The Washington Secretary of State has issued an alert to businesses regarding a scam from a company called National Business Registration. Businesses are receiving a "final notice" from this company stating: "Since the introduction of the Patriot Act of 2001 all businesses are required to register with the National Corporation Registry." This registry does not exist. If you receive such a notice, do not pay any fees requested by the letter. You should keep the notice, mailing envelope and return envelope, and contact the United States Postal Inspections Service at (877) 876-2455 as this activity constitutes mail fraud.
Now that the end of the year is approaching, you should take some time to evaluate where you are with your business. Consider your business goals as well as your personal goals; your financial goals as well as your customer service goals. Have you met them? Exceeded them? If so, what's next? Think about your business in the next year and in the next 3 years and what you need to do to prepare for that -- maybe there will be no significant change or maybe you'll be growing by leaps and bounds -- and sometimes your business will ignore your "plans" and surprise you. Regardless, you should ensure that you have completed the necessary corporate documents for the year and begun to organize for your taxes as well. Start out the year talking with your core advisors about planned or imminent changes so you'll start the year being able to plan for these needs -- operationally and financially.
It's not a surprise that the credit crunch as not only impacted homebuyers but also businesses. More and more businesses are finding it hard to obtain additional credit due to banks becoming more restrictive with their lending policies. You've always heard that you need a team of outside advisors which includes a banker. In a tight lending time such as this, it is even more important to have that relationship developed and strong so that the banker can go to bat on your behalf, having full confidence in your story and your person. That being said, I have a client who was purchasing a business and worked with his bank -- a large bank he uses for his personal account, business account and mortgage -- and it took them 3 months to put together the documents, not because he was a risk but because of certain aspects of the business. In much frustration, my client went to another bank that he hadused in the past and got the loan in 10 days. Size of bank may play in your favor -- but the relationship is critical. Consider what you really want from a bank and build the relationship long before you need it to serve you!
It's funny our emotional reaction to certain things in life. I had a client come in ready to start a new business that was to offer education and services to a particular subset of the community -- a group that is not necessarily underprivileged but sometimes finds themselves in that position. The mission sounded very public service focused but the business owner was certain it was not to be a non-profit because he had a visceral, emotional reaction to the way others have used non-profits to their own personal advantage. Instead, he would fund the company personally and obviously charge for services to make money. The intent, nonetheless, was to serve, not to make money for himself. As he began talking with others, he realized an interest from community members to "donate" to the cause which put her in a bit of a quandry. How do people give money to a for-profit entity? Maybe it should really be a non-profit... Usually when you contribute money to a for-profit entity, it is with the intent of making money. The contributors in this situation weren't interested in making money but a disclaimer was certainly necessary to ensure no confusion as to purpose. The purpose should always lead to the structure, leaving emotion out of it!
The best way to protect your interests is to have an attorney review a contract on your behalf before you sign it. Now this seems obvious but I see this time and again. Most recently, I've seen it in the context of business acquistion transactions where a broker puts an agreement in place which the parties sign. The agreement provides for (sometimes) a 7 day contingency for attorney review -- but once you sign and make an earnest money deposit, you're pretty far down the path of commitment. You're always in a better position to negotiate before signing -- even when it's a "standard" agreement that provides for attorney review.
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