#364 How AI Is Transforming Small Business and Entrepreneurship

Summary

Embracing Digital Transformation, Episode #364

How AI Is Transforming Small Business and Entrepreneurship

Date: June 30, 2026
Host: Dr. Darren Pulsipher
Guest: Tom Lahat, Co-Founder & CXO, Taylor Brands

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Episode Overview

This episode explores how artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing small business creation, management, and entrepreneurship. Dr. Darren Pulsipher speaks with Tom Lahat, co-founder of Taylor Brands—a company dedicated to streamlining the process of starting and operating businesses. Together, they discuss how AI is making both the technical and bureaucratic sides of entrepreneurship more accessible, the changing motivations for starting businesses, and the unique challenges and opportunities AI brings for individuals navigating today's dynamic job market.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Tom Lahat’s Entrepreneurial Journey (02:14–06:09)

• Origin Story: Tom shares his background as a self-taught graphic designer and photographer, eventually transitioning into entrepreneurship by helping democratize design.
• Learning by Doing:

  “Everything I have done until now… I’ve learned from doing, from YouTube or Instagram or whatever. So that’s a big skill that I have.” — Tom Lahat (02:29)

• Taylor Brands' Mission: Initially focused on making quality branding accessible, the company evolved to help entrepreneurs with not just branding but also legal paperwork, filing entities, and compliance, prioritizing smooth, user-friendly experiences.

2. The Role of Design and Bureaucracy in Entrepreneurship (06:29–08:02)

• Bridging the Gap: Tom discusses moving from design to simplifying bureaucratic processes, likening both to experiences that are intimidating for the uninitiated.
• Empowering Users:

  “The thing that we brought to the market is having smooth experiences… democratizing this process so you don’t have to go to a lawyer or CPA.” — Tom Lahat (07:54)

3. The Impact and Limitations of AI in Business Formation (08:02–13:08)

• AI as an Enabler and Its Limits: Dr. Darren recounts using ChatGPT to navigate his own business’s formation and notes its strengths and shortcomings.
• Importance of Accountability:

  “The most important thing when you go to AI is who’s taking responsibility… We want to find this balance between technology, AI… but always, always, always, always, always we gotta have the accountability. We are people.” — Tom Lahat (09:23)

• Human Touch When It Matters: AI boosts support efficiency, but tangible, high-stakes tasks—like state filings and compliance—require human oversight, especially in a high-risk industry like business formation and taxes.

4. Industry Shifts & New Business Motivations (15:49–21:27)

• Changing Reasons for Entrepreneurship:
  • Traditional: Chasing a long-held dream or passion.
  • New Trend: Opening businesses as resume continuity due to unemployment or uncertainty in the job market.
  • Side Gigs: Increase in “multi-LLC” owners with diverse income streams (e.g., gardening, consulting, coaching).
  • Rise in Blue-Collar and At-Home Businesses: E.g., 150% increase in candle-making ventures.
• Quote:

  “The new reason is that people are starting a business because they couldn’t find a job on the market… people are opening a business to make sure there is contingency in their LinkedIn.” — Tom Lahat (15:49, 16:34)

5. AI’s Indirect Impact & The Future of Work (21:12–23:55)

• AI’s Broader Effects: Even for non-AI-centric businesses, AI’s disruption of corporate/gov jobs is “pushing” people toward self-employment.
• Lifelong Careers Are Less Secure:

  “You work at Microsoft for the last 15 years. The last thing you thought, you’re gonna lose your job, but it happens.” — Tom Lahat (21:27)

• Skills for the Future: Tom advises younger generations to hone social and presentation skills, reflecting uncertainty in which roles AI will or won’t automate.

6. Ease vs. Success: Starting vs. Sustaining Businesses (23:55–25:56)

• Lower Barriers to Entry: Modern tools make setting up a business “frictionless,” but increased competition and the need to “wear many hats” (e.g., being both a tradesperson and social media influencer) makes standing out harder.
• Quote:

  “It’s easier to start, but sometimes it can be also overwhelming… Everybody around me is a startup.” — Tom Lahat (25:00)

7. Business Closure as Part of the Process (25:56–27:55)

• Normalizing Failure & Iteration: Many first ventures close, which is natural and can be a stepping stone to subsequent, more successful businesses.
• Easy Entry, Easy Exit: Taylor Brands facilitates both creation and dissolution of business entities, underscoring the importance of learning and moving forward.

