Reputation is everything. Just ask United Airlines in April 2017. It’s easy to mess up a good reputation but hard to rebuild one tarnished. Premium brands have great reputations and can charge more for their services or products. People buy Hermes bags or Louis Vutiton bags at premium prices based upon their reputation.

Self employed people are generally subject to the 50% of the meal cost if for a business purpose and you save the receipt. There are a few exceptions but this is the general rule.

You may be able to fund it yourself without money. It may not be the smartest method but is doable. You may have credit cards or can get cards. You may be able to get a business loan, a home equity loan or a loan on stocks, life insurance policies or retirement accounts. Next family and friends. Vendors too may fund you indirectly by providing credit to you. To obtain money from an outside investor is very difficult and may require some funding. You probably will need a lawyer and a well thought out business plan. Then you will have to prepare a private placement memorandum or other documents that may require a CPA or others. You can also try by selling a small quanity of products or similar products to build funds. Sell $200.00 of products for $500.00 then buy $500.00 of products and sell those for $1250. Buy more and sell more and you will have funds you never thought you would have.

Many people believe the best name is one that’s descriptive of the product or service you offer. From a trademark purpose this is inaccurate. The trademark office can deny a name from registration when they believe the name is merely descriptive of the product or service offered. Any name that is confusingly similar to another trademark will likewise be denied registration. Names like google, yahoo, ebay or amazon had no meaning when the products were offered. By marketing your name you will get people to remember the name which has the most value. Pick a name that can translate well. General Motors came out with the Nova which sounded great in English but meant “doesn’t work” in another language. Would you buy a car named “Doesn’t work”? Short, easy to pronounce names that do not infringe on another name is the best way to go

A referral,word of mouth and publicity are no cost methods of marketing. Craigslist, social media and classified ads are other low cost methods. Radio advertising for one short spot can be under $20. Guerilla Marketing books describe numerous ways to market with little or no marketing budget.

Personal taxes are due April 15th. If the 15th is on a Saturday or Sunday or holiday then the date is moved to the next date. Corporate taxes are typically due on the 15th of March excepting weekends and holidays like personal taxes. Quarterly taxes are due the 15th of each quarter. In 2017 for a CA resident filing personal taxes the deadline is April 18th as the 15th is a Saturday and the 17th is considered a holiday.

The sweat equity vs capital contributed split is the 2nd or 3rd most common post formation problem. Since Peter already answered the question of what to do after the horses are already out of the barn if you left the barn door open I will try to cover some practical advice on how to setup your partnership in the first place to avoid this problem.

1. Do not just download and sign a form operating agreement! Downloaded forms are like tools. Just because you can buy a welder doesnt mean you know how to use it.

2. Discuss and agree on hours contributed or tasks completed in exchange for Equity or compensation.

3. Consider having different shares of profit splitting versus voting shares many people don’t realize you can do this but often this solves the problem of people who contribute more work deserving more profit but the person who contributed a lot of capital and does no work may want the majority of the voting shares

The sweat equity vs capital contributed split is the 2nd or 3rd most common post formation problem. Since Peter already answered the question of what to do after the horses are already out of the barn if you left the barn door open I will try to cover some practical advice on how to setup your partnership in the first place to avoid this problem.

1. Do not just download and sign a form operating agreement! Downloaded forms are like tools. Just because you can buy a welder doesnt mean you know how to use it.

2. Discuss and agree on hours contributed or tasks completed in exchange for Equity or compensation.

3. Consider having different shares of profit splitting versus voting shares many people don’t realize you can do this but often this solves the problem of people who contribute more work deserving more profit but the person who contributed a lot of capital and does no work may want the majority of the voting shares

What makes that investment a good deal is a question that really starts with what you are seeking when you invest in an apartment complex. Is this for long term? Are you seeking monthly cash flow? What are you happy making on your money on an annual basis? As John mentioned, you need to be able to have contingency money for repairs, taxes, ongoing maintenance and of course vacancies. You want to determine your CAP rate and that will give you an idea of your ROI. You’ll need the current owners tax rolls, other income (like possibly laundry), expenses and also you need to know how long the current leases are and are they at market rent or below. If they are below and the lease are up soon, that could give you an opportunity to raise rents and therefore increase your return. To determine the cap rate calculate the yearly gross income of the investment property. The gross income of a piece of investment property will mainly be in terms of rent rolls. Subtract the operating expenses associated with the property from the gross income and then divide the net income by the property’s purchase price.