Business formation help

I have been working on building a permaculture farm. The income stream comes from produce, livestock, and education. I think that an LLC is the way to go, though I have very little knowledge in business regulations. I am looking for information about all the legal things that I need to do regarding a business (llc formation, tax info, business laws, cpa, etc). I feel that flying by the seat of my pants in this area has the potential to cause some serious problems for me. These unknowns are keeping me from pushing the farm to the next level. Any help in this area is appreciated.

Hi Amos, it can be very helpful to take a class for new businesses. These are often offered through local Small Business Administration or community colleges. Ideally you can find one focused on agriculture, like the Tilling the Soil of Opportunity curriculum. Much of the content you can get online through websites like http://smallfarms.cornell.edu/resources/beginning-farmer/ and www.attra.org, but the networking power of being in a room with other people who are also starting a small business is hard to beat. Eric

Thanks Eric! I checked out the SBA website and I found two locations within 25 miles (SBDC and the local SCORE chapter) on the district page for my state. The Link to SBA districts page for anyone else that is looking. I am still looking into the "Tilling the Soil of Opportunity" which sounds interesting. Thanks again.

Hi Amos,

Do also check out your local Small Business Development Center (SBDC); these are a program of the SBA. Through your local SBDC you can find all kinds of great (and often free!) business advice on a wide variety of topics, including those that you mentioned. Find your local SBDC here.

I hope you're also following this thread here on Permies.com, where we're talking about the business entity structures and resources for comparing them!

--Elizabeth

Great information, Elizabeth! I will be visiting the SBDC to receiving some much needed education. Thanks for the link to the other thread. I had read it early on before the bulk of the information was delivered. It's now bookmarked.