8. Seeking Guidance—AI vs. Human Support (27:55–30:04)

• Common Mistakes: Many attempt DIY setups and later seek professional help to “clean up” or optimize their legal and tax situation—sometimes after bad advice from generic AI.
• Value of Nuanced Advice:

  “The government doesn’t care. They care that you follow the rules… It’s easier to start a business in the United States. It’s encouraging. There’s a lot of opportunities.” — Tom Lahat (29:31)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Tom on AI's Limits:

  “When issues hit the fan, you know that we are there. If it’s a good thing or a bad thing… Everything is CAPS in our industry.” (12:44)

• On Economic Shifts:

  “It’s moving from ‘I always wanted to’ to ‘I really need to’… We always had the weekend warriors.” — Tom Lahat (18:00)

• On Multi-Business Owners:

  “We see in our data that the same person opens three different LLCs in the same week… People understand that it’s not about the dream, but about necessity.” (19:24)

• Advice to Next Generation:

  “You’ve got to work on your social skill. You’ve got to understand how to present your ideas in a better way.” — Tom Lahat (23:18)

• Encouragement for Entrepreneurs:

  “If you had the first idea, you set up your LLC… There’s a big chance we’re going to close that business… But there’s a bigger chance… you’ll open your second company.” — Tom Lahat (26:00)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 02:14 Tom Lahat’s Superhero Origin Story
• 06:41 The Transition from Design to Business Formation
• 08:02 Navigating the Bureaucracy; The Fear Factor
• 09:23 AI’s Role — Information vs. Accountability
• 13:08 High-Stakes Problems Demand Human Support
• 15:49 New Motivations for Starting Businesses
• 18:00 The Rise of Necessity-Based Entrepreneurship
• 19:24 Growth in Multi-LLC Owners (Diverse Side Hustles)
• 21:12 AI’s Indirect Impact on Careers
• 23:56 Is it Easier Now to Start a Business?
• 25:56 Business Failure Is Not Defeat
• 27:55 Fixing DIY Mistakes; Seeking Professional Help
• 29:31 Government’s Perspective and Entrepreneurial Opportunities

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Conclusion & Resources

Tom and Dr. Darren close by reiterating both the hope and challenge present for new entrepreneurs today: while AI tools and platforms like Taylor Brands have lowered the barriers to entry, uncertainty in the job market and increased competition mean resilience, adaptability, and human skills are more important than ever.

• For more info: taylorbrands.com
• Contact Tom directly via the website.

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Summarized by Embracing Digital Transformation Podcast Summarizer
This summary encapsulates the authentic tone and practical guidance shared in an episode focused on the intersection of technology, entrepreneurship, and the human spirit of adaptation.

Transcript

[Host Announcer]

Welcome to Embracing Digital Transformation. Before we dive in, I wanted to personally thank you for listening. Many of the ideas we discuss on this show inspired my new book, AI Augmented Teams. If you're looking for practical ways to combine human expertise and AI to achieve better outcomes, I think you'll find it valuable. Learn more at Paydar AI Books. That is P A I D A R AI Books. Now, let's get started with the show.

[Tom Lahat]

However, we have started noticing and we talk a lot with users and we ask them, why are you opening the business? And the new reason is that people are starting a business because they couldn't find the job on the market and they're scared that their next year or two would have no, they would be unemployed. And when they want to get a job, people will ask them, so what happened in the last two years? And they wouldn't have good answers.

[Dr. Darren]

Welcome to Embracing Digital Transformation, where we explore how people process policy and technology drive effective change. This is Dr. Darren, Chief Enterprise architect, educator, author, and most importantly, your host on this episode, how AI is transforming

[Host Announcer]

Small Business and entrepreneurship into with Tom Lahat, co founder and CXO of Taylor Brands.

[Dr. Darren]

Tom, welcome to the show.

[Tom Lahat]

Thank you, Darren. Thank you for having me.

