A trade secret is a piece of information which is confidential, can be legally protected, and gives your company a competitive edge. Lots of the most famous examples involve recipes: the formula for Coca Cola, McDonald’s Big Mac “secret sauce”, or that Mrs. Field’s chocolate chip cookie recipe that caused such a legal stir in the 90s. But you don’t …
5 Reasons Your Single-Member LLC Needs an Operating Agreement
An operating agreement is a contract that controls your LLC’s operations as well as member interaction with each other and with the LLC. You may think that an operating agreement is not necessary for your single-member LLC – after all – why make an agreement with yourself? Is the Operating Agreement a Legal Requirement? Most states don’t require an LLC …
Follow This 8 Point Plan When Starting Your New Business
Starting a new business can seem overwhelming – especially when you’re doing it alone. Creating a business plan will allow you to refine incomplete ideas, address areas you may have not yet considered, create a map so you know what to do next, and increase credibility for bank loans or investor funding. While you may think you’ve got your business …
Independent Contractor or Employee: It’s Very Easy to Cross the Line
Many businesses prefer to hire independent contractors because there’s often less overhead and fewer expenses (i.e. taxes). However, classify an employee as an independent contractor and you’re in big trouble. Here’s how to legally differentiate between the two. Who Controls the Worker? This question is not always easy to answer. According to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS), evidence of …
Business Law: Letters of Intents v. Term Sheets
A letter of intent is used in many types of businesses to list the terms of a proposed deal between prospective parties. While the letter of intent is usually signed by both parties, it contains language stating that this letter does not create a binding obligation on either party. Despite this fact, there has been a great deal of litigation …
Chart on Illinois Business Entities
This helpful chart for Illinois business entities was used for a speaking engagement last spring with Illinois Farm Bureau. It illustrates some of the major differences among different choices of business entities in Illinois including but not limited to sole proprietorship, general/limited partnerships, limited liability companies (including series LLC’s), and corporations. I’m a visual person so I love charts and …
Choice of Business Entities For Illinois Farmers & Agri-Businesses
[slideshare id=90556988&doc=businessentities-180313203829] I’m looking forward to speaking on Friday at the Women in Ag Conference in Rock Island, Illinois on choices of business entities. The above presentation gives a nice overview of various choices in Illinois including sole proprietorships, partnerships (general and limited), corporations, limited liability companies, etc.
Business Law: General Release for Video-Tapped Testimonials
My office just drafted a simple general release form for an agri-business client seeking permission to videotape client testimonials and use the recordings online. I think it’s a great idea to have a simple consent form to use for these types of situations where video-taped, audio-recorded and/or written testimonials are used in marketing materials. I suggest having language about the …
Amazon Suspension Prevention
There is an Amazon coach in my BNI Chapter and through my conversations with him, it’s come to my attention that entrepreneurs selling on Amazon.com run a risk of robots flagging something in their account and suspending it. In a sense, Amazon will suspend accounts and “ask questions later.” I regularly order goods from Amazon (pretty sure my postman thinks …
Tips for Running a Family Biz
I was having my “Miracle Morning” this morning and catching up on the the news. I came this article in USA Today by Rhonda Abrams titled “8 Keys to Running a Family Business.” When I hear “family business,” I cannot help but think about multi-generational food and agriculture businesses. Here are Rhonda’s tips: Decides who does which job. Like a …
Are you a “DBA” in Illinois?
There are several food and agriculture businesses that are a sole proprietorship or general partnership that operate as a DBA. For example, my own cattle business is really Cari Rincker d/b/a Rincker Cattle Co. My parents’ cattle operation is Curt & Pam Rincker d/b/a Rincker Simmentals. DBA’s are ubiquitous in the food and agriculture industry. However, have you cross your …
Some Considerations for General Partnership Agreements
Happy Post- Thanksgiving Break. I ate a lotta turkey down in College Station, Texas over the weekend. So I’ve been getting a lot of questions about partnership agreements lately. A partnership arises when two or more people agree to share in the profits and losses of a business. Oftentimes in business, especially in the food and agriculture industry, partnerships are …