Hi all,

Back in the old days, people built forts and castles to protect their stuff and their families…

Now we have corporations to help protect our assets… if we use them correctly.  If we don’t they are like a fort with all the gates open.

I want to help as many corporate owners as possible to get their records in order during this economic downturn.

I want them to have the peace of mind that comes from knowing you have done everything you can to strengthen the liability protection of your business… and protect your family.

And, at the same time I don’t want to make people wait a few days for the physical product to make its way through the Priority Mail process to their house.   I want them to get the info immediately…

So, I have decided to create a lower-cost digital version of the 7-step CorporateVeilPro system that has helped protect many small corporation owners.

I will be calling the digital product CYA: Cover Your (Corporate) Assets… (the name came from a brainstorm at Kevin Hogan’s Wealth Camp by Mike Morgan, David Garfinkel, Kevin, and some other superstar marketers)…

This will be a lower cost version of Corporate Veil Pro, which is the full multi-media version including CD interviews,etc. 

I will probably also put this on Clickbank… Any thoughts?

This will be available on October 15th so look for the special announcement…

This is a major no-no for corporate financial record keeping.  It can hurt you in so many ways. 

First, what is co-mingling?

Co-mingling of assets involves the owner using business resources for personal purposes, or the business using the owner’s personal resources for business purposes.

First things first.  You need to have separate bank accounts for your corporation and for yourself personally.  This is an absolute must.

In the next few days, we’ll discuss several scenarios of co-mingling…

I was really busy this week, so I’ll keep this short…

When you start a corporation, you are bringing a new entity to life that is separate and distinct from it’s owners.  This is true even if there is only a single owner.

When your customers buy from your corporation, they are not buying from you personally.  This is one of the big advantages of a corporation because if something goes wrong within the company and someone is harmed, the assets of the corporation are used to pay off the claim—NOT THE assets of the owners. This is critical.  No one would buy ownership of a corporation (stock) if doing so put everything they own at risk.

Because it is NOT you, there are certain things that you need to do in order to ensure that the corporation is properly documented and that your records are sufficient to provide this legal liability protection.

Simply put, if you are not doing these simple things then you don’t have liability protection in the event of a lawsuit.

And just because you are REALLY BUSY trying to build your business, that is no excuse.

I have put together a clear, concise step-by-step system that walks the small business owner through all the steps that are needed to get your records shipshape.  To get your copy, click on Cover Your Assets right now.  When you order, you will experience the pleasure of knowing that your family’s personal assets will be protected.

If you act before Sunday May 17 at midnight, I will knock $100 off the selling pricefor readers of this blog. Just use the Coupon Code PROTECT when you check out.  I have ten copies all shrink-wrapped and ready to go, and I’ll include a special bonus with these first ten orders…

Rob

A reader Anthony asked a couple of good questions yesterday…

I know [that I need to start a business to protect my personal assets] and still have not acted. Should I form an LLC for now? I’ve read that that is the way to go for someone in my current position. I’d like your feedback on who should form an LLC and when.

I personally would probably start an S Corp and keep it legal as I describe in Cover Your Assets which you have already purchased and received.   (Unless you are primarily in real estate or plan to use a lot of outside capital to run the business).  You should of course consult a lawyer if you are in any way unsure of what to do.  I don’t know the details of your situation. 

An LLC is not as established of a business form and I think that the legal history of the corporation is of great value.  The records you need to keep are not a big deal, you just need to carve out a few hours a year total to do them..  And it is good thinking exercise to go through the thought process the records require.  And keep your personal and business finances 100% separated.

For a more in-depth description of the differences: How to Pay the Lowest Amount of Taxes… part 2 [Payroll Taxes]

A second question…

For another business, I went to LegalZoom to get everything set up. Any thoughts on using them vs a local?

I have heard good things about LegalZoom’s ability to process your papers.  But they can’t tell you what  your best course of action is if you have specific concerns.  If you are confident in what you are doing then LegalZoom can handle the paperwork for you, or you can easily do it yourself in most states and save $100-200 in the process.  And LegalZoom will not help you to keep your corporate records ship-shape so it is a good thing you have Cover Your Assets…

Hope this helps…

Rob

Corporations are a type of limited liability business that is intended by law to create a new entity that is separate from the owners of the corporation.

Personal Assets are any wealth that you have accumulated—home, real estate, bank accounts, retirement accounts, gold in vault, etc.  If these assets were earned in the course of a business you own, they become personal assets when they are properly disbursed from the business in the form of salaries, bonuses, or owner profit distributions.

The corporation has assets as well—bank accounts, real estate, office and factory equipment and supplies, vehicles, accounts receivable, etc. 

The corporation also has liabilities—accounts payable, loans outstanding, etc.  The value of the corporation at any time is the assets minus the liabilities.  In most small businesses, the company assets are not allowed to get any larger than what is needed to operate the business and any excess money is distributed to the owners.

