California is the fifth biggest economy in the world. It also has probably the second most attorneys of any state. If you are running a business, this should make you nervous! The potential of running into a legal dispute is fairly high. Throw in the fact the legal codes in the state are almost as gargantuan as the federal government, and you know incorporation is needed.
If you want to incorporate in California, the Secretary of State is the agency you must deal with. You can have a go at it yourself or turn it over to attorney such as myself. Is it possible to do it yourself? Of course. Should you? Well, it depends on how clearly you understand the process and how much patience you have with government red tape.
The incorporation process takes a couple of weeks if you use an attorney. On your own, it can take about two months. The Secretary of State is the mecca of red tape and you need to know how to get through the process without running into hurdles. Certain documents have to be filed in certain ways or the state will send the entire thing back to you. If this occurs, the process starts all over.
I offer reasonably priced services if you wish to incorporate in California. The services include a business name check, filing of all papers required to form the entity, creation of the initial bylaws, minutes and stock issuances to make the entity valid. Since you will inevitably have questions, I also include one hour of consultation on your corporate mattes. As with other incorporation services, you will also receive a nice fake leather corporate book to keep all of your corporate documents in.
If you are going to do business in California, you need to protect yourself with a formal business entity. You want to avoid a situation where your business gets sued and you lose your personal assets. A corporation is the way to do it.