Protect Your Personal Info as a Business Owner with a Registered Agent

When you set up your LLC or corporation, did you accidentally just make your home address public? A lot of business owners don't realize it, but the moment you filed your corporation paperwork or LLC with the state in your own name, your personal info went into the public record for anyone to see. That means marketers, scammers, even random people looking up your business suddenly know where you live. And there's really two issues, that of registered agent and the company address. And you want to keep your personal information out of both of them. Now, my name is mark J. Kohler, CPA attorney, bestselling author. And over the last 20 years, my team and I have helped thousands of people form and protect their businesses with privacy. So in this video, here's what we're going to cover. What is a registered agent? Why is it legally required? How can using a registered agent that's not you protect your personal info from being made public? And how can this simple step of not listing yourself as the registered agent for your business actually make you look more legit and professional? And then we come to your actual company address, oftentimes an afterthought, where again, a lot of new business owners put their personal address or personal name. And we're back where we started. By the end of this video, you'll know exactly how to protect your info and make sure your business stays on the right track while your identity stays protected. Let's get into it now. I want to be honest with you. The more privacy you want to integrate or use in your business, the more it's going to cost. Because, I mean, you could just be the head cook and bottle washer of your company, put your personal address out there and save a lot of money. But then again, you put your information out there to the world. A lot of clients don't like that. So when you start to reel that in, you're going to have to have a registered agent and there's going to be some cost to employ some of these other services that provide privacy. So it really is a cost benefit analysis. So during this video, I want to tell you what to expect so you can make an informed decision. And so another way stated, at the end of the day, the more privacy you want, the more it's going to cost. Now, not a lot, but it's going to create a little more complexity and cost. And that's okay because, man, do you know I just had a client call me today that had their identity stolen on Facebook. I really did. I told the guys in the studio here and it was just so sad. It was frustrating for them to be dealing with this issue because it was taken away from their ability to be building their business while they were dealing with identity theft. So what is a registered agent? Let's start there. A registered agent is a person or company that plays the role of receiving legal and official documents like service of process or of state notices on your behalf of your company in the state where your entity is registered. Now, this is a legal requirement of any company that you set up LLCs and corporations. And again, it's in the state where the LLC or corporation is set up. So if you live in New Jersey, but you set up a Wyoming or a Arizona entity, then you have to have a registered agent in that state. Now, most companies out there, our company, Legalzoom, all of them out there, they're around 150 bucks a year to be that registered agent. Now, if you're setting up an entity in the state where you live, then a lot of clients will say, well, I want to save the 150 bucks. And they put their name and their personal address out there because it can't be a P.O. box and has to be a street address. And this is where the problem begins. So the first thing I want to recommend is ask yourself if you really want your home address out there. If you don't care that your home address is out there, you might be done watching this video because you can just throw your address out there and throw caution to the wind. But I don't think that's why you're watching this video. You're thinking privacy is important to you. So the first place we start is with the registered agent. So registered agent is really just. Just what it sounds like. They're your agent. Their primary role is to receive any legal or official documents on your behalf at that address. So your name and your address isn't out there, they're just there to receive it on your behalf. And we do this for thousands of clients, and if we receive anything, we give you a call, we give you an email and say, hey, we got this notice. Be aware. So even if your entity is set up in the state where you live, that's when you say, hey, for 150 bucks cheaper than any insurance policy out there, I'm going to employ a registered agent to be that name and address for my company. The next issue is the company address. So at the end of the day, remember that every business that set up LLC or corporation has to have a company address. And we want to make sure that that address if possible, is not your home address. Now a registered agent isn't going to do this for for free. It's a separate cost. Now what we like to do is have an address and create a virtual mailbox. So we'll be this virtual mailbox and it doesn't have to be in the state, the registered agent does, but the company address could be somewhere else. But a virtual mailbox is oftentimes more affordable and simple and saves you a lot of time. So we service company address to thousands of companies around the country in a different state, you receive your mail, scan it and email it to you. Now again, the beauty of this is not only privacy, but efficiency. Now you don't have to go down to the P.O. box down the street freaking every two or three days a week and pick up any mail. It's emailed right to your doorstep. And it's just as affordable as a registered agent service. So when you couple company address with a mail forwarding, digital mail forwarding service and, and registered agent, now you are private, you're protected, and you have just saved a lot of time and money. I think it's important to point out too this whole registered agent thing because there's a lot of misinformation out there. There's really three reasons why you would use a third party registered agent, not yourself. Number one, you need to rely on someone that's maybe more responsible, organized and available to receive that important mail that could be extremely important for the success of your business. A lawsuit, for example. Number two is the scammer situation. Do we really want your home address out there and name that scammers can use to exploit and take advantage of you. And number three, a lot of people don't realize that registered agent has to live in the state and have a street address in the state where your entity is set up. Over 50% of LLC that are set up are in a state where the owner doesn't reside. So you're already stuck having to get a third party registered agent anyway. And if I can knock out another two birds with that stone, I'm the winner. For example, if you have a rental property in Ohio, but you live in Georgia, you have to get a registered agent in Ohio. So why not knock out again several birds with one stone doing it right? Okay, now let me just admit here, I know this can sound complex and I don't want that, but let's add to it this last piece that brings the whole thing together. You've set up an llc, you've set up a corporation that you're using to build wealth or start a business. And you don't want to worry about all this regulatory garbage. And you don't want your home address out there. You want some privacy. So what we do for our clients and what I challenge you to look for, even if you don't use us, is bring together three pieces. The registered agent, the company address, and the company compliance. Because you've set up an entity that has to have an annual renewal, you want to do minutes. And this is a great tax strategy to have your annual meeting and your annual minutes. And if you can have a company that brings all three of those together, you now have privacy. Your company is maintained, and you have the reliability that your company is going to be there for you to protect you from a lawsuit and even help you in an IRS audit. That's what this is all really about. Knocking out this privacy issue with maintaining your entity and building your American dream. Now let's just talk about a couple other practicalities. If you travel a lot or if you're on the road, having this service take care of all these loose ends for really a nominal cost can make your life so much more easy. An interesting example of this is I help so many clients that live the RV lifestyle. They're out there traveling around the country in an RV and they need their mail forwarded to them. You may be in a demanding day job business where you're on the road a lot, or you've got rental properties in other states, or you just have an incredible lifestyle where you're on the road a little bit. Well, this type of service that brings it all together actually allows you to live the life you want to live. So to be more specific, when we build a relationship with the client and they come on board, we, we're going to make sure we know where to email all of their mail and to mail any physical mail. So you might circle back to certain locations on a regular basis. We want to make sure everything's there waiting for you. And if there's anything that's important you need to be alerted about, boom, you get a phone call and an email. That's what a registered agent does. They give you the privacy and the availability and the convenience that you need to build your business. So the beauty of this is when you work with a third party registered agent and, and a mail forwarding service for your company address, you have the availability and convenience to do what you know best, and that's build your business. And finally, when you use a third party registered agent and a legitimate corporate business address. It makes you look more professional. So not only are you saving time, it enhances your business's professional image, establishes a formal point of contact and can be particularly important in if you operate from home or on the road. Thanks for watching. Your privacy does matter and if you're a business owner, it's worth protecting it from the very start. If you want help setting up a registered agent, that mail forwarding or the company compliance, please contact us down below. Our Main Street Business services is there for you and this is going to help you better live your American dream. And of course if you you got value out of this video, hit that like button, subscribe and turn on notifications so you don't miss any future videos like this. I'm Mark J. Kohler and I appreciate you taking the time to join me and I'll see you on the next one.