Category: Key People_Or Group

A Great Benefit Every Business Owner Should Be Aware Of! 

by YOUR BUSINESS WORTH, posted in Buy and Sell Agreements, Executive Benefits, Income from your business, Key People_Or Group, Tax Free Income, Team, Uncategorized, Working On Your Business

Over the years in the small business arena, when retirement is mentioned, the discussion usually focuses on programs like 401k, Profit sharing, SEP’S, and Simple Plans.   

 They are all very good plans and every business should offer one of them to their employees for the purpose of having a benefit plan where employees can save for their retirements.   

 However, not every employer wants to take on the burden of funding retirement for their employees for many reasons.  The reasons range from a lack of cash flow, employee groups who would rather take the money home.   

 In situations where the employer feels they would like to use their company to create a benefit for themselves, and not the employees, they should look into an executive compensation plan called the CEEP (Corporate Executive Equity Plan).  The CEEP is a hybrid of a few types of benefit plans used for the higher paid group in companies and for the owners.   

 The term “non-qualified “, refers to a plan that normally is not used for the masses, but used for a selected group of people.  As an example:  Employer A can decide that they want to put a plan in for employee B, C but not employees D-Z.  In most cases the plan itself would not be tax-deductible as a “plan”, however, it can be tax deductible under certain conditions. 

How the CEEP works!  

Mr. Jones owner of the Big Dip Donut shop decides that he wants to allocate $25,000 a year into a retirement plan for himself and no other employees of the company.  For the most part, he can’t have a qualified retirement plan without offering it to the employees.  Even a “Simple Plan”, which is the easiest to implement would have drawbacks.    Continue reading “A Great Benefit Every Business Owner Should Be Aware Of! “ →

Case Study#5 Using Corporate Dollars To Keep Wealth Out Of The Business But In Your Pocket

by YOUR BUSINESS WORTH, posted in Company Wealth, Executive Benefits, Key People_Or Group, Strategies of growing business, Tax Efficient, Tax Free Income, Uncategorized, Working On Your Business

This is the case of Joey Bag of Donuts and his pursuit of keeping wealth outside of his business.  You see, over the years working with Joey Bag of Donuts we told him that leaving too much of his wealth in the business can be problematic, especially when the time came when he needed to exit his business.  He heard me tell him many times, that someday he will leave his business by either a death, disability, or retirement, and taking the wealth with you when you need it the most, can be a problem, if you don’t have the right exit strategy.

There are many reasons wealth gets lost in a business when it is sold.  It can range from bad planning to bad luck, but Joey Bag of Donuts always remembered to keep as much of his personal wealth outside of the business as possible.  By the way this is why he purchased his company building and put it in a separate LLC.  Joey Bag of Donuts also believes in putting as much of his income to the company pension plan, again, outside of the business.

We also taught him to have his company support whatever it can legally towards his personal lifestyle.  For example, his cars, gas, some entertainment, health insurance, retirement, and other things are paid for through company.

Joey Bag of Donuts wanted to put more money away for himself and his family’s future, but didn’t want to use his own funds, so why not have the company support more retirement contributions?

We already had a profit-sharing plan, and he was sharing company contributions with his employees.

We decided that a non-regulated plan was the best way to go, so we developed a plan for only him.  The plan is a combination of two concepts.  We call this the CEEP PLAN (CORPORATE EXECUTIVE EQUITY PLAN).

The plan is a discriminatory plan, so Joey Bag of Donuts can pick himself or anyone else he wants, unlike a profit sharing or 401k plan, which is a regulated plan.

THE PLAN:  As you can see, the company made all the contributions, and took the deductions for them.  Joey Bag of Donuts was the sole participant of the plan. His cost was “0” out of pocket and he ends up with almost $800,000 of cash at retirement.  He also could turn the cash into a tax-free income stream.  In this case it was $67,500 tax-free income. The stream of income is worth more than $1,215,000.  Along with that he has a death benefit of $2,300,000 payable to his family tax-free.

THE BOTTOM LINE:  Joey Bag of Donuts gets retirement income using corporate funds.  All the contributions can be applied to just his account.  He also has the use of the account before retirement, like a  “family bank”, along with the ability to withdraw funds tax-free.[1]  There would be no 10% penalty if withdrawn before 59 ½.  Continue reading “Case Study#5 Using Corporate Dollars To Keep Wealth Out Of The Business But In Your Pocket” →

THE SECRETS OF BUILDING A GREAT ORGANIZATION

by YOUR BUSINESS WORTH, posted in Company Wealth, Inside Sale, Key People_Or Group, Passive Ownership, Selling Your Business, Strategies of growing business, Uncategorized, Value drivers, Working On Your Business

I recently read a book called,” The Secrets Of Building A Great Organization”, by Bruce Clinton owner of BusinessWise, L.L.C., a business consulting and coaching firm based in Connecticut.

