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How do I structure this mess?

  By Jeremy Wilch, J.D., SBDC Business Counselor - Region IV

The proper business structure for your business is a unique choice you are best suited to make.

Many aspiring entrepreneurs are concerned about the proper legal structure for their business. First, let’s review some of the business structure options available in Wyoming. Generally there are five options; sole-proprietorship, limited liability company, limited liability partnership, partnership, and corporation. Each structure provides its own unique benefits and drawbacks, which we will review briefly.

Sole-proprietorship is by far the most common business structure. The benefit of a sole-proprietorship is it requires no formal paperwork to be filed with the Secretary of State’s Office [the official business regulation office for the state of Wyoming]. This option is quick-and-easy, requiring no paperwork or fees. Unfortunately, sole-proprietors enjoy no protection from business liability. In the eyes of the law the sole-proprietor’s business and personal assets are indistinguishable. We’ll review why this is important below.

Limited liability companies [for individual or multiple owners] and limited liability partnerships [for two or more people operating as partners] are becoming very popular as a business structure.  The primary benefit of an LLC/LLP is the assets of the business are kept legally separate from the assets of the owner(s). This is a tremendous benefit to the business owner as it provides a “corporation-like” protection of the owner’s assets in the event of lawsuit or legal judgment. The drawback to this type of structure is it requires application/filing with the Secretary of State, annual reporting, and the associated fees.

The final two common business structures – partnerships and corporations – have very unique duties and benefits which are defined by law. The filing requirements of each structure are complicated and mistakes can negate the protections they are designed to provide. For this reason, it is highly recommended businesses considering these structures consult a Small Business Development Center counselor, an attorney, and/or an accountant for guidance.  Generally, these structures provide little additional benefit to the average small business.

The nature of your business, number of employees, value of assets, and other business traits will ultimately determine which business structure is best for you and your business. I encourage you to visit http://soswy.state.wy.us/corporat/corporat.htm or contact an SBDC counselor for additional information on each of these structures; go to http://www.wyomingentrepreneur.biz and click on free consultation.

2008 Governor’s Summit on Workforce Solutions Set

On May 28th and 29th, 2008, the fourth Governor’s Summit on Workforce Solutions will take place at the University of Wyoming in Laramie. The Wyoming Workforce Development Council, in partnership with the Department of Workforce Services, is sponsoring the event. The Summit is designed to assist Wyoming businesses in developing solutions to the many workforce issues they face.

The theme of the 2008 Summit is Defining Our Future. Topics will include Human Resources, Customer Service, Recruitment, Youth Issues, Education, Healthcare and various others.

Jerimiah Rieman, Policy Analyst for the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services and key organizer for the 2008 Governor’s Summit, said, “Wyoming businesses continue to struggle with finding skilled talent, and as this issue grows nationwide, we will need to create innovate ways to resolve this shortage. This year’s Summit is geared toward identifying means that not only help to develop the talent Wyoming businesses already have, but to also give businesses tools to recruit workers to Wyoming positions.”

“A new feature to this year’s Summit includes a sector focus where industries will come together to identify needs and create solutions to address those issues,” he added.

This year’s keynote speaker is Rick Tate. Tate is an internationally recognized expert on leadership and service quality. He has been speaking, training, writing and developing state of the art concepts that challenge people’s mind-sets for over twenty years.

Mark your calendars to attend the Governor’s Summit on Workforce Solutions. For more information on the 2008 Governor’s Summit on Workforce Solutions, please visit wyowdc.org.

Getting your Wyoming company on the big WWW

By Mark Atkinson, Director and eCommerce Specialist, Southwest Region, Small Business Development Center

Many Wyoming small business owners believe “getting their business on the web” is difficult and expensive. Others believe that a web site will ensure windfall profits for their small business.  Neither is actually true, although history has seen a few exceptions with the latter.

Getting There
Gone are the days that a person must have strong HTML (the language with which web sites are developed) skills and a vast knowledge of the inner workings of the internet to create and maintain a web site. Now, a person need only have various skills required to use Microsoft Word (or like program) and be able to work somewhat with photos.

There are hosting companies (the businesses that “host” the files for a site and make them available to the entire world) charging as little as $7 per month for a web site. Many of them even have built-in software that practically any computer user can access and employ to construct their own site. And, you may even be able to choose your own domain name such as “greatshoes.com” or “buffalochips-R-US.com.”

