In a recent Inc. Magazine article, Samuel Edwards details seven stages of business ownership from initial inception through making an exit strategy. Each of these stages presents its own distinct set of challenges and rewards, but understanding where you’re at in what I call the “Entrepreneurial Life Cycle” can provide invaluable insight. They are: The idea – This…
DetailsIn the Fall 2015 issue of the Illinois CPA Society’s Insight Magazine, Kristine Blenkhorn Rodriguez’s article “5 Reason Your Business is Doomed” listed 5 reasons most businesses fail. While this is incredibly insightful, the opposite is also true (and is a bit more optimistic). By inverting her reasons for your business’s demise, we find 5…
DetailsThis year, the last minute extender legislation passed as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 (the Act) contains good news for just about everyone. It makes many of the long-favored tax breaks (so-called extenders) permanent and retroactively extends (some for five years, others for two years) the rest of them, and, for the cherry…
DetailsThe Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has provided deposit insurance coverage to depositors of insured banks since 1933. This protection is important to all investors, especially those who tend to be invested heavily in cash and who are dependent on these accounts to cover living expenses. Covered institutions must display an official sign at each…
DetailsConventional wisdom has implied you need to be an extrovert to start a successful business. To quote Elizabeth Bernstein in a recent Wall Street Journal article, extroverts are “verbally adept and able to inspire employees, clients and investors with the shear force of their personality.” Her article, ‘Why Introverts Make Great Entrepreneurs’ goes on to…
DetailsFor as long as I can remember, I have been fascinated by the American Entrepreneur and the idea that anyone can start a business in their garage & build it into an entity that can support a family. I founded PFC for that very reason – to help entrepreneurs – and during the last thirty…
DetailsWe recently discussed the State of U.S. Entrepreneurship, noticing that the total number of new entrepreneurial businesses has decreased since The Great Recession…but is this really true, or are we just looking in the wrong places? According to a piece in the April 2015 issue of Inc. magazine, we’re not taking note of all the entrepreneurs…
DetailsIt’s hard to ignore that a seemingly large percentage of Wall Street has “lost the plot” in recent years. Now that we’re emerging from the worst financial downturn since The Great Depression, we need to be keenly focusing on what lead us to that dark place. We all know that in order to create value,…
DetailsAs a country, we like to pride ourselves on our entrepreneurial and ‘bootstrapping’ abilities. With hard work and dedication you can bring your idea to life and turn it into a living (and even create wealth), but is that still happening today? According to data found in the 2014 Federal Reserve Board’s Survey of Consumer…
DetailsIRS tax scams are on the rise. Therefore, it’s important to use caution when viewing emails and receiving telephone calls purportedly from the IRS. Falling victim to a tax scam can be very costly, not only in money, but also in the amount of time and aggravations it can take to straighten out the resulting…
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