Multiple Ventures? One Business Structure or Several?

[LindseyInteractive]

Okay, so currently I do Internet Marketing for clients, where I provide them websites, I provide them online consulting into their marketing, seo, social media, etc. Now, I have started an online auction company that I run through the same business structure (The same LLC), however, I have some other ventures as well (ALL ONLINE BASED) that I would like to do as well.

All of them are ALL online based, meaning all the transactions will take place online, all products will end up being dropped shipped or things of that nature, but it will be multiple eCommerce types of businesses.

So my question is, should i keep them all under my single LLC that I have now (Lindsey Interactive, LLC) or should I make individual LLC's for each venture?

[Harold Mansfield]

It's so much easier just to keep them together. If you're the only one running things, why would you need multiple entities just to do the same thing across the board? The only reason I'd spin one off is if it had a different business structure...partners, investors, etc.

[Freelancier]

I'd separate the internet marketing concern from the retail stores, not because they have different owners, but because they have different liability levels and you might want to (or need to) get liability insurance for the consulting stuff and the stores likely don't need the same type of coverage. But lumping all the online stores into one company now isn't a big deal, maybe later if one of them takes off, you might want to spin it off into its own business, but for now it's likely not a problem to keep them together.

[turboguy]

Unless there is a good reason to separate them I think it would be better to keep it as one entity. If you separate them you have separate legal fees, separate bank accounts with related fees, separate tax returns with higher fees for the accountant, separate insurance policies with higher costs. and more paperwork.