Sometimes in business or life, we encounter ‘pivotal’ points where we have the opportunity thrust upon us to make changes.  A death, a major illness, or a major economic upheaval can force us to take stock of our lives at that point, and make changes.  But isn’t it better to seize the opportunities to change and grow as a choice?  Entrepreneurs carve out their success by doing just that. It is better to be someone who is open to learn, to stretch and push yourself past your comfort zone into what I call ‘the Winner’s Zone’.  This change is a choice!  Life is a series of changes and choices; why not control the direction and pace?

“Searching for the peak performer within yourself has one basic meaning: You recognize yourself as a person who was born, not as a peak performer but as a learner.  With the capacity to grow, change, and reach for the highest possibilities of human nature, you regard yourself as a person in process.  Not perfect, but a person who keeps asking: What more can I be?  What else can I achieve that will benefit me and my company?  That will contribute to my family and my community?” Charles Garfield, Peak Performers

Ask yourself a few questions and allow your honest reactions to reflect the changes in your attitudes, and actions that need to be addressed to maximize your life, your career or your organization.

What do I really want to have my life to accomplish?  What is my biggest dream?

What am I afraid of?  What is stopping me?

What do I need to change to make it work?

When will I commit to start making these changes?

Will you have the courage to change?  Will you commit to being the best you can be, and all that God intended you to become?  Remember the words of J.C.

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If your business is going to be owned by more than one owner, the simplest business form to create and operate is a general partnership. Forming a partnership entails an agreement between two or more prospective partners. Whomever you choose to be a partner in any given business venture lies solely in what skills, attributes, or responsibilities this person will be contributing. A partner can be an individual, a partnership, a limited liability company, a corporation, or a trust.

What is a partnership?

The flexibility of a partnership allows the business to operate in a manner that best suits the business needs at the time the business starts and later when the business has matured. Later, when the business has grown, new partners can be added, yet their management capacity can be limited to prevent the new partners from usurping the original partners. When a partner contributes capital to a partnership, the partner receives an ownership percentage in all assets of the partnership, not just in the property contributed.

All partners are jointly liable for the obligations of the partnership. Joint liability means that each individual partner will equally be held responsible for all of the obligations of the partnership. If there is an instance in which any one partner solely contributes to any betterment of the business, that business partner can collect the other partners’ pro rata share of the debt regardless of whether or not the other partners are financially able to repay their share. If this is the case legal action may be required.

There are basically two types of partnerships:

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Billionaires From the Frozen North
Any annual listing of the world’s richest people invariably conjures up many of the same names from one year to the next.  Yes, Warren Buffet is on there, and so is Bill Gates.  Ho hum.  But the average American-centric observer usually fails to recognize the wealth and entrepreneurial spirit that continues to thrive in our Neighbor to the North - Canada.  That country has its share of wealthy people, and successful people, and successfully wealthy people.  And even though the recent economic downturn has had some negative effects on those Billionaire Balance Sheets - comparing 2009 to 2008, the world’s billionaires shed approximately $2 trillion in asset valuation - none of these people is expected to show up in a bread line anytime soon.  According to Forbes, the magazine nearly everyone reads when it comes to exploring entrepreneurs and their successes, here are the ten richest Canadians for 2009, along with a brief description as to how they got there in the first place.  Unless otherwise noted, all figures are [not ironically] in U.S. dollars.

1. David Thomson and family ($13.0 billion); media conglomerate
Thomson is the grandson of Roy Thomson, who founded Thomson Corp. in 1934.  The company began as a book publisher, and today it continues to be one of the world’s prominent providers of textbooks for higher education.  But the corporation really took off once it got involved in electronic media and information technology, dominating such sectors as healthcare, financial services, law, and science.  The company acquired the Reuters news service in 2007 and is now formally known as Thomson Reuters.

2.