I found the book to be very interesting because, not only does it provide a road map of management for newer managers, but it re-educates older experienced managers in the most up to date strategies.

Bruce is the first person to mention that there are no magic formulas in being a good manager, however, with the basic strategies that he covers, a good manager, through their own talents, can become a great manager using the strategies Bruce discusses.

Many of the strategies are ones that Bruce uses in his practice as a business coach, and strategies developed while he ran different businesses.

For anyone who is a business owner or running a business, I would suggest this read.  In the book it is mentioned that most business owners don’t consider themselves good managers or they feel they don’t know enough about managing.

Any business owner who does $1-$150 million in annual sales, has 8-200 employees, is family owned and may be facing growth or succession issues, should read this book.

What I really enjoyed about the book is the small details that Bruce covers which are needed to build a successful business.  These are details which are not normally discussed in detail.  The book covers the importance of them.  These are the small details that make all the difference in the world of a business’ success, and Bruce covers them extremely well.  For example:

  • Overcoming communication breakdowns
  • Dealing with levels of incompetence
  • Fitting family members into the business
  • Retaining good employees
  • Building a workable succession plan

Continue reading “THE SECRETS OF BUILDING A GREAT ORGANIZATION” →

Why Use Non-Compete Agreements!

by YOUR BUSINESS WORTH, posted in Buy and Sell Agreements, Funding your Buy and Sell, Income from your business, Inside Sale, Key People_Or Group, Selling Your Business, Uncategorized, Valuation, Value drivers, Working On Your Business

Non-compete agreements (NCA) represent a separate agreement. They could be in an employment contract, or as a separate article in a buy and sell agreement. Sometimes they are referred to as “Covenants not to complete. “

This is based on the possibility that an employee can do harm to a company upon termination.  They could know sensitive information about the company’s operation, owners and employee’s personal information, special operations, and proprietary information to a competing advantage, along with so much more.

Picture a very long-term employee working side by side with the owners, for many years, and then leaving to work for the owner’s competitor.  Certainly, there can be issues.

No compete agreements (NCA), can be used to retain employees also.   It would be very difficult to change jobs within an industry or profession when the leaving employee is limited to compete in a geographic and specific industry for a period of time.  However, non-compete agreements are hard to enforce, because in many instances the agreement has overreached and is very broad in the definition of industry and geographic coverage.

Continue reading “Why Use Non-Compete Agreements!” →

What Status Is The Stock After A Triggering Event?

by YOUR BUSINESS WORTH, posted in Buy and Sell Agreements, Key People_Or Group, Passive Ownership, Strategies of growing business, Value drivers, Working On Your Business

Chris Mercer author of “Buy-Sell Agreements for Baby Boomers Business Owners” addresses a very good question.  Who owns the stock after the trigger event?  After a trigger event, does the affected shareholders retain the rights, risks and privileges of the ownership, things like, voting, distribution, access to financial information, etc., or are their shares converted to another status, such as (example), the “pending sales of stock” status?

If the shares are converted into the new class or status, do they have the right to receive dividends, or interest while in that pending status, if so, who should be receiving it?

The agreement can also have a clause where the stock that is waiting to be purchased would convert to a “non-voting “status prior to being purchased.

There are many times a stockholder has signed personally for a corporate debt.  The stockholder may desire to have the remaining stockholders make an effort to get the departing stockholder off the note, as they have ceased to be a stockholder.

The questions that Chris puts forth are legitimate issues and should be dealt with when business owners and their council set out to design a buy and sell agreement for the company.

Thank you, Chris Mercer, for bringing these topics to the forefront.

Over the years, many of the buy and sell agreements which I have reviewed over the years, do not address or mention these particular situations, and could create a void should the situation arise.

Check Chris Mercers publications.  He puts out very good information that is useful to practitioners.

