If you're the kind of entrepreneur who wants to make a real difference while you're in business and leave behind a body of work that continues to do good for your family, your customers, and the world after you're gone, you've come to the right place.
Business formation is a pivotal time in your new company's lifecycle. Your choice of entity impacts ownership, liability, taxes, profit sharing, ongoing management, eventual sale, and much, much more. Sky Unlimited can help you make the ideal choice.
The traditional law business model is flawed. It incentivizes lawyers to spend more time on matters (since they are billing for every hour in six-minute increments), increase conflict (the more conflict there is, the longer the engagement), and constantly focus on the next new client (one off transactions are the norm in most legal practices). Plus, the world has shifted and quite a lot of legal work has become commoditized into online legal drafting software, documents on demand and do-it-yourself lawyering.
Lawyers, not being entrepreneurs, tried to compete and became mere shadows themselves - document drafters, doing one-off transactions for clients, such as incorporating business, and then went on the hunt for the next new client.
Not us! We build lifetime relationships with our clients. Because a legal relationship not built upon a lifetime foundation is worthless. Really. If you want a transaction, go online and find a document drafting service. If you want someone great that will help you move your awesome idea into a revenue generating business, take your existing business to the next level of excellence, and prepare you and your business to leave behind a legacy of significance, you've come to the right place.
Sky Unlimited Legal Advisory will work with you to grow your business from day one. We support startups and small businesses through their exciting lifecycle, from business formation to sale - and every challenge and opportunity in between.
Articles from the Chief Counsel's desk. Sign up for our newsletter to receive these in your email!
And even more importantly – have you thought about what happens to your loved ones if you’re forced to leave your business unexpectedly because you die or become ill?
Like most entrepreneurs, your business and your family are your greatest loves. Show them just how much you care for them by making sure there’s a plan in place for their care, and the management of your business, when you’re no longer at the helm.
The Business Owner's Dilemma
Picture this: You're lounging on a beach, sipping a colorful drink with an umbrella, and basking in the glory of retirement. Sounds dreamy, right? Now, imagine your business, left to fend for itself like a lost puppy in a rainstorm. Without a clear plan for succession, your business could face uncertain times ahead, and the thought of your hard work going down the drain is anything but relaxing.
Plus, it keeps more money in the family and out of the hands of Uncle Sam.
In return, you get employees who are committed, work well in a team, and are loyal. This might even set the stage for a long-term succession plan for your family business.
Adding to these advantages, bringing your kids into your business can also lead to some helpful tax savings. Thanks to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), these tax benefits are now bigger than ever.
However, it's crucial to ensure that if you hire your kids, they actually do real work, and you pay them fair wages. Otherwise, you might draw unwanted attention from the IRS. Some of the benefits of the TCJA will be expiring in 2025, so make sure to take advantage of these benefits this year while you can. I'll provide more details on this below.
In a world where skepticism and misinformation prevail, nurturing authenticity and reliability in your brand is essential to building and keeping your client base.
In this blog post, we will delve into effective strategies that will not only build client connections, but also foster trust through the power of your business' branding and communication.
Plus, we’ll explore how living your brand of trust, transparency, and fairness throughout your company’s Legal, Insurance, Financial, and Tax systems will set your company up for success.
Show Clients You’re Serious By Using Consistent Branding
To attract and keep clients, they need to trust that your business isn’t just making things up as it goes or running on fumes - that it might close shop in a year or completely change its style as it discovers who it is.
Consider this: the mark of a great leader often lies in their emotional intelligence. Reflect on the leaders you admire, and you'll likely find a common thread—they leave you feeling uplifted and connected. On the flip side, think of those who fall short in the leadership department—they might come off as reactive, inscrutable, distant, or chilly, leaving you with a sense of uncertainty or even fear.
What you're experiencing is the stark contrast between someone with well-integrated emotional intelligence and someone lacking this crucial skill. Elevating your emotional intelligence isn't just a touchy-feely concept; it's a strategic move that can empower you to take risks, champion your ideas persuasively, and trust your instincts even when doubts loom large.
Failure to invest in your emotional intelligence can be a pricey misstep, leading to financial and legal blunders like seeking advice from the wrong sources, disregarding your gut feelings, or
withholding crucial communications from partners, vendors, and team members.
