For the love of your business

Articles to LIFT Your Life and Business

How to Protect Your Legacy With a Business Succession Plan

Our state is rich with families who have started businesses here and watched them thrive through the generations.  However, there are also many examples of family businesses that have failed to weather the changes in generational management and ceased to exist.  In many cases, this could have been avoided through careful business succession planning. A […]

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How to Raise the Next Generation of Business Owners

If you own a small business, there is probably at least some part of you hoping to pass the reins on to one or more of your children.  After all, spending so much time and effort on something that’s not going to last doesn’t sit well with most entrepreneurs. It may be difficult to look […]

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Ensure the Longevity of Your Family Business

According to the Family Business Institute, less than one-third of family-owned businesses make it past the second generation of ownership and only 1 in 10 survives through three generations. Based on a New York Times study of family businesses, here are some tips on how you can ensure your family business survives: Reinvention.  Businesses that […]

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How to Protect and Defend Your Brand

Earlier this year, Microsoft was on the wrong end of an English court ruling that found the software giant had infringed on the trademark of British broadcasting company BSkyB with its SkyDrive cloud storage service.  Instead of appealing the ruling, Microsoft decided to rebrand the service. Before your company has a misstep with intellectual property […]

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5 Steps to Protect Your Business From a Divorce

With the U.S. divorce rate at around 50% for first marriages and even higher for second marriages, a divorce’s impact on the fate of your business should be cause for concern.  The best thing that business owners can do is take preventive measures to ensure their companies will not suffer from a divorce – either […]

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Why Every Business Owner Needs an Estate Plan

Most business owners build a business with an endgame in mind: either cashing it out or passing it on.  Whatever your scenario is for what happens to your business when you retire or die, it is not likely to happen without a comprehensive plan that aligns your personal and business objectives. If you plan to […]

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If You Build It, You Best Protect It

Consider all the time you have spent or will spend building your business – and then consider how much energy you have spent on how to protect it or protect your family from it. Unfortunately, many small business owners don’t give much thought to asset protection until it’s too late – when a suit is […]

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How to Build a Business That Endures

If you have built a successful business and plan to leave it to your heirs or business partners, doing so is not a process that just happens naturally after you retire or die.  If you don’t have a buy-sell agreement, a business succession plan, a business transition plan or a business preservation plan in place, […]

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Lessons on Business Succession from the British Royals

The recent birth of Prince George Alexander Louis to Prince William and Kate Middleton gives the House of Windsor a living 4th generation heir to the throne.  Prince George will undoubtedly need to wait for 60 or more years until he ascends to that throne, given the longevity that runs in his bloodline.  His grandfather, […]

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Don’t Bet the Family Business on No Estate Plan

Being the owner of a family business can complicate your personal estate planning, since no doubt much of the wealth you want to pass on to your heirs is tied up in the business.  Being able to do so in a tax-advantaged way – and in a way that won’t cause a family feud – […]

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Business Succession Planning: Lessons Learned from the Lack of a Plan

A recent post in the New York Times’ “You’re The Boss” column reflected on lessons learned from difficult company successions that were made that way because there was no plan in place to follow. Susan Parker owns Bari Jay, a bridesmaid dress company that she and her sister inherited from their father.  Parker had never […]

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