Online Incorporation MaxBlog

by Habiba Abubakar
Profit Diva

So how do you go about finding joint venture partners? The first question you should ask yourself is this: “Who already has influence and credibility with my target market?”

In answering this question, the best place to start is with “warm” contacts. Warm contacts are your existing network of friends, mentors, business associates and suppliers. It’s the best place to start because it’s easier to persuade someone you already have a relationship with to participate in a joint venture with you.

But what do you do if no one in your network is suitable? Then, you’ll have to work with “cold” contacts. In other words, you’ll have to go out and find partners.

Whether you’re partnering with warm contacts or cold contacts, there are common places and instances where you can network and build relationships that can lead to profitable joint ventures.

Here are some of those places and instances where you’ll find potential partners who have influence and credibility with your target market:

1. Seminars and Workshops

Seminars and workshops are the number 1 place for finding potential joint venture partners. This is because of the feast of networking opportunities provided by such events. Often, these type of events last for up to three days. This gives you a chance to make strong connections with the other delegates. You’ll also find that people who pay good money to attend seminars are often those who are serious about growing their business.

2. Trade Shows and Exhibitions

Sometimes, it can be more worthwhile to work the floor at trade shows and exhibitions, rather than having a booth. Why? Because you get to meet potential joint venture partners that may not necessarily visit your booth.

3. Membership Associations

Most membership associations provide a directory which lists all the members of that association. The directory usually provides the business name, web site and contact details of members. Some membership associations also host monthly or quarterly events which make a great platform for networking.

4. Through your business associates and suppliers

Introductions from people in your network is a very effective way of meeting potential joint venture partners. You’re likely to instantly trust a person you’ve just been introduced to, if the introduction is made by someone you respect and trust i.e. your business associate. This method of finding potential joint venture partners is a sort of third party endorsement that turns a “cold” contact into a “lukewarm” contact.

5. Participate in online discussion groups and forums within your industry

Here, you’ll find experts who are respected by your target market (and are therefore potential joint venture partners), giving advice by answering questions asked by forum members. Online discussion groups and forums are also good places to find out what your target market’s opinion or impression is, about potential joint venture partners. This will help you decide whether you want to be associated with the potential partner in question.

6. Subscribe to online and offline publications that serve your target market

Magazines, newsletters and newspapers often publish articles written by industry experts who target the same market as you. Sometimes, these publications also publish “success profile” type of stories about certain industry experts. Those industry experts could be your next joint venture partners.

Once you’ve made a list of potential joint venture partners, you need to examine their character, business ethics, and customer service standards. You must also review their products and services. These factors will help you determine whether they are really a good match for your business, and whether you’d like to be associated with them. If so, then go ahead and get the ball rolling.

Copyright © 2005 by Habiba Abubakar and Emprez. All rights reserved.

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Habiba Abubakar, a.k.a. The Profit Diva, specializes in helping small business owners who are struggling to increase their client base, and are tired of earning mediocre profits. Get your copy of her FREE 7-part mini eCourse, “The Easiest Way To Skyrocket Your Profits In 90 Days Or Less,” when you subscribe to her FREE business-building newsletter at http://www.profitdiva.com

by Anne Ahira
The Best Affiliate

When two or more people agree to form a partnership which will mutually benefit each of them they are entering into a Joint Venture (JV for short). Many online entrepreneurs are recognizing the value of combining forces with others online to create a stronger marketing force.

Following are just a few of the benefits to be found by forming Joint Ventures:

The more exposure you have online the more products and services you will sell. When you and your JV partners share each other’s built in audiences and email lists, you instantly acquire the opportunity to greatly broaden your potential buyer base which translates into greater sales.

Your new partners may possess knowledge and skills which you currently lack. By forming this type of relationship you allow for the opportunity to learn much from each other. By all means take advantage of that. The more you know, the greater your chance for success.

TIPS FOR BUILDING A SUCCESSFUL RELATIONSHIP

Joint Ventures are ’serious’ relationships! Don’t enter into them casually. You need to put out an honest effort to create a good, solid foundation built on trust and friendship. This will hopefully be a relationship that will last for many years and grow stronger with the passage of time. Like any stable relationship between people you need to cultivate an atmosphere of loyalty and faithfulness.

