Taking the Entrepreneurial Leap
Making the transition from worker bee to small business owner involves a great deal of time, effort, money, and personal commitment.  It is not a decision to be made hastily nor taken lightly.  There are certain questions you need to ask and certain elements to consider, with every step along the way a potential pitfall.  How successful you become—both personally and financially—will depend in great part on how prepared you are at the beginning of the journey.  Here are some of the most vital questions to consider.

What Type of Business Should I Own?
Your knowledge, business experience, temperament, personal interests, and comfort level in a particular field all contribute deciding on which industry you should consider.  If you don’t like hanging around other people’s children, don’t start a daycare center.  If you hate sitting in front of the computer all day long, perhaps a career as an IT consultant is not for you.  If you have the same problems with the sun as does comedian Woody Allen—“I don’t tan, I stroke”—a landscaping business may not be your best option.  Matching your abilities and interests to the industry you want to join is the first positive step to take.

Where Do I Get the Money?
It is the rare business these days that can be started with just pocket change.  That said, you don’t have to be a multi-millionaire in order to become a first-time business buyer.  Options abound for the enterprising soul, including buying a business from an owner who is willing to provide some or all of the financing.  You can also consider a home equity loan, bringing in one or more partners—friends or relatives who might fulfill an active role in the business or else act as passive investors—or tap into your Roth I.R.A.

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Investing in the United States from Overseas
Depending upon the state of the U.S. dollar and its relative value against various foreign currencies, overseas investors may find that putting their money into U.S. investments will grant them a very favorable rate of return.  For foreign nationals who wish to take this path, the U.S. government asks that they apply for an E-2 visa.  This is a special document that allows someone from outside the United States to make a domestic investment and also relocate there for a period of time.  For non-U.S. citizens with money to spend, this can be one of the easiest ways to end up living and working in the United States.

E-2 Visa Requirements
An applicant for an E-2 visa must be a legal resident of one of the countries with which the United States enjoys a treaty of commerce.  It is called a “non-immigrant” visa because it does not guarantee the holder a direct path to U.S.

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Protection for Franchise Buyers
Once you have decided that buying a franchise is the right business move, and after you have done proper due diligence to choose a field or industry to enter, it comes time to wade through the vast amounts of paperwork supplied by the prospective franchisors.  Few people are able to do this on their own.  Don’t forget, you are making a huge investment in both time and money to buy a franchise.  Even if your only concern is in understanding the franchise agreement and other material that will legally bind you together with the parent company, spending a few thousand dollars at the beginning of the relationship could save you many times more than that during the time you spend as a franchise owner.

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Let the Buyer Beware
The old adage, “A fool and his money are soon parted,” is never more appropriate than for people who are looking to buy a franchise.  There are literally thousands of business opportunities out there for an entrepreneur who wants to own a business.  But as with any situation that involves spending money, there are always a few bad apples waiting to separate you from your cash.  By doing plenty of research ahead of time—and by keeping an eye out for some telltale warning signs—you will protect yourself, your investors (if you have some), and your financial future.

A String of Bad Players
Every day your e-mail inbox is chock-full of fake business deals—with work-at-home schemes and financial processing dodges just a few examples among many.  You’re unlikely to send money via Western Union to someone in the Ivory Coast based on the expectation of sharing a US$20 million windfall.  If that’s the case, why not approach a potential franchise purchase with the same level of healthy skepticism?  Even companies that appear to be a well-known brand name could be less than legitimate.  The benign-sounding Pizza One out of Canada—the fraudster also used the name “Anthony’s Kitchen” in the States—notoriously took as much as $50,000 from a number of prospective franchisees without delivering so much as a double-pepperoni with cheese.  Do a Web search on the phrase “franchise scam” to find more than 6,000 entries in a wide variety of industries.

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Shaky Financial Times
Some news pundits have described our current dire economic circumstances - not literally, perhaps, but in similar tone - as if the Great Depression of the 1930s was paired with Europe’s suffering at the hands of the bubonic plague, plus an invasion of the Mongol Horde thrown in for good measure.  While few of us are riding high these days, nothing is ever as bleak the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, or U.S. News & World Report makes it out to be.  Despite the seemingly never-ending stories of job layoffs, personal bankruptcies and home foreclosures, these can be exceptionally rewarding times for small business owners.

Darwin Was Right - About One Thing, Anyway
Although the theory Charles Darwin put forth regarding the extinction of species - he claimed it happened slowly over millennia - has been pretty much debunked by scientists identifying at least five Great Extinctions, each taking place quite suddenly, the scholarly evolutionist was correct about the survival of the fittest, at least as it concerns business.  In difficult financial times, money is tight at the consumer level.  People are especially tight-fisted when it comes to deciding where to spend their cash.  A company that trims unnecessary spending, provides superior customer service, refuses to cut back on product quality, and finds more efficient ways to operate, will stand to capture a solid share of the market.  Establishments that give off the stench of despair, alienate their employees, or continue to spend too much money on non-essentials, will probably fail to survive.  Make smart decisions and you will avoid becoming the modern-day equivalent of the dodo bird or the passenger pigeon.

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No matter what field of medicine you work, the majority of offices and practices need some sort of lab work done for patients.  Many places have on-site medical and dental labs while other practices send their lab work out to specific medical and dental labs.  Prior to buying a medical or dental lab it is important to consider the legal aspects of the transition.  There are many different considerations to keep in mind for buying a medical lab or dental lab.

Location of the Facility
Check the location of the facility when you find a medical lab for sale or a dental lab for sale.  Healthcare providers want to be able to send lab work out that can be returned in a timely manner.  If the medical lab for sale is located a long distance from the hospitals and other medical facilities a great deal of time is spent for transportation of lab samples to the facility.  This is precious time that could be used for obtaining lab results that doctors and patients are waiting for.  It is important that the medical lab for sale or a dental lab for sale is located near major medical facilities to decrease the transportation time and increase the speed of getting lab results to physicians.

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Personal Liability
We all have responsibilities when it comes to living in a society.  If you own a home, you must maintain it properly to avoid affecting the value of other properties in your neighborhood.  If you drive a car, you must operate it in a reasonable manner to make sure you are putting no one at risk of injury.  If you own a company, you must conduct business in a fair and safe manner.  Failing to abide by these societal expectations can cost you, both personally and professionally. The purpose of insurance is to protect the person or the business entity from financial harm.

Business Insurance Plan
Owners of a business should have a plan to protect the assets of the company as well as those of the individual owners.  While there are many types of insurance for small business, here are the primary categories:

• Property insurance
• Liability insurance
• Health insurance

Business Property Insurance
Property insurance offers protection against loss or damage, whether by theft, natural disaster, or accident.  A policy will protect both the physical building and its contents, and most insurers will cover items that are lost or stolen even after they have been removed from the premises—a laptop computer that accompanies you on a business trip, for example.

Three Basic Types of Business Liability Insurance
Even as the “protected” owner of a corporation or LLC (limited liability company), there are still circumstances where you can be held personally responsible for damages.  For example, you may have signed a personal loan guarantee for your business.  You may have caused an injury to someone through direct action or negligence, or did something illegal or irresponsible.  In these instances, the corporate umbrella may not protect you from suit.

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