[Dr. Darren]

Hey, I think this is going to be a great conversation. There's. There's a lot going on in the world today, especially on AI. There's a lot of people concerned about their jobs. There's a lot of people concerned about how are they going to make ends meet and what impact AI is going to have on. On our society as a whole. We got a lot to talk about today, Tom, but before we do, everyone that listens to my show knows that I only have superheroes on the show. And every superhero has a origin story, a background story. So, Tom, what's your background story?

[Tom Lahat]

First of all, considering me a hero, that would be a first. So thank you. I'll film my family.

[Dr. Darren]

Well, I only. I only have superheroes on the show. So either you snuck in, which means you got a superpower of sneakiness, but I don't think that's it, Tom.

[Tom Lahat]

So I think in the world of founders, I, if that's even a world, I don't think I have a classic story of, you know, the business background and that part. So I'll take you back. I, I was always a designer, a graphic designer, to be honest. That's how I got into the entrepreneurship world, basically. I. Photography and design. And if you would ask me when I was 17 or 18, what would I do when I, you know, When I grow up, I would be an artist, a photographer that does some graphic design to make some, to make some money. That would be my stories. And I fell in love with graphic design. I think it was, you know, YouTube was at its peak, basically. So everything I learned, maybe that's my, by the way, maybe that's my, my, my superhero skill. I can. Everything I have done until now, maybe it's good or bad, I'm not sure, but I've learned from doing, from YouTube or Instagram or whatever. So that's a big skill that I have. So I was really into graphic design and photography and I had my own agency basically, you know, and I, and I. It was my first experience in the, in the real world, getting feedback, getting clients, understanding what works, what doesn't, how to get my name out there. And. And I did it alone. And it was awful and amazing and it was frightful and, you know, the best and the worst thing I've done. It was my first time, basically. And then with the years, I went and I studied at Parsons Design School in New York. And there, maybe it's a classic story that I, me and two other friends from New York, we dropped off school, dropped out of school to start the company Pillow Brands. Where initially our goal was to make design something that was considered very expensive. And, you know, if you start a business, the last thing you want to do now is pay $2,000, $1,000 for graphic design. We wanted to automate it. I don't want to say the word AI because AI didn't exist. So it wasn't that. But our goal was to make it reachable. And the company when we started was focusing around branding and making sure that within few clicks you'll have a beautiful logo and a website and a business card so you can focus on whatever you want to do. And for me, it was a segue because that's what I did. You know, I, I had my small business, I was focusing on design. So it was my first step suddenly in the tech world. So I had, you know, my, my partners and talented, smart partners that I have for the last 10 years. You know, the Yali, the CEO and the Dove, the, the CTO and together for the first time, you know, pretty. In a young age, I would say, you know, 20, 26, we started, we started the company and, you know, the same thing I would say on my design agency, it was on the startup which became the company. The first years or most, the hard and the best time, the hardest and the best times of my Life really, you know, like we living in New York, starting your company, raising money, doing everything for, you know, pretty young age for the first time. And slowly this logo thing became what we do today, which is helping people start their business and everything from their paperwork, their, you know, the entity and coverage and business insurance. And so the company grew naturally, but the goal was the same goal all the time, helping people start their business. So I think that's the. That's my origin story. That.

[Dr. Darren]

That's a great origin story, how you morphed from, you know, graphic design into, hey, you, now you are a. A business starter company. So you took some of your. Your incredible strengths that you have around design and found a market for it, which I think is incredible.

[Tom Lahat]

I think the cool thing that we learned as the business moved from the design part to the bureaucracy, because it sounds very unnatural, people that know me throughout the years.

[Dr. Darren]

Yeah, it does. Yeah, that sounds unnatural. You.

[Tom Lahat]

Me as someone who's really focusing on the fonts, and now I'm really focusing on understanding the rules in Michigan and what's changed in Delaware and what's the difference between the taxes in California and New York. But I always say that good design, it's not how it looks, it. How it. How it feels, what happens in the process. So for me, you know, when you ask for some. Someone who is not a designer to create a logo, he is frustrated, he's scared. He has no idea what to do. But if. If I ask the same person, you know, let's file your taxes, you know, start your entity, choose between an LLC or an S Corp. It's the same. It's the same fear. Oh, my God, what do I need to do? What's the first step? Where do I gain data? How do I. What are the tools to do that? So for me, it was always to make experiences better. I always say we. We never invented the final product. You know, I never. We never. We didn't invent logos. I didn't invent llc. That's not the thing that we brought to the market. The thing that we brought to the market is having smooth experiences, you know, just better experience to achieve these things. And that's why I'm proud of. So I'm helping people by democratizing this process so you don't have to go to a lawyer or, or a CPA or.

