Getting the legal stuff taken care of...

There are times when I think if I take on one more thing my brain will burst, and I’ll break into a million tiny pieces. I don’t think my world has changed much with the COVID-19 pandemic, but then I hear about people being afraid to communicate even across respectful social distancing lines. How did they come to be so driven by fear? My concern for taking on something new isn’t fear but more a matter of time. I’m in my fifth year of college classes (almost a junior because I’ve been taking it so slow) and I’m staring to question whether I should just move on.

Yet, somehow everything manages to get done, and I know that whatever doesn’t get done isn’t going to topple the earth’s spin or bring countries to a standstill. It won’t even affect my world all that much. I am learning to let go.

Starting a business is familiar territory. I ran my husband’s business for years. I still do, although it’s much smaller than it used to be. After we built our second house, I remember following our accountant’s advice to incorporate his business in order to protect our home and young family. At the time, the internet was only just being developed and home computers were the latest toy. I called the state office where I lived and they held my hand though all the paperwork needed to establish the business as a legal corporation. Then he decided to broaden his business to include another state. I called them and did it there, too.

Then we moved and I did it all over again in yet another state. Along the way, I dabbled in this or that type of business which required special tax filings and registrations. It wasn’t hard, just time-consuming, and I’m sure I missed something. But I had faith in my accountant and we were lucky.

Moving back to Oregon, we re-established my husband’s business so he could continue doing what he’d been doing. However, that time is swiftly coming to a close and a new business is now on the horizon. When I signed up for this class, I thought only of improving my author’s website and learning some tricks for marketing my books. It didn’t take long to see the potential of using what I was learning to create not only an outlet for my husband’s creative talent with wood, but to envision a new working environment; something that wouldn’t be so hard on his body and keep him alive longer.

Finding what I needed to legally establish this new online business didn’t take me long. Years of working not only for myself, but others, has given me experience navigating government websites and asking the right questions. Gone are the days when a phone call put you in touch with a real person who knew the answers. I guess the internet websites accomplish the same thing. In any event, my new business is registered and we are that much closer to being ready to start this new journey.