The corporation is designed so that if the business “harms” someone (financially, physically, etc) and sues the corporation, only the assets of the business may be seized to pay the lawsuit.  They cannot get through the “Corporate Veil” to get to the personal assets of the owners.

This veil is maintained as long as the owners keep good corporate records to show that the business is acting properly and as a separate entity from the owners, and there is no fraud involved.

Unfortunately, 95% plus of all small corporations- one and two person businesses—don’t keep these records and that is why I wrote the program Cover Your Assets! It can help small corporation owners to quickly and easily figure out how to get this corporate veil working for them and get their records straight, so that their personal assets are protected.

Consider this a wake-up call, if you wait till you are sued or audited to address this, it is too late.

Seize the Day.

Rob

In my survey that many of you so kindly filled out while back, I learned a lot about how long you have been in business, and what types of things you are involved in.  In addition to this data, I asked a simple open-ended question,

“What’s your single most important question about Personal Asset Protection?” 

I have found that when one person has a question, that usually means that there are at least 100 others with the same question.  So this is a good way to find out what needs to be explained better.

I answered the first three questions back here… and here are the next three…

Do I really need it Asset Protection?  (I’m just a little one girl show)

You develop asset protection strategies both for what you have now, and for what you are trying to build for the future.  If you are in a business that interacts with the public then you are always going to take the risk that you will harm them in some way which leads to a lawsuit.  And your lifestyle and savings are much safer if you are properly conducting that business from inside a limited liability company.  The other thing to keep in mind is that many of these records are just documenting good solid business management principles.., 

Even if they didn’t do a thing to protect your assets, they would still help you better run your business affairs and create more wealth.

What’s absolutely necessary?  

Great question, and it varies for each person.  The basic idea of compartmentalization is I think one of the most important things you must understand.  You should not have all your assets in one place, ready for one huge wave to capsize the whole boat.   The second big idea is multiple lines of defense, where each time one wall of defense is breached, there is another standing right there to continue the protection.  In my opinion, corporations are one of the most vital tools that we have available to help us with both of these things.

If you have a Corporation, then the only way to keep it working for you is to do all the required record-keeping.  There are five major areas that need to be up to date and clean: 

1. Incorporation documents and bylaws
2. Stock ownership records
3. Shareholder and Director meetings and records
4. Corporate Resolutions used to document important decisions
5. Proper financial documentation with no co-mingling

If you do all these things right as I demonstrate in the clear, concise, step-by-step system Cover Your Corporate Assets (aka Corporate Veil Pro) then you should have a properly functioning business.

Do I need a lawyer?

I think everyone in business should have a lawyer (and an accountant, and an insurance professional, and a banker, and a mentor).  The lawyer is there to answer specific questions but I believe that you should be up-to-speed on the basics of why you have a corporation and what is expected of you regarding record keeping and management.   You shouldn’t have to pay a lawyer big bucks to teach you these basics.  In a few recent blog posts, I gave some instructions on choosing and  working with a lawyer that you might find useful.

Have a great day,

Rob

Today we will discuss how to manage your time with your attorney for the biggest bang for the bucks…

At Big Bucks per Hour, you need to plan ahead…

You need to plan ahead before meeting with your corporate lawyer so that you do not waste money, and remember it can add up fast.  Business lawyers usually charge by the hour, so waiting till the meeting to gather your thoughts is a bad idea. As the Boy Scouts say, Be Prepared!  And this is true for those of us that own S corps and LLCs as well.

For the first meeting, ask if there is any pre-questionnaire to complete and fill it out and send it in advance of the meeting.  Sometimes they will ask for a few supporting documents- have these ready.
 

What is the Major Purpose for the Meeting?

You need to put together an adenda and a list of questions.  This will help you to focus and get back on track if you start going off on tangential discussions. 

I personally like to write out about a page or two that outlines the situation I want to discuss mainly for my own use to crystallize my thinking.  It can also be put into a letter form and sent to the lawyer ahead of time so that he can be prepared with any relevant answers or documents.

During the Meeting, Be Focused… (Avoid Tangents and Goosechases)

In our “regular” conversations with people, we might be the sort of person who likes to have deep interesting conversations and really learn a lot about people and their topics.  When dealing with a lawyer we need to suppress that urge and remain on topic.  A well-planned agenda will go a long way towards keeping the meeting flowing.

Effective Advice Requires you to Be 100% Honest…

I assume that you’ve heard about Garbage In, Garbage Out? 

Assuming that you are looking to get relevant, solid advice, it is important that you are totally honest with your attorney about your concerns and situation.  In some cases, they can minimize or dismiss your worries by putting them into the proper legal context.  In all cases, they need to know the truth so that they can take all factors into account.

