Now that you have gone through the relatively easy process
of creating your separate entity in the form of a limited liability company, it
is time to use it in your everyday life.
Well, believe it or not, having access to a separate entity can make
your life a lot easier.
One way that your LLC can help is on your resume. Let’s assume that you have been out of work
for a while and need to explain this to potential employers. Well, you can state that you have owned and
operated your LLC. Or, if you simply
want to list yourself as an employee, simply give yourself a title and explain
what you do for your limited liability company.
No one has to know that you are the owner of the LLC, and for that
matter that the LLC really doesn’t do anything.
Another way to use the LLC is for your own credit
report. If you are someone who regularly
moves from one job to another, or do a lot of freelance work, you can list your
LLC as your employer on credit applications.
The advantage to this is that credit card companies look very heavily at
your time at one job. By listing the LLC
as your employer on everything, you are telling the credit bureaus that you
have kept the same job for years. This
will increase how favorably you appear to potential creditors.
Speaking of credit, you can actually use your LLC to obtain
credit. Now, this is much harder to use
when your LLC is fairly new. However,
after a few months of existence, your LLC will actually start receiving credit
card offers from companies. The longer
the LLC has been in business, the better the offers will become.
The key to all of these techniques is to keep your LLC
active. This usually means paying a tax
every year on the LLC, and sometimes filing forms with the state. The process is usually very easy, especially
considering what you are building by keeping the LLC active.
In addition, people who are savvy about using separate
businesses entities for their own purposes sometimes form more than one. You may find that after using these
techniques that having a couple of LLC’s to fall back on is right for you.