You filed your LLC. But is it actually protecting you?
Filing your articles of organization is just the first step. The habits you keep after formation are what determine whether your liability shield holds up when it matters most.
After 15 years working with 500+ California businesses, Christopher Scott-Dixon sees the same five mistakes eroding LLC protection time and again. None of them are dramatic. All of them are fixable.
If you formed your LLC on your own or through an online service, this is worth reading before a problem makes it urgent.

You can file the paperwork to form a California LLC in an afternoon, for $70. Whether that LLC actually protects you — or quietly leaves you exposed — comes down to the parts the filing page never mentions: entity choice, the franchise tax that’s no longer waived, the operating agreement most owners skip, and the compliance habits that keep your liability shield intact.

Buying or selling a California small business is one of the biggest transactions of your professional life, and most owners enter it with a broker-provided template and no legal review. This checklist covers everything from asset sale structure and due diligence to non-compete limits, lease assignment traps, and the closing documents brokers routinely leave out.

Before signing a commercial lease in San Diego, business owners should understand the clauses that can create massive financial exposure later. This guide breaks down 12 high-risk lease provisions — from personal guarantees and CAM charges to relocation clauses and holdover rent — and explains what to negotiate before you sign.

Here is what AB 5 enforcement actually looks like in practice. A California business owner receives an EDD audit notice.