Description of the Products or Services Offered
Describe your products and services and show how they are related to your mission. What is your business? Be clear. Many business plans do not begin to discuss the actual …
Cover Sheet and Table of Contents
The cover sheet should contain the name of your business, CEO, and contact information (including the address, phone, fax, and email for both). If you have a spiffy logo, the …
Structuring Your Business Plan
Before discussing the contents of a business plan, it needs to be clear that a business plan is a management tool—it is not a legally required document. If you have …
Feasibility Analysis
Many entrepreneurs have not thoroughly considered whether the business they are proposing is commercially feasible in the marketplace—some experts call this a feasibility analysis. Marvelous ideas are born each day, …
Business Plan
A business plan is a blueprint of what your business is and what you want it to become. The business plan describes a serious problem suffered by individuals or organizations. …
Developing Strategy
If you go to the Business and Economics Department at any large bookstore, you may find hundreds of books written on strategy. Many of them are well-written and effective. A …
Business Strategy, Planning, and Feasibility Analysis
T Strategy T Developing Strategy t Business Plan t Feasibility Analysis t Structuring Your Business Plan t Consultants vs. Do-It-Yourself t What the Experts Say t Summary This chapter addresses …
Qualifications for Starting a Business
Any individual may form a company. Generally, the minimum age is 18. In most states, you are not required to be a resident of the state to form a company. …
Choosing the State in which to Form Your Business
Where should you form your entity? Does Delaware or Nevada hold some magical power that makes those jurisdictions magnets for many corporate formations? The quick answer is no. Historically, Delaware …
Registered Agents
Unlike sole proprietorships, all corporations (profit and nonprofit), LLCs, and partnerships that are required to file initial and ongoing paperwork with the state in which they do business must have …
HOW TO…Become a Nonprofit Corporation
□ File articles of incorporation with the state in which the organization will be located. □ Adopt bylaws. □ Hold an organizational meeting of directors to appoint officers and directors. …
Nonprofit Entities
A nonprofit can be a corporation, a trust, or an unincorporated association—but a corporation is generally advised. A nonprofit is essentially a regular corporation that has been granted tax-exempt status …
HOW TO…Keep Your Limited Liability Company Current
□ Draft an operating agreement to govern the operations of the company. (A sample operating agreement is included in Appendix C.) □ Keep the state informed if your registered agent …
Limited Liability Company
Like a corporation, a limited liability company (LLC) is a separate legal entity formed under state law. Rather than being called a corporation, it is called a company, and it …
HOW TO…Keep Your Corporation Current
□ Hold the initial directors' meeting to adopt bylaws and appoint officers. □ Keep the state informed if your registered agent moves or changes. □ File your initial and annual …
Corporation
A corporation is an artificial legal person that carries on business through its officers and directors for the benefit of its shareholders. In most states, one person may form a …
Partnership
Typically, partnerships can be placed into two categories—general partnerships and limited partnerships. One of the advantages these entities have is that they pay no tax at the partnership level. Instead, …
M/ Employer Identification Number
Even though you are a sole proprietor, you will need to obtain a separate federal Employer Identification Number (EIN) for tax withholding purposes if you hire employees to work for …
Sole Proprietorship
A sole proprietorship is one person doing business in his or her own name (or under a fictitious name) and paying the applicable taxes on his or her personal income …
1 Choosing the Form of Your Business
} Sole Proprietorship ^ Partnership } Corporation ^ Limited Liability Company ^ Nonprofit Entities } Joint Ventures and Corporate Partnerships } Registered Agents ^ Choosing the State in which to …
How to Approach this Book
This book was written with a certain audience in mind—small businesses. The difficulty in maintaining the scope is the fact that some small businesses become bigger businesses with larger and …
Financing Your Small Business
James E. Burk Richard P. Lehmann The idea for Financing Your Small Business came, in part, from the entrepreneurial seminars we have done in the past several years for IBI …