[Dr. Darren]

Yeah, you did an incredible job at taking something that's scary and difficult. Like when I started my. My production company for the podcast, I didn't know what I was doing right. I went to ChatGPT and said, hey, what do I need to do? And it gave me more options than what I wanted. It just said, oh, you could do this or you could do that. And I was like, I don't know what to do. And I'm sure I did it wrong.

[Tom Lahat]

And you had AI and you had AI and I had AI. Yeah.

[Dr. Darren]

I can't imagine doing it without.

[Tom Lahat]

So imagine, you know, five years ago, seven years, you know, throughout all life. And the, the thing about AI, which is super smart and I think people and, you know, I, I, I want every employee in the company to ask the same question when he joins. Why are we better for our category than, than Chat GPT, than Gemini? I mean, all the, all the information is there and you can even tell him, hey, Chat GPT, Explain it to me in five words. Tell it to me like, so you can ask it. But the most important thing when you go to AI is who's taking responsibility. Who's, you know, if you go to OpenAI, if you go to Chat and you say, hey, I need to file my annual report filing, when is it due? And it tells you something. Maybe it's true, maybe it isn't, and you miss it, and now you have fines. The last thing you're going to do probably, is to go back to ChatGPT and say, hey, you're wrong, and he'll tell you, you know what, Darren? You are right, I was wrong, and that's it. So we, as a company, we, we want to find this balance between technology, AI and we're using it, and we gotta give it to our users through our system and throughout data so they can have more information and make better decision. But with that sentence, always, always, always, always, always. We gotta have the accountability. We are people. The company, Tello Brands is sorry, is a company of people that are there 24 7. So if there's an issue, if we messed up, if you have a problem and you don't know what to do,

[Dr. Darren]

then we have someone to call. Right? Yeah, there's someone there. That totally makes sense. Okay, so let's talk about how long have you guys been running, running this business and what impact AI has had on you guys? Because I'm sure it's had some impact.

[Tom Lahat]

Yes, yes, of course, of course. The best thing I started this conversation with where we started, which is the design world, and I'm very happy that we're not there, because I think the biggest hit would be in the design world. The good thing about bureaucracy, I don't know if There's a sentence, I don't know if it's even if anybody said that sentence in the past. But the good thing about is that I can give an example and I think you understand exactly the, where the AI comes in. So, yeah, information is more accessible. Anybody could know, could ask, hey, what do I need to do to file my business entity, right? But Delaware sometimes has, you gotta send effects and in North Carolina sometimes you gotta send a letter or to walk in. So every state has its own rule. There's a lot of things, for example, registered agent, I don't know if it's even interesting, but it's foot on the ground. So we have foot underground in every state because we are your registered agent. So it's that balance with the bureaucracy world that tangible things need to happen. A lot of the times when you receive a letter from the state, someone, a human, currently at least human being needs to receive that. And we are that person. And then we make sure that wherever you are, we contact you. So it's always that balance with, you know, our support now is way better because we use AI. So 24, 7. Any small question we can answer, that's great. But when. I don't want to say the word, but when issues hit the fan, when problems hit the fan, you know that we are there. If it's a good thing or a bad thing. You know, I always say that our industry, not specifically our company, but our industry, everything is critical. When you buy a T shirt from Gap or Zero, so in the worst case, you got a large. When you wanted a medium, you thought it would be black, but it was actually gray. You know, it's like, hey, guys, in our line of industry, in our line of business, taxes, IRS fines, insurance, permits, entities, everything is a capital is a capital is caps is all caps.

[Dr. Darren]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Tom Lahat]

So I lead in the company, I lead the, the product and the support. So I see, I see what our users write. And it's either, I love you guys, you help me a lot, or oh my God, I need help. 500 messages because, and by the way, they are right, they are right to be panicking because it is scary. There's something with the IRS that if you don't know what's going on, you're, you're short. You know, there's so many people I talk to, they are, they think they're going to jail on, on, on an issue that they've made or something will happen to them. So I get it.

