Archive for the ‘Business’ Category

Literary agents are publishers’ gatekeepers. They screen and represent the vast majority of the books publishers release. Publishing houses tend to give proposals submitted by agents more attention because their editors have a high level of confidence in their submissions. Don’t approach agents or publishers.
WHEN WRITERS TRY TO SELL THEIR BOOKS, they often feel like they’re swimming against the tide in a tsunami. For most writers, the process of trying to sell a book differs from anything that they have ever attempted. For many, it’s as if they’re entering a strange new world, and they can quickly get lost or beaten down.When they are not fully prepared, they may suddenly discover that they have to do much more than they expected and do it in a manner that may not be their strength.

Is employee performance appraisal important? Absolutely. In these tough economic times, it is even more critical. Unfortunately, companies in every industry today are faced with making difficult decisions regarding the size and makeup of their workforces. Without good performance management data, these decisions are virtually made in a vacuum. Leading performance appraisal consultants, like Grote Consulting can help your organization accurately appraise employee performance and make smart personnel choices when the time arrives.

Financial capital or funds are essential resources to the entrepreneur. These are the lifeblood of the enterprise. Th entrepreneur needs money in starting his business. He also needs money for the development and growth of his business. In many cases, small entrepreneurs have inadequate capital. Thus, it is important for them to be able to identify the sources of funds.

However, far more important is the ability to manage funds. There is a basic need to plan and control financial resources. Without such abiity, the enterprise is most likely to fail. Not a few businessmen failed simply because they have no competence in budgeting their financial resources relative to their business objectives. When they have the money, They do not know how to use and control it.

Many poor person wish they have seed capital in order to put their own micro businesses. in the rural areas, some folks like to put up backyard poultry or piggery projects for additional incomes. In the cities, business-oriented individuals like to own a mini store, a small bakery, a beaty parlor, or a small restaurant. But they have no funds to start their modest business.

However, it has been observer that the poor and unschooled persons are more enterprising and risk-taking. They sell balot, gulaman, barbeque, flowers and other essential items for the masses. Others just sell anything on the sidewalks. Apparently, they are happy and more money than the factory workers and office clerks.

Market is where and to whom a product is sold. A description of who the buyers/users of the products are and where they are located are starting considerations, as these determine the size of the market.

Size of the market is usually expressed by the number of households in a particular area, the population under certain age groups, the number of persons in a particular income bracket, the number of buyers in a particular area.

Once the market size is determined, the demand and supply situation is analyzed.

It’s easy to tell whether you need a bypass trust. With your spouse, do a quick addition of everything you own—any expected life insurance proceeds due on policies owned by you or your spouse, the equity in your house, your retirement accounts, additional investments, your cars, everything. Now subtract any money you owe. If, to your amazement, your assets are worth $600,000 or more, then, yes, you need a bypass trust.

Think you’re a long way from needing a bypass trust? Repeat the calculations from time to time, perhaps when you do your taxes every year. Your mortgage is closer to being paid off. Your retirement funds are growing. Maybe you inherited a little money here or there. No matter how much you have— even $10 million—your spouse will be okay if you die first; spouses, remember, can inherit billions without paying estate tax, as long as they are U.S. citizens. But once your spouse dies as well, or if the two of you happen to die together and you have more than $600,000, it’s estate tax time—unless you have this trust. The minute you’re lucky enough to hit that $600,000 mark, unless you plan to leave all your money to a charity, you need a bypass trust.

I am very serious about this. I always urge my clients who fall short of the $600,000 mark but are getting up there to set up a bypass trust. You never know when a two can become a one, so I don’t chance it. A bypass trust will cost about $1,500 in attorney’s fees to set up, unless you own a lot of real estate and have lots and lots of cash, in which case it will cost more, or unless you’re just amending a revocable living trust you already have, in which case it will cost less. But wouldn’t you rather leave your hard-earned money to your loved ones than to the IRS?

In the case of Sherry’s family, because Tim and Daniel will eventually die, Tim and Daniel should also set up a revocable living trust, setting up in turn a bypass trust; what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. Tim’s and Daniel’s children should not have to go through what their fathers are going to go through if Mom and Pop don’t take action. At the very least, the brothers should each have a revocable living trust that leaves the business to each other but their share of the income it generates to Sherry and Christine.

They should also think hard about what they want. Let’s say that one of the wives predeceases her husband. Maybe that brother will want his share of the business to go directly to his kids, not to his brother. If there isn’t some provision for this, the first brother to die might leave his children with nothing. I am sure that Tim and Daniel don’t intend to deny their children an inheritance, but the way their estates are set up right now, that might well be what happens.

Estate taxes are due nine months from the date of death. Under very special circumstances, you can get an extension for twelve months, but it’s not as easy as you might hope, and you also have to pay interest on the sums due. When you have acquired enough money to have to pay estate tax, the government thinks you will be smart enough to have planned for the day you’ll owe the money and just assumes, often wrongly, that you’ll have it on hand. This can be a real problem if you didn’t plan as well as you thought you had, or had not planned at all, because you and your parents (or whoever you’ll be inheriting money or property from) have never discussed it.
If you’re left an inheritance of assets such as real estate that might not be so easy to cash in fast, or assets that you didn’t want to cash in, and you have no liquid cash of your own, you could be in a very precarious situation. Advance knowledge of what will happen when the time comes gives you time to prepare, either by getting a life insurance policy that would help pay the death benefits or by liquidating assets sooner rather than later.
Sherry’s family’s situation is different from most. In their situation the main asset they will be inheriting is a business. Under the Internal Revenue Code Section 6166, they might be allowed to pay off their estate tax over a nine-year period of time, with interest. Even so, they’ll have to come up with almost $20,000 extra a year, which will no doubt put a crimp in the balance sheet.
For most people, it would be worse. Most people owe estate taxes nine months from the date of death, and that’s that. If you can’t pay your estate tax, interest will be charged. Currently that rate is three percentage points higher than the current rates on certain short-term Treasury obligations. If you inherit a closely held business, the rate is a flat 4 percent. It’s great to get an inheritance—unless you’re not prepared for it.

Any business enterprise is faced with several risk possibilities. To sustain its business viability or success, an enterprise should eliminate or minimize business risks, such as fire, natural calamities, pilfering, robbery, strikes, accidents and so forth.

In rich countries, most enterprises insure their products and properties against the risks of doing business in the form of damage, theft, injury and other. Likewise, individuals insure their families, properties and themselves. Entrepreneurs adopt risk management programs to eliminate or reduce risks. Risk is the possibility that a loss or injury will take place. In a modem world, risk are all around us. For instance, car accident destruction of properties by flood or fire, or physical injury or even death. In business there is always risk, such as wrong business decisions, poor management or negative business environment.