The Solo Consultant
When asked, Alex will tell you "I get people free money". Over the years Alex has become very good at researching grant opportunities for business and nonprofits. The organizations that hire Alex get hundreds of thousands of dollars to support their cause or mission. Last year Alex decided the best way to help was to start her own consulting business so she could pick and choose the organizations she wants to support. But how do you start a business? What should it look like, a corporation? An LLC? A Partnership?. Do you pay yourself? How do you fund retirement? How do you pay taxes? How much tax should you send in quarterly.
Sometimes doing the work is the easy part. Figuring out how to set it all up is the hard part.
We start at the beginning, what does Alex want and how much is the business going to make? What Alex wants is easy. After a great conversation during the goal setting process we lay out the top 3 priorities for Alex.
Plan to retire early, maybe by 45.
Find a place to live with a small carbon footprint and opportunities to be outdoors.
Keep the business simple and profitable. Maximize savings to retire early.
With goals in mind we we start planning. First we review all of the pro's and cons of each business structure and the Income Alex believes she can make and decide to form an LLC. While things are scaling up we'll just operate as a sole proprietor. Simple is good. But as profits start to top $90k we plan to elect to be treated as an S-corp. With the business formation decision made we set up bookkeeping and create a cash flow map designed to maximize Alex's opportunities to save for the future.
With the business plan laid out we turn to getting the right property for Alex. After discuss lots of options and having a meeting with a realtor it turns out the right property choice is not to buy but to rent. Alex's business is all remote and with the power to work anywhere, she decides she wants to work everywhere. She finds a very reasonable rental apartment in Madrid. "I'm really going to get to live in Spain!!!" Alex says, contemplating the magic of it. After Madrid for 6 months she's thinking about South America. We sort out foreign bank accounts and health insurance for people living overseas and realize it will actually be cheaper that living in Arlington… by a lot.
We are only just beginning and Alex can see a beautiful picture of her life emerging from what had felt like endless financial noise. One decision at a time we review what Alex wants, what alex needs and what is the best decision to get her there.