How are confidentiality agreements like sex?

From AllBusiness.com: By Hanna Hasl-Kelchner Most of us don’t walk around in public with our underwear or with our private parts hanging out because it’s . . . well . . . private.  Yet, when it comes to confidential business information some organizations don’t realize how exposed their assets really are. Businesses can protect themselves from being taken advantage of with the appropriate use of confidentiality agreements.  Those agreements can protect not only confidential information, but also the intellectual property subset known as trade secrets. Read it all here.

When Should a Business Owner Start Exit Planning

From AllBusiness.Com “You may have heard that the second thing you should do after you decide to go into business is to figure out how you are going to get out. Is this good advice? It depends on your business.” Here’s a link to the full article discussing the question “When should business owners start exit planning?”

The President Signs Small Business Jobs Act – Learn What’s in It

The President has signed into law the Small Business Jobs Act.  The act includes several important provisions of interest to green industry business owners and alternative lending for small businesses.  With respect to SBA lending, the Act finally extends the Stimulus Act provisions waiving fees and increasing the amount guaranteed by the SBA through the end of 2010.  It laso permanently raises the maximum amount of an SBA 7(a) loan from $2,000,000 to $5,000,000.  These loans are often used for business acquisitions and the increase should make them available in connection with many more transactions in the $2,000,000 to $5,000,000 … Read more

Exit Planning for Green Industry Business Owners: The Basics

Every business owner’s ownership interest will change hands at some point during the business owner’s lifetime or immediately thereafter, either voluntarily or involuntary.  That change may include the sale of the business to a third party, the transfer of the business to family members or employees or the liquidation of the business.  Most green industry business owners would agree that having an exit strategy or a plan for how the ownership interest will be transferred is a good idea.  Few, however, have gone through the process of developing an exit or succession plan. There are four basic steps in developing … Read more

An Exit Planning Parable for the Green Industry

Albert was a fairly typical small business owner.  He had worked hard to build a respectable business.   He never dreamed that in only twenty years, the business had grown from a part-time lawn mowing service to a $7 million commercial landscaping business with well over 100 employees.  Albert’s business was, in many ways, a family business.  His wife Sherry had run his office for years, although she had been backing away the last few years by training other office personnel.  She had a hold on things by only spending a average of two days a week in the business.  Albert’s … Read more