The Advantages & Disadvantages of Incorporating Your Business

The Advantages & Disadvantages of Incorporating Your Business
So you currently have your own business and you're
pondering over whether or not you should incorporate it, or
carry on as a sole trader?

Before you make the incorporation decision, you need to
consider all of the advantages and disadvantages that
incorporating brings.

This article will set out to explain the benefits and
downsides to incorporation, starting with the benefits ...

Benefits of Incorporation:

Personal Liability Protection

An incorporated company is a separate legal entity
responsible for its own debts. Shareholders only have
responsibility for servicing debts and liabilities up to
the value of their equity in the Company.

Creditors of a corporation can only seek payment from the
assets of the incorporated business and not from the
personal assets of shareholders, directors and officers.

As a small business owner of a non incorporated company,
your personal assets are at risk if your business fails to
service it's debts.

Personal liability protection is therefore a major benefit
of business incorporation.

However, owners forming new corporations with small amounts
of invested capital may well be asked to provide personal
guarantees that credit will be honoured to reduce the risk
of the lender.

Also, owners of incorporated businesses are required to
personally ensure that the company makes its required tax
repayments.

Protection From Legal Action

As with personal liability protection from debts above, the
personal assets of the company's owners is protected by the
separate legal entity status in cases where the
incorporated company faces legal action.

However, owners can still be held personally liable in
cases where the company is found guilty of criminal
negligence.

Tax Advantages

Some incorporated businesses can enjoy lower taxation rates
following business incorporation compared with partnerships
and sole traders. One way of achieving lower taxation is
to minimise the salary paid to the owners to reduce higher
rates of personal taxation, and draw income from the
business in the form of dividends which are taxed at a
lower rate.

Obviously professional advice from a qualified taxation
expert should be sought in all instances as all personal
circumstances are different.

Other taxation benefits of incorporation are that once
incorporated, many additional items of expenditure become
tax deductible. For example medical expenses,
entertainment expenses, vehicle and travel costs,
recreational facilities and pension costs all become tax
deductible. This can be a significant cash benefit. In
particular money placed in an approved pension plan is tax
free as is the funds growth.

Raising New Capital

Once you've incorporated your business, the ability to
issues shares simplifies the process of raising capital
investment. It's also easier to get loans and other
finance approved from financial lending institutions if you
are an incorporated company.

Transferring Ownership

The existence of shares also simplifies the sale of your
business in the future. Also should an owner or director
die, the business can continue to operate indefinitely.

Business Credibility

Having the words Inc or Corp in your business name gives a
positive perception of long term financial stability.

Disadvantages of Incorporation

Double Taxation

Once incorporated, earnings are subject to double taxation,
whereby, company profits are taxed, and then the dividends
paid to shareholders from the "net" profits are also taxed.

With a non-incorporated business, the income the owner
receives from the business is only taxed once. Double
taxation can be avoided if the corporation is registered as
an "S-Corporation"

Statutory Compliance Costs

Compliance with legal and accounting requirements places a
significant burden on companies in terms of staffing, cost
and time. There are also fees associated with the initial
company incorporation, and ongoing operations.

Loss of flexibility The separate legal entity status of
incorporation also means that the company finances are
separate from the individual's, therefore the individual
cannot "borrow" money from the accounts of the corporation,
and statutory requirements in general reduce the
flexibility of what can and can't be done with the business
and its finances.

The above are some of the key advantages and disadvantages
that you as a business owner need to consider before you
begin the process of incorporation. You should always seek
legal advice as all cases are different.

----------------------------------------------------
Richard Taylor MBA is a Chartered Management Accountant and
Company Director with a specific interest in small business
start ups. Click on the following link to learn more about
the pros and cons of becoming incorporated.
http://www.incorporate-my-business.com

Potential Hires Who Are Quick to Judge May Be Quickly Eliminated by Interviewers

Potential Hires Who Are Quick to Judge May Be Quickly Eliminated by Interviewers
Copyright © 2008 Ed Bagley

Female executives who are bold and aggressive do not rise
up the corporate ladder as quickly as you may think. Bold
and aggressive traits do not naturally match well with
intelligence and savvy. Given the fact that there are many
more male executives than female executives, being bold and
aggressive gets fewer promotions on the way up.