Windfall Profits Using the Web
Few, if any of us, have not heard of Amazon.com. This Seattle-based company started ten years ago as a bookstore and has expanded to offer more products than even some of the so-called superstores in our neighborhoods. What most people don’t know about Amazon is the online-based corporation took ten years to become profitable .

For a Wyoming small business this means your web site will not likely bring windfall profits.  However, your site may serve some of the following functions:
• Help your business look professional and capable for the simple fact you have an attractive and useful site.
• Provide a means for existing customers to learn more about you and buy from you without having to drive to your storefront.
• Expand your client base by using your web site, careful marketing advice from your local SBDC consultant and a market research report from the Wyoming Market Research Center.
• Provide information to investors, suppliers and creditors about who you are and what you offer.

To get your business on the web, contact your local SBDC office by surfing to: www.WyomingEntrepreneur.Biz. Then, click on Free Consultation located on the left. Your Wyoming small business can be on the web in no time. And, our services are offered free of charge.

Recruiting young business leaders - they just don't know it yet

By Tom Lacock

This is why I love Wyoming.

You know that phone call you get that reeks of desperation on the other end of the line? Generally, that voice is me, but last Feb. it was Nicole Zendehdel of The Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership Seminar’s national office, calling me asking me for a little help.

Her program manager for Wyoming flaked out on her and she was calling anyone who had ever even heard of HOBY (we’ll get to just what HOBY is in a minute) asking for help in pulling off the 2007 HOBY Wyoming conference. A couple years prior, I was a media panelist and came away pretty impressed by the program, so I said I thought we could help.

The powers that be in the WBC also signed on. After all, keeping youth in Wyoming in Wyoming and being able to bring that message to 30 of the state’s top high schoolers.

A little background on HOBY – Hugh O’Brian, the man who formerly played Wyatt Earp in the popular Western of the same name in the 1950’s – went to Africa to meet with famed humanitarian Albert Schweitzer. He is blown away by one man doing so much good and the perspective he gained by the trip. As he is leaving, the good doctor grabs his hand and asks O’Brian what he is going to do to better the world. He decides to start a youth leadership seminar. Today every state in the Union has at least one conference and some states up to three.

The program teaches juniors-to-be in high school through teambuilding exercises as well as panel discussion in which we offer them a new perspective. The one thing I enjoy the most about the program is the motto of teaching you how to think and not what to think.

Last year we held the conference in Cheyenne with 31 of our best and brightest from around the state of Wyoming. We brought them some of the best minds with connections to the state. We showed them the Wyoming Technology Business Center (commonly known as the incubator) in Laramie and most importantly, we listened to them. We asked their opinion and we got it. Somewhere in all that mess of three days, we managed to have a great time and have our faith in the next generation restored.

Can you imagine being 16 years old and having someone like a Tim Bendel (frontierastronautics.com) talk to you about his life’s work of making rockets in Chugwater, or Kevin Schaff showing off his company (thoughtequity.com). What about having the State Superintendent of Public Instruction let you pick his brain for two hours; listening to Bruce Palmer of the National Outdoor Leadership School- the premier leadership training center in the country – talk about what they do. We also offered panels where we brought in folks who have devoted their lives to helping others through charity work and watched as the young eyes were at once opened and inspired by selfless sacrifice.

This year it was my turn to make some of what I thought were going to be frantic phone calls asking for help with HOBY Wyoming. By about the third call, it became pretty obvious there was no need for frantic. NOLS said they would not only stop down for the education panel, but they enjoyed themselves so much they are coming for two DAYS this year to offer their services for free. They are also working with HOBY International to offer a program to HOBY World Leadership Seminar later this summer.

The incubator folks not only offered their facility for two panels, but want to buy us lunch while we’re there. To this point, no one who was a part of last year’s effort has said anything but, “of course.” We have had folks come out of the woodwork when they heard HOBY was back in Wyoming to tell us they are alumni and want to come back.

We still have some spots available if anyone wants to help out June 7-9 in Cheyenne. If you want to be a part of the event, we have room for you. If you want to sponsor a meal and offer a presentation to reach 30 of the state’s best and brightest, call me. If you want to be a part of this next year or just check out what this is all about to look into being a part of next year’s event, let me know (777-2834 or tom.lacock@wybusiness.org).

Too busy running your company to worry about finances?