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Women in the Boardroom, and Beyond
Over the past several decades, women have gained a far more prominent position on the American business scene.  Once relegated to roles of subservience, as viewers of the AMC television series “Mad Men” can attest, female corporate executives have continued to assert themselves in boardrooms across the country.  The business magazine Fortune has, for the past twelve years, created an annual listing of the 50 most powerful women in business.  Some of them hold the top spots in their respective companies, while others are well on the way to that position.  The characteristics they share are hardly different from their male counterparts - vision, persistence, and intelligence - but many will privately attest to the fact that reaching this point in their careers took extra effort.  As much as we would like to believe in an egalitarian world of business, there is still an extra thrill when a woman manages to “make it in a man’s world.”  One measure of success - when the list premiered in 1998, only two women of the 50 was a CEO or its equivalent.  This year’s list includes 13 CEOs.

Most Powerful Women in Business
Fortune has selected fifty powerful women for its annual list; here is an in-depth look at the top ten:

1. Indra Nooyi (PepsiCo); Chairman and CEO
This is the fourth year that Nooyi has topped the Fortune list.  She led this food and beverage conglomerate to $43 billion in sales and led the drive to buy out the company’s two largest independent bottlers.  That move alone is expected to save the company close to $300 million a year.

2. Irene Rosenfeld (Kraft Foods); Chairman and CEO
Remaining at the number two spot, Rosenfeld helped increase company revenue 15 percent and saw her company become part of the Dow 30, a highly influential position.

3.

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Businesses For Sale By Owner (FSBO)
Existing businesses are being sold all the time, but many sellers elect to use the services of a business broker.  This saves them time and effort, although a broker - no differently than a Realtor in the housing market - is paid a fairly substantial commission for handling the transaction.  There are advantages to the seller when it comes to businesses for sale by owner (often abbreviated FSBO in a sort of business shorthand), but there are even more advantages to the buyer of a business for sale by owner.

Advantages - Let Us Count the Ways
With a business for sale by owner, the buyer can expect to benefit in the following ways:

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Buy Business, Profit Now - Get MBA, Profit Later?
Recent college graduates and those contemplating the completion of their studies in the near future - specifically those majoring in business - are often torn between two disparate choices.  The question asked most often is, “Should I stay in school and earn my MBA (Master’s of Business Administration), or head out into the world and buy a business?”  There are four factors that come into play when buying a business or continuing in school - the money one needs, the amount time to be expended, the potential return on that investment, and the state of the market.  Most people who go on to do a MBA do so under rather stressful circumstances.  They work part-time at low wages, making just enough to get by while taking classes full-time.  They use up personal savings, borrow from relatives, and go into debt via student loans.  At the end of the two- or three-year process, they have a substantial educational advantage over their peers who did not take the MBA path, but they’re also that much behind the curve in the professional world.

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You are an entrepreneur … or small business owner … or aspiring small business owner … and you want a new venture. Do you buy an existing business?  Do you start your own business? 

Buying an existing business can be safer than starting your own business from start-up.  Business startups unfortunately have a fairly high  failure rate *  Many figures on failure  are passed around and it depends on what numbers to believe, but the rate is fairly high.   (*Statistics I’ve seen from the Small Business Administration (SBA) show that 56% fail within 4 years.) 

If you buy an existing business, you’ll have dramatically improved your chances of success.   Again, failure / success rates are up for interpretation but your odds are greatly increased.  Many businesses for sale have passed that  4 year mark.  The owners have run their business successfully for many years.  Why would someone want to sell a successful business?  There are many real reasons for people wanting to sell a successful business - Retirement, illness, relocation, burnout, etc.   There are a lot of good businesses available for sale  that have real value.  Not all businesses for sale are problem businesses, and I have had personal first hand experience with this fact.  Below list reasons and benefits in buying an existing business vs. starting your own business. 

Business  Startups versus Existing Business Acquisitions

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Creating Your Dream Business
Behind every successful company is a founder who had a dream that eventually became a reality.  Examine any of today’s prominent entrepreneurs and you will discover a shared thread of traits.  These are talent, vision, and perseverance in the face of all obstacles.  If you possess an idea that you believe would make a great business, there’s no time like the present to make that move.  Innovative business ideas are spun off into new enterprises all the time - both in good financial times and bad - so don’t abandon the fight due to a perceived weak economy.

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