Category: Business

What’s so important about how I sign my name?”

I get asked that question all of the time from my business consulting clients.

I tell them that a better question to ask me is this:

“Who cares about how I sign my name?”

The answer is a simple one.

NOBODY.

FINE PRINT: Except… your customers and clients, your creditors, your bank, your mortgage company, your landlord, the I.R.S… oh yes… and anyone else that wants to SUE YOU (and don’t forget ALL their lawyers!).

As in many areas of the law, the exception to the rule swallows up the rule!

What do I mean by this?

Well, let’s start with some basics. For instance, if you’ve already formed a corporation or limited liability company (LLC), you may think that you’re already protected from personal liability in the event of a lawsuit against your business.

In general, the rule is that a corporation or LLC, if formed correctly, and if all of the formalities required under the law of the State where the entity was formed are followed, does protect you from personal liability for business debts and lawsuits.

FINE PRINT: Except… when you choose to do business as an individual, and not as the corporation or LLC that you initially formed.

You see, whenever you sign documents like contracts, purchase orders, contractual agreements, leases, loans, mortgages, promissory notes, and most other legal documents involving your business, you need to make sure that you sign your name only in your business capacity.

You MUST avoid signing your name in your individual capacity.

And how do you do that? It’s pretty simple. You see, the format that you use to sign your name is the controlling factor.

In many cases, you as the business owner, sign your name without knowing how to properly sign your name to business documents. In fact, most business owners of corporations and LLC’s still sign legally binding agreements in their individual capacity…and not as the business.

SIGN AS AN AGENT OF YOUR BUSINESS

If you have formed a corporation or an LLC, you must remember to sign all contracts, agreements, invoices, etc… as an agent of the business.

For example… Many business owners haphazardly, or perhaps inadvertently, sign legal documents like the format shown in

EXAMPLE 1 below:

EXAMPLE 1

(signature)
————————
John Doe

“But what is the consequence of signing my name like in EXAMPLE 1 above to invoices, agreements, or documents?”

EXAMPLE 1 and the above signature format legally establishes that YOU have signed the contract, invoice, loan, or agreement as an individual.

And not as an agent on behalf of your business.

If you sign your name to agreements in the form depicted in EXAMPLE 1 above, YOU could very well be liable personally to meet all of the terms of the agreement.

And you likely don’t want to do this!

Why Simply out, because you’re therefore subjecting all of your business assets and personal assets as well to the risk of a lawsuit.

If you sign agreements as depicted in EXAMPLE 1 above, YOU will very likely be named personally, as well as your business, in any lawsuit filed against the business.

Remember then:

Signing your name like in EXAMPLE 1 above DOES NOT establish that you have signed the agreement as an agent on behalf of your business.

“Okay. So how should I sign my name to my invoices, contracts, leases, loans, or any other business agreements?

What simple step can I take to protect my business, and my personal assets as well?

SIGN DOCUMENTS ONLY AS AN AGENT OF YOUR BUSINESS

Make sure that you only sign legal documents, letters, memos, invoices, loans, leases, etc… as an agent of your business.

How must I sign my name to any legal document or agreement to show that I am signing only as an agent of my business?

Follow EXAMPLE 2 below:

EXAMPLE 2

ABC CORPORATION, INC.

(signature)
———————————–
BY: John Doe
President (Company Title)

If you sign your name on the dotted line following the exact format depicted in Example 2 above, you legally establish that you are only signing as an agent on behalf of the business…and not in your individual capacity.

But you MUST follow the Example 2 precisely.

CAVEAT: Another very important point on this topic.

AVOID SIGNING documents that state “PERSONAL GUARANTY” on them.

A Personal Guaranty is usually a separate legal document attached to the main agreement. You generally see a Personal Guaranty in a loan, mortgage, or lease. However, sometimes a Personal Guaranty can be established just by the way you sign the legal document, invoice, lease, or agreement.

How?

Simple. If the agreement merely has a signature line that has your individual name on it without any reference to your business name, you are signing the document as a Personal Guaranty. You are therefore personally liable for that agreement if you sign the agreement with such a signature line.

But, what do I do if I am being required to sign a Personal Guaranty, like for a business loan or commercial lease for example?

If a Personal Guaranty is required, you or your lawyer should negotiate a limited period of time (the shortest possible) that the Personal Guaranty will bind you as an individual.

Remember, if you formed a corporation or LLC in the first place, you did it to avoid personal liability and to protect your personal assets. Anyone who does business with your company should, and usually does, know this. So, be careful. Other possibilities can be negotiated too. Just do your best not to sign in your personal capacity by signing a Personal Guaranty.

