Rose City Business

The Small Business Administration reports that 33% of all start-ups fail before two years. In comparison, a recent report by the U.S. Department of Commerce shows the failure rate of franchisees is only 4% to 5%. If you like those statistics and are considering a franchise, there are both upsides and downsides to owning a franchise.

The benefits of a franchise include getting a readymade business plan, guidance from the franchisor and other owners, plus – with many franchises - an established reputation. Additionally, most franchisors offer training.

However, be prepared to make significant investments (both time and money) to a franchise. According to the American Franchise Association (AFA), the average initial investment for a franchise is $400,000; the common range is $20,000 to $2 million, depending on the type of franchise. The AFA reports that it takes an average of three years to break even.

Additionally, the commitment to a franchise averages 8 to 10 years (some are as high as 20). Keep in mind, too, that buying in is usually easier than getting out; you will likely pay out of pocket to break a franchise contract. Sometimes, the franchisor will agree to buy back the franchise.

Conversely, when starting your own non-franchise business, you do not have the hurdles associated with the franchise. However, you may not have any name recognition, you may not know how to adequately train yourself and your staff, and you may not have other business owners in similar fields to guide your first steps.

If you don’t mind having procedures set up for you (since you will likely be limited in the style that you run your business), you have decent communication and basic accounting skills, and are a hard worker, a franchise may be right for you. Like any business, be sure to carefully read the Uniform Franchise Offering Circular (UFOC) and pass everything through your trusted business advisors (CPA, attorney, financial planner). The UFOC will describe in detail your responsibilities as a franchise owner (from annual training to percentage of profits towards advertising, etc.) and give you a better picture of what your bottom line may be.

About the author: Peter Stavropoulos is a business attorney whose practice emphasizes the representation of individuals and small to medium businesses, counseling clients on matters ranging from entity formation, employer/employee relations, contract draft and review, and civil litigation. To learn more, please visit www.petestavlaw.com or send an email to peter@petestavlaw.com.

“Are you Catholic?” This may sound like an odd question for a job applicant, but not if you are applying for a position as a Catholic priest. While some job applications may not require such scrutiny, it is important to learn as much as you can - within the playing field of California law - in the short time you have with your job applicants.

After you have received job applications from potential employees, the next logical step is to interview those who appear to be good candidates on paper. A good interview not only allows the employer to learn about the applicant, but also to help the applicant learn about the job. So while it is very important to avoid certain questions (like “Are you Catholic” unless the exception above applies), it is equally important to ask the right questions.

The topics you may discuss include whether the employee will be traveling out of town and how often, where the employee will be working, what equipment you will provide the employee, whether there is a uniform or clothing requirements. Of course, outside of the usual salary and benefits discussions, different positions warrant different questions. For example, asking an applicant’s age is not normally permissible, but like many questions, there are always exceptions.

Be sure the applicant understands what is expected if hired. Leaving out crucial detail could later create distrust or anger in the employee, which can in turn affect job performance.

Of course, the interview process is also about learning about the applicant. The interview(s) you conduct should also be used to determine whether the candidate is truly qualified for the position (for example, does the candidate’s education and/or job experience qualify him for the basic job requirements, or is the candidate overly qualified).

Like many things in life, the better prepared you are, the better chance you will enjoy a mutually beneficial relationship with the candidate you do hire.

About the author: Peter Stavropoulos is a business attorney whose practice emphasizes the representation of individuals and small to medium businesses, counseling clients on matters ranging from entity formation, employer/employee relations, contract draft and review, and civil litigation. To learn more, please visit www.petestavlaw.com or send an email to peter@petestavlaw.com.

If you haven’t created an online profile for yourself and your business, you are missing out on an excellent opportunity to enhance your reputation and market yourself and your business. Services like LinkedIn, Facebook, Google Profiles, ZoomInfo and VisualCV are all excellent sites to post information about yourself and your business.

To get started, I recommend that you start by creating a profile for yourself on LinkedIn, as it has the potential to connect you with other professionals and is heavily trafficked by business people. Start with some basics about yourself, your location, services you offer, etc. and enhance your profile over time. Search engines like Google will pickup on your profile, so make sure that you include links to your website, blog and other sites.

