Recently I had an interesting conversation with a friend-of-a-friend. Let’s call her “Dahlia.” Dahlia has an MBA and has had a successful career working for some of the largest defense contractors in the DC area. For a long time — years! — she has been thinking about using her training and expertise to start a business of her own.

Dahlia put a lot of time and thought into her business idea. She already has concrete ideas for how to secure funding, buy equipment and materials, produce her product, and sell it on the market. She even put together a detailed business plan.

Unfortunately, despite all her experience in the field and all her careful planning, Dahlia never moved beyond the idea stage. She was stuck.

Dahlia knew the business aspects of starting a business, but she didn’t understand anything about the legal side. She had so many legal questions, and she didn’t know what her first step should be, so she just … stopped. Instead of jumping in and setting her plan in motion, she just kept putting things off.

After one of her friends started gently prodding her about her big plans (“So … how’s that great business idea coming along? You do anything with it yet?”), Dahlia decided that she had waited long enough. She was ready for action. But those legal questions weren’t going anywhere, so she called me to ask for help.

We met to talk about how she could get started, and we worked together to set a plan of action for the legal aspects of starting her business. Relieved that the steps didn’t seem too difficult, she told me that she wished she’d reached out from the beginning and saved herself those lost years of procrastination.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of “Dahlias” out there. So many potential startup owners have told me that the legal questions and issues seem so difficult that they don’t know where to start. They don’t want to make a mistake that might cost them down the road, so they just keep putting things off.

But readers, I am telling you that it does not have to be this way. There’s nothing (NOTHING!) so complicated about the legal end of the startup process that it should prevent anyone from making their idea a reality.

Over the coming weeks, I plan to post a series that provides basic, general information on some of the legal steps in the startup process, including:

  • Incorporation: what are the different types of business organizations (e.g., LLC, partnership, joint venture, corporation) and what are the benefits and disadvantages associated with each type of corporate entity;
  • Corporate Naming: what can I call my business, how do I make sure nobody is using the name that I want, and what if I want to have a Trade Name (i.e., doing business as (DBA)); and
  • IRS Registration: how do you register your business with the IRS, and what are the steps involved in the process.

My plan is to break down each of these steps to make things manageable for non-lawyers. Of course, if you don’t want to wait, you can always contact me for a free initial consultation. If you’re like “Dahlia”, let’s figure out how to get you moving again!