Your home business career should start with basic legal knowledge about business matters that can commonly come up. Here are a few common terms, ideas and thoughts that someone starting a home business career should know.

Common discussions during a home business career are whether to become a corporation, an LLC, a sole proprietorship or a partnership. The biggest plus, as understood by many of being a corporation, is the idea that a corporation will protect the owner from personal liability.

The reality is that the creation of a corporation as part of someones home business career can protect the entrepreneur from personal liability.

Referred to as a corporate veil, it protects individuals involved in the business from having creditors, customers and others attack their personal assets should a lawsuit be filed against the corporation. It is not enough, however, for the venture to be named a corporation.

The home business founder has to have a corporate feel in his or her career, with meetings of the board of directors, minutes and note taking and publishing, as well as a corporate checking account and perhaps credit cards in the name of the corporation.

Meaning keeping excellent records and a well organized system so they can be easily analyzed and found quickly with ease. Someone whose career involves a home business and who is thinking about creating a corporation should seek the advice of an attorney who has experience with others in your same field.

Registering a company name is important to a home business career and generally means contact with the office of the secretary of state. Business licenses and permit regulations vary considerably from municipality to municipality and from state to state.

The advantages of having a business attorney to help with a home business career are that the attorney will keep abreast of the many changes that occur in the realm of business licenses, corporate and tax issues, the advantages and disadvantages of sole proprietorships, partnership and the various types of incorporation, as well as the continuous changes that are in zoning restrictions and requirements for business licensing.

When it comes time for acquiring a business license for that home business career it might be as simple as a stop at the city clerk’s office and a $20 check.

Or an entrepreneur could become embroiled in many time consuming and possibly restrictive compliances such as permits from the local fire department, permits for control of air and water pollution, permits for signs, country permits, licensing from the state, licensing from the federal government, licensing for purposes of state or city or county sales tax, and permits issued by the local or state health department.

These are the things that might have to be dealt with at the start of a home business career.

You would be well advised to have knowledge of a local attorney who can advise you for reasonably cheap fees at the beginning of your business career until you are ready to incorporate your business.

If you start doing financially well, without an attorney to advise you of different legal problems that come up, from customers or the government at any level, you might find your beautiful financial growing future trashed by an incompetent, raised on government employee, or a greedy customer seeking to line their pockets, unfairly, at your expense.

Many times an attorney can stop these profit eaters dead in their tracks or at least extremely limit the damage and expense they can do to you.

There are many people who claim that you should go ahead and register a corporation in a more business-favorable state, such as Delaware or Nevada, two of the current favorites. In many cases, this is not true - you’re much better off registering your corporation in the state where you conduct most of your business. After all, you will have to qualify for doing business in your own state and city, anyway. You will also have to pay income taxes in your own state. It’s true that sometimes there are corporate laws in those countries that are more flexible, but these benefit mostly large, publicly owned corporations and not the small privately-help corporations most small business owners intend to have.

Incorporating is an easy and fast process as long as %100 of the company shares will be help by you, your family and your partners. Things get a little more complicated when parts of the company are sold to the public. In most of the small business cases, this is not the case.
So if you form a simple corporations, all you need can be done in a few hours.

Here are the steps for legally forming a corporation (in general):

1st step - Check with your state’s corporate filing office, as well as with the federal and state trademark registers - to be sure the name you want to use is available.

2nd step - Fill in blanks in a preprinted form (available from commercial publishers or your state’s corporate filing office). You will state the purpose of your operation, the place of business, and the number and type of stocks.

3rd step - You need to pay a registration fee of $200-$1000, depending on the state.

4th step - you will need to complete Corporate Bylaws. They will outline a few corporate housekeeping details such as when an annual shareholders meeting will be held, who can vote and how the shareholders will be notified if a special meeting will be held.

If you’re not selling any stocks to the public, conducting corporate business is very simple. You will basically need to record key corporate decisions, such as taking a loan, or buying property such as real-estate. You will also need to hold an annual meeting.

There are many self-help book out there that make it very simple to incorporate your business in your state without getting a lawyer. These books will also teach you to run your corporation smoothly.

Some of the most fashionable trends and popular technologies today involve products that have been imported from other countries. From exotic spices from Africa to electronics from Japan, the import industry is huge. The U.S. Department of Commerce reports that the industry is worth over 1.2 trillion USD. There’s a big pie - the only challenge is getting a piece.

Exporting is a huge business as well, with American manufacturers sending out merchandise to over 150 different countries. The total worth of that industry is estimated at around 775 billion USD. Trade between countries will always exist, and if you want to start importing and/or exporting, you have many things to consider.

The types of products most often imported and exported are extremely varied. You can look at almost any product, and find one country with an excess and another country with a lack. This is the only requirement for importing or exporting an item.

There are several other factors that will determine the popularity of the exported item. The first is that it is much cheaper and easier to produce in the country of its origin. This could be due to an abundance of natural resources, or relaxed labor laws. Another factor is the item’s availability in the other country. For example, you would have a hard time growing bananas in Scandinavia. So, they are imported. The final factor is if the item is more distinguished if it is imported. Fabrics from Egypt seem special and exotic, so they are more likely to be sold on this factor than, say, a wristwatch from Taiwan.

If you feel like you have an item that could meet one or more of these factors, then you should by all means export or import it. You can bring a taste of a foreign culture back to your country, while making a good profit off of the business. However, there are all sorts of legal and business factors that you need to take into account, so that you don’t end up failing miserably.

There are several different types of import/export businesses. Some will help companies to transfer sell their products overseas. Some will buy products, and then search for buyers overseas. Some will find buyers who are lacking products, and track down a seller and work out a deal between the two. If you want to be a sort of import/export “freelancer”, you will establish all sorts of contacts, and perform whatever jobs need done out of the things I have mentioned. When you gain expertise in the technical aspects of moving shipments of items, you will be a sought-after asset for all international companies.