I am a huge believer in the concept of Accurate Thinking (click for PDF chapter).  I first heard it mentioned in Napoleon Hill’s work.  (You have read Think and Grow Rich haven’t you? If not, you can get a free copy online here: Think and Grow Rich e-book)   In order to make great decisions, they must be based on accurate facts.  But that is a topic for another day…

Thanks for reading,

Rob

Morning All…

There are two major types of limited liability business… the Corporation and the LLC.  For most small businesses, you are going to be choosing between these two.  Specifically, for most small businesses the choice is between an S Corporation (which is just a regular corporation with one extra form filed one time) and an LLC.

It is Mainly a Tax Decision

I believe that this decision is primarily about potential tax savings. The information below may not be accurate for all states and situations, you need to figure this out yourself or with the help of your accountant and attorney if you don’t know what to do.  I am going to greatly simplify this decision below as it applies to many small one or two owner businesses…

The biggest drawback with an LLC is that, as an owner, you have to pay payroll taxes on all of the corporate profits, not just on salaries and wages.  This can be a significant amount of additional taxes that you pay with an LLC and was the main reason I went with the S corp.

Let’s look at an example to clarify this.  If we assume that the business is generating $200,000 in total income and total deductible business expenses of $100,000 then the net profit is $100,000.  With an LLC, you will report this as personal income and be required to pay payroll taxes on this entire amount.  

How Much Are Payroll Taxes?

Payroll taxes are the taxes that are paid on salaries to fund the government Social Security and Medicare programs.  The employee pays a certain amount towards each and the employer is required to match that same amount.  When you own your own business, you pay both parts, so it is double what you are used to seeing on a paystub. 

In 2008, the payroll tax calculation is 15.3% of the first $102,000 plus 2.9% of everything over $102,000.  The $102.000 number increases every year and in 2009 it will be $106,800. 

Going back to our example of $100,000 profits, the owner of the LLC would be required to pay $15,300 in payroll taxes on that $100,000. 

S Corporation Payroll Tax Savings?

So, an LLC generating $100k profits you pay $15,300 in payroll taxes.  How about an S Corp?  With an S Corp, you can pay the owners a reasonable salary for the job that they do.  And you pay the payroll taxes on this salary.  The rest of the profits are considered the income generated by the fact that you took the risk and invested the money to start the corporation and you pay income tax on this money but not payroll taxes. 

If we assume that you determine that a reasonable salary is $55,000 for your job then you will pay $4207.50 in payroll taxes, the corporation will also pay $4207.50 in payroll taxes for a total of $8,415 in total payroll taxes.

Remember that the LLC owner paid $15,300 in Payroll taxes. 

So, the S corp in this example saves you $6,885 per year in payroll taxes.  Assuming that you are going to be in business for a while, this can add up.  In under 15 years this is $100,000 savings.  And the payroll taxes just keep going up…

With these tax savings, why would anyone start an LLC instead?  Well, one reason is that if you are already maxing out your payroll tax contributions at a regular job, or in another business, then these tax savings are greatly reduced.  Here are few other factors…

Limitations and Requirements of an S Corp…

There are a few limitations on S corps which might affect some people:

□      Can’t have more than 100 shareholders

□      Can’t have foreign owners

□      Can’t be owned by other corporations or LLCs

□      S corp profits need to be distributed according to the percentage of ownership

And, S corporations require the owners to follow a bit more corporate formality… to “follow the corporate rules”.

It is not too big of a deal, once you understand the rules and have an easy to use system in place to stay ahead of the game.

My simple Cover Your Assets package is a Clear, Concise, Step-by-Step program to assist small business owners to know what to do and when to do it with regards to their corporate record keeping requirements.

Have a great day,

Rob

Good morning…

In my Asset Protection survey that many of you so kindly filled out a few days ago, I learned a lot about how long you have been in business, and what types of things you are involved in.  In addition to this data, I asked a simple open-ended question, “What’s your single most important question about Personal Asset Protection?” 

I have found that when one person has a question, that usually means that there are at least 100 others with the same question.  So this is a good way to find out what needs to be explained better.

I am now going to answer the first three, and I will get the remainder of them in the coming days…

What are the most important 3 things to consider [in Personal Asset Protection]? 

This is a really good question, there are many things to consider but if I had to break it down to three…

Important Thing #1.  The first thing to consider is NOT necessarily how many assets you have right now at this moment, but what you are trying to build for the future.  You need to put the protective measures in place to protect your stuff in the future and this needs to be part of your planning process.

Important Thing #2.  You need to carefully consider every aspect of your personal and business life to determine where you are opening yourself up to any risks of harming someone else through your actions (even if they are a kook and their complaint is 100% drivel).  Things like driving cars, selling products that could harm someone, giving bad advice that costs someone money, etc.  In any of these cases, you could be sued by the person who was harmed, and they will try to take away your assets to pay for their loss.  You need to make sure that you have an accurate picture of what the most likely scenarios of this happening are.