It’s important to remember to only sign legal documents, invoices, and even letters as an agent of your business. (Follow the format found in EXAMPLE 2 above).

How else can I make sure that I am signing my name properly to all of my business documents?

Call your attorney to review all of your agreements, invoices, leases, and legal documents BEFORE you sign them. Your attorney will offer sound advice that protects YOU, your loved ones, and your business.

Now, let’s review.

What’s in a name?

Well… besides your business…

…it could be all of YOUR personal and family assets!

The best advicve especially in the midst of tough economic times or a Recession, is to have any document you sign first reviewed by your lawyer or business consultant.

Copyright (c) 2008. Miguel Mendez, Jr. All rights reserved.

Business management systems have become quite popular over recent years. Initially these kinds of systems were very expansive and only available to larger corporations. But fortunately, big progress and advancements have been made and good business management software tools are available nowadays at very interesting price points.

But why would a small business be interested in using such a software tool? Business management systems have various advantages and benefits. Here are some of the most important benefits:

* Efficiency: No doubt, business management software can make your business much more efficient by speeding up numerous business processes.

* Quality: These tools will also allow you to handle certain processes more accurately and to reduce mistakes.

* Cost savings: Of course, purchasing business management software requires and initial expenses, but usually you will be able to quickly recover them and to save some money in the long run.

But now to our principal question: What are the most important features a good business management system should provide? In reality, there is no simple answer to this question, because the required feature set will very much depend on your business needs.

Nowadays, business management tools can provide hundreds of different features and functionalities. Most of them you will probably never need. So, it is a good idea to put together a list of all the tasks you would like to be handled by business management software in order to avoid spending money on features you don’t really need.

Here is a list of some of the features and business modules, which I think are interesting for most businesses:

* Document management
* Accounting
* Invoicing
* Inventory control
* Reporting
* Purchasing
* Billing
* Point of Sale
* Collections
* Sales order processing
* eCommerce
* Remote connectivity
* Shipping & Receiving

But again, verify your business needs before you decide to purchase a business management system. Also, make sure that the software seamlessly integrates with your current systems and IT infrastructure.

STARTING A PROFITABLE ADULT ONLINE INTERNET BUSINESS

I thought to write this because of the hundreds of calls I receive every week regarding horror stories of prospective webmasters spending thousands of dollars to Start A Profitable Adult Online Internet Website Business. The reason their calling me is for me to somehow perform a miracle making them money after they spent thousands of dollars on an Adult Turnkey Website Business that will never make money. Basically they fell victim to ridiculous financial promises that were very unrealistic and could never occur in a million years. This is the typical garbage that some Adult Internet Website Businesses spit out to make it sound as if it is so easy to make a million dollars overnight in this industry. The good news is there is good money to be made in this very profitable Adult Online Business but you need to partner with the correct people that are knowledgeable and resourceful otherwise you could be out of business shortly.

Adult Internet Website Business Online Turnkey Opportunity – 10 Steps To Profitability

I know this from firsthand experience. I am not some writer who is writing about Adult Online Business Opportunities; I am an Adult Internet Business owner writing about the best way to Start a Profitable Adult Internet Business by owning your own Online Website Business.

1.Niche Market Business Opportunity Dont target the typical blonde haired blue eyed girls no mega sites that have 10 different types of content or Adult Online Design Companies that claim that their websites have just shemales when they actually have all types of content in the members section. People are passionate about their own niche market they enjoy. They get pissed when they see other types of content in the members section of the so called niche specific Adult Online Turnkey Business.

2.Keep the Adult Internet Website simplified Easy navigation. Dont have clutter on your adult Internet website or too much happening or moving at once on the website for it turns prospective Adult Online Businessclients off. Adult Turnkey Websites such as this are horrible to the eye and turn people off. There are many studies that show this and they all can’t be lying.

3.Your Adult Online Website Business must have High Definition content or as close to HD as possible. HD = more sign ups. You must also have at least 5 teaser high definition quality video clips to increase conversion to full sign ups. Without content close to High Definition, you are killing off your Opportunity for your Online Business to convert into more cash.

4.You must use Affiliate Website Programs that bring in extra revenue for your Adult Online Website. Make them as niche specific as possible. We like to use scam free affiliate online programs such as cams, personals, toys, video on demand. There are too many to mention but I think you get the point. Again our goal is to make these affiliate website internet programs as niche specific as possible to match the niche theme of the entire Adult Online Turnkey Business.