Female executives who use a self-confident but much softer,
indirect approach do not highlight or reinforce any
pre-conceived notions that they might be too bold, too
aggressive or too judgmental for a higher position.

Remember that men, and especially male executives, do not
like aggressive, judgmental women (it may even remind them
of their wife in some cases). The expression is: Behind
every successful man is a strong and cooperating woman, and
we surely do hope it is his wife because too often it is
his mistress.

Men like women who are assertive but not aggressive. A man
sees an intelligent, assertive woman as completing him, not
challenging him. Remember that men do not know how to
handle aggressive women, they do not have any centuries-old
database other than that the man leads, the woman follows.
Their ego does not allow them to treat aggressive women any
differently than men.

If they perceive that you are aggressive, they will treat
you as they do men, they will rip out your jugular vein and
walk over you to the next corporate competitor in the
boardroom. Here are some things to consider:

First, female executives should never, under any
circumstances, devalue any core competencies of a male
executive. Try to reinforce any good trait that a male
executive has that you have. Why? Because he
psychologically cannot deny himself. If he is
detail-oriented and you are detail-oriented, and he
criticizes you for being so, he is criticizing himself
during the process. Male executives who are smart and
successful will not criticize you in this circumstance. He
will rather like you for being so as well.

Second, if the male executive has weak people skills, make
it your business to bring a wonderful (not challenging but
supporting), uplifting, positive presence to his office. In
other words, COMPLEMENT his weakness, just as he would want
his spouse to do.

Some guys are perceived as a man's man, like Arnold
Schwarzenegger and Howie Long. They ooze macho. They are
good guys, nice guys, but if you even think about testing
them, they will knock you on your backside. You know better
than to even try. Their image is secure and intact.

There are some male executives who appear secure and smart
in what they are doing, but they cannot handle harsh
criticism or ANY criticism. Their ego is that fragile. If
you criticize them harshly and embarrass them in the
process, they will quietly quit what they are doing and
find a reason to go elsewhere. Schwarzenegger and Long will
see to it that your face gets messed up as they move on
WITHOUT you.

It is wise to know the difference between these two types
of male executives.

Just as in writing resumes, female executives who get to
the top of the corporate world know it is not so much what
they say, but how they say what they say that counts most.

----------------------------------------------------
Read my 4-part series on Job Interviews: "It Is Not What
You Say, But How You Say It That Counts ' Part 1", "How to
Answer When Asked Your Strengths and Weaknesses ' Part 2",
"How to Handle Job References ' Part 3" and "What Do
Employers Really Want When Hiring? ' Part 4".
Find my Blog at:
http://www.edbagleyblog.com
http://www.edbagleyblog.com/JobsandCareers.html

Modular Homes: Time is on Your Side

Modular Homes: Time is on Your Side
If you have ever struggled through new home construction,
you likely are aware of the slew of unexpected delays that
can occur along the way. The four days of solid rain
prevents the framers from completing your home's frame, so
the electrician that was ready to work on your project is
off to another commitment. Each step has an order, and if
one falls out of schedule, so do the rest. It's like being
the last patient of the day in the dentist's office.
Chances are, out of the dozen patients before you, a few
were late, and you have to pay the consequences.

Time is money. And in today's busy world, the cost of time
keeps rising. But trends in the housing market are helping
solve this problem one factory at a time. Modular homes are
the epitome of efficiency from start to finish. And in the
end, you can smile all the way to the bank with the time
you save.

Modular homes are 80 percent constructed within a factory
before it is even shipped to your land site. That means a
nice climate controlled work environment 365 days of the
year. No rain, no snow, no sub-freezing temperature.
Weather delays and scheduling catastrophes are a thing of
the past. This is why total construction time for a modular
home is less than half the time for a regular site built
home.

Did you know some modular home factories build 6 to 8 homes
every week? Try accomplishing this in your town. In
addition to climate benefits, labor resources are utilized
more efficiently. Tools are always in the same place and
tasks are performed by factory workers repeatedly
increasing efficiency and skill. There are no traveling
delays between jobs and the amount of work accomplished per
day dramatically increases.

