Mompreneur Interview with Nellie Akalp, Founder of CorpNet

Welcome our latest mompreneur rockstar Nellie Akalp founder and CEO of Corpnet. Nellie and her husband started their first business in their apartment living room in 1997 after purchasing a domain name for $100. They worked night and day to grow that company, and in 2005 it was acquired by Intuit for $20 million. Today they run CorpNet.com where they help entrepreneurs start, grow and maintain their businesses.

Throughout her career, Nellie has formed over 100,000 LLCs for entrepreneurs, freelancers, solo entrepreneurs and small business owners. She is happy to chat about her story as an entrepreneur as well as legal issues entrepreneurs and creatives should pay attention to when first starting out.

Nellie was named a Top 100 Small Business Influencer by Small Business Trends in 2012, 2013, and again this year. She has been featured on inc.com and Fox Small Business and currently shares her expert advice to readers at Entrepreneur, Forbes, Mashable, and more. Continue reading to learn more about Nellie 🙂

Welcome to Mompreneur Media Nellie! Please tell us about yourself

I am a mom of four, internet entrepreneur and CEO & Founder of Corpnet, my second incorporation filing service based on the simple philosophy of truth in business and my strong passion to assist small business owners and entrepreneurs in starting and protecting their business. Through the various “Do-It-Yourself” and “Business-Startup” services I have founded since 1997, I’ve formed over 100,000 corporations and LLCs for small business owners.

What inspired you to start Corpnet?

Helping entrepreneurs navigate the murky waters of small business ownership is something I have long been passionate about. After we sold my first company to Intuit in 2005, we took a few years off to spend time with the kids, work out and relax. We soon found ourselves very bored and after the non-compete agreement with Intuit expired, we decided to get back into the document filing industry since that’s where our passion and excitement lies…making people’s business dreams into a reality!

What kind of approximate start-up costs were involved in opening Corpnet?

Very minimal as we started it out of a room off of our garage with my husband and business partner and 1 other employee.

Any future plans for you or Corpnet?

Yes – tons! We are continuing to innovate and create more apps to further streamline and simplify the business filing process for entrepreneurs. I am actually currently working on a book which will be released in the next few months!

Please provide 1 important tip that will help a mom who is wanting start her own business.

Start small and slow and make sure you are truly passionate about what it is that you are about to embark on. Ask yourself if you would do it day and night for free without getting paid for it, as most likely for the first few months there man not be much of a revenue stream.

I found that the key is not to worry about being successful, but to instead work toward being significant – and the success will naturally follow. If you have the vision, drive, and the determination, and you immerse yourself into whatever it is that you are trying to do, you can and will accomplish that goal in the face of any obstacle or challenge, the rest will come.. And that in itself is success!!! I truly believe, that the reason I’ve been able to be so financially successful is because my focus has never, ever for one minute been money even to this day.

1 thing you do for yourself to unwind from it all?

I love to dance with my kids and just let loose every night when I get home from work. We all love to dance and listen to music so its great bonding time with my 4 children and its great cardio and keeps us all in good health and in shape!

Share a favorite book

My must-read book is Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh

CorpNet.com is an online legal document filing service than helps entrepreneurs start, grow and maintain their businesses. From forming an LLC or incorporating, registering a business name or trademark, or keeping your business in compliance, CorpNet.com helps with every stage of business ownership.

Connect with Nellie

Twitter: twitter.com/CorpNetNelli
Facebook: facebook.com/CorpNet
Google +: https://plus.google.com/+CorpNet/posts