Once you have established a profile on LinkedIn, the next place I suggest that you build a profile for yourself is Facebook. People that attend our Digital Marketing Seminars are always amazed when I reveal that, according to a study by the J.C. Williams Group, 93% of Americans expect companies to have a social media presence and 60% of those people expect businesses to have a Facebook presence. It should also be noted that Facebook has over 67 million active users (more than 101 million total users) and ranks 4th on the list of places that people spend time online. So why don’t you have a profile?

The next place to be seen is probably Google Profiles. This is Google’s entry into the profile arena. No one is really sure what they plan to do with it yet but it will get your name listed in Google’s search results. In my book, that alone is a good enough reason to create a profile on Google.

Two other sites that are worthy of investigation are VisualCV and ZoomInfo. VisualCV has a very professional look and feel to it, allows you to print profiles to Acrobat (.pdf) files, and connect to other social networking sites. ZoomInfo is heavily trafficked by business people and is a good place to establish a profile on you and your business, so you can be easily found.

Finally, here are 7 tips to get you started with profiles:

1. Establish a similar profile on each service. Remember that search engines like seeing the same information in a number of places and adjust search engine rankings accordingly. Hence, if I post profiles on all the aforementioned services using the same information, I will be more easily found by businesses or consumers who are using a search engine to find out about me.
2. Make your profiles strictly business or strictly personal. Try not to mix the two. Remember, you are trying to establish a professional presence online. Associate your business profile with your business e-mail address.
3. Limit the amount of personal information you share online. There are bad guys out there that will try to use this information to their advantage, so be careful what personal information you share. Good examples include home address, place of birth, home phone numbers, exact birth date, etc. I generally only share my business contact information and avoid most of the other stuff.
4. Update your profiles quarterly or at least annually. An outdated profile is worthless, especially if your contact information has changed. Make a point to review your profiles regularly and update them as necessary.
5. Link your websites, blogs, and social networks into your profile to raise the visibility of those sites to people who are interested in learning more about you and your company.
6. Establish profiles for your company on LinkedIn, Facebook, and ZoomInfo. This will make your company more visible online and allow others to associate with it.
7. Consider establishing groups (or communities) for your customers or potential customers on some of these sites.

So try establishing an online professional profile for yourself or your company today!

Before signing a commercial lease, carefully read the language and any changes or addendums (additions) to the lease. Some standard commercial lease forms (such as those provided by AIR Commercial Real Estate Association) allow the landlord (or tenant) to add or delete within the boilerplate language. When reviewing such leases, even if you have seen the standard AIR forms, look closely at each paragraph to be sure an important provision has not been changed or deleted. Additionally, I advise my clients to discuss insurance coverage requirements with their insurance agent; often times executing a new lease translates to higher premiums or additional coverage or insured parties.

If you are signing a lease with either an option to extend or an option to purchase, be sure they are complete; often, there are sections left incomplete or even inconsistent with the rest of the document. Also, be sure that these provisions accurately reflect the understanding of both parties. This becomes particularly crucial when the lease includes language for an option to purchase. With these, timing and pricing – amongst other elements – must be very specifically drafted in order to insure you are in fact getting what you want in the lease.

Leases drafted by one party (either the landlord or tenant, but typically the landlord or the landlord’s representative) can specifically address that party’s requirements and as drafted may be incompatible with those of the other party. One such example would be signage – certain leases restrict signage, either because of local ordinances as to size, space, and the like, which may affect the tenant’s ability to adequately market its business.

About the author: Peter Stavropoulos is a business attorney whose practice emphasizes the representation of individuals and small to medium businesses, counseling clients on matters ranging from entity formation, employer/employee relations, contract draft and review, and civil litigation. To learn more, please visit www.petestavlaw.com or send an email to peter@petestavlaw.com.

In my effort to provide useful  information to the readers of this blog, let me give you an exercise that I have been using for many years to increase my motivation and to keep me on track to achieve my goals. This is but one example of the kind of tools I give to my clients to help them program their minds for success. Like I said, I use this myself and it really works.

It’s very simple and involves affirmations. Now before you start going on about the Stuart Smalley character on Saturday Night Live, let me assure you that there are many ways to do affirmations and some are more effective than others.

First, pick a goal that you want to achieve and decide what  the actions are that you need to be taking now to achieve the goal. For example, say you like to ride road bikes and you want to do your first century (100 miles) event. Of course, you need to be realistic. If you have not ridden more than 5 miles ever and the event is 30 days away, well, sorry but, it ain’t gonna happen.

