Business Tips Guides

Articles of incorporation are the foundation stone of a new company and later on are used as a legal document of the company just like the constitution of a country. Not only do they serve as a legal framework, they are also used for shaping the policies of the company, the way its management needs to be handled and how it is supposed to run the company.

These articles of incorporation are filed with the registrar of companies. Sample articles of incorporation are easy to find, but, but are not necessarily right for you primarily because each is made uniquely for a specific corporation. No matter what type of of articles you are looking for a lot depends on the type of business and country the company is located.

Article incorporation llc sample & Article of association sample: The Difference:
If you are in the US or other similar countries you might be searching for appropriate sample articles of incorporation. However if you are in the UK and various other countries sample articles of association would be more appropriate instead of samples articles of incorporation.

Sample articles of incorporation:
Below is a step by step explanation of sample articles of incorporation which will give you an idea about its overall structure. This sample articles of incorporation does not mean that every Articles of Incorporation include all the points, or that they are in the same order. However without discussing with your lawyer or attorney do not just rely on this sample articles of incorporation.

* The first and foremost information that Articles of Incorporation has is the corporations name. There are few restrictions on few names in some places but generally the only condition is that the name should be unique from other corporations under the same authority.

* The next article can be the purpose of corporation. The purpose can be charity or anything but generally there is an explicit mention that it is for any lawful purpose.

* Board of directors: In some countries the law requires at least one, in other areas you might have to give three or five names.

* The date of the existence of the corporation

* The primary address of the main office of the corporation

* Limitations if there are any. Some corporations like to bind their directors/employees and the corporation itself to refrain from few activities.

* Declaration of the corporation as a stock corporation or a non-stock corporation.

* In case if it is a stock corporation the maximum number of shares that the corporation can issue and also per share par level.

* Declaring employees and directors of the corporation exempted from the debts and liabilities of the corporation

* Policies about dividends or any committee to be formed in the corporation.

* Naming of a registered agent

* Date and signature of all the concerned people accepting that they have read, understood, accepted willingly all the Articles of Incorporation and will do their utmost to act on it.

The above article of incorporation sample covers all the main points and generally corporation details are not covered in the Articles of Incorporation but still it can vary a little.

Ramapati Singhania specializes in creating and managing web businesses. His latest website http://www.incorporation-offshore-saves-wealth.com focuses on helping you to incorporate offshore companies in Seychelles, Mauritius and BVI. You can also visit his blog, http://www.ramapatisinghania.com

Most coaches I’ve met and whose web sites I’ve visited seem to be of the “coaches who coach coaches so that they can coach coaches” variety. No one seems to be coaching regular traditional mainstream businesses. Most coaches just seem to be coaching each other.

Those coaches who say they coach people who are not coaches all seem to have references from clients at Fortune 500 companies plastered on their web sites. How is it possible you ask, that 100,000 coaches (ok, maybe that’s an exaggeration) all seem to be coaching executives at only 500 companies? I uncovered the truth. It’s creative copywriting.

A little research demonstrated that these coaches have actually coached individuals at this or that tiny division or regional facility of a Fortune 500 company. The name on the check they received ‘proved’ they had worked with a Fortune 500 company and we are left to assume that meant executives at the highest level.

In fact these coaches were coaching small businesses, because that’s what these divisions actually are. They have their own budgets, their own processes, their own need to be accountable to the market. It’s just that the market for them is the committees of big shots - or as they are often called, “the people upstairs.”

These divisions typically have less than 500 employees and fewer than two dozen executives, like the traditional privately held and family owned businesses that make up almost 90% of all organizations worldwide. These divisions have all the productivity, communication, conflict, leadership, and management issues faced regularly by the small companies that populate Main Street.

Except of course that you can be hired, do your work, and be paid by one of these Main Street companies - in less time than it take your proposal to get through the decision making process at a Fortune 500 divisional organization.

The owners of these mainstream companies are executives in the truest sense of the word. They make decisions that effect their lives and the success of their entire universe every day. In a family owned company mistakes can be fatal. These executives need executive coaches to help them uncover the pot holes before the company drops into one.

Leadership is the key core competency required to achieve and sustain success in the 21st Century. Mainstream companies do not have leadership development programs - everything is OJT (on the job training) so if you are a leadership coach, there are more clients among the companies within 20 miles of where you are sitting right now than you can ever serve.

