Starting a new business/Trademark

[above82]

What is the name of your state? Florida

I am starting a business that will be a sole proprietorship. It is a service business.

My questions are

1. Can I register the trademark, my name of the business, at the state level (i searched the government trademark level and its a bit expensive at this time of my business startup) and where would I go to do this.

2. I want to also register the slogan, do I do it at the same place or is it recommended to
do it at the government level.

3. Is it better to be a corporation, or is starting out as an individual at this level ok, maybe change to corporation once business increases?

I am very limited in a budget so i am trying to do this the correct way but as inexpensive as possible.

thanks in advance.

 

[Shina22]

Hi There

Just wanted to add my 2cents , maybe it'll help you a bit ...

3. Is it better to be a corporation, or is starting out as an individual at this level ok, maybe change to corporation once business increases?

I am very limited in a budget so i am trying to do this the correct way but as inexpensive as possible.

In my opinion you may want to consider doing a single member LLC as opposed to that sole proprietorship you've mentioned .
Acting as a sole proprietor you have no legal or liabilty protection whatsoever .
Going at it as a single member LLC protects you and you are protected , say for instance ( just an example ) hope this does not happen but does in business , say for instance you get sued well as a sole proprietor the plaintiff can come after and get your PERSONAL assets and / or property basically whatever it would take to cover said judgement, as an LLC they cannot ... they can ONLY sue the actual business and your personal assests cant be touched , so if there is no money in the business ( read between the lines ) they get nothing .
Please read up on LLC's , its plenty of info on net .

Also and this is something I learned FIRST HAND so I am passing it on ...
YOU DO NOT have to hire a lawyer or a service to do a single member LLC , I did and paid almost 900.00 ( Got a Lawyer ) and come to find out the LLC is only ONE page ... 8 VERY basic questions and I answered those via phone alsong with my VISA payment , then he mailed the Articles of Organizations LLC form to me and I still had to personally take it to the assesments office and pay the filing fee which was 100.00 plus 50.00 to expedite , meaning I waited 20 minutes or so while they filed it in the system , stamped the paperwork and issued me a certified copy which was 20.00 .
Without paying the 50.00 to expedite can take anywhere from 6 to 10 weeks and they mail it to you , so I did the expedite and came away an LLC .
I was a bit ticked off at the lawyer tho but later calmed down , heck it was a learning process and I also have 2 other companies and am getting ready as we speak to do MY OWN LLC application and this time it'll only cost me 170.00 , I went to a site where the actual blank Article of organization ( LLC ) form can be downloaded for FREE , All I have to do is answer the 8 questions and then take it on down to the Assessment and taxation office , pay that 100 for the filing and 50 to expedite and 20 for a certified stamped copy and its done ... doin that tommorrow !

Do get away from the sole proprietorship thingy tho ... I did the sole proprietor thing for years until I saw what happened to a business associate in a court case against her .

Hope this helps .

 

[above82]

thank you for the reply. Would you know about the trademark issue? I have the business name and a business slogan I want to use for advertising. I have searched the govt website to see if its there and I didnt find anything for either.

Is there a more affordable way to trademark or service mark? Its a very expensive thing to do and right now im looking to save as much as I can until business gets better.

Thanks again

 

[Shina22]

Hi

There are different levels or ways to search to see if your trademalk is out there in some variation .
Also have you been over to legalzoom.com ???
You may want check em out

 

[above82]

Yes I checked with Legal Zoom, its around 400.00. Its not something I can do right now as I am a very small service business with only a few customers. Its going to take me some time to build.

How bad is it to do business without a trademark?

 

[above82]

Shana

Would you be able to tell me where you were able to download the form for the LLC?

I appreciate your help.