[Dr. Darren]

That's, that's, that's These are scary things. Yeah, right. So what that tells me is high risk. We need more humans involved when there's high risk. But I can't trust AI 100%. So I have to have human intervention there because we still as humans have intuition. We still have great decision making. I would hope we have great decision making. Sometimes we don't. But we still need humans there to decide and to also be held accountable. Right, that, that's what I'm hearing you say. Right.

[Tom Lahat]

You also see in the AI world more and more companies who specialize in specific industries. So you have the general AI ChatGPT, Gemini Cloud and so forth. And you have huge companies that specialize in law or huge companies that have AI that specializes in, in the medical world. Because you want to have either it's the person or the company that are the best for that specific thing. Something about being the best in everything. You know, when you build a house, you want to have the best guy for flooring, you want to have the best guy for the rooftop. You don't want to have that person that did everything. A, a little bit like, you know, the master of a little.

[Dr. Darren]

Yeah, yeah.

[Tom Lahat]

Halfway Jack of all trade, master of none.

[Dr. Darren]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, that, that makes sense. That, that, that totally makes sense. Have you seen what, what have you seen with small companies today? Have you seen a shift in the number or in the type of businesses that have been generated in the last couple years because of AI? Have you seen anything, any change?

[Tom Lahat]

So, so I say that we specialize in opening businesses. That's what we do. And we really focus on regular businesses. It's not about that. AI startup from San Francisco, our customers are plumbers and like blue color, a lot of blue colors. Whether it's yoga instructors from Mississippi or pipe making in Michigan or soap. I, we have, I don't know how come we have in the last year, 150% increase in candle making. I don't know why, I don't know if it's, it's a trend, but something in candle making, candle making is going through the roof.

[Dr. Darren]

Everyone pay attention. Right?

[Tom Lahat]

Something about make a lot of things that people make at home, whether it's soap and candles, but I'm putting that aside. So I do, I do see two shifts. So we're, we've been a while, we were eight years in the, in the industry. So I see two sheets. First of all is why do people start their business? That's the first question. And for years we imagine that American dream is, you know, I, it's my passion this, it's the thing that I've been dreaming for a while and I quit my job or I finished school for that and now I open my business and obviously it's still a big chunk of why people open the business and that's great and that hasn't changed and I'm sure that we will always have a big percentage of that group. However, I, we have started noticing and we talk a lot with users and we ask them why are you opening the business? And the new reason is that people are starting a business because they couldn't find a job on the market. And they, they, and they, and they're scared that their next year or two would have no, they would be unemployed. And when they want to get a job people will ask them so what happened in the last two years? And they wouldn't have good answers. So people are opening a business to make sure there is contingency in their LinkedIn, you know, and so called they're linking in their city.

[Dr. Darren]

So if I find that fascinating.

[Tom Lahat]

So, so if I want to have a job in marketing, you know, and I file and I want to and I try to get a job and I couldn't because the situation in the market is hard, I will open my own marketing firm even if it's not something I wanted, if it, if it, even if it's too early. But I will do it. I will try to have few clients. So next year or in two years from now, I'm going to file for the same company again. I will have some hands on experience that I would usually by the way in the past I would get it from an internship, an internship that doesn't exist today or you know, or, or that, that job, their first year job somewhere that they don't hire right now. So the market has changed in that world. The second thing I see of people opening a business is people who work in, who were employed for 10 or 15 or 20 years. And suddenly in the last two years and we all, you know, we wake up in the morning and you read about whether it's the cut in, in the Doge. So you know, the government has, yeah, Doge, yeah, A lot of jobs if only 300,000 jobs in the last year or so. And I'm putting aside if it's good or bad. I don't want to even get into it. But you have people who were employed for 20 years, 15 years, they had a good job. That's what they know how to do. I work in the irs I work in the federal, you know, I, I, I do something and suddenly I don't have a job. So what do I do? I'm, people are not done hiring me because I have, I don't have past experience and now I need to start my own thing. So that's the second shift that I see in, in, in what do people open? So that's, you know, for the question, what's happening? Who's opening the business? So it's moving from I always wanted to, to I really need to, you know, and that's, that's, you know, we always had the weekend warriors. The third thing, and then I'll stop. Maybe I'm talking too much. We see in our, in our, in our data that the Same Person opens three different LLCs on the same week. And you know, we started wondering what's happening there. Like, did he sell his company on Monday, so he's opening another company on Wednesday. The thing is they understand that. So I, I can give you an example. I don't, I don't, I won't say his name, but he had a consultancy. He was a gardener and he was a running coach. So he had three LLCs. Every LLC has a different permit. So we had to do the, all the, the, all we helped him with the, the back work. But people understand that it's not, it's not about the dream. His dream wasn't to be a running coach. His dream wasn't to be a consultant for small businesses. But he needs to do it. So we open three companies and he'll do, you know, every day something different. And that's crazy. We haven't seen any in, I think, you know, Evans ever, ever since COVID Obviously we saw a spike, but it's still, you know, Covid is behind us and we still see this trend continuing and increasing.