Unmanaged conflict is the largest reducible cost in organizations today, and the least recognized, according to Dan Dana, known around the world as the “Conflict Doctor” and the creator of the revolutionary self-help conflict resolution method. While Dr. Dana’s process was created to allow mediation without a mediator, sometimes businesses need help getting everybody on board and cooperating with the process. These mainstream companies are made up of people who know each other well - where nothing is just business, everything is personal, so an outsider is often required to help train and facilitate the start up of the conflict resolution process. This is the role of a conflict coach - helping real people deal with very real issues that effect their lives and those of their entire family.

As some corporations position themselves to transition the business to the next generation of owners it becomes clear that the business is unlikely to get big enough quick enough to provide opportunities for everybody. Or the younger generation are not interested in the family business. Enter the career coach to help the younger generation members consider their alternatives and maybe help find qualified outsiders to become managers and successors in the next generation.

And these companies need management coaches. The average successful business owner is in his or her sixties. That makes their offspring probably less than forty. Virtually every successful mainstream company also has key employees, managers, and supervisors who are within 10 years of the owner’s. That means that the people exist who, if coached well - can create the internal management team that will lead to seamless growth as the senior generation heads off into the sunset.

In fact for every speciality and sub-specialty of coaches there is work to be done on Main St.

What kind of coach are you? What kind of coach do you want to be? What contributions do you want to make?

If you want to connect with the thousands of business owners who visit our web site each month be sure to join our brand new directory of professional solution providers for businesses at http://www.FamilyBusinessAdvisors.biz

Wayne Messick reports on how Main St. businesses are poised to succeed in the 21st Century on his blog
www.WayneMessick.com

“You’re Fired” can give you peace of mind on the road to an exit strategy.

Business owners can learn how to “fire themselves”.

There was an article in the newspaper recently about a couple that was going to retire. The columnist was going through the fund of money that was necessary to replace earning income in order for the couple to live the lifestyle that they wanted. With today’s miniscule interest rates, the amount of money needed to totally replace their income was staggering!

But retirement today doesn’t have to mean totally going without income. If you do it right, your business can provide the income to do the things you love without the pressure of worrying. All good business owners know that one of the best parts of owning their own business is that someday they will be in a position to sell it. As strange as this may seem, in order to get top dollar for all your hard work, you need to “fire” yourself.

The smart business owner starts planning to sell his business long before he reaches retirement age. In fact, the really smart ones plan their exit strategies at the beginning of their business. After all, if you don’t know where you’re going, how do you expect to get there?

There are a number of different exit strategies that can be employed in business. Most of the time we have been taught to focus on selling the business and taking the cash to invest so we can live off the interest.

Your focus in your business should be to eventually make yourself dispensable so someone else can do the hard work while you reap the benefits. If you are not dispensable, are you the owner, or just another employee?

This strategy will also be a fabulous way to “be prepared” in case you are seriously injured and could not work. What would happen to your cash flow if that happened? If you already have the system in place for someone else to take over you won’t have this worry.

What if you want to sell your business eventually? Think about it. If you are indispensable to your business, what do you have to sell?

The dentist thinks of herself as the only one who can do her job. But in reality, how much of her work does she really have to perform? What part of her work actually requires her to have her dental license? How much other work is she doing that does not require that license? Could she hire a team to do all the work that does not require a license? For that matter, could she hire someone who has a dental license to do the work she does that requires a license?

The secret to firing yourself is adopting systems. Systems that allow your business to operate even when you are not there. Systems that can operate even when you are there. The person who has fired themselves has a business that generates cash flow, day in and day, even perhaps while the business owner is sleeping. Would you be doing what you do today if you had been taught in school to develop cash flow businesses instead of a salary?

Jim Montgomery is a business owner, business coach and law firm owner in San Antonio, Texas. He helps people buying and selling business. For detailed information on his business system, visit http://www.yourexitstrategy.blogspot.com or email him at jemmktg@mac.com.

As the year starts to wind down, many businesses and entrepreneurs are making plans and budgets for the year ahead. Those plans could include anything from setting up goals for new products to preparing marketing, sales and PR/publicity campaigns. When it comes to your publicity plan, WHEN you launch your campaign can be just as important to what and how you launch.

