Whatever your local attorneys view the term as, the fact remains; using a hub and spoke model of business management opens the proprietor up to additional liabilities and concerns related to record keeping, banking, and other issues.  

Ammon,my 2 cents, i am an entrepreneur / self proprietor what ever you want to call me. worked during and right out of High School, never went to college, and started my own construction business on the side while working for other contractors, learning from different guys as i went.

Many banks would make commercial loans to LLCs only; I did not want to set one up because of the paperwork hassle (who wants to do another tax return and have to keep track of filing deadlines), so I found a credit union that would do commercial loans to sole proprietors.  

If you are operating as a sole proprietor, the winning party could come after your personal assets for the balance.

As a sole proprietor you are subject to SE tax on all business activity excluding such that is not active activities.

To use a business name all you have to do is register a DBA (doing business as) Many people own businesses as a Sole Proprietor, legally you and your business are the same.

But anytime you sell 789 or 654 you'll be able to 1031 and buy with any other LLC name as long as that LLC is wholely owned by 123 LLC and it is taxed as a sole proprietor.

Hi,I have been self employed as a sole proprietor my whole life.

I've seen some of the following options, but I'm not sure if any are really viable:-Start a Property Management S-Corp or LLC-Register a DBA - can you do this as a sole-proprietor?

Once you go above that, you have to think to yourself, how many sole proprietors are likely to have that much money on hand or can get it trhough financing that can afford that much?