For the love of your business
For the love of your business
QUESTION Q: What is employment practices insurance? — Busy Boss ANSWER A: Dear Busy, An employment practices insurance policy provides protection for lawsuits initiated by your employees. While this is an often-overlooked coverage, it’s actually one of the most important, since employment claims are the one of the most serious threats to your business, […]
Read MoreQUESTION Q: Why is the entity structure you choose for your business so important? — New Business Owner ANSWER A: Dear New, The business entity structure you choose for your new company is of paramount importance. Indeed, your choice of business entity will affect everything from the amount of taxes you pay to the […]
Read MoreQUESTION Q: What is disability insurance? — Risk Manager ANSWER A: Dear Risk, A disability insurance policy pays benefits when you are unable to work because you are sick or injured. Most disability policies pay you a benefit that replaces a percentage of your income when you can’t work due to illness or injury. […]
Read MoreQ & A: QUESTION ______________________________________________________________________________ Q: How can I safeguard my company’s intellectual property when working with independent contractors? —Busy Boss ANSWER ______________________________________________________________________________ A: Dear Busy: Unlike employees, with whom you generally own automatic copyrights to everything they produce while working for you, independent contractors (ICs) typically retain full copyrights to […]
Read MoreQ & A: QUESTION ______________________________________________________________________________ Q: How does a “buy-sell” agreement work? —Curious CFO ANSWER ______________________________________________________________________________ A: Dear Curious: If you share ownership of your business with one or more other people, a buy-sell agreement ensures that upon certain conditions—such as your death or permanent incapacity—the other owners are able to […]
Read MoreQ & A: QUESTION ______________________________________________________________________________ Q: How can I use legal agreements to establish healthy boundaries with clients? —New Business Owner ANSWER ______________________________________________________________________________ A: Dear New: To ensure your clients are aware of your boundaries—and the consequences for breaching them—you can incorporate your boundaries in the terms of your legal agreements. […]
Read MoreQ & A: QUESTION ______________________________________________________________________________ Q: What are some easy ways to reduce my new company’s expenses? —Cost Cutter ANSWER ______________________________________________________________________________ A: Dear Cutter: When running a new business with limited revenue, it’s critical to rein in spending. Some easy ways to reduce expenses include encouraging your team to work remotely, […]
Read MoreQ & A: QUESTION ______________________________________________________________________________ Q: What is an intellectual property audit, and should my company get one? —Cautious COO ANSWER ______________________________________________________________________________ A: Dear Cautious: An intellectual property (IP) audit is a comprehensive, systematic review that identifies all of your IP assets and then evaluates all of the potential risks and […]
Read MoreQ & A: QUESTION ______________________________________________________________________________ Q: Can my company still qualify for the Employee Retention Tax Credit in 2021? —Curious CFO ANSWER ______________________________________________________________________________ A: Dear Curious: The Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERC) is a fully refundable tax credit created in 2020 to encourage businesses to keep employees on their […]
Read MoreQUESTION ______________________________________________________________________________ Q: How can I make sure that my family will be able to successfully take over my business once I’m gone? —Ready to Retire ANSWER ______________________________________________________________________________ A: Dear Ready: There are countless stories of family members assuming control of multi-million dollar companies and running things into the ground in […]
Read MoreQ: How can I determine if the business I’m looking to buy is properly valued? —Interested Investor ______________________________________________________________________________ A: Dear Interested: When buying an existing business, determining the true value of the operation is one of the most important factors. In fact, every single other factor about the business can be totally perfect, but if […]
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