Important Thing #3. You need to consider what structures need to be put in place to that you can contain the damage from any particular lawsuit to just a portion of what you own.  Asset Protection has been compared to a castle with multiple walls of defense and each time the invading army gets through one layer of defense, there is another heavily-defended barricade in their way.  Your personal assets that you have earned should be kept in the Inner-most “Keep” in your castle.   You need to set up legal entities like Corporations, LLCs (and in some cases more exotic things like Trusts) in order to contain any damage to a particular part of your life.

2. What good does Incorporating do?

Another great question…

A corporation is a legal entity that is formed which in many ways is like a new person being born.  The corporation is separate and distinct from the owners of the corporation.  Once properly set up and operated according to specific rules, it provides limited liability for the owners of the corporation if something were to go wrong.

In the case of a lawsuit against the corporation by a customer, the amount of the damages are limited to the assets that the corporation owns, NOT the assets that the owners of the corporation owns.  So you can think of the corporation as a little like a Fire Door.   It keeps the financial danger from spreading through your whole financial life and isolates it to just the single business.

3. What is an easy way to keep track of corporate records? 

The laws regulating corporations are in many cases very specific about the types of things you need to do in order to be a “real” corporation.  Since it is separate from you, even if you are a one-person corporation, you CANNOT operate it as though it is just an extension of yourself.  The details of what you need to do are beyond the scope of this answer but in short form you need to have your corporate incorporation documents in proper order, you need to have your corporate stock in order, you need to have a Bylaws and be holding documented annual Shareholders and Directors meetings, and you need to be using Corporate Resolutions in order to document your decisions… 

I put together a program for owners of Corporations called “CYA: Cover Your Assets” that is a clear, concise, 7 step system to get your corporate records in great order.  With that system, you will be able to be a “Corporate Record-keeping God” in very short order, and if you use the Promo code “PROTECT” when you check out, I’ll knock $100 off for the next week only (till April 15) for being a reader of this blog.  That brings the price to $197 which is less than a half-hour with most lawyers…

Have a great day, and I’ll get to more of your questions in the days and weeks ahead, if you have any Questions you want answered please put them in the comments below or there is still time to answer my survey here…

Click Here to Take the Short “Asset Defenses” Survey

I hope this has been helpful, and I hope you have a great day… 

Rob

My name is Rob Northrup.

 As a small boy, I loved to go with my Dad to the airport where he worked for Emory Air Freight, and I always loved to see factories and how things are made. 

I grew up in a small suburb of Minneapolis and have held numerous jobs since I was 10… starting with my first local paper route—the Post.  Then I graduated to the Mpls Star-Tribune and at one time I had up to 130 Sunday papers to deliver on foot (and it is cold at 5am on a Minnesota morning in January). 

 At 13, I moved up to a job as a delivery boy for Hoglund’s Flowers…

I worked there most days after school for a few hours and then a full day almost every Saturday.  I did this for a couple of years and I used the earnings to pay for a school trip with my German Club to travel all over Germany the summer before High School.

In High School, I took a job at a local supermarket as a bagger and I worked 20-25 hours a week. (I also played football every year and was the starting Center my Junior and Senior years on a woeful Robbinsdale Robins football team.  Yes, the Robin is a ferocious bird!).  

During the summers during my High School years, I had an assortment of jobs…

 …corn detasseller (grueling farm labor),

…unloading 100# bags of potatoes from train cars onto grocery store semi-trucks,

…night janitor in office buildings (only job I was ever fired from),

…injection molding factory worker.

 By the time I graduated from High School, I had already worked in 14 different jobs already (that I can remember). 

I was accepted to Georgia Tech to study Engineering and earned a small scholarship and the promise of a library job to earn a little bit of money for college.  I had to pay for my own college and I wasn’t interested in borrowing $100k to get a degree…

The summer before college, I worked 80+ hours a week all summer in mainly as a Pinkerton’s Security Guard patrolling factories and construction sites.  One of the construction sites I “guarded” was the Metrodome while it was being built. 

I have been in a lot of different types of businesses and I LOVE seeing a business make money and create things.  Math and Science were my passions in school, along with Humanities and Literature.

I have an Electrical Engineering degree from Georgia Tech.  I was a co-op throughout college which means I went to school a quarter and then worked a quarter at IBM.   I moved back and forth from Atlanta to NC every thirteen weeks a total of ten times and then I graduated and went to work with IBM in the area of Robotics and Control Systems.  I wrote a lot of software and got to work on some really cool projects, but my wife and I wanted to get back to Atlanta and I wanted to be part of a smaller business.

I left IBM and went to work as an software engineer at a small privately-help company in Atlanta which made plastics processing machinery.  The owner of the company was a solo entrepreneur who had built the whole thing himself starting when he was about 40 years old.  Within two years, I was being pulled into sales situations about half the time because I knew the product so well I could answer any of the customer’s questions and it really helped make the sales. 