[Dr. Darren]

So that's interesting because AI is having an impact even if these companies aren't AI driven. Do you. Because people are like, I don't know that I can trust having a big corporate job anymore or a government job

[Tom Lahat]

anymore, even if it's government and obviously meta Amazon. We know you Google, we saw all these companies every day. You have, you know, crazy number that you, it's, it's hard to fathom even what is 30,000 jobs got 10,000. So it's a lot of people, high quality people. You know, it's not them, you know, it's developers, it's product managers, it's designers. It's people that they thought that they have the best job in the world. You know, you work at Microsoft for the last 15 years. The last thing you thought, you're gonna lose your job, but it happens. And obviously some of them find another job at Apple or, you know, another thing. But out of those 30,000, we're gonna have a big chunk that are going to open their own thing, maybe in the. In the same profession. Maybe they're going to be freelancers for, you know, that job that they did. But a lot of them are going to change and quit. And I have, I have. I have a younger sister. I'm. That. She's 21, and she comes to me like, I'm. I'm a big molder. I'm a bit boulder. And she's like, hey, Ton, you're in the tech industry. What should I study?

[Dr. Darren]

Yes, I just got that question too.

[Host Announcer]

Yeah.

[Tom Lahat]

How are you with survival skills? How are you with, you know, making fire? Because I find that in the next 10 years, you know, I think so people ask me that question and, you know, like. And if you would ask me five years ago, it's like, you know, to go into tech, which is a great industry. You know, you can be a designer, you can be a product manager, you can be a data analyst. There's a lot of things you can do. But. But today I have no idea. I mean, and then I, I told her, no, you got to work on your social skill. You gotta understand how you talk to people. You've gotta understand how to present your ideas in a better way. Because that's also something that a lot of my younger sister during COVID for four years, you know, she hasn't. Years whatever. She hasn't spoken with that person. That's. That's really hard when you think about the next ten years.

[Dr. Darren]

Is it. Do you think it's easier now to start a company, to start your own business with tools like what you guys present? And are we seeing state agencies making it easier to start a business or not? Are you seeing the opposite?

[Tom Lahat]

So the question that you asked can be broken down into two. Is it easy to set up a business today? If you go to our platform or a competitor, or you do yourself, whatever, and you figure it out within a few days, you have a running shell, you have Darren llc. You have the right permits, and you have a bank account set up. And. And you know that everything is automated and the business is up and running. But is it easy to start a business? The second part of it is it's easier now to get into the market. So a lot of people let's say you are good at running, you know and you're a running coach or you, that's what you do. So okay, within a few hours you have the shell but it's easier to start it. So you have way more people doing it and the competition is bigger on the same audience sometimes. So I think in that side it's a bit harder to do better, it's easier to start but sometimes it can be also overwhelming. And everybody around me are a startup. Every, every other person has his own company on Instagram. You see, you know, every, every other person is a social media influencer for the role. So you're not only a wedding photographer. I remember because this is how I started. I see my friends from that industry, they are now also wedding photographers, social media influencers. You know, it's not only about the trade, you know how to book the, the, the event every weekend. It's also about uploading every day. About like how do you have five things you got to do as a wedding photographer? Three spots you gotta check before you. So it's harder in that sense.

[Dr. Darren]

I think that that may that this is an interesting time then for to start a business. It sounds like the friction is low to enter but to actually make it succeed. Do you guys also, you help start businesses, do you help also shut them down?

