The First Year as a Corporation

The day we received the money to incorporate, I called the lawyer and made the arrangements. Later that day, I went to visit my husband at work, to let him know the money was coming in. I met him coming from the office, carrying his toolbox. He greeted me with, “I’ve been laid off, indefinitely.”

My first reaction was one of panic. Pull BACK! Keep the money! The safety net of one steady income was gone, how could we justify the $500 for the incorporation?

In the next instant, a calm settled over me. I felt strongly that the Lord had planned it that way – the money first, then the lay-off. That if we went forward, it would be ok.

It is one of the best decisions we have ever made. Kevin came home for good. Incorporation has been good for our business also – it makes us take it more seriously. It makes others take us more seriously also.

If you are a sole proprietorship that operates from a home, it is hard to get people to see you as a going concern. The failure rates for home businesses are very high, and part of that has to do with the fact that everybody and their dog claims to have one nowdays. Before, they’d ask us, “What is your business structure?”, we’d tell them “Sole Proprietor”, then they’d ask us “Are you a home business?” and that would be the end of the conversation. But a corporation means something different – they don’t even ask you anymore if you operate your business from home. I guess the statistics for home businesses that are incorporated are not so dismal!

We survived the first year. At a loss, but with paychecks. Sometimes I wondered how we would survive – and now that we are into the second year, I still wonder. But this time this year is better than this time last year. So growth is happening. I can live with that.

I don’t regret that choice to incorporate. I believe it has helped us to grow at a rate we could not have grown at if we had chosen to pull back.