Becoming a Business

I like to figure things out. So in December of 2005 when I incorporated MyBike, I had no idea what I was doing, so I figured it out. 

When I actually got the idea for MyBike in August of 2005, the first thing I wanted to do was to have checks that said “MyBike”. Not create a business plan or actually make any money. I just wanted checks that said my company name. For whatever reason, at that time of my life, that’s what I wanted. I strolled over to Sovereign Bank (now Santander Bank) and asked to open a business account. My boy Shukri was more than happy to hook it up, but he needed my business certificate. I had no idea what he was talking about. He explained that I had to go to City Hall to get a Doing Business As certificate, in this case it would have been LeRoy Watkins Doing Business As MyBike. With that info, I biked it to City Hall, filled out the paperwork, paid the $50 bucks I was going use to open business account with, and boom, I had a DBA certificate.

I headed back to the bank and gave Shukri what he needed. He let me know the MyBike checks would be sent to the bank. Waiting for those checks to come was like waiting for Christmas, which in hindsight sounds ridiculous, but they came. Carefully I took them out and was immediately peeved because they said “LeRoy Watkins DBA MyBike” not just the company name. Shukri explained that I need to become incorporated and have a tax ID to have those kinds of checks. 

I was poor, so I decided to use all my checks before doing this incorporating thing. Then December 27, 2005 I went to City Hall and said I wanted to get incorporated. The kind woman gave me the forms and I filled them out right there on the spot. I crossed things out, I gave myself 1,000,000 shares, I pretty much filled it out wrong. Years later my attorney amended my articles of incorporation, but that’s a story for another day. After handing in the forms and my life savings in the form of my last “LeRoy Watkins DBA MyBike” check, I was now the President, Vice President, Treasurer, and Secretary of MyBike Inc. 

As I was taking the T (Boston for train) to the bank, I called the IRS to figure out how to get a tax ID number. By the end of the call I had one (I think) and I provided Shukri with everything he needed to open a proper business account. He did his banking magic and in a few short days I had checks that said “MyBike”. Happy does not describe how I felt that day. 

Sometimes the small things are the big things.