Before long, I was hooked on sales and we grew the company rapidly.  Just before I left, I was responsible for about 35 people in Inside Sales, Outside Sales, and our Technical Customer Service, but I was tired of answering the same questions over and over.  I wanted to find new questions to answer…

I wanted my own business, and decided to start my own Sales Agency with one of my colleagues.  We found six manufacturers of machinery that gave us contracts to sell their machines.  We make 100% of our income from commissions. We pay our own travel and overhead, and we make money only when we are able to sell a machine to a customer in our territory.

We have made a great business from this and we are recognized experts in our field.   I love face-to-face helping these plastics companies to improve their operations.  This is my full-time “core business” which gets the lion’s share of my time and energy. 

But I also wanted to build a second business to generate additional income, and to help business owners at the same time…

I love small businesses… (cue the patriotic music)

I work with small business owners every day and I believe that small business is the engine of our global economy.  The future of the world depends on the small business person and I want to do everything I can to help them to prosper and thrive.

So, last year, I wrote a System called Corporate Veil Pro (being renamed to CYA*: Cover Your Corporate Assets as we speak) that teaches small business owners how to do all the insane paperwork that is required to have a “real” corporation that actually does what it is designed to do and protects the owners assets. 

I am looking to build this business with several more related products and to roll-out the CYA System to the 95% of small businesses who are completely unprepared for a lawsuit or IRS audit.  I have incorporated a second publishing business to market these business- and asset protection-related guides.

This blog is devoted to helping small business owners and entrepreneurial-minded people to understand the various complexities that they are up against… I hope you will return again as I cover these topics.

Rob

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO FAVORITE THIS BLOG ON TECHNORATI:

There are a few limitations on S corps:

·       Can’t have more than 100 shareholders;

·       Can’t have foreign owners

·       Can’t be owned by other corporations or LLCs

·       S corp profits need to be distributed according to the percentage of ownership

An S corp requires a bit more corporate formality to “follow the corporate rules”.  It is not too big of a deal, once you understand the rules and have an easy to use system in place.My

Corporate Veil Pro package is a Clear, Concise, Step-by-Step program to assist small business owners to know what to do and when to do it with regards to their corporate record keeping requirements.  It Corporate Veil Pro package is a Clear, Concise, Step-by-Step program to assist small business owners to know what to do and when to do it with regards to their corporate record keeping requirements.  It

demystifies the process and shows how easy it can be to operate an S corp within the rules.  A one-time investment of $297 plus an hour or two a year of simple fill-in-the-blank tasks, and you can save a lot of taxes and do it totally legally.  For me, it was a no-brainer to decide on an S Corporation for my primary business.

Disclaimer: This is not intended as legal advice, just my understanding.  You need to research it yourself and get professional help before proceeding.  Life Tip: Don’t believe anything you read on a blog on the Internet unless you have checked it yourself.

Rob

Technorati Profile

My core machinery sales business has been operating for ten years now and my co-owner and I have weathered ups and downs along the way. 

Mostly ups, and a few downs to keep it challenging.

Before making the jump to my own business, I spent twelve years working in a tight “inner circle” with the owner of a $25 million business.  While I was there, I got to experience firsthand the viciousness and outright incompetence of our legal system.

I was deeply involved in a patent lawsuit where a competitor sued us for infringement, and since I was an engineer involved deeply in the product, I spent five full days in depositions.  These were awful affairs, where we were interrogated about all sorts of tangents that were often totally unrelated to the patent case.

The lawyers were “digging for dirt”… Any dirt would do, and they did their level best to find some… (unsuccessfully).

Once I got through that torture chamber, preparation for the actual trial began in earnest.  I was chosen as the person to represent our company on the attorney team, and I spent the better part of six months working ten to twelve hour a day writing legal pleadings and answers to various legal mumbo-jumbo.

It was a roller coaster of excitement followed by terrible drudgery, and it was endless.  When we got to the last six weeks before trial, the nights shortened to about four or five hours.  I would get home to my family late at night, and they would wake up for five minutes to kiss me goodnight, and then I would get up a few hours later to do it all again.

If I had been paying those lawyers at the same time, I might have lost my mind, but the owner of the company was footing that bill.  Now that I run my own corporation, I am very careful to avoid any situations that might bring me into the legal system.

Luckily, while I was involved in this trial, we had other people back at the office who I could direct to hold down the fort on my “day job” as Sales and Marketing Manager.  If I faced a similar situation in my own small business, it would be devastating.

The day of the trial arrived.

We got a nasty surprise right out of the block.  We got a History professor as our judge and he was clueless.  After thirteen days of trial, we lost the initial lawsuit to the tune of $3.5 million in damages.  We appealed taking two more years and then the judgment against us was overturned on appeal and we ended up winning the case. 

But we really didn’t win.  The only people that won were the lawyers on both sides.  And that is the way it usually goes in such things…  I don’t ever want to be involved in this again, knock on wood.

(Boy do I wish I could get those two years of my life back).

