California Sick Pay Law 2015 Are you abiding by the new Healthy Workplace Healthy Families Act of 2014? Are you keeping your employees informed about the amount of paid sick leave they have per pay period via their pay stub or other written notice? Have you been displaying a Healthy [...]
Digital Marketing for Small Business Digital marketing continues to skyrocket for many successful businesses. With advanced technology, numerous social media outlets, and an app for just about anything, there are many opportunities to promote “you”. Having a digital marketing plan is essential; however, it can take a great deal [...]
Business Start-Up Strategies As you start a new business, it will take hours of planning to turn a dream into reality. Entrepreneurship requires determination, motivation, and knowledge. There will be many challenges before and after you launch, but we have provided you with eight strategies to help begin [...]
Use Social Media to Improve Business With multiple social media outlets, using the web can get overwhelming and confusing. Choosing the best media outlets for your business is essential in marketing your business. Make sure to have a clear-cut strategy on to whom and how to promote your [...]
Overtime Law for Small Business President Obama has proposed a new standard for employee overtime. Currently, the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) exempts employees who are performing managerial duties or any professional worker receiving $455 a week from overtime. This means an employee earning slightly less than [...]
When to Register a Foreign Business in California If you have a corporation, S-Corp, or LLC formed in a state other than California, or you are planning to start a corporation, S-Corp, or LLC in a state other than California, and you will do business with one or more [...]
Proposed Equity Crowdfunding Rules Released On Thursday, October 24th, the SEC released a proposed set of equity crowdfunding rules that would allow companies to sell securities via equity crowdfunding. While made legal when President Obama signed the JOBS Act on April 5, 2012, crowdfunding will remain limited to [...]
CyberSecurity Threats to Small Businesses October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, making this the perfect time to inform businesses, especially small businesses, about cybersecurity issues. A study released by Symantec revealed a 72% increase in cyberattacks against small businesses. Cyber attacks that target small businesses comprise one-third of [...]
Small Business Under Obamacare Effective today, there is a change in the healthcare system of the United States of America, forcing government into the once private health care industry through the creation of government exchanges in which people, whether or not employed, must obtain government-mandated health insurance to [...]
General Solicitation Rule 506(c) As mandated by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (JOBS Act) signed April 5, 2012, the Securities and Exchange Commission has released a final rule ending (under specific circumstances) the eighty-year ban on general solicitation of private placements. Rule 506(c) of Regulation D became effective September [...]
2013 Changes for California Business As of January 1, 2013, the California Secretary of State’s office has some new legal requirements applicable to business entity documents. The changes were legislated under California Senate Bill 1532 and apply to documents filed on or after January 1, 2013. [Read the [...]
Rule 506 General Solicitation The Securities and Exchange Commission has released proposed amendments to Regulation D of the Securities Act of 1933 that would allow for general solicitation (read: advertising) of private placements. The proposed rules, mandated under the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (JOBS Act), were published [...]
LLC vs. Corporation for Equity Crowdfunding The traditional debate for promoters of start-ups when choosing which entity to utilize has been confined to three (really four) choices: sole proprietorship/partnership, S-Corp, or LLC. In most instances, each of these forms has allowed for initial losses to be passed through to [...]
Equity Crowdfunding is "No Fund" I recently received a question about the use of equity crowdfunding to create an investment pool that would create a small investment fund to purchase equity and debt securities in other small businesses. In short, the answer is that it is not allowed. While [...]
Avoid the Crowd Even before equity crowdfunding was signed into law earlier this month, an article in The Wall Street Journal voiced a critical opinion of equity crowdfunding. The idea behind equity crowdfunding is to ease the process of capitalizing small and start-up businesses; in turn, it is [...]
Preparing for Equity Crowdfunding Equity crowdfunding will not become available for mass use until early 2013. However, it is expected that a great deal of investor money will be ready for equity crowdfunding when it comes online. Wefunder.com reported on April 6, 2012, just one day after the [...]
