The greatest works of literature have always followed some sort of lingual structure. From the Narrative Form to the Deductive Form there is a spectrum of structures to write literature, and so it goes for the story of Small Businesses; From Sole Proprietorships all the way to the Corporate Form.
Sole Proprietorship
Personally, I feel that the sole proprietorship is only ideal for those activities that are just past the hobby stage. This being when you want to give your wares a try in the market, but aren’t committed to creating a business around why you make those wares. If you ever feel that you are past this stage, you must move into a different structure because ultimately your story has changed. You are no longer a hobbyist or even a seasonal crafter. Once you want to make more out of your craft than weekend projects than you must consider the more technical forms of business.
Partnerships
Personally, I feel that the sole proprietorship is only ideal for those activities that are just past the hobby stage. This being when you want to give your wares a try in the market, but aren’t committed to creating a business around why you make those wares. If you ever feel that you are past this stage, you must move into a different structure because ultimately your story has changed. You are no longer a hobbyist or even a seasonal crafter. Once you want to make more out of your craft than weekend projects than you must consider the more technical forms of business.
The Corporate Form
The corporate form captures so many of the best stories out there. From small to big, the most exciting business stories we know of, were best told in this structure. The corporate form allows for so much flexibility in the strategic realm of your business. Basically, the corporate form allows you to represent even the craziest idea on your financial statement as long as you document this idea for the corporation. It allows founders to be employees and it tells a fair representation of the story that is trying so hard to be told. Coming from the latin word, corpus, or body of the people, the corporate form is ultimately a collective or a tribe. The corporation exists to represent the body of the people who then deliver the product to other people who can benefit from it, and continue the story. This is a great responsibility. You can affect people in harmful ways or in healthy ways and that is the weight of this responsibility. The corporate form ultimately will tell the story of how you handle that responsibility, as well as many other experiences that are shaped uniquely by the business owner.
