Property Insurance covers property loss from fire, smoke, theft, explosion, vandalism, and other disasters. This insurance protects your business from outside affects; it can consist of many different components, so make sure you ask your insurance agent the details of your coverage. As an entrepreneur, you need to calculate exactly what you should insure and [...]
Archive for September, 2007
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Home-Based Businesses and Insurance
September 26th, 2007 
davidguide In general, you do not interact with clients at your home office if you run a home-based business. Your bigger concern is protecting the equipment (property insurance), not the customer liability (casualty insurance). Depending on the scope of your home-based business, your homeowner’s policy might not be enough to cover the cost of your business [...]
Who Should I Call to buy Insurance for my business?
September 26th, 2007 davidguide There are a couple of different ways to buy insurance for your business. Institutions you already have a relationship with—such as your bank, home insurance agent, or accountant—may be able to recommend an insurance agent. Ask fellow entrepreneurs who are in the same industry to suggest an agent. If you do not know anyone in [...]
Business Insurance
September 26th, 2007 davidguide Insurance can cover a variety of catastrophes including natural disasters, fire, and theft. Providing good health coverage for your employees can help you retain them. However, these are not the only types of insurance available. You may be required to carry life, business interruption, or auto insurance depending on the nature of your business. Other [...]
Trademarks
September 26th, 2007 davidguide A trademark will help you differentiate your product from others available on the market. A servicemark will do the same for your service. Trademarks or servicemarks are words, phrases, symbols, designs, or a combination thereof that identifies the source of your products and services to others. You do not need to register a trademark or [...]
Patents
September 26th, 2007 davidguide A patent will help you protect your invention, process (typically industrial or technical processes), machine, manufacture (articles that are made), chemical compositions, and new and useful improvements of them. For patent protection, the work must satisfy the following criteria: It should be a novelty—new, not previously patented or described. It should not obvious to a [...]
Copyright
September 26th, 2007 davidguide A copyright protects authors’ original works, including dramatic, musical, artistic, literary, or other intellectual works. When a work is copyrighted, it prevents others from copying, displaying, distributing, creating derivative works, performing, or in any way profiting from a work without the author’s consent. To qualify for a copyright, the work must be original, it must [...]
Financing Issues for an Limited Liability Company
September 26th, 2007 davidguide LLCs have an easier time finding financing than partnerships and sole proprietorships because they offer a formal structure for investors and lenders. Moreover, a LLC offers flexibility to distribute gains disproportionately to investment in the business. (As stated previously, this must pass IRS special allocation tests.) There are a number of financing issues involving LLCs, [...]
Taxes for a LLC
September 26th, 2007 davidguide For a single-owner LLC, you just need to add a Schedule C, “Profit or Loss from Business,” (available at http://www.irs.gov) and submit it with your tax returns. For a multi-owned LLC, you will need to file Form 1065, “U.S. Return of Partnership Income” (same as with partnerships). Furthermore, the members of the multi-owned LLC need [...]
Protecting your LLC Limited Liability Status
September 26th, 2007 davidguide Maintaining Corporate Identity It is important to separate the identity of the corporation from its owners. This will help you protect your limited liability status. Ensure that you: Make all annual filings with the Secretary of State. Operate the company under its name, making sure that the people doing business with your company know that [...]
