Part 1 of Building Baja Good: The Creation

Names, bureaucracy, and legal stuff.

Hello! 👋🏼 Welcome to the first official chapter of me building this business in Mexico.

If you’re new here, I’m creating a travel company focused on curating a community of adventure-minded people who will caravan together throughout the peninsula of Baja California, Mexico, in converted vans, trucks, 4x4s, and other overlanding vehicles. If you’re wondering what all that means, think driving off-road through remote, beautiful landscapes, camping on deserted beaches, waking up for sunrise for some breathwork, paddle boarding with dolphins, and eating lots of tacos.

In my last post, I shared the massive to-do list I created, in addition to what it would look like for me to “fail” building this thing.

Now, it’s time to get out of the abstract and start checking off some boxes on the to-do list to make this project exist in the real world.

This newsletter is going to get into some of the nitty-gritty of what to do when starting a project like this. If you’re interested in doing the same, I hope it’s helpful!

Step 1: Pick a damn name.

This seems like one of the most important decisions involved with creating a business. Once the name is picked, it’s extremely difficult to change it. The name becomes attached to all legal documents, social accounts, websites, emails, etc. Not to mention the logo design and other branding!

A good name is essential.

But what makes a name good?

For a while, I was set on the name The Good Trip. However, after lots of research into the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), as well as looking into available LLC names in the state of Florida, this was not going to be an option… at least not without risking getting into legal trouble in the future.

For this project, I want to do everything by the book. Picking a copyrighted and unavailable name, no matter how unlikely it would be that anyone would care, wasn’t an option.

After looking into the USPTO for companies with a national trademark or patent on the phrase “the good trip”, I discovered a business currently has a live patent pending status on my beloved name.

The company is about facilitating the legal use of psilocybin in the state of Oregon… a good (psychedelic) trip… not at all what my company would be about. Realizing that our two businesses are not similar, I looked into whether I could also register the name within a different category. After all, Delta is a famous airline, but Delta is also a famous faucet company in the construction/home space. If the companies operate in completely different categories, they can exist with the same name as long as there is no significant chance that a potential customer could confuse the two.

After lots of research, I found that my business would fall under International Class 041, a broad category covering education, workshops, and guided travel services… The Oregon business also falls under this category, so no chance to register with this name!

At the state level, it’s also important to check the availability of names for limited liability companies (LLCs). “Good Trip” is taken, and adding small words like “the” or “a” or making “Good Trips” plural won’t get the name accepted by Florida.

In addition to all of this - and perhaps the most important - no suitable domain name is available for The Good Trip. Every decent extension and variation has been taken.

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After much deliberation, I decided to abandon this name. I sat with other possibilities for a while.

I thought not having “Baja” in the name was important so that I could expand into other areas in the future if the opportunity comes about.

The more I thought about it, Baja is such a unique place that its name carries a personality, a vibe. It speaks of rugged nature, pristine beaches, adventure… it has the connotation of being off-road and off the beaten path, as apparent by the internationally famous Baja 1000 race.

Okay, I thought. Let’s put “Baja” in the name.

Now, as seemingly generic as the word good is, I wanted this word in the name. Baja Good.

I toyed around with it for a week.

It grew on me.

I started to love it.

Two words instead of three. More brandable and more malleable. This isn’t just an adventure travel company focused on overlanding trips. Of course, that’s the vessel that it will live through in this first iteration, but this name gives it so much room for expansion.

Good people. Good times. Good experiences.

I also want to donate a percentage of profits to several of the dog shelters helping the thousands of strays in Baja.

Doing good, giving back to the community. A cause that is close to my heart, as I picked Paquito up from a rescue in Ensenada at the start of my trip down the Panamerican Highway!

For me, it brings more of a focus to the experience, to the community, to the people that you are going to share this adventure with… more than The Good Trip.

Baja Good it is!

And guess what, the domains bajagood.com and bajagood.co were available. I quickly snatched both up for $24. (Don’t visit them now, there isn’t anything there… yet.) I like .co domains for some reason. Baja Good Co. has a good ring to it, too.

Oh, and now that I finally chose a name, I can also get a business email, social media accounts, and all that jazzy stuff.

Step 2: Decide between a sole proprietorship and an LLC.

A sole proprietorship is a business structure where a single individual owns and operates a business, without any legal distinction between the owner and the business. It’s an informal structure, an informal business.

Anyone taking payments for a business service without registering a business is operating as a sole proprietorship.

So, why create an LLC if I am going to be the only one operating this business?

A limited liability company will pretty much operate exactly the same in my case, since it will be a single-member LLC (with me as that single member).

The advantage of a single-member LLC over a sole proprietorship is that it offers legal separation between me and my business. I am personally shielded from business debts. For example, my personal property (car, savings, etc.) can’t be affected in the event of a lawsuit or bankruptcy.

This is such an inherently American thing to worry about, always thinking about lawsuits, but this company has to be registered in the United States… so it’s something important to consider.

For me, making an LLC was the right choice. It also feels more legit. 🙃

Step 3: Register the LLC.

Luckily, I found a website called LLCUniversity.com, which has been insanely helpful. It walks you through all of the specific steps of setting up an LLC, depending on the state you are from.

I won’t get into every detail in this post, but creating an LLC in the state of Florida required the following items:

1) Opt for a registered agent or do it solo.

Registered agents are businesses that submit the paperwork for the creation of the LLC, can legally receive your business’s mail, and provide an address to use for privacy reasons (or if you don’t live in the state you are registering an LLC in).

I ended up using a registered agent to establish my LLC since I am rarely in Florida, and I know my older sister is sick of me using her house as my P.O. box. 😅

2) File the Articles of Organization.

The documentation to officially establish an LLC is referred to as the Articles of Organization. Florida charges $125 for this.

I paid an additional $39 for a registered agent to do this for me and to provide me with their services for one year.

And just like that - after a week or so - Baja Good LLC was born.

3) Create an Operating Agreement.

This document shows who owns the LLC. Some banks require this to open a business bank account. I used a generic form and filled in my company’s information. There are a lot of free templates out there.

It’s an “internal document”, meaning it doesn’t need to be filed with any government agencies.

4) Apply for an EIN from the IRS.

An employer identification number is used for tax purposes, opening bank accounts, applying for business credit cards, etc. Surprisingly, it’s free and super quick to do online directly with the IRS.

That being said, I shouldn’t have used my registered agent’s address for my business’s trading address for the EIN. It has caused some issues with opening a bank account, even though every other form for my LLC lists the business address as the registered agent’s address.

Step 4: Open a bank account.

With all the official bullshit out of the way, it was time to open a bank account!

I have used Wise since 2017 for international transfers and holding multiple currencies. Eight years later, they still offer the best exchange rate and transfer fees in the industry.

I decided to use my new EIN to open a business bank account with them. I can now receive money in 9+ currencies and pay/transfer in 40+.

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And just like that, Baja Good is a real business, on paper, officially registered, legit.

These were pretty mundane steps that dealt with government agencies and slow bureaucracy, but I truly enjoyed the process of learning all about this part of starting a business.

Call me a nerd, but I found it fun.

Now, it’s time to get the initial branding created by a designer to give life to Baja Good!

I’ve been messaging lots of designers over the past month and have finally found someone I like that’s in my budget.

More details soon.

Thanks for being here,
Alex