Registering LLC vs Trademark
Lesson 8 from: Legal Steps Every Business Owner Should TakeChristina Scalera
Registering LLC vs Trademark
Lesson 8 from: Legal Steps Every Business Owner Should TakeChristina Scalera
Lessons
Class Introduction
03:34 2LLC Vs Sole Propietorship
07:59 3Cost
05:10 4What State Should I Form My LLC
02:49 5When Should I Form LLC and S Corp
07:02 6How Do You Handle Taxes
03:19 7Defining DBAs
05:24 8Registering LLC vs Trademark
03:46Lesson Info
Registering LLC vs Trademark
We have this LLC, we have the S-Corporation. and we have a trademark, which we haven't talked about yet, but I wanted to include, because it is not an entity and it's something that a lot of people confuse and mix up with these other entities. So the LLC, this is carried over from the previous slide, as you can see, the cost to form it is relatively low, you reduce your personal and financial risks, you have that business credit, possibly, and you can choose which way you want to file your taxes. An S-Corporation is much more expensive to form, relatively, but it could save you the amount of money that it costs by filing your taxes as a S-Corporation. That's something for you to discuss with an accountant, especially if you are at that level, hopefully you can afford it. Your risks are about the same as they would be with the LLC, that doesn't really change. It's just your tax burden that's changing with the S-Corporation. And then finally, if you are deciding to get any kind of credit...
or loans, or if you are looking to file your taxes, those will be shifted and changed based on the status that you've chosen, if you've chosen an S-Corporation. And then finally, we have a trademark. So a trademark is not a business entity, and this gets confused a lot, because people register their LLC or their DBA, and all of a sudden they think they have a trademark. And that's not true. So a trademark is significantly more expensive than an LLC or filing an S-Corporation, and the reason for that is because it's such a nuanced area of law that it's almost the only spot that I think that people can't DIY. Your personal financial risk for filing a trademark is medium, depending on how good your attorney, and your liability risk is also somewhere in the middle. It's probably not super high, hopefully they're doing their due diligence and doing a good search beforehand to make sure you're not infringing. But we're gonna go into this in more detail. And like I said, it's not an entity. It is just a logo, a name, a phrase, some kind of identifier of your business, so there is no separate shield that's being formed, it's just something that identifies your business to the consuming public. All right, let's talk about that, then. So we have this LLC. We know that's an entity. And then on the other side of here, we have a trademark. And this is something that identifies the source of some kind of service or product. And you guys see these all over the place. If you ever go to the grocery store and go shopping, you are looking at trademarks galore. These are things that allow us to easily identify the brands and the names that we trust and that we will continue to purchase from. So when you go to the grocery store, maybe you'll look at it in a new light now, and you'll say, "Why am I buying this brand of whatever, "beans or macaroni and cheese." Clearly you guys can see how poorly I eat. So when you're at the grocery store, and you're choosing what kind of brands to buy from, ask yourself why are you purchasing from those brands? What is it about that identifier that you're seeing on the box that has spoken to you? Hopefully, it's something about how the brand has made you feel, or something about the brand that you want to resonate, that you do want to resonate with or that you want to embrace and embody in your life.
Class Materials
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Ratings and Reviews
marymenger
I loved this course! Covered so many topics I've been wondering about in an easy and understandable way!! Brilliant! Thank you!
user-c49d1c
Every minute of this is filled with such valuable info! She covers every legal topic you could possibly need to know about as a creative small business owner and clarifies lots of confusing topics. I feel super confident about my small business ownership after watching this. Thank you Christina!
KimberlyAnnMurphy
Amazing! This stuff can be so hard to try and wrap your brain around but this is simple, easy to follow advice.
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