1. Never operate as a sole proprietorship. Even if your accountants tells you to “keep it simple” or you are too small to incorporate or you don’t make enough money, don’t listen! You are only receiving one niche of advice from a tax perspective and even it is may be correct from a tax point of view only (because you do not make enough profits to save on SE taxes) you are missing out on the marketing, legal and financial input also. For example, from a marketing point of view you are coming from a point of weakness if you are attempt to position yourself as the owner operator of a sole proprietorship vs the President of your own corporation. Plus you severely limit your ability to gain access to business credit when you do not separate your personal and business credit.
2. Never use the online business checking account balance as the only financial tool to give you feedback on how to run your business. Most people run a small business the same way their run their personal lives, by using their online PERSONAL checking account balance to make personal financial decisions. There is no comprehensive personal budget. Your business should have a tax and bookkeeping system with update software to tell you exactly where your profit and loss is at (even if you have not made a sale). Ask yourself, are you running a real business or just a hobby?
3. Separate your personal and business credit. This is an absolute must in today’s tight credit markets. This involves learning how to manage your business vendor and cash lines of credit, your personal credit score and working with D&B® and Corporate Experian® to develop a business credit profile quickly. Otherwise, your business may stand “financially naked” in front of the world with our you knowing it. How much business will that cost you? Can you afford not to master this subject?
4. Master the leverage of joint ventures to grow your business. You must learn the highest form of leverage to bring in clients at the lowest cost to keep you in business the first 3-6 months in business. Bring in new customers or clients are very expensive unless you know how to leverage properly other people’s money and get them to properly endorse you to their list. Most small business owners run out and place ads to attract new customers and wonder why they run out of money within 90 days. Study this subject. Learn the tools you must have to leverage other people’s money to grow!
   
5. Find a company that can provide a turnkey solution to help you start you business so you can focus on making a profit. After all, making a profit is the #1 reason to start a business. If you spend 14 hours per day attempting to do everything on your own to save a few dollars, you may quickly find yourself out of business because you had no time to acquire new clients or customers to grow your business.

About the Author:

Scott Letourneau is the founder and CEO of Nevada Corporate Planners, Inc. Over the past 13 years NCP has assisted more than 5,500 business owners form LLCs and corporations to get their business off to a fast start to profits™! Questions? Call NCP at 1-888-627-7007. www.nvinc.com

Forming a C corporation to take advantage of fringe benefits when your business doesn’t fit the C corporation model. (Can you spell nightmare?)

Asset Protection and Business I.Q.

Question # 6: Which are reasons NOT to form a C corporation?

A) C corporations have lower tax brackets than individuals
B) Double taxation
C) Too much profit to reinvest
D) When a flow through entity may make more sense
E) Focusing on business expenses may be more important than fringe benefits
F) All the above
G) A and B
H) B, C, D and E

Costly Mistake Number 7:

Forming an entity in Nevada and NOT knowing when to foreign register, and for what reasons. (“Can’t you just get a mailbox?”)

Asset Protection and Business I.Q. Question # 7: Which are common reason(s) that would cause an entity to need to foreign register (or qualify) to do business in another state?
A) An employee in another state
B) An office located in another state
C) Equipment located in another state
D) An independent contract in another state
E) All of the above
F) A, B, and C

Costly Mistake Number 8:

Forming an entity and hiring independent contactors and employees WITHOUT knowing the rules. (It makes a difference as to which states you’ll need to foreign register.)

Asset Protection and Business I.Q. Question # 8: Which statement is false concerning employees?

A) They create less liability than independent contractors for your business
B) Employees create nexus for your company in the state they are doing the work
C) Your company will pay half of the 15.3% payroll taxes on each employee
D) The IRS is mostly attempting to convert employees to independent contractors

Costly Mistake Number 9:
Forming an LLC taxed as a partnership WITHOUT having an”official” partner. (Maybe the IRS won’t notice.)

Asset Protection and Business I.Q. Question # 9: What entity or person (assuming you are one of the partners) will qualify as a partner for an LLC taxed as a partnership?

A) A single member LLC owned by you
B) An S corporation owned by you
C) A C corporation owned by you
D) A foreigner
E) All of the above
F) B, C and D

Costly Mistake Number 10:

Selecting an inexperienced or disreputable company to help you form your entity. (There’s no excuse for not checking references with the BBB, local professional organizations and testimonials.)