Fast forward ten years, and I have my own corporation now.  After a lot of research, I discovered the steps to take to launch a business, and I incorporated myself. 

I was on top of the world.  And our business grew each year and we added new clients and sales to our satisfied customer base.  We thought we were doing everything right, and I was very careful to always do the tax returns and other required filings on time to avoid legal trouble.

And then I met George on a flight back to Atlanta, and he told me how he was about to enter into the quagmire of the legal system in the fight of his life.

As we prepared for takeoff, we were talking about business and George asked me if I had good corporate records.  I said that I was very careful about all the tax filings and licenses and George told me that I was missing vital records and told me his story.

George was a very successful businessman, and that put a target on his back.  Someone wanted what George had earned, and they had sued him.  He was asked for his corporate records and he didn’t have any.   So, they were in the process of dissolving his corporation as though it had never existed and trying to take his family’s personal assets to pay the judgment against the corporation. 

George was flying to Charleston, SC to sell his condo to pay the lawyers and he told me to learn from his example and get my corporate records ship-shape “Now, before it is too late”.

And you know what?

I found out that it wasn’t that easy, because no one had written a step-by-step guide for small guys about how to keep these records properly.  Since I couldn’t find the information in a simple guide, I wrote it myself… (It wasn’t that easy to dig through all this legal stuff, but it had to be done).

I wrote this system from the perspective of a business owner because I think that small business owners deserve this information…

And it shouldn’t be hard to locate and decipher.

You see…

In my book, small business owners are heroes. They’re what makes the economy work, and what keep this country moving forward. And my mission is to keep them moving forward—despite all the confusing laws and regulations.

In the face of alphabet agencies pulling nickel and dime scams.

Even against gold-digging lawsuits.

 
Please consider this a Wake Up Call and get your own fresh copy of my system– Corporate Veil Pro—today.  You’ll protect your family and you’ll sleep better because this is taken care of.

Here’s the link to learn more:  www.corporateveilpro.com

I wish you and your business great success!

Best Regards

Rob Northrup, Fellow Business Owner
Author, CorporateVeil Pro

With apologies to The Go-Go’s…

Time management “experts” opine that most people get more done on the day before they leave for vacation than any other day…

(This actually says a lot more about the terribly low output most people get on the average day, by the way…)

Why would this be true?

I think there are several reasons:

We are focused on creating a list of things that must get done before we can leave.  The things that can’t slip to tomorrow because we won’t be here tomorrow.

We are focused on crossing things off our list that either don’t have to get done at all, or that can wait until our return

We are usually focused on getting into vacation mode asap, and possibly even to getting an early start, so we are focused on getting things done as quickly as possible.

We are focused on talking with people that we are in the middle of things with to let them know what we expect done in our absence, and focused on anything that needs to be done right now to move the project forward before we leave.

Are you noticing any pattern?  Is there a word that keeps coming up?

Yes… Focus.  And now that I’ve written my blog post for the day, I’m free to FOCUS on the other things on my list.

Why shouldn’t we live every day like this?   (I have gotten better at it, but still a long way to go…)

Next week, I’ve got some cool things planned, and I’ll be writing about them.  One of the topics is going to be “Working Vacations”… as a small business owner, I don’t know any other kind…

Seize your To-Do List (and focus on what needs to get done TODAY),

Rob

PS: I’m bringing five copies of the CorporateVeil Pro program with me to mail from the road when the orders come in… And I’ll be meeting with DIY Lawyer and Kevin Hogan and hopefully Sunny Carlson next week, as well as a bunch of old friends and family…

Hi All,

I’ve updated the website at CorporateVeil Pro and I am pleased to announce that…

Physical Copies of CorporateVeil Pro are now shipping…

Complete Corporate Veil Pro System for Small Business Owners

In addition, not shown is the Special Report: Business Insurance Blueprint.

If you would like to get an Affiliate link for this product, please sign up here:

Affiliate Signup Link…

Thanks for all the encouragement from everyone. Things are shifting into a higher gear now.

Seize the Day…

Rob

A few years ago, on a flight back to Atlanta, I met a well-dressed man from the Northeast. He introduced himself as George, and he seemed stressed.  Very stressed.

After a bit of polite back and forth, he started to tell his story. See, George didn’t just look successful. Not just an empty suit. In fact, he had built his own business from the ground up, with his own two hands. When he found out I owned my own company, this is what he said…

“Rob, tell me you’ve been keeping your corporate records.”

Me: “Well, mostly.”

“Rob, right now, I’m on my way to my second home to close it out. See, I didn’t keep my records well enough, just too much day to day business stuff, too busy growing my company, never thought it was important, it was too easy to put off.”

George’s voice drops to half the volume, “Then the subpoena came…I was being sued by a disgruntled ex-employee over nothing and they got a court order demanding all my corporate records.”

