I once asked my daughter, “how did you sleep last night?” She was about three-years-old at the time. She looked at me with a confused look and said, “well, I laid down in my bed and I closed my eyes and I went to sleep.” I guess she took my question literally. Of course that’s not what I meant, but it was cute nonetheless.

So here’s another obvious question: “how do you sign a contract?” Umm, you pick up a pen and then sign your name. No, that’s not what I mean. There’s much more to it. If you sign as an individual, then you are personally on the hook. If you have an LLC or corporation and sign on behalf of the LLC or corporation, then the LLC or corporation is on the hook.

Remember, an LLC or corporation is treated as a separate person in the eyes of the law. So here’s how you sign on behalf of the LLC or corporation (I’ll use my LLC as an example):

Vellum LLC

By: /s/ Andrew C. Mitton Andrew C. Mitton, Member

This means I’m signing on behalf of the LLC. If you don’t have an LLC and you’re signing as a sole proprietor doing business under a name other than your own name, then you sign things this way:

/s/ Andrew Mitton Andrew C. Mitton d/b/a [business name]

Now this doesn’t mean that you need to sign everything this way. Generally, you only need to sign things this way when you want to put your company on the hook and not you personally.