As an entrepreneur looking to do business in Georgia, you may be wondering if you have to register with the state in order to start a company. Actually, it isn’t always necessary depending on the type of business structure you intend to operate. As a sole proprietor, for example, you aren’t necessarily required to register with the state unless you intend to do business with the state and then you would need to register as a vendor.
However, there may be reasons why you would want to choose to have a Georgia address when starting a business there as an out-of-state entrepreneur. With that said, let’s look at some of what you need to know in order to do business in the Peach State as an out-of-state entrepreneur.
It’s a Matter of Trust
This can especially be the case if you intend to do any number of Georgia transactions online. With so many scam artists out there, it is often difficult to trust anyone but a local. Let’s say, for example, you are going to open an online marketplace on Facebook. You want to list and sell products such as sports team t-shirts for the Greater Metropolitan Atlanta region.
Since you won’t have a physical storefront for parents and coaches to enter, you want potential customers to think of you as one of them. You are looking to sell team spirit t-shirts as opposed to uniforms. Besides high schools in the area, you have major universities there as well such as Georgia Tech. If you are located in Tallahassee, for example, you would probably want an address in Georgia simply because of the rivalry!
How to Get an Address in Georgia
You can actually an address in Georgia with Atlanta virtual address services provided by the physicaladdress website, and it’s all perfectly legal. This service has been providing physical addresses in Atlanta for the better part of nine years now and all mail will go to that exact address to be scanned, and ready to be shredded or saved in the Cloud if necessary. Again, you don’t need an address in Georgia, but when that competitive spirit kicks in, a Georgia address would sure come in handy to be accepted by the locals!
What If Trademark Licensing Is Required?
Here is something else you may want to consider. If you are going to do business in Georgia, you don’t ‘need’ a Georgia address as mentioned above. However, it would almost certainly work to your advantage in certain instances such as when selling team merchandise for a local school.
If you are going to use team logos and slogans, you will also need to seek licensing approval from the school in question. Let’s step back a moment to the Georgia Yellow Jackets team logo. You could apply for licensing privileges from the Collegiate Licensing Company, CLC, and Georgia Tech. Unfortunately, it will take at least two or three months for the application to be vetted, but until that time you could be designing and selling other items without the logo.
That Georgia Address Can Be Your Closer!
At the end of the day, that Atlanta address in Georgia may go a very long way toward getting approval to create team apparel. Bear in mind that this is one of the major ways in which funds are raised to support the Yellow Jackets at GA Tech, so if you can show marketability of your designs, your address in Georgia will often be the closer in getting their stamp of approval.
The bottom line is that you don’t need to actually have a physical location for your business in GA, but that virtual address may kindle trust in the integrity of your company and that, right there, may be exactly what you need.
