Author: Content Curator

The Prairie State is an excellent place to start an LLC. 

Illinois has major cities like Chicago, industrial areas, natural resources, land for agricultural productivity, and seemingly endless opportunities.

The LLC entity structure is a popular choice for new businesses in Illinois. 

But if you’re a first-time entrepreneur and you’ve never formed a new business, the LLC formation process in Illinois can be a bit intimidating.

Fortunately, we’ve simplified the entire process into just five easy steps. 

The Easy Parts of Starting an LLC in Illinois

Forming an LLC in Illinois helps separate your personal assets from the business. This limits your liabilities and debts if the company gets sued or owes money to lenders. 

Compared to a sole proprietorship, LLCs have some potential tax advantages as well. You can take the default pass-through taxation for LLCs or choose to be taxed as an S corp.

If you’re deciding between an LLC and a corporation in Illinois, your Illinois LLC will have fewer compliance requirements than a C corp. Unlike a corporation, LLC earnings aren’t subject to double taxation. It’s also worth noting that LLCs in Illinois pay a lower personal property replacement tax compared to their corporate counterparts. 

Lots of entrepreneurs get hung up on the LLC formation process. They’re intimidated by the paperwork, filing, and requirements. Wh… Read More

The web continues to disrupt traditional business models and is transforming countries, economies and industries.

This is showcased by Apple today becoming the most valuable company in the world and overtaking Exxon which epitomises the traditional business of oil and commerce.

Apple’s contribution to the disruption of existing commerce paradigms including the music, mobile and publishing industries has been achieved through its innovative technologies.

The now continuous and consistent breaking of the old ways of doing business has extended to on-line retail that has placed competitive pressures on bricks and mortar stores with constant and exciting innovations (such as the virtual dressing room). These innovations will continue to change consumer habits as the digital world continues to evolve and provide shopping experiences that engage and add value beyond the physical realm.

Social media is also transforming and disrupting the web and extending into almost every corner of our lives. Social commerce and F-commerce is emerging as one of the fastest growing niches and stores on Facebook are becoming more popular and prevalent.

Is F-Commerce a Fad?

There is something special about buying your new first home. You are handed the keys and you walk in the front door and it is yours. It is almost visceral.

The smell of the paint, the feel of the carpet under your feet and the vision of how you are going to furnish and style the rooms is enticing.

The senses are engaged and it is your new asset.

Opening your own fashion store, cafe or restaurant is also a dream for many. The planning, the imagining and the creation of a place where customers will love to visit is a temptation that leads to large investments of time and money. The lease is signed often with a commitment for 5 years. The shop design and fit-out is arranged and deposits taken. It is not uncommon to for $100,000 -$200,000 to transfer out of your account into the hands of the landlord, suppliers and contractors.

It is a big risk. Will the location work? Are the customers going to buy.

It is your bricks and mortar retail asset.

It is a Digital World

When it comes to the online world we often think that because your can’t see, touch or feel the furnishings or furniture that it doesn’t deserve the attention and investment of the physic… Read More

Getting your colors right, having a clean typeface, and everything else you have heard about branding is probably, mostly correct.

However, this is where many entrepreneurs and brand designers fall short: aligning everything to form an identity. There is a difference between creating a memorable logo or color palette and the concept of Brand Design – the intersection of ‘Branding’ and ‘Brand Identity.’

Brand Design is what bridges the elements of a brand with the way it is perceived in the market – its true meaning among consumers. Let’s take a closer look at branding 101 and these various definitions.

Brand Identity vs Branding vs Brand Design

Branding

The concept of branding is more than just a logo or color palette – it’s a sum of all those parts and more. Branding is an ingenious collaboration of all the components: logo, tagline, typography, color palette, website design, and visual communication tools, that form a recognizable depiction of your business.

Brand Identity

One of the best and closest definitions of a brand identity is given by Marty Neumeier in his book The Brand Gap.

&#8… Read More

Our attention spans are diminishing.

We crave short, sharp bits of content that we can consume in a heartbeat without much thinking or effort.

It’s no surprise then that visual content is 40 times more likely to get shared on social media than other types of content. That’s why social media platforms such as Instagram, Pinterest and Snapchat continue to grow in popularity. They are visual, and have a unique way of delivering a complex message all within a few seconds.

The more reliant the world becomes on these visual social media platforms, the more pressure there is for digital entrepreneurs like you and I to adapt quickly and find ways to engage our audience. Because engagement is a scarce resource, you now have to earn it.

Some of you may see this as a direct challenge to the way you currently understand social media marketing and engagement. But for others, those of you ready to move fast, it’s a huge opportunity to capture a new and highly engaged group of people.

If you’re ready to take a few risks and diversify your digital strategy, Instagram is a great place to start.

Instag… Read More