Starting a New Business Essays -- Setting Up a Business

Introduction As Regina Meyers contemplates opening a Satanic coffeehouse in her hometown, she must make a number of critical business decisions related to business organization, ownership, structure, and management. A number of her friends and family members have expressed interest in partnering with her or simply being involved. As Regina’s legal adviser, I have been asked to provide advice to her on a variety of topics outlined below. Business: Friends, Family, and Foes As an entrepreneur and business owner myself, I applaud Regina for taking the first steps towards establishing her business - a Satanic coffeehouse – while also respectfully providing advice based on some of my personal lessons learned. The first, and from my perspective the most important, decision Regina must make is related to the ownership structure of her business. While respecting that Ben, her husband, is willing to make a capital investment in the business but does not desire to participate in the operation and management, Regina needs to ensure that, as a married couple, they both understand and accept the responsibilities and risks involved with starting a business. From the information presented in the background notes, I am concerned that Ben’s pledge of a financial investment in the proposed company was from personally managed funds and not jointly-managed funds. If, indeed, the financial support pledged was from her husband’s personal funds, I would respectfully advise Regina against the accepting the investment as the marriage relationship would likely suffer by adding a non-union investor-investee financial relationship. With this noted, if Ben’s financial contribution is actually a confirmation supporting the use of their joint financial re... ...trieved from BCP Business Center: http://www.business.ftc.gov/documents/inv05-buying-franchise-consumer-guide Gaston Regional Chamber. (2013, December 2). Just starting out/business formation. Retrieved from Gaston Regional Chamber: http://gaston.toolsforbusiness.info/northcarolina/1b/formation/ North Carolina Department of the Secretary of State. (2013, December 2). Search for a corporation by name. Retrieved from Corporations Division: http://www.secretary.state.nc.us/corporations/searchresults.aspx?onlyactive=OFF&Words=STARTING&searchstr=The%20Gathering%20Place United States Patent and Trademark Office. (2013, December 2). Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS). Retrieved from United States Patent and Trademark Office: http://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/index.jsp Wagner, E. (2013, September 12). Five reasons eight out of ten businesses fail. Forbes.com, p. 1.