Next, what are the things you need to be doing daily to achieve your goal of riding in your first 100 mile ride in a time that gets you to the finish line before dark? Well, obviously, you need to  be riding everyday or almost every day. What you want to do is to craft an affirmation that is specific and relevant. “I’m riding my bike every day” would not be as good as “I am riding my bike at least 30 miles daily and at least 60 miles on the weekends. Then, come up with two or three more that support your goal. How about “I am eating the right foods that give me energy and stamina when I train.” or I’m enjoying the feeling of getting stronger and more conditioned each time I ride.” You get the picture.

This is what you do next. Write the affirmations down so that you have them exactly how you like them. Then, within half an hour before bed time and within half an hour of waking up, hand-write them once each. It must be handwriting.It doesn’t matter how crappy your handwriting looks, printing is not near as effective.  Now say the affirmation out loud while reading it so that you involve the sense of sight and hearing in addition to the physical (kinesthetic) process of writing them. Then picture in your mind, for just a few seconds, yourself doing the behavior you want to do.

Do the affirmations at night and in the morning for 30 days before you change them. Make sure you frame the affirmations in the positive as opposed to the negative. You don’t want  “I am not sitting in front of the TV eating Cheetos when I should be training on my bike.” Start with “I am..” or “I am becoming..” or “I have… etc.

Why handwriting? Why the half hour before bedtime? You can get the answer by watching this video,  (which I highly recommend) or you can wait until my next post.

Have an awesome week,

Ted

How Employers can Benefit from an Employee Handbook

Companies both small and large benefit from creating and implementing an employee handbook. Here are a few considerations:

BENEFITS OF AN EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK

An employee handbook can help streamline a company’s organization. When creating an employee handbook, management is forced to determine exactly how it relates to its employees. Sometimes, this process uncovers items that management had not previously thought of or had not applied equally; resolving these issues can avoid bigger problems in the future. Additionally, the creation process becomes an opportunity to communicate directly with employees and obtain their feedback.

An employee handbook helps a company manage its workers and its managers. It can provide strict guidelines to ensure consistent treatment to employees. This benefits not only the employee, but management and owners as well; it helps prevent misunderstandings or complaints. If there is ever a question about a specific employer policy, it can be found in the employee handbook.

Finally, a well drafted and properly followed employee handbook provides an additional layer of protection to help prevent lawsuits. For example, a procedure to employees as to how to complain about sexual harassment may be used in the company’s defense should an employee file a harassment lawsuit. Additionally, stated handbook procedures – such as handling of cleanup or machinery in a warehouse, or specific provisions regarding cell phone use in vehicles - may actually prevent accidents (and subsequent litigation). The ideal employee handbook also contains provisions stating that the employee is terminable at will. Terminable at will provisions - although in theory do not need to be stated in writing – reminds or puts the employee on notice of the status of their employment so there is no confusion. In drafting the handbook, the employer must be sure to exclude any language in the remainder of the handbook that could inadvertently destroy that right to fire at will.

PROVISIONS COMMONLY FOUND IN EMPLOYEE HANDBOOKS

While there is no standard employee handbook, as every business is unique, there are many provisions commonly found in employee handbooks. These include (but are not limited to) the following:

- hiring procedures (what steps, if any, the employer takes before hiring)

- firing (specific actions by an employer that would warrant immediate terminate)

- employee hours/shifts (such as what constitutes full time versus part time)

- vacation (how much vacation, when does it accrue, and other issues)

- recruitment (encourage current employees to bring others into the organization).

Of course, an employee handbook can address any issues a company chooses. For example, some companies pay for jury duty – this issue can be covered in an employee handbook.

DISTRIBUTION OF HANDBOOK

When distributing handbooks to its employees, ideally the employer would hold a meeting to answer any questions. If this is not ideal (due to numerous shifts, etc.) managers can distribute to their work force. Once implemented, the employer would then be able to distribute handbooks to new employees at time of hire.

It is also important to have each employee – existing and new – sign an acknowledgement of receipt of the handbook. The original signed acknowledgement should all be maintained in a secure location by the employer.

UPDATING AN EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK

Be sure to review your employee handbook at least once a year to determine whether any changes in the law require amending the handbook, or whether new business practices require such amendment. Even if no changes are necessary, it may remind the owners or its managers of policies otherwise forgotten or ignored.

About the author: Peter Stavropoulos is a business attorney whose practice emphasizes the representation of individuals and small to medium businesses, counseling clients on matters ranging from entity formation, employer/employee relations, contract draft and review, and civil litigation. To learn more, please visit www.petestavlaw.com.

