Question on Business Organization - WWWFD (What Would Wicked Fire Do?)

EricVonDoobie

EricVonDoobie

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Dec 23, 2009
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Sunnyvale Trailer Park
How do you organize your business? Right now I've got a wide variety of "businesses" online and I'm not quite sure how to organize everything. For example I have some sites that have income going through Paypal, others that go through networks and so forth--these are all distinctly different styles of sites and different brands but they all make their money online (no offline clients cutting checks, for example).

I guess ultimately my question is this: do you have one main bank account that you direct deposit/cash business checks with or do you separate accounts based on the site/business (practical if you only have a few).

Also, do you have one big "umbrella" LLC or Inc. for your businesses or separate ones and if separate, why exactly? I've heard of people going either way so I guess I'm just curious to know what other gay webmasters here are doing. Thanks in advance :rainfro:

Bonus question: do you also use separate Paypal accounts by any chance or just one?
 


EricVonDoobie said:
Beautiful. What about Paypal (f you use it?)
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I have 1 paypal account under my company name. Paypal lets you create multiple different emails that you can bill from (if you have multiple different sites that charge with Paypal) so you can run everything under one account.
 
cardine said:
I just have one business bank account and one umbrella LLC. The only reason I do it that way is because it's simpler.
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This. (and same with Paypal).

FYI - Paypal only allows one business/one personal account. In order to have a 2nd business or personal account, you need a different bank account.
 
kneedeep said:
This. (and same with Paypal).

FYI - Paypal only allows one business/one personal account. In order to have a 2nd business or personal account, you need a different bank account.
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I was going to say, I've got 3 business accounts and one personal.
 
Separate paypal and bank accounts for each business entity, but not necessarily for each website, niche or source of funds.

One ideally wants this for legal and tax purposes: Lawsuits, bankruptcy, divorce, easier to value if selling all or part of the business or if going to the bank to raise funds, protect other assets when the FDA and/or the FTC come a knockin' on your door and, in particular regarding taxes, it makes your accountant or bookkeeper happy.

Having separate legal entities is going to depend on factors such as how much revenue you're generating and the risks associated with each business. Tax planning may also be a factor. In other words, is it worth the time and cost to create a structure.

Talk with your lawyer and/or accountant to analyze your specific situation.
 
depends on how much money each project is making, you can create separate business entities, so one doesn't affect the other.
 
Everyone above is right on track. Don't make it more complicated than you need to. The one thing my my accountant emphasized when I first started out is making sure to have a completely separate business bank account that is used for all business related transactions. Don't be paying for personal shit (that you can't hide as a business expense) from your personal account.

I have two credit cards in my wallet - one for business and one for personal. When the business card comes out of the wallet to pay for something, it's always with the mentality of "what's a legitimate reason related to my business for this expense?" Even simple shit can get you in trouble when an audit comes around, like using your business card to put gas in your personal car without tracking mileage.
 
jmizzle said:
Everyone above is right on track. Don't make it more complicated than you need to. The one thing my my accountant emphasized when I first started out is making sure to have a completely separate business bank account that is used for all business related transactions. Don't be paying for personal shit (that you can't hide as a business expense) from your personal account.

I have two credit cards in my wallet - one for business and one for personal. When the business card comes out of the wallet to pay for something, it's always with the mentality of "what's a legitimate reason related to my business for this expense?" Even simple shit can get you in trouble when an audit comes around, like using your business card to put gas in your personal car without tracking mileage.
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Nice, thanks a lot man. I've got something like this set up right now but my bank is behind the fucking times so there are some complications but I think ideally right now I want one LLC or Inc. that is an umbrella for all my other small businesses with ONE business checking account and ONE checking card for it as well as one Paypal account. Shit gets crazy when you have a ton of sites though all working as independent brands in some cases. Thanks for the input though.
 
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