Archive for the ‘Business’ Category

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Read before you sign!

Sunday, August 1st, 2010

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It seems that I get calls about legal problems in bulk.  Over the past few days I’ve had several calls from people who have signed a contract (or a lease) and then realized that it was not a good deal.

The problem is that once you have signed the contract, you are usually stuck.

You should take your time to review the contract before you sign.  Read ALL of the fine print.  And only then make the decision to sign.

Some of the language in the contract may be difficult for you to understand because it is in ‘legalese’.  This does not mean that it is bad, it may just be hard for you to understand easily.

Some of the time these contracts are about a business deal.  But sometimes these contracts can be about everyday life such as dance or music lessons.  The subject matter doesn’t really matter.  It is still a contract!

I can help.  I will review your contract and explain what it means in simple language.

Our August Special is a review of your contract for only $50 regardless of the length of the contract.

Why am I doing this service for such a low price?  Because I think it is important for you to know what you are signing before you are legally obligated to follow through.

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When do I need a business lawyer?

Saturday, October 31st, 2009

Obviously, you should contact an attorney if you have received notice that you are being sued. But it would probably be a better idea to have legal advice at the earliest possible stage of the game. An attorney can help get you out of a mess, but even more importantly, your attorney can help keep you from getting into that mess in the first place!

The old adage that you should never sign anything until your attorney has had a chance to review it is based on truth.

As a business attorney, I review contracts of all types and make recommendations that will hopefully take into account as many of the ‘what if’ scenarios as possible. Once I have the basics of the contract terms completed, I ask ‘what if ….?’ and then make sure to write down the answer.

For example, in a commercial lease, I will ask ‘what if there is a fire in the property next door and the property involved in this lease has smoke damage?’ Or in starting a new business partnership, I will ask ‘what if one of the partners is injured in an accident and is not able to come to work for 3 months? or 6 months? or ever again?’ Or perhaps, ‘what if your partner and his/her spouse get a divorce?’

Thinking about the ‘what ifs’ and drafting the document to handle those situations is why you should always have an attorney assist you in all of your business needs.

Most of us want to help you have a very successful business, and the best way we can do that is to keep you from ever needing an attorney to help you with a lawsuit!

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Do you have a Small Business ?

Saturday, October 31st, 2009

A lot of people set up a small business as a sole proprietorship, and this is fine. Often, there is no real compelling need to set up a separate business entity (such as a Corporation or an LLC), and the IRS will allow you to use Schedule C to track your business income and expenses.

The problem is when people don’t keep their business finances separate from their personal finances.

Most people are aware that they need to keep receipts for their business expenses, but often they forget that you also need to keep accurate records of your business income. If you don’t have accurate records, and you use the same checking account for both your business and personal finances, it is possible that the IRS will allocate some of your personal income to your business. For example, if you are the ‘team mom’ for a sports team and all of the members send money to you so that you can send one check to the photographer, it is possible that the IRS might allocate those ‘picture’ checks as income to your company.

The easiest way to eliminate this potential problem is to have a separate bank account for your business and use that account for all of your business financial activity and ONLY for your business.

Also, as mentioned previously, keep very good accounting records for your business, including receipts where possible and notes to yourself when an actual receipt is not available. Use this method for both income and expenses.

You can also obtain a separate EIN for your business. This EIN is like the Social Security Number you have for your personal identification, but it is used only for the business. Using this separate EIN is also useful if you need to provide tax id information to others and you want to keep your personal SSN secure from possible identity theft.

The other way to help eliminate potential problems with the IRS is to always file your taxes on time and be sure to make all of your payments on time and in the correct amount.

You don’t necessarily need to have an Accountant or CPA to assist you in this process, but if that is what it takes to keep you on track, you might find that it is cheaper to pay the Accountant or CPA to help you get it right the first time instead of paying someone to help you with an audit later!

The bottom line is that if you are running a business, you need to treat it like a business.

If you have further questions about your small business, or if you need some help in getting started, please contact our office at 757-234-4650 to schedule a short meeting. We would like the opportunity to help you get started!

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I think I want to start my own business….

Saturday, October 31st, 2009

I get calls from people who say they think they want to start their own business and they want my help. Of course I can help them, but there are some steps they should go through first.

Before you even get to the point of deciding on a business name, or whether you should be a corporation or a partnership or a whatever, you first need to develop a mission statement and a business plan.

Let’s start with a mission statement.

A mission statement is a short, one paragraph statement of what your company will be. Think about where you want to be in 3 to 5 years and what you want people to say about your company. Do you want to be the ‘global leader’ in something? or do you want to be ‘the place where local people ….’? By clearly writing your mission statement, you are setting a goal for where you want your company to go.

It’s kind of like getting in the car to go on a drive, first you need to have a goal or you won’t know what direction to go first. If you want to end up in New York, you’ll drive North (from here in Virginia). But if you want to end up in Florida, you’ll drive South. Those are in opposite directions! So if you don’t know where you want to go, you might be driving a long time in the wrong direction.

You don’t want to do that with your new business.

So start with a goal. And formalize that goal by writing a mission statement.

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