MarvinSteindler
Nellie Akalp CorpNet FINAL
Entrepreneur. Small business advocate. Mother. These are the qualities that Nellie Akalp holds closest to her heart. As the founder and CEO of CorpNet, which she runs with her husband, Phil, Nellie focuses her time on helping other entrepreneurs start their businesses, incorporate, form an LLC and apply for trademarks.
It is a skill set she learned first-hand, after the first venture they started grew really fast. Admittedly, she was shocked. Eventually, their growing business was acquired in 2005. But rather than rest on their laurels, Nellie and Phil launched CorpNet.com in 2009, which today is a recognized Inc. 5000 company.
All told, through their various business ventures together, Nellie and Phil have helped form more than 100,000 corporations and LLCs across the country.
But before you get any visions of executives who live the high life, the passionate entrepreneur and mother of four spends just as much time helping her kids navigate the journey of growing up as she does working with other business leaders.
Insightful Accountant sat down with Nellie to get her thoughts on today's entrepreneurial landscape and how CorpNet is helping new business leaders get started.
Give us a snapshot of CorpNet.com?
We provide the most comprehensive and cost-effective legal filing services for businesses from beginning to end. Our services range from things like setting up a corporation or LLC, filing a DBA or trademark, and monitoring and compliance services by making sure businesses stay up to date with all their state filings throughout the year. We also help with other filings, such as registered agent representations, modifying, expanding or closing down a business entity with the state. We offer our services in all 50 states.
What is the entrepreneurial landscape like today?
It continues to ripen with more and more professionals, consultants, CPAs and tax advisers leaving the corporate world and wanting to go into business for themselves as a solo practitioner. What we are seeing as a result is that more and more of these professionals are looking for tools and resources to help them become a full-service business and a “trusted advisor” to their clients.
Give us a rundown of how you help small businesses?
In short, we formed CorpNet because we weren’t satisfied with the options available to small businesses. Some small business owners were busting their budgets to retain lawyers for rather simple filing needs. Most small businesses have rather straightforward business structures – and high-priced attorneys are overkill. But at the same time, the average small business owner is entering unchartered waters when it comes to things like LLC formation, incorporation, trademark searches and protection. So, they want more support and hand-holding than is offered with the standard online legal service.
That’s where we come in. We give each business a dedicated account manager to help them with all their needs from beginning to end. We’ve got all our experienced and seasoned business filing experts in house. We’re not going to force clients to email us or navigate a confusing phone tree. Our mission is to take all the hassle, worry and high costs out of legal filings for small businesses – so they can do what they do best: follow their dreams of owning a business and growing a business.
Why is CorpNet such a valuable relationship and benefit for today's accounting professionals?
By partnering with us, you can strengthen your client relationships by solving some very big problems for them. Most accountants aren’t equipped to answer legal questions, but clients invariably turn to their account or CPA with questions about incorporating, forming an LLC or maintaining these business structures. By partnering with us, you can become a key, trusted advisor to your clients and help them with these small business needs.
What’s nice is that there’s a lot of flexibility built into our Partner Program, because we know that not every accountant is going to want the exact same arrangement. So, you can choose to white label our services. We’ll be the silent fulfillment partner, and you’ll stay as the main contact. Or, if you’d rather not sell and support the services directly, you can refer your clients to us and earn up to a 50 percent commission on each referral or pass on the discount to your client.
It’s a win-win. You can add services to your portfolio, create some new revenue streams, while solving more challenges and providing more value to your clients.
What's the story that best sums up how partnering with you helps a new business?
Long before we launched our official Partner Program, we were working with accountants and CPAs to help them fulfill legal filing needs for their small business clients. Just recently, I was speaking with a long-time accounting partner. She’s the owner and CPA at an accounting firm for small businesses. She shared how valuable our B.I.Z. (Business Information Zone) compliance and monitoring service has been. This is a free service that’s available to any small business (whether you have formed your business with us or not).
A small business just plugs in some basic information – like where they incorporated and when – and B.I.Z. will automatically send alerts for any upcoming state filings – like an Annual Report. She mentioned that whenever a client forms a business, she always makes sure they sign up with B.I.Z. That way, they’ll never miss a filing or must pay a late fee.
And, keep in mind – if you’d prefer to maintain contact with the client, you can create your own dashboards on B.I.Z. for all your clients. We’ll let you know when it’s time to contact them about an upcoming filing.
What do you expect to see from the accounting space as we head further into 2017?
That’s a great question. I imagine that we’ll see more and more accounting professionals who want to leave the corporate world and big partner practices, and follow their own dreams into entrepreneurship where they can have a bigger impact on the growth and direction of their firm. And, in this case, solo practitioners are going to be looking for new ways to differentiate themselves from the "big guys" by offering more value and support to their clients.
What type of other partnerships are you developing?
We’re always on the lookout for new partnership opportunities that seem like a natural extension of our services. That’s generally service providers who cater to small business clients and could become a one-stop shop by adding business filing services to their portfolio.
What does your to-do list look like this year?
Since we just launched the CorpNet Partner Program for accountants, consultants and CPAs, I’ll be focusing most of my time promoting the program and reaching out to accountants, tax professionals and CPAs. I’ll be doing a nationwide tour to promote our services at numerous industry trade shows this year. I know we have a lot of work to do in terms of introducing ourselves and building relationships, but I’m so excited about the prospects, because we can truly help make everyone’s lives easier when it comes to business formations and compliance.
What’s the next "best thing" for you?
As a proud mother of four beautiful children, my next “best thing” always comes back to my kids. I love watching them grow and start new chapters in their lives. Right now, I’ve got twins who are entering adulthood and driving, so it’s a big transition for all of us.
What should every accounting professional know about CorpNet?
We understand that accountants and CPAs are going to be extremely careful when choosing their business partners. After all, it’s your reputation and client relationship on the line if you lead them astray with the wrong partner or referral. We formed CorpNet because we love entrepreneurship and want everyone to have a chance to follow their dreams. Our whole business is set up to help small business owners thrive. We do that by making the business legal filing process as painless as possible – so small business owners can focus on growing and running their business.
I think that’s pretty similar to what accountants and CPAs aim to do for their clients as well. Lastly, we haven’t expanded into thousands of different legal areas and stretched ourselves too thin. We’re small business experts. We prefer to do one thing and do it well, so you can be sure that your business and your clients will always get our full attention and commitment.