Northwest Registered Agent Tutorial 2026 - LLC Formation in 10 Minutes

Hey, I'm Caleb and in this video, I'll show you exactly how to start an LLC step-by-step using a service called Northwest Registered Agent. And it's a lot simpler than you might think. Now, you might be wondering what a registered agent even is. [music] It's just the official contact that receives legal mail for your business and every LLC is required to have one. >> [music] >> Northwest plays that role and handles the entire filing for you. And the whole thing takes about 10 minutes. I'll walk you through every decision along the way so you can feel confident that you're not making any mistakes. And by the end of this video, you'll have your LLC filed without spending a dollar on anything that you don't actually need. So, to follow along with this video and lock in the best price available, head to this link on screen right here or click the first link down in the video description. That's the correct page to get everything set up the right way and it gets you the lowest price available. So, you can follow along and set up your LLC right alongside me. And once you go to that link, you'll be brought to this page right here. The first thing you'll do on this page is select your state. As a quick rule, you want to form your LLC in the state where you actually live and run your business since that keeps everything simple. So, go ahead and pick your state from this list. In my case, I'll scroll down here and look for Texas since this is where I live and run my business. Once you've selected your state, go down and click on get started. And after that, you'll land on the formation tab. If you look up here at the top, you'll see exactly where you are in the process. You'll see the circle highlighted right here and underneath it says formation. So, that's the step that we're on right now. And the rest of the steps laid out across the top here are the full roadmap of what we're about to go through. So, you'll always know exactly where you are in the process. The first thing on this page that we'll look at is your entity type. It's already set to LLC, which is what we're forming, so we'll leave that as it is. Next to it is the state you're filing in. And this should already be filled out from the last step. Below that, you'll see your state's filing fee. This fee doesn't go to Northwest, it goes to your state and it's something you have to pay to form an LLC, no matter how you do it. And this amount will change depending on which state you're filing in. Then underneath this, you'll see a list of things that come included at no extra cost. You'll see that you get a free domain, business email, business address, open-source website, phone line, and brand protection. So, between all of these, you've got the basics covered for putting your business out there while keeping your personal details private. And at the very bottom of the section, you'll see a note about annual compliance. Here's what this means. Once your LLC is up and running, most states want you to file a short report every year to keep it active. And honestly, it's a very easy thing to forget. Northwest sends you free reminders so you don't miss it. And if you'd rather not deal with this at all, they can file that report for you each year for $100 plus whatever your state charges. Or you can always file it yourself. It's totally up to you. Now, we'll take a look at the right side here and scroll up. Right here, we'll see our order summary. At the top, you've got the basic package at $39. And for your registered agent service, you get this included for free for the first year. And after that, it's the standard $125 a year, which you can cancel at any time. Then you'll see your state's processing fee and that's the same filing fee that we just talked about. And you'll also see the freebies that you get here as well. If everything looks good to go right here, let's go down and click on continue. All right. Now, on the next page here, we'll land on the company name tab. This is where you'll enter your business name. I'll go ahead and enter mine right here. And right next to your company name is the designator, which is just the ending that tells the state what kind of business you are. This is already set to LLC, so we'll leave it as it is. Now, before you commit to a name, make sure that no one in your state is already using it. To check that, open up Google and type your state's name followed by business search. And then click the official result, which is usually a .gov site. That brings up a search box where you enter the name you want and see right away if it's taken. It's also smart to run a quick trademark search, and I've linked that tool down in the description. And just below the name field, you'll see this option right here. This is an EIN filing service. An EIN is basically a tax ID for your business. It's sort of like a social security number, but for your company instead of you. You'll need one for things like opening a business bank account or hiring employees later on. You can get one for yourself from the IRS completely for free once your LLC is approved. Or you could toggle this on, and Northwest can handle it for you for $50 if you have a social security number. But in my case, I'll leave this switched off. I'm doing that because it's pretty quick and easy to get that set up for free, but you can turn it on if you'd rather Northwest take care of it for you. Now, once you have everything set up here on this page, let's scroll down and click on continue. Okay, and now we're on the business details page. The first thing to do here is enter your business purpose. Here, you just want to simply describe what your business actually does. In my case, I'll type this. The purpose of this business is to create online educational content and provide online marketing services. So, in your case, if you run an online store, you might put the purpose of this business is to sell handmade home goods. Or for a service business, you could put the purpose of this business is to provide consulting services. Just keep it clear and specific to what your business actually does, and you'll be good to go. Below that, you'll see an option for a physical address and a mailing address. And both are already set to Northwest's own address. And I'd recommend keeping this as it is. When you form an LLC, the address you put down can become part of the public record, which means anyone can look it up. But, by using Northwest's own address instead of your own, you keep your home address off these public records. However, if you do want to change it, just click into it and you can select your own mailing address right here. In my case, I'll just leave it as it is. And at the bottom of the page here, you'll see an option for sending legal notices to an attorney. If you have a lawyer you'd want copied on any legal documents served to your business, you can switch this on. But, most people starting out don't have one yet, so it's fine to leave it turned off. With that done, let's click on continue. All right, and now we're on the account creation page. This is just where you set up your Northwest account so you can log back in anytime to track your filing and manage everything down the road. First, just enter your first and last name. Then enter your phone number. Then enter your email address. And you'll also want to create a password. Once you're done here, let's go down and click on continue. Okay, and now we're on to the management page. This is where you tell the state who runs the business, and there are two parts to this. First is the management type, and here you have two options. Member-managed means the owners run the company themselves, which is how most small businesses operate, and this will already be selected by default. Manager-managed is when you bring in someone else to run things while the owners stay hands-off, which is less common when you're just starting out. So, for most people, you can leave this on member-managed. Below that, you'll add the members, which is just the owners of the business. If you're the only owner, then that's just you. Here, you'll enter your first and last name. And you can leave the business entity box unchecked since that's only for when another company owns part of yours. The address is set to Northwest's again, which just keeps your own off the public record, like I mentioned before. And if you do have other business partners, you can click on add member here to include them. Once you've added all of your members, go down and click on continue. And now we're on the recommended services page. These are all optional add-ons, and they're switched off to start with. So, let me quickly walk through what each one is, so you can decide if any apply to you. The first here is the S corporation election. That's a tax choice that can lower what you pay in self-employment taxes, but it only starts to make sense once your business is earning a solid profit. And it also adds some payroll and paperwork on top. So, it's really a conversation to have with an accountant down the road, and it's not something that you need on day one. Next is the premium mail service. That's an upgrade where Northwest handles more of your business mail and forwards it to you. It's handy if you expect a lot of mail, but most people starting out don't need it. Then, there's trademark filing, where Northwest files to legally trademark your brand name for you. That's a bigger step than the free name check that we did earlier, and it's only worth it if you're ready to lock down a brand. You can always do this later, so there's no rush. And last is the DBA trade name filing. That one's only for when you want to operate under a different name than your LLC's official one. If your business name is your LLC name, you can just skip this. So, for a typical filing, you can leave all of these turned off, then just scroll down and click on continue. Okay, and now if we scroll up, we'll see that we're on the last step. We've gone through every single step in this road map right here. And on the final step here, you just need to fill in your payment information and your billing address to cover the filing. And once you fill out your information here, and you click on submit order, your LLC is officially filed with the state through Northwest. And that's the entire process from start to finish. So, whenever you're ready to set up your own LLC, just head to this link on screen right here, or click the first link in the video description. That's the correct page to do it the right way, and it locks in the lowest price available. If this video helped you out, make sure to leave a like, and subscribe for more clear guides just like this. Congrats on taking the first step toward starting your business, and I'll see you in the next video.