The New York state legislature is set to vote this week on a bill that would ban apartment sublets that last less than a month, which if passed would have a significant impact on online vacation rental services like AirBnB, Roomorama, HomeAway, and even classifieds behemoth Craigslist.

In recent years, there’s been a surge in popularity for short-term apartment rentals and housing exchange services that let users offer anything from luxury lofts to pull-out couches–especially in states like New York, whose eponymous island metropolis is known for housing prices so exorbitant that many tourists seek alternatives to hotels and residents look for a way to make up for sky-high rents and mortgages. Online services like HomeAway and AirBnB have made the whole process more accessible and less sketchy, opening up short-term sublets to a market that might not be comfortable with Craigslist.

Right now, this practice is only illegal if the renter or homeowner lives in a building in which it’s explicitly against the rules. But the bill, known as A10008, would ban sublets of less than a month in “Class A multiple dwellings,” a legal term that encompasses most apartment buildings intended for long-term residences. (There’s also the “Class B multiple dwelling” designation referring to more temporary housing, like a hotel, rooming house, dormitory, or residences “designed as private dwellings but occupied by one or two families with five or more transient boarders, roomers, or lodgers in one household.”)

Supporters of the bill say that it’s an issue of safety, citing fire codes and housing maintenance regulations; they also bring up tax issues, the claim that it’s illegal to run an apartment building as a hotel, and that short-term sublets can easily lead to scams.

Opponents of the bill say it’s an infringement of homeowners’ rights and have accused supporters of caving to pressure from hotel industry lobbyists who see the lower rates on the likes of Craigslist and AirBnB as a threat.

“The accommodations it seeks to prohibit are…offered by NYC tenants and apartment owners who are acting within the bounds of their agreements with their tenants, condominium management, and co-op boards,” one commenter on the bill remarked. “If these organizations or individuals feel there is a liability or inconvenience to allowing overnight guests in their non-hotel buildings, that should be their choice–not the choice of politicians who receive perks and campaign donations from corporations owning hotels.”

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Click for the web site the article was written about

http://www.nwcny.com/

The details in these articles are great. But we do even more! We drive traffic to your business in a variety of ways including our art receptions every 45 days! For more details, visit The St Clair Gallery

Unfortunately most entrepreneurs are told they have the skills to sell.  But they never learn how to get the truth out of prospects on what the problems are that the prospect is having.  Prospects will often lie and tell you everything is ok.  They will often not give you the information you need to close the sale, and you will end up with a ton of prospects that are always “almost ready” to close but never close.

There is only one way around this:   “LEARN SALES” What is Sales? “Sales” is simply solving a problem that a prospect has, with your product or service.

Check out Dan’s Boe’s site   http://bethefire.com/index.html for more information about his courses and the many people who have attended. EastCountyBiz is looking forward to hosting a presentation with Dan early in the new year, we’ll keep you posted. ECB 

HUBZone Program
Mission:
To promote job growth, capital investment, and economic development to historically underutilized business zones, referred to as HUBZones, by providing contracting assistance to small businesses located in these economically distressed communities

Location map showing HUBZone location:
 http://map.sba.gov/hubzone/hzqry.asp?scope=-116956132%7C32793172%7C1.08938174937242%7C0.803828591861328&command=zmout&zoomrect=99%7C133%7C0%7C0&panshift=&mapimage.x=99&mapimage.y=133

SBA site: http://www.sba.gov/hubzone/

Department of Housing and Urban Development site:
http://www.hud.gov/offices/osdbu/about/sbtypes.cfm

http://www.citmedialaw.org/legal-guide/california/forming-nonprofit-corporat

ion-california

http://www.hurwitassociates.com/l_s_annual_ca.php

http://www.evansrosen.com/news.html

www.sos.ca.gov/business/corp/pdf/articles/corp_artsnp.pdf

www.ehow.com/how_2218247_start-nonprofit-corporation-california.html

The last 2 are more information oriented and less tied to a money wanting entity

However, at some point you’re going to have to think about a subject that may seem completely foreign to you: What’s the best way to untangle yourself from the company that you’ve spent so much time putting together?

