The 2-Minute Opportunity Checklist for Entrepreneurs
Filed Under: Articles of Interest
Tags: Articles of Interest, Entrepreneurs
The Harvard Business Review Blog has a fantastic article that everyone thinking about starting their own business should read. It offers a great checklist to gauge if your business idea meets the criteria to be a hit. Below is an excerpt with a few of the questions to ask yourself:
- Does your business idea sooth someone’s pain, discomfort, frustration, or dissatisfaction?
- Are there lots of those people out there?
- Do these people (or companies, or governments) have money to pay for it?
- Will they be able to decide quickly to buy your product or service?
- Does your idea exploit something about you that is outstanding or unique?
- Are there important assets you have that no one else has? (money, access to customers, technology, leadership skills, execution, location, salesmanship, etc.)
- Can you think of at least two people who might join you?
- Do their skills complement yours?
- Do they have the same values as you do?
- Do the majority of people whose opinion you highly respect think your idea is a good one?
Read the full article HERE.
Great Ideas From Entrepreneurs
Filed Under: Videos of Interest
Tags: Entrepreneurs, Videos of Interest
The best thing about our line of work is that we get to interact with entrepreneurs who have great ideas and assist them in turning them into a reality. This past weekend we really enjoyed the segment below from The CBS Sunday Morning Show that featured creative and determined entrepreneurs. Make your big idea a reality!
The HBS Blog Celebrates Its First Anniversary!
Today is the official first anniversary of The HBS Blog! We can not believe that is was just one year ago that we launched this empowering educational resource for our clients and entrepreneurs around the world. As part of our dedication to providing superior customer service we have truly enjoyed connecting with you via the blog. Your participation and interest have been a key component of the success of The HBS Blog.
Since day one we have been amazed at the growth and interest in the blog. Here are a few stats we wanted to share with you:
We’ve had 33,439 visits from 140 countries; the top ten countries with the most visits are:
- United States
- Canada
- Switzerland
- United Kingdom
- India
- Poland
- Italy
- Australia
- Germany
- Israel
We have 54,700 Pageviews!
21,420 people visited The HBS Blog!
Our Most Popular Articles From March 2009-March 2010 are:
- Making Changes: C-Corp to LLC and LLC to S-Corp
- 101 on Series LLC
- 101 on an LLC Agreement
- 101 on Delaware Statutory Trusts
- Secret Agent Fees
- Opening a Bank Account for Your New Delaware Company
- YouTube is an LLC and Google is a General Corporation. Do You Know Why?
- 101: Preferred Stock
- Are You in Good Standing?
- Authorizing Shares for Your Delaware Corporation
Thank you for your continued support and interest! We are excited for another great year on The HBS Blog.
More Info on The Series LLC
Filed Under: INC Knowledge, Limited Liability Company
Tags: Limited Liability Company, Series LLC
In May of 2009 we published an article entitled 101 on the Series LLC in which we discussed the pros and cons of using the Series LLC. Here is a little recap of the May 2009 article:
Under Delaware law, a limited liability company (LLC) may be composed of individual series of membership interests. This type of entity is referred to as a Series LLC. Each series effectively is treated as a separate entity, meaning the debts, liabilities, obligations and expenses of one series cannot be enforced against another series of the LLC or against the LLC as a whole. Each series can hold its own assets, have its own members, conduct its own operations and pursue different business objectives, but remain insulated from claims of members, creditors or litigants pursuing the assets of or asserting claims against another series.
In that post we discussed the primary drawback of using the Series LLC; the lack of certainty surrounding whether courts in other states and jurisdictions would recognize a legal separation of assets and liabilities within what is technically a single entity. As we discussed, even though the legal segregation of the series is set forth expressly by statute in Delaware, no court has ever been called upon to rule on the validity of the legal segregation of assets within a Series LLC or articulated the circumstances under which a court would ignore the distinction among series.
Many of you have reached out to us and inquired whether the courts or legislature have provided any guidance or clarification on some of the issues surrounding the Series LLC. Unfortunately, there have no significant developments that alleviate the concern we expressed in the May post.
California has arguably supported the notion that each series of a Series LLC is a separate entity; the California Franchise Tax Board ruled that each Series of the Delaware LLC is responsible for the $800 annual California franchise tax. Although this is not welcome news for our California clients that employ the Series LLC structure, it supports the concept that each series should be considered a distinct entity. Other states are expected to follow the same path as California and charge an annual fee on a per series basis.
Additionally, the U. S. federal tax treatment afforded to individual series is still not certain. For now, it appears the series of a Series LLC will generally each be taxed as a separate entity for federal income tax purposes.
For now, despite the theoretical savings in franchise taxes, registered agent fees and other costs, the Series LLC form is still a work in progress. Regulators, attorneys and accountants are all grappling with issues raised by the possibility of legal segregation of assets and liabilities within a single entity. Given this, while the Series LLC shows great promise and segregated cell companies are gaining in popularity and acceptance outside the U.S., typically most of our clients tend to use the safer alternative of creating separate entities for each venture.
Book Review: The Ultimate Sales Machine
On my way to a much needed vacation I thought I would do a little reading on the plane. As a Sales Executive at Harvard Business Services I have had the book The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes sitting on my desk for months but I have not found the time to read it. I chose this book because it focuses on turbocharging your business. Chet Holmes is an acclaimed corporate trainer, strategic mastermind and business growth expert who has worked with over 60 of the Fortune 500 companies.
I don’t know about you, but a typical day at the office for me revolves around a lot of different things that seem to need my attention all at once. From answering phone calls, to sending emails, to completing my daily tasks. I constantly find myself going back and forth to each of these and often find it challenging to complete a task before I am interrupted by something else. With multitasking being such a prominent part of my daily experience I found the section on time management to be very helpful and interesting.
Chet’s six tips on time management are:
- Touch It Once: Do not revisit tasks, if you touch it take action and complete that task.
- Make Lists: Lists help you stay focused and prioritize.
- Plan How Much Time You Will Allocate to Each Task: This helps you manage your daily tasks and dedicate enough time to accomplish them.
- Plan The Day: Give yourself a time frame to work on and complete each of the things on your list.
- Prioritize: Start with your most important and difficult task. By completing it first you will feel a tremendous sense of control and accomplishment having checked the biggest thing off your list.
- Ask Yourself, “Will it Hurt me to throw this away?”: Clutter hurts your productivity. Studies show that 80% of all filed or stored information is never referred to again. So throw it away!!
I hope you apply these six steps to assist you in completing your tasks efficiently. I know they are going to help me manage my time and be more productive on a daily basis.