5.Marketing Do your homework and research, research and research. Dont depend on a marketing company to do all this work for you. The Adult Website is yours not theirs so please get educated in the field. You need to take responsibility for the marketing of your own website. Dont ever think that the marketing company that you hire is going to be able to perform all the marketing on its own. If you owned any other business; I am sure you would get very involved in it. If you want to make money with your Adult Web Site Business you need to treat this as any other type of business. There is a great opportunity to make a good profit from your Adult Online Internet Business with smart Adult Online Marketing.

6.Low Cost Low Risk Online Business Opportunity Adult Internet Turn Key Businesses should not cost what most adult design companies charge. Most of you are new to the business so why jump into some foreign business, spending all your money upfront? Owning your own adult web site business is not gambling; it is long-term business. You have to keep your start up costs low or you will fail miserably. Watch out for hidden costs, such as hosting that adds up quickly. One thing people dont consider is how easy it is for a Website Design Company to increase your hosting fee after only owning your Adult Online Business only a short period of time. Some charge $50 – $100 a month per site for hosting when you purchase your website and then about 3 or 4 months later tell you that you are using too much bandwidth and double your hosting fee. These Adult Hosting Companies are killing off your Terrific Profitable Adult Business Opportunity. The first year in business has to come with FREE hosting or I would stay away from the Internet design company. Keep your money for smart marketing. This is an efficient way to use your money. Do your homework on this long-term Adult Internet Business Opportunity so you dont waste your hard earned marketing money.

7.Watch Out For Sharks If you take the bait they will pounce on you with horrible Adult Internet Website Design and extremely high prices. When online adult design companies make claims such as As Seen On TV or as being a member of the chamber of commerce you need to run like hell. This is the adult website internet business and you don’t get on television for owning one. Also, All you have to do to be listed with the Chamber of Commerce is to have a business and pay the dues. Also, don’t buy into these crazy Testimonials about how the guy has saved their marriage and family. WOW! Watch Profit Charts. $5,000 profit in your 4th month in the adult online web site business from 1 site? So if I purchase 100 sites from the online web design companies that claim this I will be making $500,000.00 in my 4th month in business? At this rate I would make more than 5 Million dollars in my 1st year in business! PEOPLE ACTUALLY FALL FOR THESE PROMISES. DONT BE A VICTIM! GET EDUCATED! GET EMPOWERED! Take full advantage of this Adult Online Internet Business Opportunity and play it smart. Check out the watchdog agencies for the industry such as scam.com, ripoffreport.com. Also go to google and type in the owner of the businesses name, the business name. Also type in the owners name with scam or ripoff after the name. For Example: Jones scam or Teletar SCAM. These are just phrases that come to mind at the moment not actual companies. It is your hard earned money. Dont waste it.

8.Partner with online Internet content companies. Dont buy an Adult Online Website Business that comes with content that you supposedly own. You are getting shitty content. You want good High Definition quality content by partnering with content companies. I can send you a list of them if you desire. Just hit me up on email. The majority of our competition uses live feeds as content. This is megasite content which is not what the average person is looking for. Point is if you don’t partner with the content companies you will have to become one to compete and that is very expensive. If you don’t partner with the online content companies you are missing a terrific Adult Online Business Opportunity that will produce Long-Term Profit for you.

9.Updates of Content Partnering with internet content companies will assure you that your content will be updated often. With our Adult Online Website Design Business this is what we do. We and the content companies have a vested interest in you making money. We make more money when we assist you in making more. If content companies and design companies do not have a vested interest in you making money why would they update the content for you?? The answer is simple for they wouldnt and so they dont. Do you know how expensive updating content is? If I was not making money by updating your content why would I waste my time doing it? I wouldnt. If you purchase an Adult Online Website Business with content the Adult Design Company manages you will not get your content updated for you. The content will be old and will only get older because the design company has no interest in updating it. When you partner with content companies the content company only makes money by updating your content. This partnering with content companies is our website design business model and as far as we know it is the only model that works. We would not steer you in the wrong direction. Partnering with these content companies produces Profitable Adult Online Business Opportunities that you need to take advantage of.

10. Dont bet the farm on one Turnkey Adult Internet Business. This is an investment in your future; not a job. You are investing your hard earned money. If you were to invest in the stock market it is better to invest in mutual funds than it is to invest in one stock and bet the farm on it. That stock comes with tremendous risk whereas the mutual fund tremendously reduces that risk and provides you a wonderful opportunity to reach profitability as quickly as possible. The point here is dont invest your hard earned money in one revenue stream when you have an Adult Online Business Opportunity to invest it in possibly 10. We do just that for all clients and the others should also otherwise they are just setting you up to fail miserably.