HOLIDAY PUBLICITY OPPORTUNITIES:
If your product/business lends itself to increased holiday sales, the next few weeks are a perfect time to get a publicity campaign launched - given the right media targets. Many holiday issues are already been laid out for magazines, and many other media outlets are feverishly seeking information/pitches on innovative stories for the holidays. Some media outlets even reorganize or beef up staff around the holidays to allow for an increase in stories on products.

PLANTING PUBLICITY SEEDS NOW FOR 1ST QUARTER RESULTS:
Some business owners may be of the mindset: “I think we’ll wait to launch a publicity campaign until after January 1st.” The problem is — if you wait to launch your publicity campaign until the first of the year hoping for a quick media interest blast in January, you may be in for a quiet month. Keep in mind most media outlets have editorial lead-times of a few weeks to 6 months.

Also what some entrepreneurs don’t realize is this. Because of the increasing number of publicity pitches media outlets receive, anything you send out is subjected to what I call the “media digestion period” — simply put, that is a period of time (sometimes weeks, sometimes months) that it takes media outlets to:

#1) see/understand your release and decide if they are interested;
#2) find space/time in their editorial calendar to place the article/news story/show segment.

The potential placement is also directly dependent upon how quickly and efficiently your publicist or PR agency can help the media secure the placement. Media relations is crucial. Your publicist’s job is to make the reporter/editor/producer’s job as easy and as effortless as possible - which will lead to quicker and more numerous placements for your business.

When it comes to publicity pitches, the facts are: placement is totally up to the discretion of the particular media outlet; and very few media responses are immediate. I have in fact had media outlets respond even before the media release seemed to settle in the fax machine tray. Conversely, I also had one media outlet that responded 17 months after a pitch. (I had to ask the reporter what the YEAR was on the release!)

NO placement is guaranteed, but you can definitely increase the odds. Even if your product/business if a dead-on perfect match for a media outlet’s editorial profile, you are not guaranteed placement without some hard work and media relations. That’s why timing of your publicity pitch is so critical. Have your publicist get your pitch to the media, allow the editorial staff to digest it, and strategically and professionally rattle the cage over the next several weeks to generate as many placements as possible.

What we are trying to do is plant seeds in media outlets’ editorial garden so they will bear fruit — in the form of articles/show placements — continuously over the next several weeks and months. Like the plant that comes from a seed, publicity placements can also grow roots and lead to other arterial media placements in other media outlets.

Given the right tending, the publicity seeds you plant over the next few weeks/months will indeed germinate and you’ll reap a wonderful harvest for your business well past the first quarter of next year.

Todd Brabender is the President of Spread The News Public Relations, Inc.
His business specializes in generating media exposure and publicity for innovative products, businesses, experts and inventions.
http://www.spreadthenewspr.com
todd@spreadthenewspr.com
(785) 842-8909

As you are looking to purchase an ice machine or a commercial ice machine for your restaurant, bar, country club or golf course, there are some questions that you may have prior to your purchase to make sure that you are purchasing an adequate sized ice machine for the needs of your facility. Here are some common questions:

How do I determine how much ice I will need for my facility?

This is a question asked by many and we will provide some figures that are averages for proper ice levels. The real trick is to do the research and to do the math as every restaurant, bar, country club and golf course has different needs at different times of the day. Once the math and research is done to determine how much ice you will need, there are still other factors to consider. Before your purchase, you need to determine where the ice machine will be placed in the facility? If the ice making machine will be installed near the kitchen area or any other area in which will be hotter than normal, the heat may drastically decrease the amount of ice that your ice machine will produce. Another consideration is that a slightly larger machine never really hurt anyone. Weigh this against the challenge that you and your staff will have when you run out of ice.

Here are the “guidelines” for ice needs from an ice maker:

Restaurant ice needs are 1.5 lbs. per person
Bar or Lounge ice needs are 3 lbs. per person
Salad Bar ice needs are 30 lbs. per cubic foot
Lodging ice needs are 5 lbs per room
Catering ice needs are 1 lb per person

Do I need a water-cooled ice machine or an air-cooled ice machine?

