Basics of an LLC

LLCs, or limited-liability corporations, are basically legal entities that allow you to separate your business assets from your personal assets.

• With a sole proprietorship or partnership, you are personally responsible for any damages from lawsuits, etc.
• With an LLC, the most that can happen is that you'll lose your business assets–not your car, home, etc.

As with all businesses, LLCs have to be registered within a state. An LLC registered in a state is a domestic LLC in that state and a foreign LLC to other states. Foreign LLCs have to jump through more hoops–file more documents, pay higher yearly fees to remain registered, etc.

Simply go to the state's website–Wisconsin's is here–and fill out some documents. The filing fee for Wisconsin as of May 30, 2016 is $130 online and $170 in paper.

If you don't want to do all the paperwork yourself, legal services for this sort of thing is very affordable. I got a lot of good information from a single phone call with LegalZoom. If I register for an LLC, I'll probably choose this route. The reason is simple–there's no point climbing a learning curve (in this case, filing legal paperwork for a business) once; your time is better spent on other things.

Taxation is a whole different topic from registration, and I won't try to cover it here. Talking to a tax professional would be a good idea.