Through the handbook, you get to introduce your team to the company's values and culture, offering a clear understanding of expectations on both ends—what you anticipate from them and what they can anticipate from you.
Each company’s handbook needs to be different depending on the size, structure, and nature of the business, but every handbook should achieve these three things:
01 | Set Expectations, Cultivate Understanding
In any workplace, an employee handbook should nurture the company’s healthy growth. It's not just about laying down rules; it's a means of transparently setting expectations. By clearly defining roles, responsibilities, and the values you hold as a business and as a person, you cultivate a mutual understanding between you and your team. This shared vision becomes the backbone of a positive work culture, where everyone is aligned, motivated, and contributing to the company’s success.
The key to a successful partnership is getting the support to craft a robust partnership agreement from day one.
This agreement serves as a framework that ensures all partners are on the same page, which leaves less room for disputes and more room to grow the business.
While I’ve provided six essential clauses that every partnership agreement must include, here’s a little secret: it’s less about the agreement itself and more about the process of getting to the agreement.
In a future article, I’ll share more about the agreement process, and how to work with your advisor to ensure the agreement process itself protects the future success of your business.
01 | Decision-Making Protocol
Establish a clear decision-making protocol. Do decisions need to be made using a consensus or a majority vote? What happens if there is a tie or a consensus can’t be reached? Laying out the policy for how decisions for the company are made will help avoid issues and conflicts in the future.
What components of your business worked the best? Which areas need focus or improvement? Are there areas of your business that have been neglected? (Don’t worry, we’ve all been there).
Wherever your business stands as this year comes to a close, the new year is the perfect time to assess ways to improve its processes and set your company up for next-level growth and success in the new year. It all begins by looking at the foundational systems that support your business from the inside out. I call those systems your LIFT systems.
As your dedicated LIFT Business Advisor, I'm here to guide you through an examination of the Legal, Insurance, Financial, and Tax components of your business and help you build a LIFT Dream Team of trusted experts in these areas who will work together to bring your business into full alignment with your goals and needs.
Whether it's the secret sauce behind your best-selling product or the innovative approach that sets your services apart, trade secrets are invaluable. And, short of trade secrets, even just confidential business information can be gold.
But even if you know how valuable your business’s confidential information is, are you taking the appropriate steps to safeguard it? Beyond using physical and digital security tools in your business, there is another tool that can provide a shield for your proprietary data: a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA).
Today, we explore why your business should consider incorporating NDAs into its operations and how this legal tool can be a crucial asset in protecting your company’s valuable secrets.
1 | NDAs Define the Scope of Confidentiality
It may seem obvious to your employees and business associates what information belongs to your company and your company alone.
In this blog, we explore three critical roles that are essential to your business's success and how the support from these individuals can make all the difference between a business that fails and a business that achieves sustainable growth and progress. Let’s get started.
01 | A Well-Trained Bookkeeper
When it comes to making decisions for your business, knowing where your finances stand is key. From day one, a well-trained bookkeeper can set up your financial systems and establish a robust foundation for your business. With the right systems in place, they track your income and expenses, maintain updated financial statements, support you in managing cash flow, and categorize your expenses so you can maximize your tax deductions.
As your business grows, your bookkeeper can provide crucial insights into your financial health. They help you make informed decisions about scaling, investing, and budgeting. A good bookkeeper can be a meticulous record-keeper and ensure that every transaction, expense, and revenue stream is accurately documented.
If you own a small business or have a Trust that owns a business interest, you’ll need to comply with the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) come January.
Beginning January 1, 2024, the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) will require small companies to disclose the names of any owners who hold a 25% or more ownership interest in the company, as well as any individuals who exercise significant control over the company's activities. This new rule also applies to Trusts that own or control a company.
If you or your family own a business or have a Trust that owns a business, you’ll be required to file a report under the CTA. And, if you plan to create a new company next year, your reporting deadline could be as soon as 90 days after the date of its creation.
There is a way to get more time to file the required report, but you need to act before the end of the year. In this blog article, I’ll share how to get a year-long reporting extension for your business that can give you more time to gather the required information needed to file the CTA report. But before I tell you how to gain the extension, it’s important to understand what the CTA is and how it will affect your business.