Shore Thing

Here’s something most people don’t realize: the moment you start doing business and getting paid, you are a business. The government already considers you one. If you never filed anything, never picked a structure, never made a single official decision — congratulations, you’re a sole proprietor. You didn’t choose it. It chose you. And that’s the part I want to talk about. Because being a sole proprietor by default is not the same as deciding it’s the right structure for you.

Later is doing a lot of heavy lifting in small business land. Later I’ll set up a real business bank account. Later I’ll get the LLC sorted. Later I’ll figure out what I’m actually supposed to be paying in taxes. Later, once things slow down a little, once I have more clients, once I have more time. Here’s the problem with later: the IRS doesn’t care about your timeline. And neither do the fees, the fines, the personal liability exposure, or the accountant who’s going to char