In addition, modular homes allow simultaneous parts of the
construction to occur at the same time. In the factory, a
frame of one wall is being completed in one area, while
insulation and drywall are attached to a second wall in
another. Likewise, the foundation is being prepared on your
site while your above-ground structure is being built
indoors. This allows maximum use of the time in completing
each single project.

What? The tile-guy can't come back until when? This never
happens in a modular home. Specialized craftsmen and
employees are constantly available daily to perform their
tasks so those homes are finished according to schedule. In
addition, qualified building inspectors are present to
guarantee that the construction will meet building
regulations for your job. All of this saves time in the end.

Figures tell the tale. The custom modular home construction
from start to finish takes 4 months compared to 14 months
for a custom site-built home. And the time saved in labor
efficiency and other resources allow the cost of
construction to be 20 percent less on average. This does
not even account for the time savings in construction loan
interest. If you like saving time and money, modular homes
are for you. There are few things in today's world that
saves you both and at the same time gives you a superior
product.

----------------------------------------------------
Michael Zenga owns the largest modular home dealership in
MA and is an unabashed advocate for the modular home
industry. His site can be viewed at
http://www.zncustombuilding.com

Essentials for Successfully Implementing Your Strategic Plan - Part 2

Essentials for Successfully Implementing Your Strategic Plan - Part 2
In the first part of this article, I outlined the first
four essential steps in strategic plan implementation. Part
two begins with the fifth step.

The fifth step in successfully implementing your strategic
plan is to keep the plan extremely visible in all levels of
the organization. This is part of the communication plan.
It is also part of the implementation piece: What does
this look like? If the company has a strategic initiative
for people development, what does that look like? Is it
necessary to put together a team to define what that looks
like?

Every corporate communication vehicle ' newsletters,
department updates, etc ' should be tracking the progress
of the strategic teams to know and report where we are in
this process. Progress reports should be regular and
comprehensive. Expectations also must be clearly and
consistently communicated. Is the strategic goal to achieve
the stated results over a five year period, or is the goal
to be achieved within one year? It is critically important
that everyone within the organization knows exactly what
the goals are and what progress is being made toward
achievement of the goals.

Teams also need to know what is being done by other teams.
Very often an individual or a team will go away to start
working on some kind of strategic initiative, but they do
not let other teams or individuals know what is happening.
In this situation, some of the impact of the strategic plan
is being lost because people do not get to see it in
action. Just as it is important to have the greatest
possible employee involvement in the planning and writing
process, it is critical to ensure the greatest possible
employee involvement in implementing every part of the plan.

The implementation process is a critical time for people to
become involved. If you are familiar with the Change
Agents, Inc. change model, you know that setting the
strategic goal is the first step in making change. The
second step is involvement. So, once again, if it is your
company's strategic plan, you need to involve people in its
implementation. If you try to do it yourself, you will
fail. The same is true of personal strategic plans. If you
try to do it all yourself, you will likely fail. It is hard
to keep the momentum going.

The sixth step in successful strategic plan implementation
is to win buy-in. As you communicate the details and the
intention of the plan and get people involved, you are
actually trying to get people sufficiently involved that
they understand where you are going, what you are trying to
accomplish, and how you plan to reach the stated goals. It
is important to have buy-in from the people you need to
help you achieve your goals. The need for buy-in is equally
important in implementing a personal strategic plan and in
implementing a corporate strategic plan. Whether you need
the support of your family or of every employee of the
company, the key to success is buy-in.

Buy-in is the recognition that your plan makes sense, your
strategies make sense, and that I have an important role to
play in your success. Buy-in is the recognition, "This is
the way we probably should be moving, and this is probably
what will help us get to where we really want to go as a
company or as a family."

The seventh step in successfully implementing your plan is
to facilitate ownership and accountability for
implementation of the strategic plan. As soon as people
begin to buy in, they start looking for ways to become
involved. They will look for pieces of the strategic plan
they can own. This is an important key to success in plan
implementation.

One caution is important: there should be one primary
owner for each strategic initiative who will follow
through, keep it alive and keep things going. Enlisting and
engaging others is part of their leadership role as the
primary owner of the initiative. Having more than one
person accountable, however, usually means you will have no
one accountable for reaching that goal.