Many of my hypnotherapy clients come to me for help with procrastination. They want to get more accomplished but they seem to lack the motivation. Most of us want to be more productive, but  with the tremendous demands on our time and attention, it’s easy to become overwhelmed, and looking back at the end of the day, wonder, “Where did the day go, and what did I do with it?”

I used to be a huge procrastinator, turning in papers for school late, renewing my auto insurance and registration on the very last day possible, etc. Yet, I didn’t really have a lot on my plate at the time. (My days consisted mostly of hiking, hackysack, and working when I needed to.)  However, after I started my hypnotherapy practice, got married and  had two kids (Fingers and Matrix Chick), I found my personal productivity kicking into high gear.   These days, in addition to  seeing hypnotherapy clients, I am revamping my website, posting this blog, adding to /cleaning up  my database, creating marketing strategies, attending networking events including my weekly BNI group, working on an on-line smoking product - but wait, I don’t want to bore you with all the things I have to do,  and I haven’t even mentioned spending time with the wife and kids or maintaining a house.

What  I can share with you are some strategies that work for me. These days, I am very focused on getting things done, and I find that I’m getting more done these days  than I ever have. Some of there are self evident, but I forget them myself sometimes, to my detriment, so they bear repeating. Of course, many of these I got from the experts.

There's that toad again, just eat it.

• Get up earlier. Sorry, I don’t like it either. The corrollary to this is  go to bed earlier. I get up before 6 so I can take a half hour walk or jog in the cool morning, before the heat, smog and traffic. I simply can’t do it after my kids wake up. I’ll do some stretching and if I’m lucky, I’ll get a chance to read. It isn’t always easy, but the payoff is well worth it: I feel energized, I have momentum, and I’ve accomplished something meaningful before 7 a.m. Of course, I’m in bed by 11.  I recently sat in front of the tube watching “The Pineapple Express”. When it ended, well after midnight, I found myself grieving the loss of two precious hours of my life watching the story of two stoners. (Needless to say, the next day I got up late and started the day behing the 8 ball.)   Ask yourself, is what your doing the last hour to hour and half of your day really a wise use of your time?   Think of what you can get done with an extra hour in the morning, before phone calls and emails start flooding in. That having been said, I also suggest that you
• Get enough sleep. This is different for everybody. I can get by with 7 hours regularly but not with 6 1/2. You lower your ability to meet daily challenges if you are tired. Lack of energy means lack of motivation. Turn the television off and go to bed.
• Eat three meals a day. Ya gotta eat. Period. If you are skipping meals and not eating for stretches of 5 or 6 hours, your blood sugar is low. Your food is converted into blood sugar, or glucose,  the bodies fuel. The organ the uses the most glucose? Your brain. If you are regularly cranky, impatient, irritable, unable to focus or experiencing  energy highs and lows,  take a look at your diet. (Then see a doctor if appropriate.)
• Take breaks. The mind and body can only be active for so long before they  require a break. You will be more productive if you take regular breaks. Relaxation is as necessary as water and air. Even God took a day off.
• Have a plan. You’ve heard the adage “Nobody plans to fail, they just fail to plan.” Lack of a plan can lead to indecision and the killer time waster of them all, distraction. Get some type of planner and plan your day either last thing at night for the next day or first thing in the morning. Assign what you need to do to specific hours of the day, and include an end time as well.
• Be prepared. Avoid overwhelm by making sure you have everythig you need before you venture out. Assemble necessary media, materials, tools, and have them packed and ready to rock and roll. Fill your gas tank the evening before as opposed to the morning of.  (Everything I need to take my morning walk is ready the night before, including the key that gets me out the back gate. Any noisy fumbling to search for something could wake up Fingers, then I’m dead in the water.)
• Value your time. Set bounderies on interruptions. During a project, limit incoming phone calls to only the most important/necessary, otherwise ignore the phone.  That’s what voice mail is for. Schedule time to check/send  email. I heard about a study recently that stated that stopping to  check your email means that on the average it will be half an hour before you get back to your scheduled project. Watch out for time vampires, such as people that simply want to chit chat or people that would rather get an easy answer from you  than figure it out on their own. You don’t need to be rude, simply say “I’m not available right now, but we can talk at such and such a time, O.K? (Be careful when saying this to your boss or your spouse)
• Eat the toad first. I was at a BNI event and there was a speaker that talked about “eating the toad”. The toad is that task or project that you least want to do, or that will be the most difficult. If you save it for the end of the day, you may  procrastinating it right off your schedule, and the whole day you’ll be thinking “Man, I’ve still got to eat that dang toad…” Do it as soon as possible at the beginning of the day and get it out of the way, freeing up focus and energy.
• Work on projects simultaneously, rather than sequentially.Some people feel that they can’t stop working on a task or project until it’s done, even thougth it doesn’t need to be completed that day. Most of us don’t have the luxury of spending all or a major part of the day working on one thing. Again, schedule start and finish times for ongoing projects and be stringent about following these.  You’ll find that chipping away at each one on a daily basis keeps the momentum going, and allows you to be able to see the big picure instead of getting mired down in details.
• Know thyself. Are you one of those people that can’t speak coherent English until 11 am? Are you ready to curl up under your desk and take a nap at 3 pm? Be aware of your own energy cycles and plan accordingly. I’ve tried balancing my checkbook at 10:30 pm. It doesn’t work. I find myself up until after midnight trying to find the 20 missing dollars that got lost because I was tired and  didn’t check something off, etc. Play to your strong times of the day.