To start with, you should narrow your idea down to a simple venture to get started with, and test the waters. First you need to find out about any legal factors that may be involved with your importing. Particularly if you are importing a food product, you will have to deal with all sorts of licenses and other hoops to jump through. Talk to your local business bureau, and tell them your business idea. From there you will be able to get the ball rolling on whatever processes you will have to go through. This could include local business practices, or customs for the country you are shipping to. Investigate all aspects so that you don’t get hit with a nasty surprise when it’s too late in the game.

Running an import/export business takes a lot of courage, and a lot of effort. But if you have the personality and the ideas to make it work, then it could be a great possibility for a lifelong career. Just consider what all you could sell, and how you are going to do it. Make sure that you are fairly knowledgeable about trading in general before you try to do it internationally. And most of all, you should be willing to go out on a limb and take risks for the sake of starting up a better business.

Many people when buying investment real estate property think that once a market has taken off they have missed the boat but this is not true. There are lots of property investment opportunities opening worldwide. But no matter what country you make your overseas property investment in, don’t buy unless you are buying near developments or infrastructure that will see real estate values rise in price.

Like any investment, we always look to minimize the risk of loss or damage and it’s no different when it comes to property. When buying investment real estate property we all want a cheap deal, but keep in mind you need to balance the risk reward and this means buying property with the best risk to reward.

The Spanish property

If you’re buying a rural property or one in need of renovation consider asking questions about the title deeds of the property, access, boundaries, your rights to water and electricity and then have the property independently surveyed and valued before making any offer to purchase. In addition, if you’re looking to own property in Spain, get yourself familiarize with the Sales and Purchase Agreement as per Schedules G and H of the Housing Development (Control and Licensing) Regulation 1989, to further understand your rights as a buyer.

Understanding how the process of property investment works is a fundamental step in any situation in life so why should it be any different when buying a property in a foreign country. If you are considering buying property in Spain, it is probably safe to say that you have visited the country and love it.

On Bulgarian property

Approaching the matter of first-time investing in a home-abroad in Bulgaria, means, in practice, approaching the right Real Estate agent, who can give the prospective investor, first of all, an objective assessment of the advantages of buying property in Bulgaria, but also what pitfalls to avoid. “Bulgarian Property - The Overseas Buyers Kit” can assist anyone considering investing in the market and taking advantage of the current rise in property prices. And like all country’s and property investment, prices are influenced by their location, so the closer to the Bulgarian Black Sea costal area where most Europeans and Bulgarians flock to in their thousands for a holiday destination, you will have to pay more for a similar property than you would find potentially further inland.

Until Bulgaria does join the EU its property ownership laws are not in line with those of other EU countries which means that there is an element of risk to the whole property buying process which artificially keeps real estate prices low as with any type of investment, the greater the potential risk the greater the potential profit. From a future investment potential, skiing resorts on Bulgaria cannot be beaten for unbelievable returns on capital investment in cheap property in the area. Properties in the popular ski resorts can earn up to 12% rental return according to property investment firm Assets.

The Intellectual property

A trademark is an intellectual property protection which is used to protect the distinctive features that distinguish one product from another. A way to assist in the protection of your intellectual property is to enact some form of employee agreement, whereby the employee agrees not to misappropriate your products (such as designs and software), or use other intellectual property without expressed authorization. If you are a company, you need an intellectual property lawyer who specializes in copyrights because especially with internet businesses, you will need to make sure that contractually your web site design can be copyrighted to your company and will not belong to the employee or independent contractor who created it.

Fortunately, Intellectual property laws benefit the creator of a property, by rewarding that creator for his/her innovation and creativity. While integrating intellectual property, operational elements that make the brand innovative like, Challenge, customer focus, creativity, communication, collaboration, completion and contemplation should also be considered.

Whether you choose to take care of your own advertising and marketing or hire someone to do it depends on several factors including your budget, time and experience. If you are a new business owner or manager, it is probably a good idea to obtain assistance from someone who is experienced in the marketing field and knows exactly where to direct the advertising for your company. Of course, if you have a larger company, you may have a marketing department that does nothing else but take care of marketing and advertising needs.

If you choose to hire people to take care of the marketing for your business, you need to be sure to hire people that are not only experienced in marketing but in marketing the types of products and services that your company sells. If you choose to hire someone who has never done marketing for the products your company sells, it should at least be someone who is familiar with your product line. In other words, do not hire someone whose previous experience was in mens clothing and you sell auto parts and the applicant does not know a transmission from a carburetor.

If you are busy setting up your business or even simply busy running it, hiring someone to take care of the marketing end is advantageous. After all, if you do not have time to devote to marketing your business, then you can not ensure that you are going to be able to reach the target audience in order for your efforts to do the most good. Marketing in itself can be a full time job and you must be able to take the time to conduct searches in order to know where to target your efforts. Unless you are only working with customers, you need to change your tactics so that you are not always directing your marketing campaign toward the same group of people.

If you do indeed choose to do the marketing yourself, make sure that you gain enough knowledge to do it effectively and know exactly the target audience for your product or service. You can not expect to accomplish that if you do not have enough time to devote to it, so make sure that you are free enough of your schedule to devote some time to your marketing plan and then following through with it. Its important to develop an ongoing marketing plan not just a one time advertising plan. Advertising and marketing are ongoing and they will not be effective unless you continue to develop new strategy and formulate a plan for different sectors of your target audience. A marketing plan that does not do that is ineffective and will soon be void of any new leads. You want to avoid that at all costs.