An LLC is a limited Liability Company. Many states have different rules regarding their organization. An LLC is not a partnership nor is it a sole proprietorship, as the person above incorrectly stated. While an LLC can be owned by a single member, it is not a sole proprietorship. In California, an LLC can elect to be taxed either as a partnership or corporation. Basically, LLC's were created to make a less formal way to organize a company. It provides many of the same protections as a corporation without all of the formalities of board meetings, minutes, and the like. Most LLC's are relatively simple to set up, usually just a simple 1 or 2 page form filed with the secretary of state. If you are interested, google your state and SOS (CA SOS), to get to the secretary of state website. From there, you should see links to an LLC page. Here is California's LLC faq page: http://www.sos.ca.gov/business/llc/llc_faq.htm