Asset Protection and Business I.Q.
Question # 10: Which characteristics should be considered when choosing an entity formation company?

A) A company that has been in business for at least five years
B) A company that has a national known attorney
C) A company that has research and invests in internal training
D) A company that provides other business development services
E) A company that is recommended by top local organizations
F) All of the above

www.nvinc.com For more information call 1- 877- 515 – 0505 (local 702-367-7373) today!

Scott Letourneau is the founder and CEO of Nevada Corporate Planners, Inc. Over the past 13 years NCP has assisted more than 5,000 business owners form LLCs and corporations to get their business off to a fast start to profits™! Questions? Call NCP at 1-888-627-7007. www.nvinc.com

Costly Mistake Number 3:

Forming an LLC and having it managed by members instead of managers* (A sure way to lose flexibility and control)

Asset Protection and Business I.Q.

Question # 3: What is/are the benefit(s) of having your LLC managed by managers?

A) Many times you do not need to disclose the owners (members) in annual state reports
B) Managers have more authority than members
C) Members added in the future will not necessarily have a say in management
D) It looks more like a limited partnership
E) An operating agreement is not required
F) There are more tax advantages
G) All the above
H) A and B
I) A, C and D
J) C and E

* “Managers of an LLC” is defined as the person or entity that manages the day to day operations of the LLC.

Costly Mistake Number 4:
Forming an S corporation and NOT knowing the shareholder rules (Imagine discovering years later that you’ve violated an S corporation shareholder rule — and that you now owe years of expensive C corporation back taxes.) Asset Protection and Business I.Q.
Question # 4: Who can be a shareholder of an S corporation?

A) A U.S. citizen

B) Another S corporation
C) C corporations
D) All LLCs
E) A living trust
F) All of the above
G) A, B and D
H) A, B and E

Costly Mistake Number 5:
Forming an S corporation when your company anticipates future value (There must be a better approach, and indeed, there is!)

Asset Protection and Business I.Q.

Question # 5: When is an S corporation NOT your best choice?

A) When you are considering investors for your business
B) When you are considering foreign partners
C) When the company will develop a great asset value
D) When you are going public
E) When you live in California
F) All of the above
G) A, B and C
H) A, B, C and D

www.nvinc.com For more information call 1- 877- 515 – 0505 (local 702-367-7373) today!

Scott Letourneau is the founder and CEO of Nevada Corporate Planners, Inc. Over the past 13 years NCP has assisted more than 5,000 business owners form LLCs and corporations to get their business off to a fast start to profits™! Questions? Call NCP at 1-888-627-7007. www.nvinc.com

When it comes to growing your internet business, new tools and resources are available all the time. What I will tell you up front is that the majority are looking for the latest technology, graphics, or tools to help make more money online. Many times it is not the cool new tools or strategies, it comes down to the basic fundamentals for success. First, let’s address a few of the fundamentals to improve your results: That is the ability to sell in print. If your headlines, subheadlines and copy are ineffective, no mater how good your videos or graphics are you will get little or no results. Find a great copywriter and buy their books or programs, such as Bill Glazer, Dan Kennedy, Jay Abraham, John , Mike Dillard and many others. Invest in tools and resources to improve this skill. Even if you outsource your writing, the better you have a basic knowledge the better.

Model the best websites that convert at the highest level. Notice how they set up their headlines, subhead lines, the color and font they use. The spacing of the lines. What does the copy say on the opt in button to get your free report or videos. When I say model, model exactly. Most of your websites do not look like the pros. An opt in page to build your list. Many call it a landing page. Your goal is to always build your list. You probably opt in less and less frequently when on others websites because you do not want to be blasted with emails.

Advanced Internet Strategies to Grow Your Business! You must be more and more compelling and add more value before someone will even part with their email address these days much less do business with you. Here is a great example of a powerful opt in page, and leading to another opt in page for a book being promoted by Harvey Mackay: I noticed on this link, how Alex Mandossian’s audio played to get people to opt in for the book offer for Harvey MacKay. http://footinthedoorbooktour.com/ It is brilliant how he directs you to opt in, refer a friend, and print out the page…all little distinctions that can add to building your list. These are tools you can copy, all which effects the results. Once you opt in notice the great video by Harvey Mackay and how he lays out the bonuses you will
see on the other side. It is very hard to resist opting in. You want to have a similar standard for your website, a similar pattern.

