Posted on

Crowdfund Your Next Business Venture

Have you ever had a great new business idea but lacked the money to exploit it? Yeah, me too. More times than I care to count. For many small business, however, crowdfunding may be the key that unlocks the golden door of your next opportunity to a Great! business.

Crowdfunding has been around for a long time using a variety of different names. Artists, authors, and composers have for eons presold their works and only created them once they have sufficient subscribers to make it worth their while. Now, everyone’s getting into the act. Take a look at GoFundMe.com, Kickstarter.com, Indiegogo.com and other crowdfunding sites and you’ll be amazed at what’s out there.

Two primary types of crowdfunding exist. Rewards crowdfunding, wherein entrepreneurs presell a product or service to launch a business concept without incurring debt or sacrificing equity ownership of their company. Equity crowdfunding, wherein the entrepreneur obtains several small capital infusions from several backers, usually in the company’s early stages, and each backer receives some proportional share of a company in exchange for the money pledged.

For most new ventures, entrepreneurs prefer rewards crowdfunding instead of equity crowdfunding, because they want to continue solely owning their venture, calling all the shots, and keeping all the profits. Nonetheless, equity crowdfunding does have its place in the collection of financing options out there.

So, the next time you have a great idea and no money to back it, think about crowdfunding.

[reminder]How big of a list of potential funders do you think you would need to get a new venture requiring $50,000 of initial capital going?[/reminder]

Posted on

4 Scams to Warn Your Grandparents (Self, Spouse, Parents, Kids, and Others) About

Have you or someone you care for ever been scammed? If so, it may be because you or they are a member of the “Flat Forehead Society.” Those with flat foreheads usually get them by slamming their palms between their eyes when they find out some “such a nice person” has duped them out of some hard-earned money as they exclaim, “But he was such a nice person. That’s the last person I would have thought would do that to me.”

Has a slick scammer ever made you do that? Yeah, me too. And, as a well-seasoned litigating lawyer, I’m supposed to be immune to scammers. But, every now and then, one of them gets a leg up on me and treats me worse than a dog treats a fire hydrant. And they do it to my elderly clients more often than my younger clients, though plenty of my other clients call and ask what they can do about being scammed.

Why do older people get scammed in higher numbers? Usually because older (but also younger) Great! people have a tendency to give strangers the benefit of the doubt. Most often, however, they just aren’t thinking quickly enough to get ahead of the scammers.

Because forewarned is forearmed (and a four-armed person can best defend themselves), here’s a quick list of four scams bad people are trying to pull over on Great! people:

  1. Tech Support: Someone calls, says their company has seen that your computer has been hacked, directs you to a website, which confirms your computer has been hacked, and tells you to pay them for unhacking it. What’s really happening is they are hacking your computer while you are on their site. The Four-Armed Defense is to simply hang up whenever anyone you don’t know calls you up and asks you to do anything you have never done before.
  2. IRS Agents: Someone calls, says they’re from the IRS, tells you the last four digits of your social security number (ask them for the first five and see what happens), and you either owe them additional taxes or they have a refund for you. Then they tell you to give them a credit or debit card number to which to they can apply your refund or take your tax payment over the phone. Obviously, they will steal your money with the information. The Four-Armed Defense is to simply hang up whenever anyone you don’t know calls you and says they are from the IRS. The IRS never, NEVER, NEVER EVER calls people on the phone.
  3. Help Us Save The Sick: Someone calls, says, “Hi, I’m calling from the Great! People Are Dying From Cancer (uh, Colitis; uh, Diabetes; uh, Some Other Sickness) Foundation” and then gets you talking and then gets you to pull your credit card out of your wallet, hold it next to your bleeding heart, and think of the good your donation will do in the world. The Four-Armed Defense is to simply hang up whenever anyone you don’t know calls you up and asks you to do anything you have never done before.
  4. Your Bank’s New Chip Card Department: Someone calls and says you need to answer some questions over the phone or log in to their website to confirm your address and pin number so they can send you your new fancy credit card with that little chip in it. What’s really happening is they are hacking your computer while you are on their site or accessing your bank account with the information you are giving them over the phone. The Four-Armed Defense is to simply hang up whenever anyone you don’t know calls you up and asks you to do anything you have never done before.

The next time we call you and ask you for money to help people be Great! All the time! (this will never happen, but if it ever does), simply hang up the phone.

[reminder]Have you ever been scammed?[/reminder]

Posted on

5 Things You Must Do for Great! Financial Planning

Clients come into Susan’s and my medical and Lifecycle Law offices complaining they are stressed for a variety of reasons. Most of those reasons stem, however, in one way or another from money issues and usually they are not complaining they have too much of it. On the contrary, the majority of urgent medical and lifecycle legal stress-related issues usually involve a lack of money.

If you have decided you want to have more money than you need whenever you need it, then you have already taken the first step to being financially Great! All the time! You’ve already done the proaction step. Now, it’s time to do some Great! Financial Planning.

Promoting yourself from proaction to practically perfect performance in your financial facet only takes the following five steps:

Continue reading “5 Things You Must Do for Great! Financial Planning”

Posted on

The 10 Objectives of Great! Financial Planning

You asked for it, so I added it to the blog. In addition to covering the personal, business, legal, and health facets of your life, I have started addressing the Financial Facet of your life.

Property is one of your life’s precious resources. Whether your assets are financial or physical or tangible or intangible, a significant part of your own personal Greatness! revolves around acquiring, maintaining, protecting, and growing your assets. If you want to be Great! All the time!, then you have to become the master of all the facets of your life, including your financial facet.

Like almost everything else in life, the P10 Principle (Proaction, perception, planning, preparation, practice, and persistence promote practically perfect performance) can be used in the financial facet of your life. My goal is to help you be Great! All the time! by showing you how to develop and implement a total, coordinated plan for setting and achieving your financial goals.

No need procrastinating any more about it, so let’s proactively Get To It, Now! by beginning with the end in mind and perceiving your practically perfect performance from a financial standpoint. Continue reading “The 10 Objectives of Great! Financial Planning”