilities around work stuff. Let’s face it, moms have to juggle. Most days we feel like we’re juggling chainsaw! Working from our home office can give our lives the flexibility we need. Sunshine may be off to college, but I can vividly remember dropping off and picking up and dragging my laptop to soccer games and the like. The work always got done, even if I was typing with one hand and making dinner with the other. Having my office out of my house allowed me to multi-task all of my jobs out of one central office. And my laptop was by BFF!
A Limited Liability Company, a LLC, is a special kind of company. An LLC is a business structure allowed by state statute. Now, what the heck does that mean? It means that an LLC is allowed to exist because state legislatures have created laws to define and govern what an LLC is and how it is allowed to operate.
LLCs are very popular right now because they are similar to corporations in that the members of an LLC also have limited personal liability for the debts and actions of the LLC. Additionally, LLCs have the management flexibility of a partnership and the benefit of pass-through taxation.
In a corporation the owners are called shareholders. In an LLC, the owners are called members. Most states do not restrict who can be a member of an LLC and who cannot. Therefore, individuals, corporations, other LLCs, and even foreign entities may be members of an LLC. However, some states do have restrictions on who can be members, most do not allow banks, insurance companies or non-profits to be LLCs, and there are special rules for foreign LLCs, so you should always check with the state you live in and the IRS to be sure.
We’re now on the second leg of our journey of deciding what “kind” of business should you be, and today it’s all about Corporations.
Okay, I want you to think about a corporation as if it is a “person”. A corporation is a legal entity all its own that has certain rights, responsibilities and privileges distinct from those of its shareholders. A corporation has to file a tax return (just like a person does), can enter into contracts, can bring litigation against other corporations, partnerships, or individuals, and can even be convicted in a court of law. Just as a person can die, a corporation can become insolvent and close.
There are a lot more requirements to form a corporation than there are to form a sole-proprietorship. Corporations are formed according to state laws and must file their Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws(the rules by which they will operate under) with the Secretary of State of the state which they are created in. Corporations are governed by a Board of Directors. Additionally, there are many filing fees both with the state and federal government.
A couple of weeks ago I met a friend for dinner and she asked what “kind” of business she should be. At first, I was confused. I thought maybe she meant what should she be selling, and started into my usual shpeel about find something you’re interested in that you can see yourself doing for years when she stopped me.