Now, if you are working with your personal strategic plan
and it is in your family that buy-in is important, do not
underestimate the value of buy-in from every member of the
family affected by the plan. If, for example, the plan is
that the kids will do the laundry when you are going to
school, you must have buy-in from the kids. Everyone needs
to see "What's in it for me?" Everyone needs to understand
"What's in it for us to all work toward the strategic goal?"

It is only when you win buy-in and ownership that people
begin to understand the value of the plan and why they are
being asked to participate in achieving it. Buy-in allows
the person to say, "Yes, this makes sense to me and I see
my role in the big picture." It is then easier to achieve
the strategic initiative goal. Perhaps the goal is to save
money. My role might be to look for cost savings. Perhaps
the goal is to discover more efficient ways of doing
something. My role might be to be more innovative. The
specific actions resulting from buy-in and ownership depend
on the nature of the specific strategic goal.

As I begin to own my piece of the goal, it is no longer
just the company's plan; it is no longer just mom's or
dad's plan. Now it is my plan and this is my piece of it.
The more specific and concise you can be about your piece
of it, the faster you will begin implementing it.

The eighth step in successful implementation of your
strategic plan is to create energy around the goal. In an
organization, that energy can become infectious because
everybody, again, is looking towards the same goal.

Now, the very basic definition of a team is a group of
people who have common goals and are interdependent. In
other words, they must depend on one another to meet those
goals. The final objective is to have your whole
organization focused towards the same goals; to have that
group of people who all have a common goal, which is to
achieve the strategic goals and the strategic plan. In
order to succeed, they must depend upon one another to
achieve the goals.

Creating an overall team situation can generate tremendous
energy, and that energy creates momentum in the
organization. As long as you keep the focus on the
specific strategic goals, and do not become distracted by
too many other things, people will begin to buy in, they
will start to own their piece of the pie, and that will
create energy. This energy will create the momentum you
need to reach either your company goals or your personal
goals. It sounds simple, and it is. It is not easy because
there are many things to do and there are many things to be
as a leader to live out what is in your strategic plan and
to clearly communicate it throughout the organization. But
this is what leaders do.

Leaders have a vision. They build a small group of people
who share that vision. They have the ability to articulate
that vision and to build buy-in from others. Then they
implement the vision and the small group of people they
have gathered can move mountains and make many, many things
happen in an organization.

Here's to your success in implementing your strategic plans.

----------------------------------------------------
About Gayla Hodges
Gayla Hodges is the President Change Agents, Inc., a
company that specializes in energizing workforces to
achieve strategic goals. She coaches executives and
managers on leading corporate change, facilitating the
development and implementation of organizational
effectiveness strategies. For more information, visit
http://www.changeagentsinc.com or call 623-362-3876.

Are You Maximizing Your Marketing System?

Are You Maximizing Your Marketing System?
Your overall marketing system is probably the most
important system in your business and the one that can also
be most overlooked (hard to believe, I know, but true).

The thing is, you'll find that this system in particular,
out of all of your business systems, will have tiny
off-spring systems. For instance, you have your overall
system that may include:

Word of mouth Networking Email Campaigns Direct Mail
Campaigns Internet Marketing Speaking Writing articles
Products Events ... and more ...

and each that's part of the bigger system has it's own
system. It's a Universe in motion, actually!

So how can you maximize your marketing system with all of
these options? With so much going on? The first thing you
need to do is take a look at what you are presently doing
to market yourself and identify the 3 you LOVE the most (it
like almost makes you giddy you like it so much). Notice I
didn't say the one you do the most.

1.

2.

3.

Then for each area determine how many times per month you
currently use that system.

Next, ask these assessment questions:

How can I amp up this by at least one notch? Two notches?
(Maybe instead of once a month you move it to two. Maybe
instead of sending out 25 postcards you send out 250.) What
needs to happen so that this is more effective? (Are you
following up effectively? Do all of your materials have a
strong call to action on them or do they just list your
information?) How can I improve the follow-through or
conversion from start to finish of the system? (Is there an
extra step that needs to be added? Do you need to manage
your energy around your beliefs of being "too pushy"?) This
last question is crucial.

Marketing is worth very little if it is not bringing in
more business. You must determine how to best focus and
utilize your marketing energy. So, if you see an area of
marketing that is not producing the results you desire you
have two choices: 1) Ask, how can this particular marketing
process be done differently to produce different results
and 2) Let it go.

