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Don’t Sell Your Business Until You’ve Read This

April 10, 2015 by Michael Labertew

Michael Labertew Business Sell

Selling your business is often the first step toward the rest of your life. Every entrepreneur starting from scratch has dreamt of the day he can escape to that safe haven, that respite away from the bustle. Selling is often a form of saying goodbye, and for some that means severing ties that long represented an intellectual and emotional attachment to ideas you helped to create and implement. Rich Krebs, a financial sales advisor working with mergers and acquisitions, spoke with Forbes magazine to shed light on some factors that contribute greatly to the fruition of a sale, but may be forgotten or neglected in the commotion. Here are some tips to ensure a smooth sale:

Consider cash

Offering a separate negotiation for cash payouts may open new doors. Buyers may take kindly to a discounted offer if paid in cash. It can be cleaner than leveraged buyouts in which equity and collateral serve as buffers to the cost which cannot be paid directly in full and up front. Cash offers can often be a win-win simplification for both parties.

Lawyer up

Krebs suggests hiring additional specialists—lawyers and accountants— to comprehend the great amount of compliance material necessary to know in a complicated transaction. While many businesses have in-house lawyers who are markedly prepared for such an event, additional help will ensure that everything is up to speed, and up to par with standards.

Be prepared to make changes and move on

If this is no longer going to be your business, you must make sure the personal components are disassembled. Firstly, that means maturely facing the truth that a creation of yours has seen its best moment under your watch, and it is time to end your very personal connection to the company. In doing so you distance yourself from the history of successes and failures, and accept those stories as an unforgettable part of your past.

Buyers prefer to see open houses, looking to fill in the chinks they see in the structure. This means new hires and fires. What you can do to help clean is let go of the inefficient, be it an employee or a systematic element of the company. In any case, a company should not suffer a drastic change in productivity because you, as its head, leave. It is up to you as the seller to make sure due diligence does not reveal any kinks in your business. That will result in a reduction in the sale price.

5 Fundamental Tips to Become a Successful Lawyer

March 3, 2015 by Michael Labertew

Becoming a successful lawyer is no walk in the park, but it’s also no magic trick either. There are a number of habits you can practice and characteristics you can cultivate to achieve success in the legal field.

Here are 5 fundamentals:

Be Proactive: Being proactive means having a set of short-term and long-term goals and knowing what steps you need to take to achieve them. You’ll need to take responsibility for the little things that comprise each and every day in order to build a foundation upon which your successful career will rest. If you build an unstable or ineffective foundation, your career will suffer as a result. Be mindful of what you could do better, and then do your best to improve over time.

Manage Your Time: Efficiency is a ubiquitous challenge, but it is one that is particularly felt by new lawyers. The instinct is to rush, rush, rush to hit all those legal deadlines but this can lead to errors and important details slipping through the cracks. It may feel counterintuitive, but moving slowly at the start will allow you to delegate tasks appropriately and develop a comprehensive plan before you dive in headfirst. Over time, you’ll gain a better sense of time management as you fall into a comfortable daily and weekly rhythm.

Build Relationships: Successful lawyers all have one thing in common — a solid network. Junior lawyers can begin building their network by looking up the chain of command. By making the lives of their firm’s senior lawyers as easy as possible, junior lawyers will make themselves more attractive for responsibilities in the future. This isn’t just about doing mountains of case research — it also means managing client issues, anticipating unexpected problems, and helping things run smoothly behind the scenes.

Notice the Details: The legal field is all about the details. Landmark court decisions may be determined by subtle distinctions while successful defenses often rest on a couple of easily overlooked details. Successful law students are already detail-oriented, but junior lawyers need to make details a conscious part of their psyches. Always triple-check your work to make sure that everything follows logically, that your references are spot-on, and that there are no typographical errors. Typos may not seem like a big deal, but they reflect poorly on your work and suggest to senior lawyers that more substantial problems lurk underneath.

Ask Questions: One of the worst things you can do as a new lawyer is avoid asking questions out of fear or embarrassment. You will only do yourself a disservice if you do not figure out the right way to do things early on. Junior lawyers are not expected to know how to do everything when they come on board, but they are expected to speak up when they’re unsure about Confirm the project you’re working on, double-check the deadline you’ve been assigned, and speak up when you hit a roadblock.

10 Tips to Save Time and Increase Efficiency

January 14, 2015 by Michael Labertew

“There aren’t enough hours in a day” is a phrase we all know too well. Everyone knows that time is a precious commodity, so how do you make the most of it and ensure that you are not only being efficient but also allowing time to be creative and innovative?

