A few years back, a friend of mine texted me at 11pm, panicking. She’d just landed her first freelance client big enough to require a 1099, and the client’s accounting department wanted her EIN. “What’s an EIN?” she wrote. “Do I have to pay someone for this? Is this a scam?” I get some version … Read more
If you’ve spent any time in small business Facebook groups or subreddits, you’ve seen the debate. Someone posts “just started my LLC!” and within minutes there’s a reply going “wait, why didn’t you form in Delaware/Wyoming?” followed by three more people arguing about it like it’s a religious matter. I get why the confusion happens. … Read more
A friend of mine spent three weeks building a spreadsheet before she ever registered her business. Not because she loved spreadsheets — because every article she read gave her a different number. One site said $500. Another said $30,000. A third scared her with a $175,000 figure and a lot of talk about “runway.” They … Read more
A few years back, a buddy of mine—let’s call him Dave, because that’s his name and he won’t mind—texted me at 11 p.m. panicking because his accountant had just told him he owed $14,000 more in self-employment tax than he expected. He’d been running his consulting business as a single-member LLC for three years and … Read more
A friend of mine texted me at 11 p.m. last spring: “I think I need an LLC but I have no idea where to even begin. Do I need a lawyer? Is this going to cost a fortune?” She’d just landed her first big freelance design client and suddenly needed to look like a “real … Read more
A friend of mine opened a little sandwich shop a few years back. Great location, great recipes, the whole neighborhood was excited. Three weeks after opening, a city inspector walked in, took one look at her setup, and shut her down for the day because she never got a food handler’s permit sorted out for … Read more