You may already be thinking in this direction for a number of reasons–some good, some bad. Perhaps you’re looking forward to retiring in a more agreeable climate, you’ve gotten a purchase offer you want to consider, or your business has done so well that you want to pass it on to your children. Perhaps you hope to “die in the saddle,” but you want the business to continue beyond your lifetime, and you don’t want the IRS to confiscate your hard-earned gains through estate taxes.

On the other hand, perhaps your business isn’t doing as well as you hoped, or it’s doing well but you’re getting tired of all the time and energy it requires. Other reasons for getting out might include the death of a partner or co-owner, divorce, your realization that the competition is winning out, pressure from family members or employees who think you ought to retire, or your own health.

Don’t wait until one of these events hits you over the head–start thinking about your exit strategy now, whether it will be by selling the business or planning for your succession.

Selling the business. In a perfect world, you’d sell your business when the national economy was humming along toward a peak in the business cycle, when your industry was “hot” among investors, and when your particular business was having a banner year.

However, your decision to sell out will probably have much more to do with your personal circumstances than with what’s happening on Wall Street. The point we’re making is that, everything else being equal, you should aim to sell when things are good, rather than not-so-good or downright ugly.

Regardless of the state of the economy or your industry, there are a number of things you can do to shape up your business to make it more attractive to purchasers. However, this process is likely to take a year or more.

On average, once your business is on the market, it will take another year to find a buyer and complete the deal. If you are planning to sell to family members or key employees, many of the more creative tax-planning methods can take three to five years to put into place.

To develop an exit strategy, you’ll need to give some thought to the following:

Initial issues: How should you time your decision and who should you choose to help you?
Valuation of the business: How does the market put a price on a small business, and what can you do to maximize your own business’s value?
Finding a buyer: What do you need to know about working with a business broker, creating a selling memorandum, and other marketing concerns?
Structuring the deal: What are your options as to terms?
Financing the deal: What should you know about seller financing and third-party financing through leveraged buyouts?
Completing the deal: What are the typical steps you can expect to go through in the sales process?
After the sale: What will your new, unencumbered life be like.
Planning for succession. When a small business is a key component of family wealth, the owner usually has a strong desire to perpetuate it in one form or another. But perpetuating the business through an orderly succession to family members or other insiders is the ultimate management challenge.

Any transition must preserve the continuity of leadership, and it is most important that the succession of ownership and management be perceived as a process rather than an event. Much as some successors might hope otherwise, it’s not a matter of deciding to retire at 4:00 p.m. next Tuesday at which time Junior will take the reins or your partner, Charlie, will become the boss, while you’ll fade into oblivion (or more likely onto the 1st tee).

Succession is a process requiring planning, teamwork and constant re-evaluation. So infrequently is it done successfully that barely 30 percent of family businesses survive into the second generation and fewer than 15 percent of them endure into the third. If the business of succession is not done by process (through planning), it will be done by crisis (a failure to plan), with perhaps disastrous results.

A typical succession plan has two elements, which should be considered separately:

The transfer of power, whereby control over the business’s operation is transferred to those best suited to exercising it
The transfer of assets, whereby the wealth concentrated in the business is transferred to designated family members, who may be a different or larger group than the person or persons who will be assuming power.

How to value your business
For starters, the value of your business should, of course, be greater than the total values of its hard assets. Unfortunately this is often not the case with many small businesses. But for a buyer, the key is typically that an ongoing business has everything necessary–equipment, location, and inventory if applicable, not to mention experienced employees, suppliers, business processes, and a customer list–all in place, in the right amounts for successful operation of the business.

But how do you put a price on this intangible asset, which is frequently referred to as goodwill or going-concern value? Moreover, how do you determine the true market value of the hard assets used in your business? One answer is to hire a professional appraiser. These people have the objectivity and know-how to be able to set a price that is neither unrealistically high nor inaccurately low.