Remember, if something about your marketing isn't working -
You Aren't Doing Something Wrong. You Just Need To Do
Something Different. (Feel the difference in the energy
between the two?)

Call To Action:

1-Choose your main self-marketing system.

2-Map out how you will use this system for the next month.

3-Literally book appointments on specific dates from the
start of this system to the follow through.

----------------------------------------------------
Want to learn how to activate your 30 Day Energy Management
and Marketing Plan? Then join the EnergyRICH® Business
Boot Camp. http://www.energyrichbootcamp.com
ere's where we cover every piece of the inner (the
energetical) and the outer (practical) approach to building
a successful business. I share every step in the
EnergyRICH® Business Boot Camp. You've never seen
anything like this before.

The Surprisingly Simple Steps of Starting an E-Commerce Business

The Surprisingly Simple Steps of Starting an E-Commerce Business
Copyright © Jeff Jefferson

The Internet is the playground for would-be entrepreneurs
and consumers with credit cards in the ready position. The
trick is to combine the two in such a way that they will
form a mutually beneficial business relationship. While
this may sound like a tall order, you may be stunned to
find out that the surprisingly simple steps of starting an
e-commerce business are actually achievable for anyone with
a hookup to the 'Net! There is nothing that cannot be
bought or sold over the Internet, and houses, cars, durable
medical equipment, jewelry, clothes, pets, and even stamps
are enjoying a vibrant business community that is devoted
to them. Of course, with so much open cyber space, one
might surmise that the market by now is saturated and that
new entrepreneurs have to let go of their dreams, but
nothing could be further from the truth! Since there are so
many vendors online that are vying for the attention of the
consumer, the latter has the luxury of being highly
selective and no longer has to settle for second best but
instead may wait and pick and choose until she or he finds
exactly what they are looking for.

This opens the door for the savvy business owner who has
the capacity to offer any product with a twist, who can
enter a niche by giving the consumer something the other
vendors simply have not thought of, hear of, or were unable
to obtain, and who is willing and able to work hard at
making her or his web presence known. No longer does the
entrepreneur feel shackled to the goodwill of a bank for
the money needed to open a brick and mortar store, but
instead the enterprising individual will find that
e-commerce makes it possible to sell goods without having
to maintain an inventory, employing a sales force, and even
dealing with the shipping! Starting an e-commerce business
starts with a business plan that outlines what will be sold
to whom, and how the entrepreneur will advertise the
business to reach the target consumer group.

Once this plan is ironed out and some benchmarks for
performance reviews are set, the next step is as simple as
the first, but just as vital: you need to set up a website.
Oh sure, the temptation of doing it yourself is undoubtedly
there, but unless you know exactly what you are doing and
how to do it, you will be wise to let someone else handle
this aspect of the business. By far too many small home
based businesses are doomed to failure because of a website
that looks as though a novice had put it together in a time
crunch. Broken links, text that does not line up, graphics
which make the site too slow for loading, and other
problems mar the web presence of many an entrepreneur and
thus at least at the onset you will be wise to let the
professionals take care of your business' online face and
success is but a few clicks away!

----------------------------------------------------
About the Author:
------------------------------------------------------------
----- To find the best home based business ideas and
opportunities so you can work at home visit:
http://www.MyOwnBusinessSite.com
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-----

The Apprentice - Could you do better?

The Apprentice - Could you do better?
Do you watch the apprentice and always think to yourself -
I could do better than that. I absolutely love the way that
the apprentice gets you involved in the programme.

I often think to myself how can you not understand the task
that has been set for you by Sir Alan Sugar. Why does
nobody at the start of each task actually seem to sit down
and analyse exactly what the task is about. Each week they
all seem to run about like headless chickens and not
concentrate on the major aspect of the task.

Has the emphasis of being an entrepreneur shifted
throughout the series to just being a sales person? It
seems to me that there is more importance attached to
selling than spirit in the show. However as any businessman
knows without selling there is no profit!

I just feel that it's the sales persons job to sell and the
entrepreneur's job to have the vision for the whole concept
and then direct the salespeople to sell the product and the
concept. Of course any good entrepreneur has to be able to
sell, but do they have to be the best salesperson?