[Host Announcer]

So

[Tom Lahat]

the answer is yes. Especially in small businesses, blue collar and as I said that's what we, it's not only what we do but you see in the last three years the rise in blue collar job. Super interesting article about the. I think the United states is missing 140,000 plumbers. You know, it's like, it's crazy like the, the most basic professions are, are, are fading away. That you know the, the, the silver generations basically the, the generation that knows how to build with hands slowly is retiring and there's nobody, nobody to replace them. But to your question, in this, in the business, in the world of starting a small business, it st ordinary to close your first idea. And it's not a losing situation. If you had the first idea, you set up your llc. When you do all that things, there's a big chance that we're going to close that business, that idea. But there's a bigger chance that within a few weeks or months you'll open your second company. And we see that trend happening a lot and it's so important, you know and somebody sees it and you're opening your first business. You know, if I, I had to close my age, my design agency now I Had to close it because it didn't work. And I, and I moved to the next thing. But it wasn't about being. It wasn't about failing. It was understanding that, okay, it's my first thing, you know, it's my first pancake, you know, the, the turn, and that's okay. And we see, we have a lot of users, a lot of small business owners. They, they start three, four to five businesses and they close it. And it's so easy to. As I said, it's so clean. It's so easy using us to start a business, and so easy to close the business as well. And the most important thing is to continue. If that's what you want to do, that's your passion, focus on that, focus on starting the business.

[Dr. Darren]

This has been awesome, Tom. I appreciate the work that you're doing to help organizations. If, let's say, like in my case, I have two LLCs set up. One for my production company, which is doing podcasts, and another one for consulting, right. So I have two separate businesses and things. But let's say I set them up wrong, right? Because I did it myself. Can I go to you and can you help me figure things out? Because it may be because I live in California. So I, I created these in California. But maybe that's not the best, best strategy. Maybe I need to do it in Nevada or Delaware and is, do I get to talk to a real person? Tom, I made a mess of my stuff, you know, and I need someone to help me figure it out. Or am I relegated to Chad GPT? That's going to say, you could do it this way or that way, or consult someone. That's what I always says. Consult someone.

[Tom Lahat]

I'll say two things. First of all, if you live and work in California, you made a good decision opening your LLC in California. Sometimes it's as easy as that. But we have a lot of people who come to us after they tried to do something alone and they thought they could save on taxes. If they'll open it in Texas, though they live in New York. But then we tell them. But if you live in New York and your business is in New York and everything you do is in New York, you can't claim that your business is in Texas. It will bite you back. So we help that we closed it. We can help them close the old

[Dr. Darren]

close and then it properly.

[Tom Lahat]

It's okay. You know, some people are scared. What will the government think about me? Nothing. You know, the. The government doesn't care. They care that you follow the rules, and they care. I think the good thing about the states is, doesn't matter what people think. It's easier to start the business in the United States. It's encouraging. There's a lot of opportunities. And I really like, I really love what I do because I, I have the ability to speak with people who are starting this amazing chapter in their life. You know, starting their business. There isn't something. It's one of those things in life that you always remember, even if it doesn't work out.

[Dr. Darren]

I, I think this is great, especially with an immigrant culture that we have in the United States. I mean, we all know that. I mean, the richest man in the world is an immigrant to the United States.

[Tom Lahat]

Yeah.

[Dr. Darren]

Elon Musk, right?

[Host Announcer]

He's.

[Dr. Darren]

He's South African. So it, it's. It to me, this is great because you, you grease the skids. You help people that are maybe a little bit scared of, of how, how this works. So, Tom, great, great discussion today. If people want to find out more, how do they find out more? How do they reach out to you or your company?

[Tom Lahat]

So, first of all, they can always go to taylorbrands.com and they can always reach out to me at tomorrow.

[Dr. Darren]

Awesome. Tom, hey, thanks again for coming on the show.

[Tom Lahat]

Thank you, Darren. Thank you so much for having me.

[Dr. Darren]

Thanks for listening to Embracing digital Transformation. If you enjoyed today's conversation, give us five stars on your favorite podcasting app or on YouTube. It really helps others discover the show. If you want to go deeper, join our exclusive [e-mail] embracingdigital where we share bonus content. And you can always connect with other change makers like yourself. You can always find more [e-mail] until next time, keep embracing the digital Transformation.