But remember that value is in the mind of the beholder. A professional valuation can tell you the price that an average buyer might pay for your business. However, when it comes to negotiating with an actual buyer, the appraisal is just a starting point.

A particular buyer may have a strong strategic reason for acquiring your company, and may be willing to pay a premium over what the average buyer might offer. Another buyer might simply be looking for certain assets to augment his or her own business, and may not be willing to pay for your company’s going-concern value at all. It’s important that you size up any potential buyer’s reasons for acquiring your business before stating a price.

If you feel a professional valuation would be too expensive, you can try to create your own appraisal of your business’s worth. Let’s start with the basics. Business valuation methods fall into the following categories, depending on what their major focus is. Click on the links to learn more about each method.

business assets, including book value and liquidation value methods
historical earnings, including debt-paying ability, capitalization of earnings or cash flow, gross income multipliers, and dividend-paying ability methods
a combination of assets and earnings, namely, the excess earnings method
the market for similar businesses, including comparable sales, industry rule of thumb, and p/e ratio methods
future earnings, namely, discounted future cash flow or earnings methods (My first choice!)
Interactive Business Valuation Calculator, a tool to determine the value of future cash flow
An excellent tool to help you with this do-it-yourself project would be a copy of a useful book authored by Dr. Stanley Feldman, Dr. Timothy Sullivan and Roger Winsby titled, What Every Business Owner Should Know About Valuing Their Business, and published by McGraw Hill. This up-to-date and inexpensive book can help you document business value to prepare for a sale or for a succession plan or even a divorce proceeding. It has industry-specific case studies as well. The entire book is presented in plain English and is also easily understood by non-math majors.

I believe that once you’ve digested this book you will have learned that a formal valuation, whether homemade or professionally done, will not only help you with a sale or succession plan, but also force you to consider some further ramifications of maintaining this value. A valuation may suggest you need to better insure yourself, your business or even key employees. Or it could even suggest some serious estate planning is called for.

If you get stuck in your efforts to be self-reliant, there are a host of competent business appraisers you can retain to help you. For example, the authors of the above book operate Axiom Valuation Solutions. Or perhaps your lawyer, CPA or banker would be willing to review your homemade appraisal and comment on it before you finalize your strategy for selling (or even buying) a business.

This is a complex topic, but considering how much time, effort and money you’ve invested in your business, knowing how to value it is of critical importance and well worth some serious study and consideration. And if you have any more questions, be sure to Ask Alice!

an affordable, private or “shared” office suite is welcome respite

The Advantages Of An Executive Suite Over A Home Office

by: Mark Stone

Choosing the right executive office suite can be the solution you are looking for when your home office no longer supports your business’s success. The benefits of a home office may soon be over shadowed by staff growth or the need to branch out to more prominent city locations. The natural progression of your office needs may also complete the image you have of your business.

Executive office suites can offer your business completely furnished amenities, the perfect image, and a professional support staff. Leasing an executive office suite from a reputable office space leasing agent may provide you services that your home office isn’t able to support. For instance imagine having a cordial receptionist to greet clients in a furnished waiting area, or an office manager to take care of administrative tasks. Having a technical staff on site would surely allow you to spend more time generating business than trying to fix a copier or printer.

A prestigious address in your area can add convenience and growth that your home office may limit. More than likely your home office is just a spare bedroom with a computer and phone. This spare bedroom office may be all you need to conduct your daily business however, are you sure you want to see your potential clients traversing residential streets trying to locate your home office? Your business’s image will benefit more if your office is located in a professional environment.

Branching out your business to different locations may be the answer to achieving success in an unfamiliar area. Consider having an executive suite located in the same city as your primary supplier. This option could act as your distribution center as opposed to your garage. Think about the shipping costs you could save and the extra space you’ll gain.

Entrepreneurship is the foundation of the American dream and your home office is just the starting point. Don’t lose sight of your ultimate goal by limiting success to your spare bedroom. Contact a local office space owner/manager or leasing agent today and discover the possibilities having an executive office suite.