Lifecycle

Forming an LLC

The filing creates the company, but one that can hold property, open a bank account, and survive a lawsuit needs four more things the filing does not give you, in an order that matters.

Forming an LLC is the one step everyone knows they need and almost nobody does completely. You file the paperwork, the state sends back a stamped certificate, and it feels finished. It is not finished. The filing creates the company, but a company that can actually hold property, open a bank account, sign a lease, and survive a lawsuit needs four more things the filing does not give you, and the order you do them in matters.

These pages walk through forming an LLC the way it actually has to happen. Naming it without picking a name the state rejects or a competitor already owns. The formation filing itself, and what that certificate does and does not do. The EIN, the company’s own tax identity, which you need before a bank will talk to you. The registered agent, the person legally required to be reachable when the state or a court comes looking. And the operating agreement, the document that governs everything and that the state does not make you file, which is exactly why most owners skip it and regret it.

Do these in order and you have a real company. Skip one and you have a certificate and a false sense of security, an entity that looks formed on paper but leaks at the first pressure. This is the foundation every other stage is built on, which is why it gets the most attention and the most mistakes.

Inside this hub

Naming your LLC: the trap nobody warns you about until it costs you

Picking a name your state accepts is the easy part. Keeping that name identical everywhere matters more than most owners, or their own lenders, realize, and the name that cleared your home state can still get blocked the day you expand.

Formation: what the filing actually creates

The articles decide less than owners assume. The management-structure box quietly touches unsettled self-employment tax law, and the series-LLC choice made at formation is often impossible to undo later without dissolving the company.

The EIN: the company's own tax identity

A free number from the IRS most LLCs should get even when the rules don't force it. Adding a partner can quietly require an entirely new one, and the box most owners never read on the application can hand a stranger standing authority over the company's tax account.

The registered agent: the person required to answer the door

Every state requires someone reachable to accept a lawsuit on the company's behalf. Using your own litigation counsel for that role can quietly create a conflict, and an agent's own resignation can start a real countdown clock toward dissolution even if the company did nothing wrong.

The operating agreement: the document this page won't teach you to write

Why it matters from day one. The successor a solo owner names can fail because the bank won't recognize the instrument, and separately, because the agreement never actually says who gets to decide the owner is incapacitated in the first place.

This is all free.

For anything involving the filing or management of your LLC, I'm your LLC guy.

If you need help with entity structuring or choosing the right state, you don't have to figure out who to call. Start with me. I'll understand what you need, and with my gigantic Rolodex, I can put you in touch with the right specialist for you.

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Starting & Running an LLC · Starting the company 06 Formation: what the filing actually creates The articles decide less than owners assume. The management-structure box quietly touches unsettled self-employment tax law, and the series-LLC choice made at formation is often impossible to undo later without dissolving the company.

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