George continued,  “I didn’t know what to do. I tried to pull my records together, but I hadn’t touched them since I started the business.  And it was too late to update everything. In fact, trying to make any changes at that point would just make me look guilty.”

The pain in George’s voice was hitting me hard… 

“I’ve already spent $20,000 in legal fees since they’ve started piercing my corporate veil. And it looks like I’ll be losing much more than that, probably $100,000 or more. And that’s if I win. A part of my life, of my family’s life, has been taken away.  I’m on my way now to sell our property in Myrtle Beach to pay for all this and I haven’t had the heart to to tell my wife we have to sell it.  There are so many memories there and we all love that place.”

I was stunned.  I had no idea this was possible.  Talk about a huge wakeup call.  You can guess what I did as soon as I got back home.

There was no way I was going to expose myself and my family after seeing what George was going through. And, especially since I wasn’t being sued, I still had time to act and get things right.  The fix was necessary and didn’t take much time. What’s a few hours to save everything?

It’s this experience that triggered the thought to develop the Corporate Veil Pro system.

If your records aren’t up to date, if you don’t have minutes from your annual meetings—even if you’re a one man operation—you’re exposed. There’s zero reason for you to open yourself up to predatory lawsuits.

Get serious and take action now:

Order Corporate Veil Pro Today… It’s Sleep Insurance

Sincerely,

Rob Northrup
President, Basecamp Publishing Inc.

9 out of 10 corporations are easy pickings for shark attorneys and their money-sucking clients!

Yeah, I know, that’s a bold statement. But I’m not asking you to believe anything just yet, until you see the evidence for yourself. All I ask is that you refrain from disbelieving while I show you my proof. It only takes a minute to convey, but it speaks to one of the most misunderstood myths of corporate protection.

In my hundreds of talks with business owners, I’ve discovered their records are not good enough to protect them. Which group are you in?

Group 1: About 50% have no idea they’re completely exposed to shady lawsuits and don’t have any idea what I’m talking about (and if you incorporated yourself and don’t have an attorney, how would you know?);

Group 2: about 30-35% know there are records to be kept, and boards, and meetings, and some more stuff, but they aren’t doing it, and they aren’t at all clear what they should be doing, or the risk they are taking;

Group 3: about 10% think they are doing most of what they need to be doing, but they aren’t confident that they are doing everything needed, or they are relying on someone else and that worries them;

Group 4: the remaining 5-10% think they have their corporate records under control. If you are one of these people, congratulations! You may be excused now! I now count myself in this group, and I sleep a lot better at night than I used to when I was in one of the other groups.

This information is shocking. At least 80% of all business owners are definitely NOT getting the protection they are expecting from their corporate veil, and most likely the number is more like 90-95%.

Why would you expose yourself, your family and your future to sharks? Get out of the water! Why are you swimming when you see the fins fully exposed?

You know you need to act, you know you need to clean up your records to make you and your family safe, then please make a simple move by seizing the moment right now and investing in your own asset protection. It’s like insurance for your insurance.

ACT NOW–> Clear, Concise “7 Steps To Corporate Records”

Rob

Is Your Corporation Protecting Your Assets?
Personal Asset Protection For Small Business Owners…

… the shark lawyers and their sue-happy clients are circling around your business, salivating, and the Court Order has demanded that you prove that your corporation has been kept up to date—all paper work, all forms, all files—and they’re chomping at the bit to get you in Court…

So they can get your corporation thrown out on a technicality and start taking away your home, your savings, your family’s lifestyle… 

I’m not a lawyer and I don’t play one on TV, but the lawyers I’ve talked to say by the time you’re being served with a subpoena, it’s too late.  You can’t clean things up now– it’s too late—you’ve been negligent and now they’re going to eat you for lunch.

If you’re in this position go get a lawyer right now. Yup, it’s going to cost you an arm and a leg but it’s your only hope.   I can help you figure things out before you get sued, but once that happens you are at the mercy of the Court, and ignorance of the law is no excuse… your only hope is that the jury won’t hate all business owners…

Sure, life took over once you incorporated, got your business going, and you became swamped with a laundry list of tasks you had to accomplish every day—typical life of an American business owner. But your schedule doesn’t mean a thing in a court.

The fact is you have major responsibilities as the owner of a corporation. And, if you don’t take care of business in your legal entity—you know, the forms you filled out you thought protected you, your assets and even the home you live in—the security you thought you had will be flushed down the toilet.

You’re one “incident” away from getting hauled into court and being ripped to shreds by a money-hungry lawyer and their sue-happy client.

Yup… you better fix the problem. You intended to keep everything up to date, but you just got busy with business and life. If there something you can do? You can read the steps you need to take here:

Please order Corporate Veil Pro today while it is fresh in your mind.  How could you ever tell your family that you lost everything because you couldn’t spare a few hours to take care of these records?

Sincerely,

Rob Northrup

President, Basecamp Publishing Inc.

