• Systems: Cow Paths
• Structure: Operating Agreements for Your LLC

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Cow Paths

Have you ever been in a city where the course of the roadways looks like they were designed by long-ago livestock that created well-worn paths between one field and another? Compare those cities to the ones that were planned and based on a strong grid system. One system is a disaster to navigate while the other is so simple that you feel like a native after a very short time. Growing up outside of Sacramento, CA, I learned to drive on roads that were created during the Gold Rush: you can almost picture the tree or boulder that once caused anxious miners to alter their path in their haste to build the road. The same thing happens with small businesses.

In the early stages of your business, the systems you design to get work done will often resemble cow paths meandering through the fields. Most of the time small business owners are dealing with cost restraints or a lack of the right talent to build optimal systems. While these less-than-optimal systems may get the job done today, your business will eventually grow to the point that you can no longer get by with them. So how do you build better systems? The key is to design systems that align your goals and strategies to the results that you want to achieve. I recommend that you sit down and draw out a high-level view of your business system. Start with the end product that you deliver to your customers and work backwards to show everything that goes into producing that result. I find that by having a high-level view of my business systems in front of me I can more readily find opportunities to improve them from a cow path to a super highway.

Source: Ryan Page – CEO, SmallBusinessConsulting.com

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Operating Agreements for Your LLC

Most states don’t require that your LLC has an official operating agreement but best practice suggests that this document be prepared to govern the operations of your business. This agreement will protect the interest of all members of the LLC.

Although there are not set rules as to what is “required” in your operating agreement, we have taken the liberty to make a list of suggestions that should be included. This list is not all inclusive.

• Business name
• Business contact information
• Name of all members
• Contact information for all members
• Assets contributed by each member
• Value of assets
• Accounting practices
• Management structure
• General business operations

Structuring your operating agreement properly will help to avoid disputes among LLC members with regards to the operational activities of the business. Take the time to clearly detail all the anticipated operating and management practices. By doing so, you will allow 100% of your focus to remain on the positive development of your business and not the minor operating issue that often times destroys partnerships.

Deal with these issues before by thoroughly preparing an all-inclusive operating agreement.

Source: Luke Adams – CEO, InFront Finance

Think not of yourself as the architect of your career but as the sculptor. Expect to have to do a lot of hard hammering and chiseling and scraping and polishing.

BC Forbes

October 6

1991 - “It’s the same each time with progress. First they ignore you, then they say you’re mad, then dangerous, then there’s a pause and you can’t find anyone who disagrees with you.” Tony Benn, British politician, in the Observer.

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