By Bruce Morse, WSBDC Region 2 Director

Your situation is not uncommon for many small business owners. They wear many hats and there are only so many hours in the day. However, you are absolutely correct in that you need to pay attention to the financial side of the business as one of the important things you do, or eventually you may not have a business to worry about.

One way some people cover this base is by sitting down with their bookkeeper or accountant periodically, reviewing the numbers, and kicking around ideas for improvement. Granted, this will cost you a little money if they are not your employees, but it might make you even more money in the long run.

Another option is a new service that is being offered by the Small Business Development Center called a Financial Health Check-up. This free program consists of a computer analysis of your historical financial data that will compare a local business to others in that industry as well as look at trends within the business itself. The result is an easy-to-read narrative report that can be viewed by the owner or with the assistance of an SBDC counselor. To learn more about this new service, contact me at 800-383-0371, 307-754-2139 or via e-mail at bmorse1@uwyo.edu.

Marshall Plan wins out at 2-Bar Bowl

By Tom Lacock

CHEYENNE – While the man may lean heavily to the right in his political beliefs, his bowling ball ran true down the center.

LaGrange native and known Wayne Newton enthusiast Brandon Marshall scored the high game during lunchtime bowling at 2-Bar Bowl in Cheyenne, today.

Marshall used a pair of strikes in the tenth frame to overtake Wyoming Business Council Manager of State Energy Programs Tom Fuller 159-157 with Matt Cox taking third place at 150.  Marshall came into the day with a previous high of 147 and started the day a bit slow, rolling a 115 in his first game.  Marshall, the son of LaGrange Mayor Mark Marshall, managed to pick it up in the second game and delivered his 159 to best 12 other bowlers from the state’s economic development entity.

“Ain’t no mountain high enough… Ain’t no valley low enough… Ain’t no river deep enough… To keep me from beating all you,” Marshall said after his high game. “For two hours I was near perfection. I now know what it is to be Rush Limbaugh.”

The mission of the Wyoming Business Council’s payday bowling group is to get out of the office over the lunch hour, eat some greasy food, throw bowling balls at some pins and have a good time with co-workers. There is no website with more information.

Pitchin' to the Media - How to get good press

By Tom Lacock, WBC

I just flew in from Baltimore and my arms aren’t the least bit tired. I spent three days this week at the Society of American Business Editors and Writers (typical editors put the “E” before the “W” in the title of the organization) Conference on the east coast.

While the job duties are a lot more specific, it is basically my job to help people say pretty things about Wyoming in print or television and SABEW lets me hear specifically what the media is looking for.

Spencer Ante, an editor at Business Week, opened his playbook and offered his checklist of how he decides who he is going to cover. He won’t listen to a pitch without knowing about:

Management - He wants the story on a company interested in getting ink to tell him who the managers are, what is their story, why did they arrive where they have? Who have they surrounded themselves with to insure success?
Level of innovation - Sure you have a new product, but how is this changing people’s lives?
The company they keep - Who is using this product or who are the investors?
Evolution of their business plan - They might be innovative, they might be making money, but where are they as opposed to where they want to be and how they intend to get there.

If you can answer those four questions in a way that is fun or interesting, let me know and we can find a publication to plug you in.

Sounds easy, but here comes the tough part. Any lemonade stand can knock through those first four. You have to be willing to back your story up with solid financials - doesn’t mean you have to make money, doesn’t mean you have to be getting close, it just means you have to be willing to open your books.

Here we have a personal space alert just like that time in second grade gym class when the girl behind you got into your bubble and her glasses went flying across the room because she had no idea you were about to do a helicopter. This is personal, this is closer than we want to let someone in.

Granted, I don’t walk around with my credit score on a t-shirt or tell anyone on the street my amount of credit card debt, because it is personal. It’s a pretty personal thing to have your entire life on bank statements and just show that to a guy you just met. The flip side to that is a reputable reporter isn’t going to risk his/her rep for someone who isn’t about to show that off. Keep in mind, the financials aren’t necessarily going into the story, but it will legitimize you.

In a lot of cases you can talk to the reporter about using percentages of growth in a story or another measure that doesn’t necessarily give away a financial position to a competitor.  Think about it like this - if someone is writing for the Denver Post, Business Week or any other reputable publication, they are probably a smart cookie and didn’t get where they are by putting a knife in the back of the businesses they write about.