Business Sense: Forming an LLC Step 3

On April 4th, I set out for the Queens County Clerk. The fastest route according to HopStop was to take the AirTrain. New York residents and visitors who fly into JFK Airport know about this great contraption. You pay $5 to ride the AirTrain directly from the A train or the LIRR. Or in mine and Jim's case, from our free parking spot on the street in Howard Beach (Thank God for no alternate side parking!). Well, since the AirTrain goes direct to the terminals at JFK, you pay to get on the train, then get to the terminal and it was all well worth it. On your return from your travels, you pay $5 to exit the train, after riding it from baggage claim to the subway or your car. Well, I didn't really think about these easy-to-come-by facts, and set off on my journey via the AirTrain, paying my $5 entrance fee. For anyone who doesn't live in one of the non-Manhattan boroughs of New York City, please note that getting just 5-10 miles away from your starting point via subway can take anywhere from 45-120 minutes. It's a long haul even if you are getting somewhere geographically close. So this AirTrain seemed like a short-cut, promising only 30 minutes of commute time. When I arrived at Jamaica Station, I walked toward the exit, and the turnstile insisted that I give my MetroCard to it for the $5 exit fee.

I keep my fiery Scottish temper on reserve for just these types of clear injustices. I ask the station attendant, "I have to pay $10 for a one-way ride on the AirTrain?" And the answer is a very flat, "Yes." So in order to get 10 minutes shaved off of my commute time, I have to spend $7.75 extra ($2.25 for a regular subway ticket or bus ride). I'm clearly annoyed, but obviously this is one of those injustices about which absolutely no one cares. Or everyone is too busy fumbling with their suitcases and just trying to get to their destinations to notice one more irritated moron on public transportation.

I didn't even give my reasons for traveling to the Queens County Clerk yet in this story, being sidetracked by my anger at the AirTrain's personal persecution of me. Well, in the state of New York, once an LLC has filed its Articles of Organization (which I did on February 28th, 2011), the County Clerk of whatever county in which the LLC is located will give a list of two newspapers. In the classified section of these two papers, the LLC must take out an ad announcing the intent to do business in the county. This ad must run for 6 consecutive weeks. After the ad has run, the newspaper will then send an Affidavit of Publication to the person responsible for the LLC, and then, once the Certificate of Publication is issued by the Department of State, the LLC is formed and can legally get sued by anyone. Optimistic, I know.

After some online research, New York seems to be the only state still requiring this step in their LLC formation. It's pretty annoying and doesn't seem to have any real benefit to anyone other than the newspaper who you have to pay for printing the ad. It's also very difficult to find information on this process online. Well, please don't be discouraged by that fact, as I almost was. The process is incredibly easy and doesn't even require legal expertise, as LegalZoom would like you to believe.

After the train ride, I handed the clerk my Filing Receipt (proving that I had filled out the necessary paperwork and paid the fee when I filed my Articles of Organization). She told me to wait in the lobby. Then she came out less than 2 minutes later with a photocopy with the contact numbers and addresses of two newspapers: The NY Daily News and The Queens Chronicle. So I took the paper, and off I went to ride the regular subway for $2.25 instead of the AirTrain.

I'd been putting off the process since April 4th. So for 8 business days, I have had the sheet of paper sitting next to my computer, and I've been scared of how daunting this process seems. Well, I couldn't have been more wrong in my procrastination.

I made one phone call each to the papers, sent an email each to the papers with the necessary information. And $311.94 (the NY Daily News rate) + $350 (The Queens Chronicle rate) = $661.94 later, I will have my ads running for the next six weeks, and then I'll be the proud recipient of some kind of certificate from the State Department saying that I can do lawful business in the Empire State.