Alternatives To Buy And Sell Agreements – Different Documents To Put Buy Sell Agreement Language In!

by YOUR BUSINESS WORTH, posted in Buy and Sell Agreements, Executive Benefits, Key People_Or Group, Selling Your Business, Working On Your Business
  1. Governance documents– Articles of incorporation, partnership, organization, bylaws or operating agreements frequently have Buy And Sell Provisions (BSP). Is critical that you change your agreement within these documents should you update to a formal BSA, so the language is consistent.
  2. Compensation based plans: Such as consulting agreements and salary continuation plans.
  3. Entity recapitalization: It is possible to recapitalize the ownership interests of the entity which could create differences and ownership interests.
  4. Gifts of ownership interest: this could change the ownership and voting rights.
  5. Charitable gift of ownership interest. Same as #5.
  6. Private annuities: You could transfer ownership of your interest to someone else in exchange for a promise to make payments for you for the rest of your life
  7. ESOP’s: EMPLOYER STOCK OPTION PLANS.
  8. Non-qualified deferred compensation plans.
  9. Qualifying for section 6166 deferral.
  10. Division of an entity.
  11. Confidentiality and non-competition agreements; In conjunction with a buy and sell buyout , the former owner could be paid to not compete with the entity and to keep secret all confidential trade secrets, customer lists, and other private proprietary information of the entity.
  12. Installment sales: The owner simply wishes to retire and sells the stock in exchange for promissory note that is payable overtime.
  13. Sale to outsiders.
  14. Public offering.
  15. New generation opening a similar type of business: This is where senior generation winds down and a new generation may open a similar business preferable to allow younger generations to open a new look but similar to the identical business of the old. The dying on the vine concept.

*A good read would be “Buy and Sell Agreements (US Legal Series); Paul L. Hood Jr.  Also, I have included a link to article from Ed Partesi, ASA,CM&AA of UHY Advisors “Covering the bases:  “The Need for Effective Buy -Sell Agreements”. Effective Buy and Sell Agreement!

Lastly,  a very good book to read about the future of the selling your business,  “Your Exit Map”   by  John Dini;  This gives you a great insight as to the next generation of buyers and the market place for selling your business.  

 

Be An All-Star Employer and Build Future Value In Your Business!

by YOUR BUSINESS WORTH, posted in Company Wealth, Inside Sale, Key People_Or Group, Passive Ownership, Strategies of growing business, Uncategorized, Working On Your Business

When you go into your own business, do you have a place to go, a paycheck, and a position?  You basically have a job.   However, when entrepreneurs go into business, they look for the big payday, the selling of their business.    Would it be nice to sell your business for 10 or 20 times your annual salary?

Building a business is not easy.  If you are going to put your efforts into building a business, build a business with a great foundation.  It is easier to build value in a business with a good foundation.  Let’s assume you have systems in place and a business presence.  What is needed for real growth once you get through the systems and organization formats, is to create and develop a business culture!

By having a business culture, marketing and recruiting get easier and less expensive as people are more attracted to your company.  Long –term employees get to know the business, your customers you’re your suppliers.  They become more efficient and become the “team”.   You will attract better quality candidates to hire.  You can become more selective and create the right roles for your employees.

Go to Trader Joe’s and ask the employees how they like working there.  You will soon find out that there is little stress, a lot of fun, and the employees want to be there working side by side with each other.

When employees are happy and like their jobs, they stay, they learn, and they attract investors and future purchasers.  This culture promotes profitability and consistency, which is how you maximize your potential profitability of the company.  Consumers like consistency and the added value of having a company that is easy to work with.  I like to call this the “Amazon Factor”.  Who doesn’t like ordering from Amazon? They make it easy for many reasons.

Having this type of environment doesn’t automatically happen.  You need to invest in it to create it, however, it will pay off in the future.  They key is to start early creating the vision you have for your company long-term. Create the vision of being the “All-Star Employer”, and you will attract the best, like minded employees, and create a great business that people will want to work at.

 

The Final Act! The Day Will Come! Part 2

by YOUR BUSINESS WORTH, posted in Company Wealth, Income from your business, Key People_Or Group, Selling Your Business, Valuation, Value drivers, Working On Your Business

In part-one of this article, I mentioned how purchasers will prefer to buy a business where everything looks good and there are no apparent problems. Smart and neat operations will attract serious buyers; however, this is only one part that is needed to achieve your selling objectives.

There should be no hidden problems or secrets which can jeopardize the purchase. Any undesirable factor not disclosed to the purchaser can lead to a non-sale, or at the very least, something they can use as a negotiating tool. The fact that a deal has fallen apart, is not only frustrating, but will cost you money, time, and distraction from your business.

An owner who unknowingly discloses secrets or situations in their business can end up becoming a deal breaker. Issues which are known need to be dealt with to have the best chance of a good sale. Since there may be issues which are unknown the best answer to this is to search for the problems in advance and take care of them. Think of this the same way you would treat the sale of your home. You would normally fix up, repaint, and clean up before you put the home on the market. You should do the same thing with your business.

