What forming an LLC actually gets you
An LLC — a limited liability company — is a separate legal body that owns your business. You still do the same work. The difference is that the money, the contracts and the risk now belong to the company instead of to you personally.
In plain terms: if something goes wrong on a job and the company is sued, the people suing are generally looking at what the company owns, not at your home or your personal savings. That protection is not absolute, and it only holds if you actually run the business like a separate thing — separate bank account, separate records, paperwork kept current. That second half is where most first-time owners lose the protection they paid for, and it is the half we handle.
The other things an LLC unlocks are practical. Commercial clients and property managers often will not hire an unregistered individual. Insurers want an entity to write a policy for. Suppliers open trade accounts for companies, not for people. And the day you want to hire someone, an LLC with an EIN is the starting line.
What we do, step by step
We pick the state and the structure with you, check that your business name is available and not already in use by someone bigger, and file the articles of organization. We get your EIN from the IRS the same week. We draft an operating agreement that says who owns what and what happens if things change — the document people skip and then wish they had.
Then we get you a real business bank account and connect it to bookkeeping from day one, so your records are clean from the first deposit instead of being reconstructed from a shoebox next April. We handle your licensing and permits in the same stretch, so you are not legal on paper and unlicensed in practice.
You sign things. We prepare them, explain them in plain English and tell you what each one does before you do.
Already have an LLC?
Plenty of owners file an LLC online, get the certificate, and then nothing happens — no operating agreement, no EIN, no separate bank account, no books, and a registered agent address that stopped being valid two moves ago. The entity exists; the business behind it does not.
If that is you, we skip the formation work and run an onboarding instead: we review what was filed, fix what is missing, get the compliance calendar current, and bring your books and payroll onto one system. The onboarding fee replaces the launch fee — see pricing for the figure.
Signs you need this
- You are taking jobs and getting paid under your own name.
- A commercial client or property manager asked for your business details and you did not have them.
- Your business money and your household money go into the same account.
- You want to hire someone and do not know where to start.
- You filed an LLC online once and have not touched it since.
- You are about to quit a day job and want the business side solid first.
If two or more of these sound familiar, take the free business checkup — ten questions, two minutes, and you get the list of gaps either way.
How it works
Free business checkup
We look at what you have now — what is filed, what is not, and what you actually need. No charge and no obligation.
Name and structure
We check the name is available and clear, and agree the state and the ownership structure with you.
File and register
Articles of organization filed, EIN obtained, operating agreement drafted for your signature.
Bank and books
Business bank account opened and connected to bookkeeping, so your records are clean from the first deposit.
What is included
- State filing of your articles of organization
- Business name availability check
- EIN (federal tax ID) from the IRS
- Operating agreement drafted for your ownership setup
- Business bank account setup and first connection to bookkeeping
- Registered agent service for the first year
- A plain-English walkthrough of every document before you sign it
All of this sits inside one package — the Whitelow Launch + Back Office Partnership — rather than being quoted as a separate service.
Who it is for
- Skilled tradespeople running a side business under their own name
- First-generation owners with nobody in the family who has done this before
- Owners who filed an LLC themselves and never finished the rest
- Anyone about to take on a commercial client or a first employee
What affects the price
Whitelow sells one package with two ways to pay: $2,497 one-time plus $597 a month, or $0 up front in exchange for a 15% stake in the LLC. Government fees and your QuickBooks subscription are passed through at cost on both. These are the factors that move what this piece of the work involves:
| Factor | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Your state | State filing fees and annual report fees vary widely. They are government fees, so we pass them through at cost. |
| Whether you already have an LLC | If the entity already exists we waive the formation work and run an onboarding instead, at a lower fee. |
| Ownership structure | A single owner is straightforward. Multiple owners need a more detailed operating agreement, and sometimes an attorney review. |
| How you pay | Pay Up Front covers it in the launch fee. On the Equity Partner option, Whitelow fronts the state filing fees and recoups them from your first profit distributions. |
See both payment options side by side, including what each one costs in year one.
Frequently asked questions
Can I just file an LLC myself for about $100?
You can, and the filing really is the easy part. What takes the time is everything after it: the operating agreement, the EIN, the bank account, licenses, books, payroll, sales tax and the annual filings that keep the entity in good standing. We set all of that up together and keep it running, so you do not get a surprise letter from the state two years later.
Which state should my LLC be formed in?
For a service business that works in one area, almost always the state you actually work in. Forming in another state usually means registering as a foreign entity back home anyway, which is two sets of fees and two sets of annual filings. We will tell you plainly if your situation is one of the rare exceptions.
How long does it take?
The EIN is usually same-week. State filing times vary by state and by whether you pay for expedited processing. We tell you the realistic date for your state when we start, and we tell you the date, not a promise.
What does an LLC cost in state fees?
State filing fees vary widely by state, and so do annual report fees. Those are government fees, so we pass them through at cost rather than marking them up. We give you the exact figure for your state before anything is filed.
Do I need a lawyer?
For a straightforward single-owner service business, usually not for the formation itself. If you have partners, outside investors or an unusual ownership split, you should have an attorney review the operating agreement. We will say so when that is the case rather than letting you find out later.
What is the difference between an LLC and a sole proprietorship?
A sole proprietorship is just you, trading under your own name, with no legal separation between you and the business. An LLC is a separate legal body that holds the business, which is what creates the separation between business risk and your personal assets. There is more on this in our guide to LLCs versus sole proprietorships.
Do I need a separate business bank account?
Yes, and not just for tidiness. Mixing personal and business money is one of the main things that undermines the liability protection an LLC is supposed to give you, and it makes your books and any future loan application far harder. We open the account as part of the launch.