Equity Crowdfunding Fundamentals Although equity crowdfunding is now legal, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has 270 days to implement the equity crowdfunding provisions found in Title III of the Jumpstart Our Startups Act (JOBS Act) adopted last week. Until the SEC releases the regulations it proposes to [...]
Equity Crowdfunding Legal Today the Jumpstart Our Startups Act (JOBS Act) was signed into law. Within the law are two key provisions allowing small and startup businesses to capitalize by raising funds from investors. The first provision under Title II of the JOBS Act modifies the prohibition against [...]
Avoid LLC Pitfalls BEFORE FORMING AN LLC WITH AN ONLINE SERVICE, MEET A LOCAL ATTORNEY. THE CHEAP LLC YOU ARE THINKING OF BUYING FROM AN ONLINE SERVICE MAY NOT BE THE MOST INEXPENSIVE OPTION AVAILABLE. • Avoid spending HUNDREDS OF DOLLARS PER YEAR for registered agent services. • [...]
Pursue Investors For many small business owners, the thought of bringing investors into their business evokes emotions of both hope and fear. Yes, the dreams of capital to expand into new markets or finally develop the product that for years now has been stuck in R&D limbo would [...]
How to Choose a Business Name One of the most important decisions to make when organizing a startup is selecting a name for the business. Entrepreneurs spend dozens, if not hundreds, of hours developing the name of each new business to ensure the name will represent the business well [...]
Business Disaster Planning According to the Insurance Information Institute, 25% of American businesses forced to “temporarily” close due to a natural or man-made disaster are never able to reopen again. The primary causes of these post-disaster businesses failures are preventable if planned for in advance, but practically unavoidable if [...]
Determining Worker Classification Last month we discussed several ways to increase the profitability of your business by reducing operational costs. One of the cost-cutting methods I suggested was to trim from your payroll any employee who did not either make or save money for your business. Based upon this [...]
Increase Net Income by Reducing Costs With this being the first week of a new year, it is a good time for business owners to think about how to increase net income in 2011. The knee-jerk answer is to increase gross income by increasing sales. This thinking is not [...]
Start an Internet Business Over the last decade, the internet has changed the face of business. Before the internet, commerce was, in large part, dominated by those who had the means to open and support “brick-and-mortar” stores or offices. As the internet has gained more and more users, first [...]
Expand a Business Online Over the last decade, the internet has changed the face of business. Before the internet, commerce was, in large part, dominated by those who had the means to open and support “brick-and-mortar” stores or offices. As the internet has gained more and more users, first [...]
Starting a Biotechnology Business Starting a biotechnology business entails many of the same legal and business principles required to start any business and reviewing the page “Starting a Business” is a good starting point. The following is an overview of the biotechnology industry beyond generally applicable principles: Biotechnology Business [...]
Selling Franchises Selling franchises allows a business owner to rapidly expand a business with a proven business model at a fraction of the price of a similar expansion of company owned locations. Franchises are sold in a wide range of industries, so there is more than likely a market [...]
Sell an Existing Business Selling a business you already own is simple compared to the process of buying an existing business, but there are still several complex factors to consider, such as the fair market value of the business assets, federal bulk sale rules, federal and state securities laws, [...]
Buy a Franchise Buying a franchise allows the buyer to start a new business, operated under a proven business model, using a recognized business name already known and trusted by consumers. Franchises are for sale in a wide range of industries, so there is likely to be a franchise [...]
Grow an Existing Business Growing a business in order to increase profits is the ultimate business goal. In the early stages of developing a new business, growth may come quickly. However, as a business matures, continuing growth becomes more difficult. The most common methods of growth for maturing businesses [...]
Buy an Existing Business There several reasons to buy a business, including: • Entering into an industry by buying an existing, proven business with existing customers and known cashflow rather than starting a business from scratch; • Expanding the client base of your existing business through the acquisition of [...]
Starting a New Business Starting a business begins with planning. However, once the plan is in place, the plan must be executed. Below are the ten steps you will need to execute to transform your business idea into an operating business. #1. Write a Business Plan A well written [...]