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Explore the Entrepreneurship.org Resource Center to find resources. Designed with entrepreneurs in mind, our resource center allows you to find materials to grow great ideas.
Just as with hiring internal managers and staff, using external support requires careful planning and selection. Before you select a consultant or contractor, determine your budget, scope of work, timeline, measures for success, and other resources available to support the people who will do the work. Use this worksheet to help you think through important issues and to guide you in the selection process.
This article presents a discussion of how ownership can be distributed in a company, first considering equity allocation when starting a company and then examining the amount and effect of dilution that might be caused by accepting outside financing.
When identifying an appropriate legal form of business, most often entrepreneurs consider these factors—control, taxes, liability, transferability of ownership, longevity of the business, and raising capital. The key is to identify the legal structure that best meets your needs and the needs of your business.
In an ideal world, you would select a legal form of business, understanding every legal and tax implication. The reality is that you must rely on the advice of attorneys and accountants to help you make this decision. They can anticipate your concerns based on their experience and on information you provide. Still, the legal structure of the business is your decision to make and live with.
The six legal forms of doing business are:
This article will delve deeper into the characteristics, advantages, and disadvantages of each structure.
Read the example to learn how one company documented their operation systems and workflow to reach their goal of using shared knowledge to increase sales.
This tool will help develop one complete workflow for a single operational system.
This information will help you discover and document your workflow--how the work flows from Point A to Point Z, who touches it, what happens to it, and how you will know it is complete.
This tool will help establish criteria and performance standards for one job description.
Above and beyond a job description, which describes the essential functions and the tasks to be done, the performance standard defines how well each function or task must be performed.
Considering your goals for business, this tool will help you identify operational systems necessary to support these goals.
This tool will help establish success measurements and goals to be used in your Operations Plan.
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