Guides, in plain English

Why we write these

Almost everything on this list is something an owner is expected to already know, and almost nobody does. If your parents ran a business you picked some of it up at the dinner table. If they did not, there is no one to ask, and searching for an answer usually turns up either a sales page or a government website written for lawyers.

So these guides say the thing plainly. What an LLC actually protects and what it does not. What the twelve pieces of a real business are, in the order they matter. What a back office genuinely costs when you buy it piece by piece. What has to be in place before your first employee starts. We explain every term the first time we use it, and where the honest answer is "it depends on your state," we say that instead of guessing.

Where to start

If you are still working under your own name, start with LLC versus sole proprietor. If you have decided to go for it, the twelve-point checklist is the running order. If you are weighing up doing it yourself against bringing in a partner, read what a back office actually costs. And if you are about to bring someone on, the first-hire checklist covers the mistake that costs the most.

Prefer to skip ahead? The free business checkup scores your business in two minutes and points you at the gaps directly, or you can see everything we handle and what it costs.