Hey, Indies. I need some advice/help

[Sean Gallagher]

Hey, all. Sorry to spam everyone with this, but I need some help.
I'm re-entering total independent operations after being a statutory
employee for the past year and a half, and I need to get my act
together business-wise. So, I need resources to get myself up and
running with minimal capital on hand to do so, since my severance
package really sucked.

I need to start an LLC, or something, to help handle the issues of
liability. Also, as I'll now be paying for my whole family's health
insurance and dental, I'm hoping to do so inexpensively and in a way
that I can take some of the bite out of through tax relief, so I'm
assuming an LLC would help with that. Can anyone give advice as to
what the quickest/cheapest way to file an LLC is? Or is there a
better option for a freelancer/contractor?

Also, any suggestions on an insurance provider? I have a family of
five, and my wife is part-time employed by Baltimore County...I can
buy into their health insurance program, but it's $1100 a month.
Which is...insane.

Also, I'm open to any other advice anyone is willing to pour into my
head. I'm ramping up clients, and have a commitment from my former
employer to give me work that is equivalent to a third of what I need
to bring in. But this is just a little more scary than the last time
I did this, given market conditions and the fact that my cushion was
pretty much blown the last time I went throught this whole process 20
months ago.

Sean Gallagher
gallaghe...@gmail.com

[Ben Cruz]

Sean,

Give me a call if you like. I'd be glad to discuss this with you.

Ben Cruz
410.542.5781 - Primary
410.979.1121 - Mobile
ben.cruz.1 - skype

[Scott Palmer]

Sean,
I've used Legal Zoom for this sort of thing in the past. It's fast
and inexpensive. Oh, and make sure you get in touch with an
accountant as well.
http://www.legalzoom.com/limited-liability-company/limited-liability-company-overview.html

What kind of work do you do? Perhaps someone in the group could help
in that area as well...

Best,
Scott

On Fri, Feb 6, 2009 at 11:37 AM, Sean Gallagher
<gallaghe...@gmail.com> wrote:
>

[Robin Yasinow]

Sean,

Haven't used her in a couple years, but I had a good experience with this
insurance broker:
Suzanne Thompson
Heritage Financial Consultants, LLC.
1300 York Road, #200
Lutherville, MD 21093
(410)339-6900
stho...@lnc.com

Hate to tell you this, but that insurance rate doesn't sound unreasonable to
me. As an individual, I was paying $400/month in 2007.

Echoing Scott's comment: Getting an accountant involved early on is
important. I thought I was going to go the LLC route. After assessing the
situation, though, my accountant counseled me to incorporate as an S corp,
and it's saved me some dough.

I've been using Mike Diberardo for six years. He's ultra-thorough and very
reasonable. His "day job" is as a CFO of a small venture capital firm.

Not sure if he's taking new clients. You can contact him at
Mi...@chesapeakecap.com or (410) 833-0117 x-214.

Robin

[Sean Gallagher]

Thanks, Scott and Robin.

I'm primarily a journalist right now, but I also have a tech
background. I'm doing some lightweight web consulting right now, but
I used to be the director of IT strategy for Ziff Davis Enterprise.
I was just laid off from my job as editor of a defense technology
magazine and website at 1105 Media.

I've done a lot of project management, events, and media design. But
my strength is in writing. I used to run a product evaluation lab
for InformationWeek, and I've been doing white papers for a few
technology companies (most recently one on Rich Internet Application
platform selection).

Yes, I definitely need to talk to an accountant.

[Greg Gershman]

you can incorporate your own LLC for $192 (less if you're willing to wait a week for them to mail you the papers, which is fine if you dont need a bank account same day) by filling out forms from the state and visiting the state offices neat Penn Station.  You can get sample documentation from the state website, or I can send you a sample operating agreement.  I am not a lawyer so you may want to consult one on the details, but basically, you can set up a simple LLC on your own, and it should suffice for your purposes.

Once you have an LLC, all you need to do is contact an insurance broker to set you up with a group plan.  I am currently paying 582 a month for a family of 5, we have an HSA account with a $2400 deductible, pretty good coverage (it's Blue Choice).  all you will need is two employees, but this can be anyone, just find someone to sign a form saying they have other insurance and waive coverage, and you're good to go.

Might be an interesting thing for the Beehive to offer, a group insurance plan that each member can join if needed.

Greg

---

From: Sean Gallagher <gallaghe...@gmail.com>
To: coworking...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Friday, February 6, 2009 12:53:59 PM
Subject: [Beehive Baltimore] Re: Hey, Indies. I need some advice/help

[Daniel Schiavone]

I just went through the similar thing. Joe Piscopo at Perry Hall Insurance redid all of my insurance. Now for an accountant.

[James Novak]

I've been going to a good accountant that I can recommend if interested.  

Jim

--
James Novak
james...@gmail.com
http://linkedin.com/in/jamesnovak

[Mike Subelsky]

Sean,

I buy individual health insurance through Kaiser and am very happy
with it. I'm not sure what the family rate is, but it can't be worse
than $1100.

-Mike

[Hillel Glazer]

Sean,

I get my health insurance from CareFirst, BlueCross/BlueShield. 
Including dental and vision for our family of 6 it comes to under $500/month, however, we have what many would consider high annual deductibles.

This is *not* an HMO.  HMOs are generally cheaper, and, while they can be rather comprehensive in coverage, they have other limitations.  In any case, "face value" of your health insurance may not be the whole story -- usually isn't.  $1100/mo ought to leave you with as close to "zero" deductible as one can get, IMHO. 

Since municipal/public insurance options are often (but not always) very attractive, you may want to see whether the County has other options at lower monthly rates, but higher annual (or per visit) deductibles, or less comprehensive coverage (for things you don't need).

Which reminds me... I should call my insurance provider to remove any OB coverage since we (snip) can't have any more kids.
TMI, sorry.
;-)

Also, don't assume an LLC is right for you, it might be, but not always.  Think through how you plan to operate and grow your business and consider the other options before committing.  I went with the S corp for the Self-Employment tax reason.  (See: http://www.themoneyalert.com/Corp-Entity-Table.html)

--
Cheers!
-->>  Hillel
--
Hillel Glazer, Principal & CEO
Entinex, Inc.,  The Technology Strategy Company
Get value from CMMI, not artifacts.(TM)

www.entinex.com | www.AgileCMMI.com | www.CMMIFAQ.info
O-