When you have found several potential JV partners and before you contact them, take the time to become familiar with their business, web site and ezine. If you can discuss their business with them they will appreciate that you are making an honest, sincere attempt to develop a partnership which will benefit the both of you. Not just you!

Your first approach to each prospect will decide the fate of your JV. You must write a strong, personalized proposal stating clearly what you feel you both could bring to a partnership and what you both could expect to achieve by joining forces. If you send an impersonal, hard sell letter you will turn your prospect off and the new JV will be “clicked” out of existence before it has the chance to get off the ground! So come from your heart when you approach a potential partner. Perhaps you would prefer to make your first contact by phone just to say hello and “meet” each other. That’s perfectly fine.

When you do make contact be certain to explain right away, how working together would be beneficial to both of you. If it is all about selfish you, no one in their right mind would consider becoming your partner! Know first how YOU could help your potential partner. Then be certain to clearly explain what those benefits are. Do you have a large subscriber list that they will gain instant access to? Will you endorse your partner’s products? How can you help grow your partner’s business?

I’m sure that you conduct your own business with integrity and professionalism; that you treat your customers with respect and offer outstanding customer service. Be sure to treat the customers of your new JV partner in exactly the same fashion! Act responsibly. Now it is not just your own reputation which is at stake but also that of your new JV partners as well.

WAYS TO WORK TOGETHER

Here are a few ideas on how partners can work together to promote each other:

When you cross promote each others products it is important that you have tried and do believe in the product. You are not being honest if you try to promote a product that you don’t believe in and that dishonesty will eventually come across in your advertising. Partner’s can agree to swap ads or articles in each other’s ezines or send promotional endorsements to each other’s email lists. Personal testimonials can be powerful sales tools so take the time to compose a good one.

Another JV idea is to bundle your packages together. Bundling works best when the product complements yours. But, be careful that their product doesn’t overshadow yours. Also, don’t pile on so many bonuses that the offer becomes unbelievable. An offer too good to be true may raise doubts in the consumer’s mind.

Agree to “swap” products with your partner and offer them as a prize. Give the prize away in a contest or do a random drawing to one lucky subscriber.

When your partner has a company which offers services related to yours, you can create a “Virtual Company”. Your customers will enjoy the convenience of one-stop shopping. By cross promoting each other, you’ll BOTH gain new customers. Don’t limit yourself to partners who are close to you geographically. Remember, with fax and email your associates can be located anywhere in the world.

IN SUMMARY

The Internet has made the world a very small place indeed. Which is wonderful for you, the Internet marketer! You could potentially partner with anyone, anywhere! Open your eyes to the possibilities, get excited and get to work. The world truly is “your oyster”! Have fun and have success.

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Anne Ahira
Editor The BEST Affiliate Newsletter

The decision to incorporate or maintain your sole proprietorship is one that should not be made lightly. There are a number of advantages to both. And, the advantages really depend on what your unique business and personal needs are.

There are four important things you should consider in your decision to incorporate or not:

• Liability. As a sole proprietor you could suffer a great personal loss if your business is ever sued. Incorporation offers a shield that protects your personal assets in the event your business is ever taken to court.
• Taxes. Corporations usually pay taxes as lower tax rates.
• Investment. Are you looking for investors? The availability of corporate stock makes winning investors easier.
• Cost of establishment and maintenance. Sole proprietorships are less expensive to maintain than corporations. Corporations must pay filing fees and annual registrations with the state.

Be wise in your decision. Get expert advice from your accountant or attorney when making this decision.

Learn more about the different types of business structures and incorporating your small business in the MaxFilings Incorporation Knowledge Center.

A business that has only one owner is termed “sole proprietorship”. The business owner is called a “sole proprietor”. A sole proprietorship is the most simple type of business entity. The requirements for forming a sole proprietorship are less. This usually involves getting a business license, permit, and complying with other state or local business regulations.

Although the structure is simple, liability of a sole proprietor can also be quite a heavyweight. A sole proprietor is “completely” liable all business debts or legal claims i.e the owner’s personal properties or assets can be taken by court order to repay claims or judgements.

As your business expands, a sole proprietor may want to add more owners. This is the time to choose to form other type of business structure. The decisions should be based on factors such as liability, taxation, and the size of the new business expansion. These new types of business structure include: corporation, LLC (limited liability company), or partnership.

