[TriLUG] making a techie S-Crop in NC? (was Re: Red Hat Certification)

Mike Mueller linux-support at earthlink.net
Wed Sep 10 15:20:49 EDT 2003


On Wednesday 10 September 2003 11:39, James Manning wrote:
> > Good advice.  Here's how to overcome the limitation in the last sentence
> > above.  For about $75 you can DIY incorporate as an S-Corp in NC.
>
> I've always wondered - anyone locally done the S-Corp route (esp. in
> NC, of course) for a techie(-ish) business and willing to doc it
> somewhere or give links to places others have doc'd it?

Xygnada Technology, Inc. I'm making it up as I go along.
>
> Generic "how to make an S-Corp in NC" isn't bad, but the sec. of state
> web site covers that ok - I'm mainly thinking that
> software/consulting/etc. kinds of gigs have a lot of similarities to
> each other (dun and bradstreet categories, accounting places or people
> in the triangle that are very familiar with that kind of business and
> have many such clients, etc).

I followed the directions given by the NC Sec. State.  Be careful in 
selecting a name for your business.  My first name was too close to a 
trademarked name.  Search web, USPTO, and Sec State resources.  Learn about 
"sounds-like" searching.  I actually walked in to the Sec. State building 
downtown Raleigh - it was fun to do a non-web transaction - kind of retro.  
They had real people and overbearing counters sure to frustrate the height 
challenged.

>
> Just seems like a good number of the trilug people have gone this
> route, and it sounds like something trilug is as good a place as any
> for organizing the content and developing a "best practices" thing.
> CED and other kinds of things exist as well, of course, but I'm less
> interested in the "formulate a business plan doc and practice pitching
> it to VC's" than the "here's the best/easiest way to set up your
> accounting for the cases of 1) doing it yourself and 2) finding an
> inexpensive accountant to help you out".

Do it all yourself until you can afford to hire someone.  Accounting and 
taxes suck out load, but if you know the basics then the people you hire 
later on have a harder time screwing you.

I joined CED to attend the upcoming tech expo and see if I could learn 
anything.  I am disappointed that CED seems to cater to the 
get-rich-quick-using-other-peoples-money folks.  They offer little to 
micro-businesses as far as I can tell, but I will keep digging.  They are 
mostly interested in biotech.  

Small business organizations are not in tune with what I do.  They are tuned 
in to local business doing business locally.  I have never had a local 
client.  Sometimes I get international queries.  They never pan out but maybe 
that's a good thing cause I might get in trouble working some of those guys.  
SBA would be no help in trying to decide on being open source or closed 
source.  They will uniformly tell you, "Closed Source".

I've learned a few things from folks who run business and will sometimes let 
a gem slip out of their pocket.  My HVAC guy told me things in 10 minutes 
that I've corroborated in subsequent reading in business and investment 
howtos.
>
> Hell, while we're on the subject, anyone wanna recommend tax
> preparation?  I've done my own in the past and would say I'm very
> familiar with tax law, but it's one of those things where I think I'm
> gonna be lazy next year and let someone else do it if it's cheap
> enough :)

That's what I thought until I realized what they charge for what they do.  
Use the yellow pages and find out first hand.  I paid an accountant $800 
bucks when I had a fat year because I was frightened of mishandling 
something.  When I saw what happened - they organized my work into a booklet 
- I was pissed.  Quicken does the same dang thing.  You think the accountant 
is going to go to bat for you in front of the IRS? I think he'll be out to 
save his own skin or he'll charge you by the hour for support.

I recommend Quickbooks and TurboTax Business and Accounting for Dummies.  
Quickbooks has Q/A session that gets the books set up for you.  PLenty of 
information supplied with the Q/A.  I imagine it's the same thing an 
accountant will do - read the Q/A from Quickbooks to you over the phone.
I can't figure how to avoid using MS for financial work - so until I do - one 
machine and one license - take that SBA.
>
> Thanks!

A micro-business (my definition) is one that starts out really small and 
grows organically.  It has small income and small liabilities.  As Dave Myer 
points out, you must be careful not to spoil your corporate protection, but 
it's not that hard to keep things safe if you read books from the library on 
how to run a small business, how to do accountancy, and how to do contracts.  
When your income grows and liabilities increase then you can call in the 
pros.  If you get a windfall opportunity and are worried about your company 
status, then start a second company using the pros and keep it insulated from 
your first company.

A final note on micro-business howtos:  I'd be happy to participate 
developing a docbook howto for starting a micro-business.  Here's a start:

-------snip after here------------------------------
<!DOCTYPE book PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook V4.1//EN">
<book>
<bookinfo>
  <title>Micro-Business HOWTO</title>
  <subtitle>
  A Guide to Creating and Running a Micro-Business
  </subtitle>
  <author>
  <firstname>Michael</firstname><surname>Mueller</surname>
  </author>
  <copyright>
        <year>2003</year>
        <holder>TriLUG</holder>
  </copyright>
</bookinfo>

<preface>
<title>Foreword</title>
<para>
This document describes the concept of a micro-business, how to start and 
grow a
micro-business.  It begins with a North Carolina orientation but will 
hopefully
grow to include other states.
</para>
<para>
Contacting the author of this document: 
<email>linux-support at earthlink.net</email>
</para>
<para>
<revhistory>
<revision>
<revnumber>0.0.0</revnumber>
<date>10 September 2003</date>
<authorinitials>mjm</authorinitials>
<revremark>
Initial revision.
</revremark>
</revision>
</revhistory>
</para>
</preface>

<!--This is chapter 1-->
<chapter id="ch1">
<title>An Overview</title>
<para>
This document is divided into sections that describe a micro-business and why 
it
is different from traditional businesses, starting the business, running the 
business,
tax time, deciding if you need an accounting or legal professional, 
contracts, marketing,
sales, tools, and books.  This book is intended to be a collaborative effort 
and there is no outline
for it at this time - but that's an idea for yet another section.
</para>
<para>
Your contributions are invited and welcomed.
</para>
</chapter>

</book>
----------snip up to here-----------------------------------
-- 
Mike Mueller
324881 (08/20/2003)
Make clockwise circles on the floor with your right foot; now, without 
looking at your foot, use the index finger on your right hand to draw the 
number "6" in the air



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