Reporting live from St Louis, just listened to Dan Kennedy, my earliest marketing mentor (for the past 12 years), speak to 900 of us for two hours on Copywriting.

I have previously attended three different Dan Kennedy multi-day events on the topic of Copywriting and Sales Thinking so you’d think that a two hour talk on the subject would provide little in the way of new information.  And that would be incorrect.

I wrote fast almost the entire time Dan was speaking and I count 7 major “writer-downers” that I got tonight that have reshaped some of my viewpoints on copywriting.  I’ll share one of the new ideas with you:

When selling using copy, or even in person, it helps to have a Bigger Reason Why than just the money you are going to make from the sale.  The money is obviously important and assumed but if you can have a larger reason, you will be more successful.

With my Corporate Veil Pro product to help the owners of small corporations to protect their personal assets by getting their records ship-shape, I have a deep passion for trying to help these owners who are just like me to understand a topic that I think is confusing and cryptic to many.  I honestly love small business people, and I love America, and I know deep in my heart that the greatness of our country is due to a large extent to the hard work, risk taking, and productivity of business owners and their employees.  So, when I see these heroes getting destroyed by the sharks and the sue-happy people it makes me angry and furious.   So, I decided to do my part to try and bring some clarity to the topic, and I wrote a clear, concise, step-by-step system to teach them the basics of corporate record keeping.

Now, I just have to get that reason, and my passion infused in my sales letter for the program.  That and the other 6 major breakthroughs I got tonight!

Plus, Steve Chambers and I just spent two hours over dinner applying what we learned today to our plans for Bold Calling program for sales professionals, and we are both psyched about the future direction for that product.  And yes, I am also very passionate about face-to-face selling and the value that ethical professional salespeople bring to the US economy.  Having been in this field for 21 years, I want to give back some of what I heave learned about territory field sales, and so does Steve…

What a great day, and tomorrow will be even better I am almost certain…  We start again at 8am…

Seize the Day, Rob

Now that you have been through the previous six steps, assuming that everything still looks good and you have your resources ready to go, and you have a Name, and you know what you are going to sell first, and you know what structure makes sense for you, you are ready to jump into the pool.  These instructions are for an S Corporation, the LLC is slightly different.  Get ready, here we go…

“Inc.” in 10 minutes!

You can use one of the online services like LegalZoom, but it isn’t that hard to do it yourself.

My last incorporation earlier this year took ten minutes on-line with the GA Secratary of State and I charged the $100 registration fee to my credit card.  I had to fill in a form to tell them the name of my corporation, who was incorporating it (me), the legal address, how many shares of stock were authorized, and my official Registered Agent (me again). 

After hitting SUBMIT, I got the ARTICLES OF INCORPORATION back approved with a receipt in just a few minutes…  Different states might be different.  If you are doing this yourself, you should order a Corporate Record Kit (I like www.fastkit.com) and you should order CorporateVeil Pro Step-By-Step Corporate Records system…  These things together will give you the necessary information to keep your corporation legal and proper from the start.  Just take my word on it, and do it.

You are now the proud owner of a brand spankin’ new corporation! One with an unlimited future that you will create and control…Now on to a few housekeeping matters, you need to get a Federal Employee Identification Number (EIN, it’s like a Social Security number for your business) using the SS-4 form.  You can call and get the EIN over the phone to eliminate a wait for the paperwork to be mailed back. 

The Gavel Drops… Initial Meetings of Shareholders and Directors

Once incorporated, you need to hold your first shareholders meeting and authorize the Bylaws and elected director(s), and hold your first directors meeting, and appoint officers. You also need to open a bank account and deposit the initial equity into it. 

VERY IMPORTANT:  Most small businesses should become an S corp, and this is very easy.  You have a short amount of time to fill out the IRS 2553 form electing this S Corporation status.  This form must be unanimously agreed to by all the owners, and this is how you will avoid double taxation on your profits. 

Sounds like a lot, but it isn’t really.   Total time expended less than two hours- start to finish.

You can use your receipt from the Secretary of State declaring you to be an actual, honest to goodness corporation to open your corporate checking account, and to secure a Post Office box in the company’s name. You are now open for business.  Just don’t forget to spend a half hour a quarter on those corporate records.

Finally, Should you Inc. without consulting an attorney?

I am not going to answer that.  It’s up to each person to decide for themselves.  I do think everyone should have an attorney they can talk to.  You don’t have to have a lawyer fill out the forms for you if you are comfortable doing it yourself.  If you are entering a high-liability business area, you will be inclined to seek more legal advice and there might be better ways to set up stronger asset protection than just a corporation. 

There are a lot of books on this subject, I will put together a short list in a future post.  And I be discussing how to select and  use an attorney effectively in the very near future. (Hint: preparation!) 

That’s it for this seven part series on Corporation Startups, let me know if there are questions…

Rob Northrup

President, Basecamp Publishing Inc.

Is Your Corporation Protecting You?