More to come on types of business structure….

by Roger Munns

While Monaco is a well known European tax haven, Andorra has remained little known outside of the financial community - despite enjoying the same tax advantages and arguably more private banking than her better known rival.

In contrast to the similar financial benefits both Monaco and Andorra residents enjoy, the two small countries have quite different climates.

Monaco has good all year round weather and is located next to the French Riveria, while Andorra is in the Pyrenees and between early December and late April attracts nearly ten million tourists for ski holidays. Monaco has year round tourists, peaking twice a year in May for the Grand Prix, and September for the Yacht Show.

Neither Andorra or Monaco have their own airports ? Nice airport has a helicopter link, a ten minute ride direct to Monaco, Andorra is not so fortunate and the nearest airport is Barcelona, a three hour drive away from the principality.

Both countries have opted to stay out of the EU, preserving their ability to maintain a no income tax policy.

The biggest difference is the entry price for becoming a resident ? which entails buying or renting a house or apartment.

One bedroom apartments in Monaco start at 800,000 Euros, but in Andorra the same size apartment starts at less than a third of the price at 250,000 Euros. And while a house in Monaco is a rarity, there is a good choice of houses for sale in Andorra, with prices starting at under a million Euros.

Rising Prices

Given Andorra’s property price advantage for would-be residents choosing between Europe’s primary tax havens, it has come as a surprise to many that the closing costs for buying a property in Andorra has not only been less than half that of Monaco, but also less than buying a property in many other mainland European countries at around four and a half per cent.

But Andorra has just raised property closing costs by introducing a three and a half per cent sale of goods and services tax on property purchases from January 1, 2006 - bringing the tax haven more in line with neighboring France and Spain.

Demand for property in Andorra and Monaco is unlikely to be affected by the recent increases though, according to European tax haven specialists Tribune Properties.

‘Andorra and Monaco have historically seen an increase in property activity and residency applications when taxes are increasing elsewhere. The new German government has recently increased the top rate of income tax and the United Kingdom has seen an increase in the number of indirect taxes, making the zero per cent personal income tax both Andorra and Monaco offer an attractive preposition to high income earners.

Andorra’s property inflation has been over ten per cent annually for the last three years, and when the 2005 figures are released we would expect it to be four years in a row, with no sign of a leveling off of demand for the year ahead.

With Andorra and Monaco’s high speed cable and broadband internet access more and more company owners are moving their residence to low and no tax countries and running their companies from a distance geographically, while being able to share information with their head office in real time’.

As well as buying a property in Andorra or Monaco, both countries require residency applicants to establish a local bank account and deposit around 50,000 Euros (Andorra) or 100,000 Euros (Monaco), take out private health insurance, and to live there for six months of the year.

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For an on-line guide to Monaco and Monte Carlo including a map, the weather, flights and Nice Airport information visit http://www.yourmonaco.com

It used to be that only the largest multi-nationals needed a Compliance Officer. Today most practices, regardless of size, would be wise to charge someone within their organization with the responsibility of keeping abreast and managing the compliance process.

Take as an example European employment law that has been introduced over the last few years that has changed the face of European businesses. Small businesses in particular are finding that a casual and informal approach to employment issues can now result in statutory fines that have no bearing on the financial health of the individual company and could, without as much as a by your leave, directly result in the demise of a company.

Small to medium businesses do not often have the luxury of employing a full time Compliance Officer and although larger organizations can afford a dedicated person they are finding that with compliance issues mushrooming the Compliance Officer now has a team, a department and if not already, how long before compliance becomes a division?

Regardless of size, the first step in compliance for any organization requires them to identify the areas of compliance that are applicable to them. Rules and regulations are being introduced monthly on a local, regional, national and international level, covering everything from data protection and freedom of information, anti-money laundering to environmental waste control, race relations to health and safety; with ignorance being no defense there is a requirement on the individual businesses to know their responsibilities, and fines for those that wait to be told.

Having identified the areas of compliance the company then needs to understand what they need to do to ensure they comply. It is becoming conceivable that with the shear volume of compliancy issues that companies who can show a good faith effort in complying will, even when they fall short, reduce the risks of fines.

Having identified and understood the compliance issues the Compliance Officer needs to define and implement policy and disseminate the information throughout the organization.

It is important for the Compliance Officer that they do not inadvertently become the company’s patsy. Senior managers are not averse to ignoring the internal memos they receive advising them of their responsibilities. Compliance Officers need to deliver their messages up and down the corporate food chain and record that their advice and directives have been received and more importantly understood.

