Timothy the Wayward Bird & Making Informed Decisions
The Plight of Timothy
I was walking Ginger (our six pound Yorkie mix) when we happened upon a baby bird in distress (who I will call Timothy). I didn’t notice Timothy until Ginger was mere inches from him; obliviously sniffing away at what I assume was the lingering scent of garbage and other dog pee. I retrieved Ginger, crouched down a few feet to the side, and considered Timothy’s plight.
Timothy the wayward bird
He was all alone clearly too young to fend for himself, and didn’t seem to be well enough to flee from a big scary dog.
I couldn’t see any injuries, but Timothy could be sick, abandoned, who knows what else. I considered my options – trust that nature would sort it out (for better or worse), or see what I could do.
But, how to help?
I called a local bird rescue – but they were closed until later that morning. I called and texted a family friend who is a birder – but his phone went to voicemail. I was on my own.
All I wanted to was to do right by Timothy – but I didn’t know what that entailed.
I waited a few more minutes, and decided that maybe Timothy would be ok if I left him alone, at least for a little while. I could check on him on our way back from our walk and re-asses how to help.
I walked about a dozen paces and paused. Was it really ok to abandon little Timothy? Would he really be ok without me? I turned back towards the little bird with a new resolve. I would see this through to the end.
But, without me hovering, Timothy’s parents returned. It was my very presence that had kept them away. I was the problem.
Doing our Homework
Timothy’s plight, and my unwitting involvement reminds me of a resent (small) frustration I had with creating our company – and drives home the importance of educating ourselves before taking action.
When we formally incorporated Pine Island Games in March we used a legal filing service to streamline the paperwork. It seemed to go smoothly. We filled out a bunch of questionnaires; paid a few hundred dollars and moved on with our lives.
Dog tax
When you create an LLC you often use a registered agent. Using a registered agent provides you with a legal address that other than your home address. It allows official correspondence to be forwarded there, can impact your taxes, and determines in what country you file your notice of formation (you need to put out newspaper advertisements when you create an LLC).
Chelsea and I live in an apartment in Manhattan. This is a problem because 1) we don’t want Pine Island’s legal address to be tied to a rental which we will eventually leave, and 2) Manhattan is one of the most expensive places to file notices of incorporation (thousands of dollars as opposed to hundreds).
Our first issue bubbled up when we got the filing documents back from the state. Our filer had put our home address rather than the registered agent’s address on all of our documents. They also assigned us a to a registered agent in King’s County (Brooklyn), which while a lot cheaper than Manhattan, is still over $500 to file notice in, as opposed to ~$200 in other counties.
We filed some more forms and got our LLC address changed to the registered agent’s, but we couldn’t switch registered agents to a new county (it might be possible but I am sure would take some time and money).
The moral is that if I had spent a little more time upfront understanding the process of choosing a registered agent, picking a county, and understanding the filing documents, it would have saved me hours of remedial work, and a little bit of money.
As entrepreneurs our time is limited and valuable. We will sometimes need to make decisions with incomplete information, go off our gut, and step into the unknown. But, whenever possible, and whenever the time investment is reasonable, it is important that we educate ourselves. It is important that we call an animal rescue before we interfere with a bird that we suspect is in distress.
What is a mistake that you made - that a little planning and research would have prevented?
