Overcoming Small Business Challenges through Operational Strategies As with so many things in life, some of the same qualities that help small businesses succeed, can also lead to their demise. Fortunately, much of that risk can be lessened through operational excellence. For example, the owners and managers of small businesses often know each other before [..]
New Tax Savings Available Using Section 179 and Bonus Depreciation With the end of the year approaching, it’s time to think about taxes again. While tax planning might not be the most exciting part of your job, with the right strategies in place, you can keep a lot more of the money your company brings [..]
8 Key Provisions to Include in an Employee Severance Agreement At some point, it is virtually inevitable that some of your staff will leave your employment. Whether they leave of their own volition or they’re terminated, it’s simply the nature of running a business that not all employees will be around forever. In some cases, [..]
The Cost of Misclassifying Employees as Independent Contractors The rise of the “gig economy” has led to a dramatic increase in the number of businesses using independent contractors (IC) instead of traditional W2 employees. At the same time, there’s been a sharp uptick in the number of companies being penalized and/or sued for misclassifying workers [..]
4 Key Elements Of a Small Business Owner’s Estate Plan If you’ve dreamed of leaving your company to your family but haven’t sufficiently included your business in your estate plan, that dream could become a nightmare for your heirs—and for your business’ team members and clients, too. To ensure your company is passed to your [..]
How to Fund Your Trust to Avoid Probate A common estate planning mistake many people make is not ensuring the trust you have created holds all your assets. Unfortunately, most lawyers simply do not make sure this is properly handled for their clients, so if you’ve worked with any law office other than ours, you [..]
The Basics of Venture Capital Financing If you’ve come up with a great business idea, but don’t have the money to bring it to market, it may feel like you’re left with few funding options. Banks aren’t interested in loaning to startups that have yet to make any money, and most people don’t have family [..]
Donate Appreciated Assets to Charity Instead of Selling Outright For Tax and Income Benefits Using a Charitable Remainder Trust If you have highly appreciated assets like stock and real estate you want to sell, it may make sense to use a charitable remainder trust (CRT) to avoid income and estate taxes—all while creating a [..]
Protect Your Intellectual Property with Work for Hire Clauses Rather than hiring full-time employees, you may choose to use independent contractors (IC) to handle the bulk of your creative tasks, such as art, logo design, photography, and content writing. For sure, working with ICs can save your company quite a bit of money, because unlike [..]
The Ins and Outs of Chapter 7 Bankruptcy for Small Business Owners It’s a simple fact of entrepreneurship: Small businesses fail all the time and for many different reasons, some of which are outside of the owner’s control. If you’re falling deeper and deeper into debt by keeping your company open, sometimes the best business [..]