As you can imagine there are advantages and disadvantages to each system. The air cooled units are easy to install and the purchase price is typically lower than a water cooled model. However, the air cooled units tend to be noisy and will give off heat which may not be desirable depending on the placement of the unit. A water cooled machine is also easy to install. A water cooled unit is also quieter and is typically more efficient than a water cooled unit. In some dryer parts of the country, you may be required to have a permit to run a water cooled machine.

How important is a water filter to the facility’s ice making machine?

A water filter will remove any odor as well as improve the taste of the ice by removing sediment, parasites, controlling calcium as well as hi-scale build-up. These factors also lead to a unit breaking down. Changing your water filter is important maintenance to do just as changing the oil in your car is important to its proper function.

With proper maintenance, how long can I expect an ice unit to last?

Again, the truthful answer to this question is, it depends. With that being said, most machines will last up to 10 years. This depends on if you properly maintain the machine as well as the water quality available as well as the amount of humidity in your area.

Maxx Johnson of VGS Golf Click for . Click for more info on Restaurant Equipment.

I received the following question from a subscriber-

“With the market and economy being what it is at present my practice is very very slow. My mentor just says it’s the stock market and things are just slow. I’m down to four clients. What to do?? Do you think the market will have a long effect on my practice? I hate to call it quits, but I don’t want to wait and lose money and time.” L.W., LCSW

My response-

I’m so glad you asked this question as I’m sure many private practice professionals can relate. I really appreciate your pro-active choice to reach out and find solutions instead of giving up.

Here are some thoughts and recommendations for you-

1. Our profession thrives in times of trouble.

When people are anxious about what’s happening in their world they are especially good candidates for our services -if- they are convinced we can help them, which requires effective marketing and enrollment skills and strategies.

2. Challenging times separate the Go-Getters from the Dabblers

I’ve weathered many economic downturns here in Silicon Valley, starting long ago with the decline of the defense industry before high tech boosted this area. If times are tough and you’re committed to your profession, you can find a way to serve the folks that need you now more than ever, and your practice can thrive more than ever (see #1 above).

3. If you’re anxious it’s hard to help those around you that are anxious.

This is the Law of Attraction in action. People need you to motivate, inspire, reassure, and help them find solutions. If you mirror their fear they’ll run for the exits.

4. Good times are easy, challenging times test our mettle

Especially our business and marketing strategies. When times are good it’s easy to be mediocre and get by. When the going gets tough is when the weaknesses are revealed.

5. If you’re struggling in your practice, go back to basics.

As a refresher, here are my six basic essentials of a successful practice as I see them that we cover in our Private Practice Marketing Secrets Mentoring Program-

A. Clearly identified niche

B. Market research to identify what your niche wants, needs

C. Packaging your services for your niche

D. Effective marketing strategies to reach your niche and create prospects

E. Leveraging your network, building your referral systems

F. Effective enrollment skills to convert prospects to clients

6. Remember, the most effective ways to market and get clients don’t cost anything!

Don’t spend money unless you’re confident your strategy will return the investment. Focus on the basics first (see #5 above).

7. Enroll, enroll, enroll.

You need to survive before you can thrive. In private practice, survival depends upon your ability to get clients. The shortest distance between where you are now and money in your pocket is getting a new client, not building a fancy website, printing business cards, etc. What can you do NOW to get a new client?

8. Strive to own your niche

You want to be the go-to person for the folks in your niche that need support. Here are my top five things you can do to own your niche-

A. Presentations and seminars (get in front of as many people as possible as the expert who can help them)

B. Groups (expand from 1:1, leverage your time, affordable, easier to market)

C. Media (reach out to print, TV, and radio with information helpful to the folks in your niche)

D. Host a community (birds of a feather flock together, especially when anxious)

E. Packaging/branding your expertise to target the folks in your niche

9. Get the support you need

No-one is successful alone. Your clients need you, and you need support as well. Who is your coach/mentor? Who is your support community? Who has the track record and expertise to help you achieve your goal? Just as your prospective clients will flounder going it alone when they are challenged, so will you.

David Steele, MA, LMFT is founder of Relationship Coaching Institute and BuildingYourIdealPractice.com. He is passionate about helping private practice professionals to get clients and build a successful private practice, after all, how can we make a difference in the world if we can’t survive in private practice? Visit his website for free practice-building resources and information- www.BuildingYourIdealPractice.com