Law and Taxes

What You Forget About Lawyers

Among the questions I get all the time are those from people trying to start a business without dealing with lawyers. I know, in our culture we all hear lots of bad stories, we tell lawyer jokes and we think about those hourly rates of hundreds of dollars, so we avoid the attorneys. For a...


What? Wait for a Patent? No, Please!

This is from my ask-the-experts work at Entrepreneur.com. I’m putting the text below, for searching purposes, but you can see the visual here: Question: A year ago I developed a software-based idea and have recently patented it. Currently it’s at the patent-pending stage, but I don’t know how to proceed from here. I’ve researched, but...


Nonprofit Corporation Basics

All sorts of groups, from artists and musicians to people active in education, health, and community services wish to operate as nonprofit (or not-for-profit) corporations. Often the reason for doing this is simple — nonprofit status is usually a requirement for obtaining funds from government agencies and private foundations. Obtaining grants, however, is not the...


Plan for Changes in LLC Ownership with Buy-Sell Provisions

Many, if not most, LLC owners overlook a critical element of their operating agreement that can save them both money and angst: buy-sell provisions. When you create buy-sell, or buyout, provisions for your operating agreement, you and your co-owners can prepare for events that have been the downfall of more than a few successful small...


Creating an LLC Operating Agreement

An LLC operating agreement allows you to structure your financial and working relationships with your co-owners in a way that suits your business. In your operating agreement, you and your co-owners establish each owner’s percentage of ownership in the LLC, his or her share of profits (or losses) and his or her rights and responsibilities,...


Running Your Nonprofit Corporation

This article is part of our Nonprofit Business Startup Guide—a curated list of articles to help you plan, start, and grow your nonprofit business! Nonprofit corporations are organized very much like regular corporations; however, running a nonprofit corporation means complying with a few special rules. Here’s what you need to know. Organizational structure of nonprofit...


Five Reasons to Incorporate Your Nonprofit

If you’re involved in a fledgling nonprofit organization, you and the other folks active in the group have probably wondered whether or not you should incorporate. Becoming a nonprofit corporation requires some paperwork, but for many groups, the benefits of nonprofit status outweigh the complications. Here are five circumstances that may make it worth your...


Plan for Ownership Changes with Shareholders

While diligently filing articles of incorporation and adopting bylaws, many corporate owners overlook a critical element of their business relationship: buy-sell, or buyout, provisions. By creating a shareholders’ agreement with buy-sell provisions, the owners of a small, privately held corporation can prepare for events that have been the downfall of more than a few successful...


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