Board Certified Specialist in Bankruptcy
We certainly we have many husband-and-wife business owner clients who are in personal and/or business bankruptcy. This article from the Wall Street Journal addresses the issues we see them face as "copreneurs." Glenn Muske, a small-business specialist at North Dakota State University, has studied copreneurs for nearly 15 years. In the worst cases he's seen, the stress "took down the business … [Read more...]
Dealing with Charlotte small business owners with financial difficulties, I see every day how shrewd money management would have helped them stay afloat. This goes beyond looking for discounts and going without. A recent article in Inc. magazine talked about some techniques that used to be available only to large companies that have become affordable for some smaller companies. The article … [Read more...]
Despite the bulls on Wall Street, smaller companies are simply unable to tap new financing as easily as large corporations. Midsize companies that can't borrow at a scale that interests investors, and according to the WSJ, those firms are "already saddled with the weakest credit ratings." It's even worse for small businesses that depend on their local lenders. This weekend on Carolina Business … [Read more...]
I recently saw an article quoting an American Express Open poll that only half of small business owners reported paying themselves a salary. That's bad, but gets worse when you learn how little they pay themselves; 44 percent earn less than $50,000. If the business owner can’t pay him or herself for any extended period of time, then something’s wrong. You can't hide problems with … [Read more...]
If you're one of the (few) business owners who has managed to keep your financial head above water in this economy, here are some tips for making more headway with your credit worthiness. These tips, in particular, will help you navigate a downturn more easily: BNET says: Separate business and personal accounts. Log and submit all business payment activity under accounts that are exclusively … [Read more...]
Beware the "business consultants" and "business advisers" who promise small business owners and sole proprietors that they can take care of debt problems. Over the past few years, we've seen small business owners who fall victim to such scams. Anatomy of a scam Sometimes, small business owners come to us with tremendous business debts and and tell us that they hired an "advisor" or … [Read more...]
We counsel small business owners and the self-employed daily in our offices. Many operate on credit and debit cards because bank financing is so hard to obtain. Small Business Issues with Credit Card Accountability and Responsibility Act For reasons outlined below (excerpted from this MSNBC article), our credit card debt counseling load is likely to increase in the wake of the new Credit Card … [Read more...]
Since a good percentage of our bankruptcy clients are small business owners, I keep an eye out for articles on financing. This article from Christian Science Monitor caught my eye because of the contradictory messages about small business lending. While the federal reserve system is "encouraging" banks to lend to small businesses, banks counter that small businesses simply aren't asking for … [Read more...]
My friend and fellow bankruptcy attorney Susanne Robicsek and I recently spoke to a group of local small business owners gathered at Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte, North Carolina. In this tough economy business owners are wise to acquaint themselves with the legal options they may need to employ if their companies hit the shoals. It was a pleasure spending an afternoon trying … [Read more...]