Software application development has only been around since the late 1970s. Compared to other industries and professions the software industry is still very young. Ever since organizations began to use computers to support their business tasks, the people who create and maintain those “systems” have become more and more sophisticated and specialized. This specialization is necessary because as computer systems become more and more complex, no one person can know how to do everything.

One of the “specialties” to arise is the Business Analyst. A Business Analyst is a person who acts as a liaison between business people who have a business problem and technology people who know how to create solutions. Although some organizations have used this title in non-IT areas of the business, it is an appropriate description for the role that functions as the bridge between people in business and IT. The use of the word “Business” is a constant reminder that any application software developed by an organization should further improve its business operations, either by increasing revenue, reducing costs, or increasing service level to the customers.

History of the Business Analyst Role

In the 1980s when the software development life cycle was well accepted as a necessary step, people doing this work typically came from a technical background and were working in the IT organization. They understood the software development process and often had programming experience. They used textual requirements along with ANSI flowcharts, dataflow diagrams, database diagrams, and prototypes. The biggest complaint about software development was the length of time required to develop a system that didn’t always meet the business needs. Business people had become accustomed to sophisticated software and wanted it better and faster.

In response to the demand for speed, a class of development tools referred to as CASE (Computer Aided Software Engineering) were invented. These tools were designed to capture requirements and use them to manage a software development project from beginning to end. They required a strict adherence to a methodology, involved a long learning curve, and often alienated the business community from the development process due to the unfamiliar symbols used in the diagrams.

As IT teams struggled to learn to use CASE tools, PCs (personal computers) began to appear in large numbers on desktops around the organization. Suddenly anyone could be a computer programmer, designer and user. IT teams were still perfecting their management of a central mainframe computer and then suddenly had hundreds of independent computers to manage. Client-server technologies emerged as an advanced alternative to the traditional “green screen,” keyboard-based software.

The impact on the software development process was devastating. Methodologies and classic approaches to development had to be revised to support the new distributed systems technology and the increased sophistication of the computer user prompted the number of software requests to skyrocket.

Many business areas got tired of waiting for a large, slow moving IT department to rollout yet another cumbersome application. They began learning to do things for themselves, or hiring consultants, often called Business Analysts, who would report directly to them, to help with automation needs. This caused even more problems for IT which was suddenly asked to support software that they had not written or approved. Small independent databases were created everywhere with inconsistent, and often, unprotected data. During this time, the internal Business Analyst role was minimized and as a result many systems did not solve the right business problem causing an increase in maintenance expenses and rework.

New methodologies and approaches were developed to respond to the changes, RAD (rapid application development), JAD (joint application development), and OO (object oriented) tools and methods were developed.

As we began the new millennium, the Internet emerged as the new technology and IT was again faced with a tremendous change. Once again, more sophisticated users, anxious to take advantage of new technology, often looked outside of their own organizations for the automation they craved. The business side of the organization started driving the technology as never before and in a large percentage of organizations began staffing the Business Analyst role from within the operational units instead of from IT. We now have Marketing Directors, Accountants, Attorneys, and Payroll Clerks performing the role of the Business Analyst.

In addition, the quality movement that had started in the 70s with TQM, came into focus again as companies looked for ways to lower their cost of missed requirements as they expanded globally. The ISO (International Standards Organization) set quality standards that must be adhered to when doing international business. Carnegie Mellon created a software development quality standard CMM (Capability Maturity Model). Additionally, Six Sigma provided a disciplined, data-driven quality approach to process improvement aimed at the near elimination of defects from every product, process, and transaction. Each of these quality efforts required more facts and rigor during requirements gathering and analysis which highlighted the need for more skilled Business Analysts familiar with the business, IT, and quality best practices.

Future of the Business Analyst Role

Today we see Business Analysts coming from both the IT and business areas. In the best situations, the Business Analyst today has a combination of IT and business skills. Each organization has unique titles for these individuals and the structure of Business Analyst groups is as varied as the companies themselves. However, there is a core set of tasks that most Business Analysts are doing regardless of their background or their industry.

The Business Analyst role becomes more critical as project teams become more geographically dispersed.
Outsourcing and globalization of large corporations have been the driving factors for much of this change recently. When the IT development role no longer resides inside our organizations, it becomes necessary to accurately and completely define the requirements in more detail than ever before. A consistent structured approach, while nice to have in the past, is required to be successful in the new environment. Most organizations will maintain the Business Analyst role as an “inhouse” function. As a result, more IT staff are being trained as Business Analysts.