Here are 10 tips shared by Business Analyst and Director of Spring Partnerships, Stephen Archer, on how to optimize your day, thus giving yourself a little time back:

Checking your email constantly is one of the biggest time wasters in a day. Not only is it distracting but it makes you less productive as you often end up dropping what you are currently working on to respond to messages in your inbox. Designate specific times to check your email, so that you don’t lose focus. Archer suggest checking your emails just three times a day.
Archer stresses working to the rule of “3”. Have no more than three things going on at a given time. This will enable your goals to be clearer, more defined and more realistic.
Have a daily to-do list as well as a weekly list that lists what not-to-do. This will help you stay focused and in the moment, rather than getting side tracked.
Learn to say no. This may sounds simple enough but believe me, it’s easier said than done.
It’s safe to say that the majority of people think of themselves as perfectionists. While that is a good trait to have and it encourages one to remain challenged, in an effort to be more efficient, learn to accept excellence over perfection. By no means is this an invitation to slack off or become lazy, but perfection is often not attainable and it will be in everyone’s best interest to set realistic goals.
Make sure you leave room on your calendar for yourself. Block out some time for creative planning and thinking. Not only will this break up your routine but it will also leave you feeling more productive and energised.
Know your body and try not to schedule any projects or meetings that require tough thinking between 2 and 3pm. “It’s the body’s down time”, Archer explains. “Be healthy and walk and use the stairs wherever possible. Any cardiovascular exercise will boost productivity especially before the day begins. Drinks lots of water too as this can improve energy levels.”
Give your brain a rest and read or listen to fiction. This will “rewire the creative lines in your head”.
Archer stresses to be “mindfully individual”. Do things your way as much as possible – it will give you strength and confidence.
Allow yourself to take an extra 5% of time to ensure you get things right the first time around.

To read the original article, visit Consultant-News.com.

Becoming a Business Consultant

December 5, 2014 by Michael Labertew

If you’re an expert on something and you aren’t constructing an empire around it, you need a business consultant.

Here you are, 20-some years into your profession. You’ve developed a set of skills that could only be honed though experience. You understand your craft, and are by all accounts successful.

You have, right in the palm of your hand, the ability to develop a million dollar business

Consulting isn’t something you do when an eager young colleague comes to you for a bit of advice – it can be the foundation of your next step in business. Developing a practice from the ground up is by no means easy, but many entrepreneurs-cum-consultants say it is the most rewarding work they’ve ever done. It can also be very lucrative

The trick is to look around for a general lack of knowledge in an area where you’ve already learned the hard lessons. In this way realtors can become business management consultants. It’s important that you develop your own way of working – after all, folks are paying for YOU. Your product is your experience and your manner of delivery. In this way, you’ll always stand apart form the competition. If you see a lot of consultants in your area working on leadership, shift your offering to branding or operations. There are an endless number of niches to consider, as long as the need is unmet in the marketplace.

As you begin looking for consulting opportunities, you’ll definitely want to start positioning yourself as an authority in your industry. Write a manual or book, or a white paper. Reach out to podcasts, throw events…anything you can do to get your materials to more people in the right industry. If you’re widely respected and depicted as a thought leader, your wares will be easier to pitch.

And you must always be networking. The best networkers find a way to think of it not as a function of business, but as a way to genuinely meet people and share ideas and references. Start with your local community, and you’ll start to find people who are in need of guidance in order to grow their business.

If you’re afraid of public speaking, that’s something you want to work on right away. Speaking engagements are potentially the best way to expand your clientele. Attend seminars and look for opportunities, maybe even organize your own. Base it on your book, or your methods, or your unique point of view. Speaking in front of a large crowd with authority and poise will attract business.

source: www.entrepreneur.com

Former State Senator Seeks Post-Prison Career in Consultation

September 25, 2014 by Michael Labertew

Source: www.stuckincustoms.com

In 2009, a federal jury found Vincent J. Fumo guilty of defrauding the state Senate and two non-profit organizations. In the ruling, he was also found guilty of staging a cover up, as a failed bid to throw off the FBI and federal prosecutors. In addition to this, he acknowledged that he hired several of his cronies for no-show state jobs, used taxpayers money to hire private eyes to spy on his romantic and political rivals and overpaid some staff to serve illegally as his servants and political foot soldiers.

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