For additional articles, please visit http://tedmoreno.wordpress.com

Is small claims court the right court for you?

Scenario: You performed services for someone and they owe you $8,000.00; or, you sold ABC Co. a bunch of widgets for $8,000.00, and they failed to pay you. What is your next step? Assuming you have made some either verbal or written attempts for payment (generally required before filing such an action), you may want to file suit against the person or entity for collection of the debt.

One choice – File a claim in the Los Angeles Superior Court (LASC)

The fee to file a claim in LASC (on what is referred to as a “limited civil” basis as the claim is under $10,000.00) is $180.00. Once filed, you will be placed on a calendar that will hopefully set the matter for trial within 12 months. During that time, parties are given ample time to conduct “discovery” (gathering and exchanging of documents and information relating to the case), which can be time consuming and, if you choose to hire an attorney to assist you, somewhat costly (and should you prevail at trial, you would not be able to recover a substantial amount of your fees absent either a written contract providing for attorney’s fees or some other limited statutory basis for attorney’s fees).

Alternative choice – File a Small Claims Action

If you are a “natural person” (not a business entity such as a corporation or an LLC) you may claim up to $7,500.00 in a small claims action; a business or public entity may claim up to $5,000.00.

Assuming you are a natural person, you can make the claim for $7,500.00 (for a filing fee of $75) even though you are owed an amount greater than that; you are allowed to simply waive the excess. The court will generally set a hearing within a couple of months. Discovery is limited, and no party can be represented by an attorney (except on appeal by a losing defendant).

On smaller claims, the (aptly named) Small Claims court provides a streamlined legal process which avoids the cost and delays of Superior Court filings. Keep in mind, there is no appeals process for the plaintiff. For claims that are slightly higher in dollar amount, or if your matter incorporates somewhat complex legal issues, then consulting an attorney might be the wiser route.

About the author: Peter Stavropoulos is a business attorney whose practice emphasizes the representation of individuals and small to medium businesses, counseling clients on matters ranging from entity formation, employer/employee relations, contract draft and review, and civil litigation. To learn more, please visit www.petestavlaw.com.

We would like to take this opportunity to welcome you to RoseCityBusiness.com, a blog for business owners and entrepenuers doing business in Pasadena, CA and the San Gabriel Valley.

We hope to offer quality information about issues related to accounting, insurance, legal matters and technology for business and have assembled a fine group of professionals to address them

Norm Blieden is a loacl CPA with extensive accounting and tax experience and has owned and operated several businesses, as well. John Barrett is probably one of the best people I know that can address issues related to health insurance. Peter Stavropoulos is an attorney, specializing in business formation and legal issues faced by small-to-medium sized businesses. Finally, Jim Locke (that’s me!) will provide perspectives on business technology issues, based on his 15 years of experience providing solutions to businesses, municipalities and non-profit organizations.

Of course, none of us would be here today, if it were not for our involvement in the Rosebowl Chapter of Business Networks International (BNI). If you are not a member of BNI, we encourage you to check it out. Most of us have found it to be a great asset in growing our businesses. If you would like to visit the BNI Rosebowl Chapter, we meet every Tuesday morning from 7:00am to 8:30am at Brookside Golf Course.