There also always seems to be a natural split in the
contestants that becomes apparent which is the academic
versus the experienced. Like in one of the American series
where Donald trump split the contestants using that
criterion to make the divide between the two teams. They
each seem to have a view on what is the best and that view
is based upon their own experience or their qualifications.
I would have thought it obvious that it is the person
combined with the qualification or experience that would
make the best candidate. It also seems that they either are
educated or have experience whereas surely the ideal
candidate would be somebody with a good education and real
life experience.

The contestants for the show all seem to think that you
have to be arrogant to be successful in business and I
think that they are getting arrogance and confidence
confused. Who wants to do business with somebody who is
arrogant? Whereas somebody who is confident and can build
confidence in others so that they are confident that they
will be able to deliver on their promises is exactly the
type of person that we would all like to do business with.

I know that this is a TV show and ultimately somebody who
is already successful and highly educated would not
necessarily want to work for Sir Alan as the £100k
job would not be that much of a pull. However as Sir Alan
readily acknowledges it is not about the money it's about
working with him and the knowledge and experience that the
right person can get from working with him. That has to be
the ultimate prize.

If you want to be successful then you need to be constantly
learning and adapting to changing circumstances. Whether
you are learning from your own experience or from the
experience of others or by traditional education (which is
really the experience of others) you are still learning and
that's the important part.

Obviously learning by itself is not enough you also need to
be driven, dedicated, intelligent, ambitious, resourceful
and have the right personality coupled with maybe a little
bit of luck as well. However learning has to be an
important part of that pot of skills.

So keep watching the apprentice - I know I will and I will
keep laughing at all the schoolboy errors that they make -
I suppose that's the problem with TV personality wannabes.
I wonder how different the competitors would be if there
were no TV show?

----------------------------------------------------
So if you would like a chance to prove yourself as an
entrepreneur then have a look at the fantastic opportunity
that I have you really do have the chance to earn more next
year that the successful apprentice candidate so have a
look at http://www.UltimateSalesJobs.com also have a look
at my blog at http://www.web-2-marketing.com where I will
show you some of the ways that I use to market this
opportunity.

Get A Job

Get A Job
A job is basically something that everyone needs in order
to pay their mounting bills and survive in this world.
Unfortunately there are few individuals that win the
lottery or find themselves independently wealthy by some
sort of good fortune. So until the day comes that you find
yourself with mounds of cash, you have to get a job. Many
individuals have some sort of idea as to what type of job
they would like to have. Many go to school for years in
order to start the career of their dreams, while others are
able to start a career without the formal education. Either
route you take it is likely that you will find that you
have to start at the bottom of the barrel and work your way
up. Even if you dream of making a lot of money or being a
CEO, you need to learn the basics before such an aspiration
becomes feasible.

Any successful business person will tell you that it's much
wiser to get all of the training and information you need
in an entry level position before you try to sit in the big
chair. Without the proper knowledge and training, that big
chair isn't going to get you anywhere without being able to
do the job accordingly. Unfortunately many people have
trouble seeing the big picture in these terms. We live in a
world where faster is better and the present is all that
matters when in reality it takes time. When starting your
career it is important to realize that in order to make the
big bucks someday, you need to start a job in a lower
paying position. With the right about of hard work you will
be able to determine how far up the ladder you wish to
climb.

Face it, working for less money and not the greatest
benefits is not the most lucrative option for those just
starting out in a job, but the reality is that you have to
start somewhere. The key is not to view taking an entry
level position as a place to dwell while you collect a
paycheck, but as a mere stepping stone on your way to the
top. It might take years of hard work, but if you prove
yourself on a regular basis then it's just a matter of time
before the raises and position advancements begin to flow
in your direction. Even those who decide to change jobs
after years of working in one industry due to whatever
circumstances find that they too have to start at the
bottom of the ladder before they will be making the same
kind of money they did in their previous employment.
Again, it is important not be discouraged at the change in
your lifestyle as long as you remember that it is just a
temporary change. Whether it is a career change or you are
just starting out in life in your new job, remember that
hard work, dedication, and a ppositive attitude will help
you succeed in any job.

----------------------------------------------------
Job information at:
http://jobscareersarticles.com/