It’s becoming harder and harder to bring traffic to your website. All the search engines are much competitive and flooded with new websites every day. Quality traffic to your niche market is key to your success. The first lesson: Are you marketing to a niche market? If your key words are broad that may be the reason you are not converting or making any money. Here are the big four: Videos that teach, add value and give strategies are very good for traffic. You can go to individual sites like YouTube or engage a service like Traffic Geyser to do it for you. If you feel uncomfortable being on video, do a Camtasia video on your screen or a PowerPoint video to teach. Go to Google, click on videos and search “Scott Letourneau” you will find examples of how to do PowerPoint videos. Articles. It’s best to write your own. Write 1-2 a week and submit through ezine articles or article marketer.com which will get them out to many sites. You must have a great headline, teach in the article and have a great offer to go to your web link in the Johnson box (the end after your article). Most get too busy and do not submit articles on a weekly basis. This is imperative to your long term traffic strategies.

Joint Ventures. This is the most powerful marketing strategy available today. Imagine someone promoting you to their data base where they have invested millions of dollars to acquire clients at no cost to you. The key is to offer value and have the tools in place to help someone else make more money first, increase their conversions first…This means you have to ask better questions and offer solutions to help conversions. You need to have an outline in case they want to interview you, a bio ready, an email to send to their list and questions to ask you. You must make it simple. Several times per year I have the pleasure of speaking at the World Internet Summit along with many of the top internet marketers in the world. I get exposed to many discussions and conversations as to what is working and what is not working. There are two sides to that. What you the consumer want to buy and what is working in their business. They are related in many ways. Just to be clear up front, a large part of your success is to be very honest with what your customer wants or needs. There is a very important pattern in selling. Most people are poor because they want to buy simple solutions to complex problems. Rich people realize there are complex solutions to complex problems.

Scott Letourneau is the founder and CEO of Nevada Corporate Planners, Inc. Over the past 13 years NCP has assisted more than 5,000 business owners form LLCs and corporations to get their business off to a fast start to profits™! Questions? Call NCP at 1-888-627-7007. www.nvinc.com

Go to http://www.TheUltimateJointVentureBootCamp.com to find out how you can master this ultimate form of leverage in Las Vegas on January 29, 30 and 31st!

Did you go to your CPA and get one answer on the best entity for your new business? Perhaps you spoke to another CPA and received another view of point? Add to the frustration if you visited an attorney and may have received a third approach to your new business.

Imagine what would have happened if you would have visited your financial planner also at the start of your business. Did you go directly to your banker to open a business checking account? I hope not. Perhaps you started with a business license. Did you spend hours searching online for the answers you needed?  What about a merchant account…

No wonder 95% of business owners fail within 5 years. There is no business start up store. It has not been invented (yet). Keep in mind that each professional you go to will have a certain niche of advice. In marketing, the deeper the niche you serve the better, with professionals it works the same. The problem is no can explain to you why your attorney gave you one opinion and your CPA another (other than one was legal advice and one tax advice).

Many times the advice from one will hurt you in another area. The common approach is for your CPA to hear that you are just starting so keep it “simple” just be a sole proprietorship and when you make money incorporate. That of course is directly opposite for your ability to receive any type of business credit, especially with the banks. If you self finance your business as most small business owners do (with personal credit cards) that will hurt your ability to open a business credit card in the name of a corporation or LLC under the tax id number. Yes, it is personally guaranteed but the debt does NOT appear in your personal credit bureaus. But that advice has nothing to do with taxes.

Solution? I would recommend working with someone who has invested a lot of money to break down all these factors into a formula to break down what may be best for you.  Work with these professionals to handle your transition from start up to success. Problem? Most of you still may not recognize good information or systems if they were right in front of you. Remember, if you write the check you get to ask questions. That goes for your doctor, attorney, CPA, financial planners or any other service provider. Most people sort by “authority” and do not ask enough questions.

Once you find someone who is knowledgeable and can help, don’t be cheap when it comes to paying for great information and solutions. Odds are you are only hitting the tip of the iceberg and if someone is strong on the front end they are probably just as strong on the back end. If they are clueless on the front end…time to move on.