The Business Analyst role will continue to shift its focus from “Software” to “Business System.”
Most Business Analysts today are focused on software development and maintenance, but the skills of the Business Analyst can be utilized on a larger scale. An excellent Business Analyst can study a business area and make recommendations about procedural changes, personnel changes, and policy changes in addition to recommending software. The Business Analyst can help improve the business system not just the business software.

The Business Analyst role will continue to evolve as business dictates.
Future productivity increases will be achieved through re-usability of requirements. Requirements Management will become another key skill in the expanding role of the Business Analyst as organizations mature in their understanding of this critical expertise. The Business Analyst is often described as an “Agent of Change.” Having a detailed understanding of the organization’s key initiatives, a Business Analyst can lead the way to influence people to adapt to major changes that benefit the organization and its business goals. The role of a Business Analyst is an exciting and secure career choice as U.S. companies continue to drive the global economy.

Training for the Business Analyst

The skill set needed for a successful Business Analyst is diverse and can range from communication skills to data modeling. A Business Analyst’s educational and professional background may vary as well–some possess an IT background while others come from the business stakeholder area.

With backgrounds as diverse and broad as these it is difficult for a Business Analyst to possess all the skills necessary to perform successful business analysis. Companies are finding that individuals with a strong business analysis background are difficult to locate in the marketplace and are choosing to train their employees to become Business Analysts in consistent structured approaches. First, organizations seeking formal business analysis training should examine vendors who are considered “experts” on the field with a strong focus on business analysis approaches and methodologies. Second, you will want to examine the quality of the training vendor’s materials. This may be done by researching who wrote a vendor’s materials and how often they are updated to stay abreast of industry best practices. Third, matching the real-world experience of instructors to the needs and experience level of your organization is critical to successful training. Business analysis is an emerging profession and it is critical that the instructors that you choose have been practicing Business Analysts.

Businesses want to be ranked #1 in the eyes of their customers; they want their businesses to be talked about. However, there are many businesses in the same industry, targeting similar markets, fighting for the same potential clients’ attention. The same is true for politicians: they compete with each other for the same voters.

If you want your customers to select you instead of somebody else, you need to be different. It is not enough just to be different, but also different in a way your customers will appreciate. For instance, if you are the only one in your industry packaging the items in a blue case … this will make you different; but maybe is something your clients don’t care much. On the other hand, if you are the only one in your industry offering free shipping, chances are that you will be at the top if the rest of your service also matches your clients’ expectations. You have to find what makes your business unique (usually called “unique selling proposition” in marketing terms) and tell everybody.

The question now is how to articulate your “unique selling proposition” in a way that your clients and potential clients will not only understand, but effortlessly remember. The solution is: use a slogan. A slogan is a short sentence that explains what makes you unique. Good slogans are easy to be remembered, they stick on people minds. A slogan makes it easier for your business to be remembered and talked about. It can help setting your business in a privileged position in a competitive industry.

Finding the right slogan is both a difficult and easy process. While it is difficult to come up with good slogans, it is easy to recognize good ones. You, as business owner, can easily recognize if a slogan is appropriate for your business. No one else knows more than you about your business. The question is who can come up with the slogans? You could involve your employees for instance. After all, they know the message that you want to transmit … In fact, they know it so well that they most probably suffer from the “Curse of Knowledge” syndrome. The curse of knowledge means that they know so much about your business’ unique selling proposition that for them, an also for you, it is difficult to realize what it feels like not to know it. Any slogan crafted under the curse of knowledge syndrome effect will not take into account that potential clients do not know yet about what makes you unique.

Therefore, the slogan development process must include outsiders. You need sloganeers that are not affected by the “curse of knowledge”. They can provide you with their slogan suggestions and you can recognize what works for your business. It works best when the process follows an iterative refinement: sloganeers suggest slogans first, then you tell them what works for your business and what does not and sloganeers provide suggestions again. This way, your preferences are taken into account in successive slogan suggestions. It is hard to tell how many slogans suggestions you will need. Usually, business owners get the right slogan after 20 – 30 slogan suggestions, but more may be needed.

You have done already the hard work of building your business and differentiate from your competitors. Now, all you need to do is to communicate in an effective way what is especial about you, what makes your business unique. Find some outsider sloganeers and get a slogan for your business; it is a small investment with a huge return.