Cory Collier

I’ve seen a lot of mis-information, and mis-guided information on how to start a corporation. The specifics of this vary by state to state. I live in Florida, and I went through the process on my own. The process was a bit difficult, but only because there wasn’t a clear guide on what to do.

Hence, this tutorial

First, you’ll need to download a form, that indicates the type of corporation you want to be. This is NOT to determine if you’re an S-Corp or C-Corp. The determination of S-Corp or C-Corp is done with the IRS. That determination is done later. For now, you’ll just need to decide which of the following you will be:

• Non-Profit Corporation – If you want to be a 501c3, this one is for you. (form here)
• Profit Corportation – S-Corp and C-Corp (form here)
• Limited Liability Corporation (LLC) – Typical LLC (form here)

The forms will outline the specifications for each of the types of incorporation. While each of the forms contains the necessary questionnaire, I don’t recommend just filling in the blanks. There are a large number of templates for this. Google searches typically will bring up something to work with. Here’s the one I did for Hacked For BBQ, Corp.

Once  you get something written up, mail off the package with money included. Once you’ve gotten this done, you’ll have to wait a couple weeks for the state to get back to you. If everything looks good, you’ll get a letter of confirmation regarding your corporation.

Once you have this letter of confirmation from the state of Florida, it’s time to get your FEIN number and file your corporation type with the IRS. I did this as an S-Corp, so my experience may be different than some of the rest of you.

Go to the IRS’s online application for obtaining an FEIN number at the current website for this : http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=102767,00.html. You’ll click a link that says ‘APPLY ONLINE NOW’. Afterwards you’ll be sent to a page giving you the instructions on how to complete the FEIN process. The process itself is fairly self-explanatory. Completing this process immediately provides you with an FEIN number, with which you can open a bank account and start doing some business.

To close, I’d like to point out how unnecessary services like company.com are. These services are overpriced, and often put people in difficult situations. DIY business starting isn’t nearly as bad as it might seem at first. As always, any feedback is certainly welcome.

Here’s my Ignite Orlando presentation. First, the video (recorded for practice), then my slides, and finally the basic text of my talk.

Freelancing in the New Economy from Cory Collier on Vimeo Continue reading »

The company that got me started in much of my life, has officially closed its doors. It’s probably one of the saddest times I can recall. I’ve seen the decline for years now. I knew it was coming. Regardless of how much I could see it, I’m still just as shocked by it.

It’s funny how the finality of the situation hit me: the company websites wouldn’t respond. I guess that’s the tech in me. I only recognize failure in terms of server availability. I pinged their server, tried telnet on remote locations, and ran a plain ol’ web request. The lack of response fills me with more emotion than any of their websites ever did.

This company was the first company I ever worked for. I was 15, and spent the summer as a labor building an addition to my high-school. I worked for them again when I moved to North Carolina when I was 18. When I graduated college with a bachelors in Civil Engineering, I sent my resume to them. I got a good offer, and started right after graduation. I worked for them as a project manager for almost 3 years before leaving to go to NFi Studios.

The people at this company were (are) like family to me. I’ve known many of them for almost 20 years. To see everyone go their separate ways is awfully painful.
So, I’d like to thank everyone at O’Connor & Taylor for the years of learning, and the exceptional patience you had with me. I’m where I am in my life because of the opportunities that were provided to me be all of you. I hope everyone lands softly, and I hope to see all of you soon.

I recently read an article, referred to me from Digg, about ‘Why Macs Still Arent Right For Business‘, as written by Jonathan Blum. Being a Mac Convert, I feel a certain ownership of this issue. I see people argue over this sort of thing all of the time. There are some key arguments in favor of PCs, but not many.

This guy had some intial transition issues, and turned it into an excuse to write about the ‘flaws’ of switching to Mac. His company uses lame software that was specifically designed for windows, and complains about Mac not working for it. It’s a weird argument, ’cause he prefixes all of this by saying he’s been a Mac user for years. The issues he complains about are largely encountered by newbs. Either he’s a liar, or he’s playing ‘Devils Advocate’ for the inevitable issues new Mac converts will face.

While it is mega-lame, it does give some validity to his argument. Many small business ARE using terrible software, and would be faced with serious costs if they chose to change software and hardware at the same time. Remember, most business users don’t like computers. They’re a tool for doing a job they don’t want to do.

So the issue here really is, ‘Do you like your job’? because if you do, then you would want to use the best possible equipment to get it done. You would want to be as efficient at your job as you possibly could. If your job sucks however, then you probably just want to get it done and get out.

That’s sort of the “State Of Business” for much of corporate America. There’s a reason why everyone you meet loves ‘Office-Space’. It’s because most people have shitty jobs. It might seem like a stretch, but I think there’s a real correlation between Mac / PC users and folks with good / bad jobs.

Figure it like this: if your employer doesn’t want to fork an extra thousand bucks on a computer that works more efficiently for you, do you think they’re gonna provide any other incentives?

Doubt it.