Not only would you want your physical location to be clean and tidy, but this also flows over to the other parts of your business, such as accounting, financing, marketing material, department procedure manuals, and an array of other business items. Prepared written policies and procedures are a great selling point for a prospective buyer. Remember, when someone is interested in your business, it’s their team that inspects every aspect of your business in doing their due diligence. This is a micro inspection of all aspects of your business, so it will pay to make sure there isn’t a bunch of dirty secrets hanging around.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS AND PHYSICAL APPEAL
The first time a prospective buyer visits your company they make value judgements. They will observe everything from your reception area to your signage in and on the building. If the impression they get is positive, they will want to investigate your company more. You don’t want to lose their interest based on visual appeal of your business. No matter how good your business seems to do on paper, the prospective buyer may lose interest based on your first impressions.

This observation doesn’t end with just the building. Your premises, marketing literature, dress attire of you employees, uniforms, office settings, rubbish areas and a host of other areas should be updated and tidy. Continue reading “The Final Act! The Day Will Come! Part 2” →

The Final Act! The Day Will Come – Part 1

by YOUR BUSINESS WORTH, posted in Company Wealth, Income from your business, Inside Sale, Key People_Or Group, Passive Ownership, Selling Your Business, Strategies of growing business, Uncategorized, Value drivers, Working On Your Business

Someday the day will come when you will want to exit your company, for better or worse.  Disposing of your company can be challenging! If done properly it can create great financial opportunity for you and your family, allowing for other options in life, especially during retirement.

However, if your business exit strategy is not effectively planned, the business, which has given you a comfortable living, may turn out to be worthless.  At the very least, you will be liquidating assets to take care of final debts and obligations.

Without a detailed plan you may not maximize the best potential price for your company.  Between the highest and the lowest potential value, many elements will decide which side of the ledger you will fall on.  Elements such as; a trained middle management group, systems, value drivers, culture of the company, consistent cash flow, profitability, and equity growth, are just a few elements that can  lead to an excellent or bad sale.

THE SUBJECT THAT IS RARELY MENTIONED!

Unfortunately, for most business owners, the idea of exiting their business is rarely considered until the time has come.  It most cases, the key planning elements of obtaining the best potential value of the business has been lost because there is a lack of time to implement them.    Most business owners know that in order to keep their business running profitably, like a well-oiled machine, they have to stay focused on the task at hand, always thinking the future will take care of itself as long as the business is profitable.  However, that is not necessarily the case in many situations.  Also, when owners started their business, they had a place to go, a paycheck and a position, not ever thinking about the end game until the time comes when the end game is staring them in the face. Continue reading “The Final Act! The Day Will Come – Part 1” →

Good Luck You Are Now In Business! Now What?

Featured by YOUR BUSINESS WORTH, posted in Company Wealth, Income from your business, Inside Sale, Key People_Or Group, Selling Your Business, Strategies of growing business, Uncategorized, Value drivers, Working On Your Business

Chances are that the moment you started your company you felt the need to be in charge of everything (the control thing).  Tasks such as ordering stationary, trips to Staples, talking to the utility company, dictating messages and a sundry of other things. You did pretty much everything including the bookkeeping, sweeping the floors and taking out the garbage. 

 You were proud of your new business and wanted to make sure it did well from the very start and in in every aspect of your business. Even if it meant you had to work 80 hours a week to keep it going to be successful.   

 Then you started to make more money, enough to hire employees to help you grow the business.  As you moved forward so did your business commitments.    Your mindset however, is control, just like when you started the business.   A natural reaction since you started and created your business, the tendency is to protect it, this is your baby! 

THE NEEDED CHANGE IN MINDSET! 

The problem comes when you have to change your mindset as an entrepreneur. When you started your business, you had a talent and believed that your talent could make you profit and grow your business. However, as your business and commitment to the business grows, there needs to be a new way of thinking on how you should run the business.  

 For example; I have a brother who is a great mechanic.   If he were to open his business, he would be the best mechanic you could find.  His work would be impeccable, and everyone would enjoy working with him.  However, the minute my brother had to start thinking strategically about how to lessen his working hours, grow new markets, start a branding campaign, hire people to do some of his tasks, he would become very stressed and would definitely lose interest in running his business.  He is a great mechanic but didn’t think about the other parts of running a business.  All he ever wanted was a place to go a paycheck, and a position. Little did he realize that it would take more than being a good mechanic to run a business.   He didn’t realize that some of the things he liked to do would have to take a back seat or be delegated to someone else, so he could focus on the details that will allow him to grow his business.    

Continue reading “Good Luck You Are Now In Business! Now What?” →