The Compliance Officer has to avoid becoming the company scapegoat. This won’t happen by itself, a sales team that has a long history of success though a relaxed attitude to selling is not going to willingly adopt new, and what they will see as restrictive, practices without a fight. ‘I didn’t get the memo’, ‘I didn’t understand it’, ‘I thought it meant something else’, ‘I thought these were only guidelines’ are likely to be stock replies, along with the one or two old timers that didn’t think compliance issues applied to them. It used to be a safe bet to blame IT, blame Compliance is rapidly taking its place.

One valuable tool in the Compliance Officer’s tool box is the online survey and questionnaire.

The online survey can deliver a message internally to the individual; it can be informative like a memo and educational by referencing detailed policy. Importantly it can become a valuable self registering record that confirms that the information has been properly disseminated and understood.

A single survey question can achieve all these objectives at the same time.

Take an example:

Are you aware that section 45 of the Companies (Auditing and Accounting) Act 2003 imposes an obligation on directors of certain companies to prepare statements on their company’s compliance with its relevant obligations? (Click here for a summary of Company’s Policy on Compliance Reporting Obligations)

Yes
No

For those Directors that have not read the policy the survey will give an opportunity to view the company’s policy online (using an embedded live HTML link). Should Directors answer ‘No’ the Compliance Officer knows who to target.

The survey also records the manager’s response and shifts the responsibility away from the Compliance Officer to the individual manager where the responsibility needs rest for a company to meet its compliance obligations.

Using an online website such as http://www.surveygalaxy.com where multiple surveys can be managed, easily modified, updated and re-issued on a periodic basis across an organization online surveys can be the Compliance Officer’s killer application.

Through the regular use of online surveys the Compliance Officer will be in the driving seat, leading and not chasing compliance issues, not only circulating the information on a one to one basis but also monitoring and recording the level of awareness throughout the organization.

The Compliance Officer’s role is a difficult one, like a parent keeping a wayward child on the straight and narrow, most employers, let alone their employees, often do not fully understand the true consequence of their, often innocent, minor discretions. Assigning a Compliance Officer is a start but enabling them to fulfill their remit will be the difference between a company being fully compliant and one that risks suffering the consequences for having let compliance take a back seat.

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Martin Day is a Director of Survey Galaxy Ltd a web site that allows anyone to create, design and publish online surveys. Martin has provided survey consultancy for a number of Compliance Officers to help develop internal compliance awareness programmes. For more information please visit http://www.surveygalaxy.com

by David Jones

Offshore Incorporation 101

There are many major differences between online banking and offline banking; if you are presently undecided between your current, limited offline bank and opening a new online LLC bank account, you should take some time to thoroughly evaluate your choices.

What’s so good about opening an online banking account?

An online banking account will make it easy to do all your transactions and bill- paying at home whenever you want; whereas someone who doesn’t have an online banking account will have to make a trip to the local bank and sort everything out there.

When you have bills to pay it’s easier to switch on the computer rather than running down to the bank. You also can’t delay trips to the bank; when a bill has to be paid, it has to be done on time, unless you want to pay additional fees and risk losing a good relationship with your creditor.

However, there are some benefits to using an offline banking account over an online account. One benefit is going over to the bank and being able to talk to someone face to face if you have a problem with your account. You can speak with a bank employee who will help you through the problem and will assist you in any possible way; and can even inform you of what went wrong.

Do you live within walking distance of your bank? Then another advantage is the exercise that you will get from walking down to the bank.

Other advantages of online banking are being able to make transactions 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. If you give the order outside of regular banking hours, your order will be executed as soon as the bank opens. Do you want to check time deposit rates? No problem, just go online and you won’t have to listen to some music while you are put on hold for twenty minutes, while the operator is trying to find the right person to connect you to.

If there is a problem with your online bank account you may send the bank an email. You can call the bank for urgent problems and since it is an online bank they have a lot less incoming calls than an offline bank. Meaning you will get an answer much faster.

These are just a few advantages and disadvantages you can factor in when you make the decision, but ultimately, the choice will be up to you.
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David Jones is a freelance writer and world traveler who writes on subjects in which he has a personal interest.
http://www.offshoreincorporation101.com/