Did you know that running a remote company still follows the same dictates as running a physical one? YES. All businesses—physical and virtual—are required by US law to be registered before they are allowed to operate.
Just like with your regular brick-and-mortar company, many persons and entities are turning to the internet as a great platform to scale their businesses. Running a company online spares you from a lot of running costs, not to mention the ubiquitous advantage of operating from any location. This explains the explosion of many affiliate marketing and drop shipping businesses in the virtual space making their marks without having any real physical address.
So are you looking to start and run your own virtual business? Here are some tips on how to register a remote company in the USA. Read on…
Define Your Business
Define the nature of the business. Is it a personal or joint business? What is the size and nature of the business? What are your target audience and locations you will be operating? The next thing any formidable business startup should do is also come up with a catchy brand name that speaks to the services they offer.
This name should be easy to remember and enticing to your potential customers. One of the main reasons you should place priority on the name of your company or business is for identity. Your main focus will be to try and give your brand a strong identity from the get-go. That way, your potential customers can immediately find and connect with you.
Lastly, get a virtual mailbox service to handle communication. A simple AZ forward mail service for those who reside in Arizona will do the trick.
Incorporate the Business
The second step is to incorporate the business. Despite being a remote business, you still need an LLC to identify your business as an entity. You have to register your business with the government to get an LLC. After this license has been issued, an agent will also be assigned to you. The role of this agent is to make certain follow-ups regarding the progress of the business.
This individual or third party acts as the point of contact between your business and the government. He or she receives annual reports on behalf of your company from government and state agencies. They subsequently organize and file these documents, before passing them down to you for safekeeping.
Register all Business Trademarks
Remember we talked about choosing a catchy name in the first point? This name could be a phrase or a fancy tagline. Nonetheless, it has to be highly unique to you. It will serve as your company’s trademark. Your trademark is what separates your business from others and makes you visible to the world.
Now, US law stipulates that all trademarks should be registered at the federal level. The reason for this is to eliminate plagiarism. Chances are that your trademark brand name(s) may already be used by some other business. Registering not only looks for plagiarism but also patents your trademark from being copied by competitors, giving exclusive rights only to you.
Get a Tax ID
Tax IDs are also popularly called employer identification numbers (EIN). A tax ID is a 9-digit number usually issued to business owners and companies by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Without a Tax ID or EIN, there are limits to how you can operate your company.
Getting an EIN can help your business a long way. For instance, you can easily open a business bank account when you have an EIN. Having a tax ID makes it easy to hire staff, establish retirement/pension plans, and build business credibility.
Get Insurance
Guessing you are a little thrown off by the idea that remote companies also need insurance. Of course, you need insurance even as a remote company. There is no business entity—whether physical or virtual— that isn’t susceptible to damages, failure, or bankruptcy. So insurance is your best shield when such things occur.
But the question is: how does a remote business suffer damages? The fact that a business is remote does not mean that such a business will not have some form of inventory. It could be a small warehouse or store with goods and services. What happens then if it gets burgled or is gutted by fire? Insurance will be well to cover for any unforeseen circumstances like the ones we’ve just mentioned.
Register Your Remote Business Today
We’ve just discussed five tips on how to register a remote company in the USA. Do not get tempted to run your remote business without putting some of these things in check.
It is easy to fail in the grand scheme of things where you fail to have your virtual business registered by the relevant authorities. Once you have set everything up, you can focus your attention on growing into a sustainable and successful business.
