By citizen.com 

When it comes to setting up the legal structure of a new small business, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. As the founder of the business, you will be considering one of three legal forms — sole proprietorship, partnership or corporation — depending on answers to questions such as these.

First, will I be the only owner? If so, you may choose to remain in a sole proprietorship. Easy to form, this structure allows the owner to make all the decisions and receive all the profits. The owner also enjoys relative freedom from most government control and reporting requirements.

Next, how important is it to me to limit personal liability for debts or claims against my business? If it is highly important, you’re most likely to incorporate the business.

Next, which legal form of business organization will result in the least amount of taxes? There is no clear-cut answer here, which is one reason any small business owner should seek professional advice based on the circumstances of the owner and the business.

However, which legal form will be the simplest to set up and maintain? Generally, sole proprietorship is generally the simplest and least regulated. In fact, if your business starts up without a partner, the law will classify your business as a sole proprietorship.

The greatest disadvantage to a sole proprietorship is that your personal assets and those of your family are not protected. Should there be financial problems or a lawsuit, your assets are at risk. Additional insurance will help minimize the risk and cover liability up to a certain dollar amount; however, you also assume greater personal liability.

With more than one owner, the business can form as either a partnership or a corporation. Partnerships come in two varieties: general or limited, both giving all partners a say in the decisions. General partnerships do not require a formal written agreement (although not having one would be a serious mistake), but limited ones do and also require the filing of a certificate. The general partnership stipulates that all partners have unlimited personal liability, but in a limited partnership, partners typically are liable only to the extent of their investment.

The main advantage of incorporation is the limited financial liability of the owner. Personal assets cannot be attached and ownership is transferred through the sale of stock shares. The corporation is a legal entity and will continue to exist until its legal dissolution, even if one of the principals in the business should die.

There are different types of corporate structures. A regular corporation has government control and reporting requirements. Corporate earnings are subject to double taxation profits, and then the shareholders’ earnings through dividends. However, an S corporation provides the limited liability of the regular corporate structure, and earnings are taxed to individual owners at their individual rates. A limited liability company (LLC) offers the benefit of limited liability without being as complex as a corporation.

Finally, the list of choices is pretty clear, but whatever you choose there are advantages and disadvantages depending on specific business purpose. Usually business people consult a tax attorney before deciding on form of business organization. So, you should as well.

I like to have a morning coffee watching Youtube, my favorite source for the nice short video stories. Searching for creative ideas for life and for business I can’t resist using this huge resource of human creative fantasy. I recently posted the video of making creative things in one minute. This one however, takes much more effort and time, but how nice it is. The new short film by Blu, an ambiguous animation painted on public walls, made in Buenos Aires and in Baden. Watch more videos HERE.

When business people start a new business they do so called long-term thinking literally focusing on the kind of trends research consisted of a collection of reports and research on the sources and impacts of social and business change. The research can help to generate new business ideas. But I personally didn’t know that the research itself is a nice business. Here is my story of how I found a researching to be a great business nowadays.

Generally, business people need basic information to start and operate a business. Who are the decision-makers? What are their titles, back-grounds and responsibilities? What is an organization chart of the key people in the portion of the company their client is working with or targeting? So, the choice is to start digging up the information usually without any knowledge and skills and consequently spending a lot of time. Or, another option, a professional staff of researchers can do that quickly, precisely and without cutting off the budget.

According a Strategic Research Network, national strategic research company, researches provide Internet research services to their clients in exchange to a fee which depends on the project complexity. Researchers do something that their clients would rather not spend time doing at all. They dig up the current and accurate information that their clients absolutely must have to conduct their business. It could be the names, numbers and addresses of their potential clients. It might involve the pre-qualification of job candidates or preparation and management of e-mail tracking campaigns for employers.

Who can be a researcher and what they do? Marketing and management oriented people because they can appreciate how valuable sales and business research can be. People who enjoy being a “detective” and engaging in problem solving activities, those who are analytical and have project management skills.

Researchers use advanced Internet research services to generate custom leads that are unavailable anywhere else. They gather competitive business intelligence. They know everything about their clients or competitors so the clients can sell more products. The same approach is to the new business: there is a need of contact information for decision-makers that new companies can’t find anywhere else.

They also collect relevant industry content for marketing. It is not effective to just e-mail obvious promotional materials to the clients and prospects every time company communicates with them. Business purchasing decision-makers are too sophisticated. The researchers gather articles that are relevant to the target’s industry, sector and situation. They prioritize sales contact with e-mail tracking. What if your sales person could send an e-mail to 200 purchasing decision-makers and see in real time which ones were opening e-mails and which ones were clicking on links? What if you have their name and phone number right there too? Instead of calling 200 people who even didn’t read the message yet they can call 15 potential customers that are in their office and just have read the e-mail.

Researchers operate their own businesses, usually as home-office full or part-time, being perfect inexpensive outsource for their clients. While researchers are focusing on various types of lead generation projects their clients are concentrating on sales and recruiting activity.

According to SRN the future looks good. Demand for researchers among B2B Sales, Human Resources, Recruiters and Job Seekers remains high. That’s mostly because of the gap between what the average person can do and what trained researcher using excellent software and systems can accomplish. Whatever project company is planning this is a bad idea to let salespeople to do research themselves. Sales divisions of companies will continue to be expected to do more with less and will be looking for new ways to stimulate sales. Human Resources departments will be pressured to fill positions while reducing their recruiting costs. Job seekers- no matter how experienced they are- will always need the expertise of professionals who can put them in a position to speak with actual hiring authorities. So, isn’t it a nice business concept?