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Small-business owners who think preparing for a disaster is expensive should think again. Being unprepared-and losing everything-can mean paying a much higher price.

For example, in July 1996, the president and owner of Brookville Mining Equipment Corporation, Dalph McNeil, faced every business owner’s nightmare when the nearby creek crested at eight feet after a 24-hour downpour.

Expensive new machinery was covered in mud and a powerful current of water had swept away inventory and collapsed a 30-foot section of wall. The flood caused nearly $1.6 million in damages and losses.

After receiving a Small Business Administration (SBA) disaster loan, McNeil relocated his plant away from the floodplain and asked one of his employees to take on the additional responsibility of “safety coordinator.”

Besides doing quality assurance and control, the safety coordinator, according to McNeil, “runs monthly meetings with representatives of the company, making sure all the employees understand the early warning and evacuation plans, and the emergency procedures.”

“You can never be too prepared, as a small-business owner, for disaster,” McNeil remarked. “It’s something you don’t want to think about. How do you carry on business as usual, as quickly as possible, after a disaster? You have to be a bit of a fatalist, thinking in terms of the worst-case scenario for your business.” And while he hopes he never has to use the emergency plans he has in place, McNeil says he is now ready for anything.

Experts say preparedness starts with developing such an emergency action plan that is tailored to the company’s needs and addresses several disaster scenarios. The plan should include a timetable, budget, assignment of responsibility, prevention and mitigation steps to be completed, and a list of risks and hazards to the business. It’s also a good idea to encourage employee involvement in the process.

A communications strategy is a key post-disaster recovery strategy. Phone numbers and e-mail addresses for your insurance carrier, suppliers, creditors, employees and customers, the local media, utility companies, and the appropriate emergency response and recovery agencies should be updated regularly.
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Most states make forming a corporation relatively painless by providing forms for practically everything. The bylaws of the corporation, however, are an area you don’t want to rely on a form.

What Are Bylaws?

Bylaws are the technical rules that govern how a corporation will be run. They are a private document for the corporation and are not filed with any government entity. The purpose of the bylaws is to set out how things such as meetings, voting and share transfer will occur with the business.

Provisions

Typically, the bylaws will be the biggest document in your corporate book. If you are a single shareholder entity, they tend to be fairly straightforward since there isn’t really any dispute possibility unless you have a split personality. If there are two or more shareholders, however, the document is going to be a key item because it is going to detail voting rights and so on.

Typically, the bylaws of a corporation will cover the following specific issues:

1. Board of Director Meetings – When, where and how meetings will be conducted.
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When you want to buy a vending machine, you have to be careful of what you’re buying. Sometimes a deal that sounds too good to be true is just that and you may end up buying a vending machine that will not be good for your business. There are ads for vending machines as a part of a package deal where the machines are already in place and you purchase the whole vending machine business. Before you buy any used vending machines, you do need to inspect them. You might also want to take someone with you that knows about these machines when you go to buy a vending machine.

Something that you have to be cognizant of when you buy a vending machine is the ease of use. If the vending machine is simple enough for children to operate, then you have something that will help you succeed in the vending machine business. Buying vending machines with a lot of gadgets and knobs may look really nice, but if it is difficult to operate then you won’t have many sales.

Another factor that you have to look at when buying vending machines is the area where the product comes out. You have to really look at the vending machine to see if customers will have difficulty reaching in to take out the products. You also need to check that the machine is safe for children to use. If an accident should happen to a child, then the storeowner may ask you to remove it from his/her property. There are more things to consider than the size and shape of the machine when you want to buy a vending machine.
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If you are looking for a business opportunity, the Small Business Administration (SBA) has an excellent website, including a search option for small businesses for sale in the United States. They also have financial options for those who are looking for a business opportunity to consider.

Small businesses consistently employ fifty percent of the workforce in the United States. Fifty-three percent of all small businesses are home-based, while three percent are franchises. You can always find a business opportunity that has to do with franchises. Franchises are a worthwhile consideration, simply because in most cases, the name and products are well known. If you take advantage of this type of business opportunity and buy a successful franchise, you usually don’t have to worry about it folding in the first year. Franchise.com has a list of franchises offered for sale in the United States, as well as in other countries. You can look at a list of franchises and decide on the one you are interested in, and then learn more about it. The website also lists the franchise fees and investment required.

According to the SBA, there were 24.7 million small businesses in the United States in 2004, the last year for which figures are available. 580,000 new small businesses opened in 2004 and 576,000 closed in the same year. The competition for any small business to succeed is ferocious, but with more than 24 million in existence, it’s clear that they do succeed.

If you are going to be working in the business yourself, it’s important that you buy a business that you truly care about. If however, this business opportunity is purely an investment for you, then certainly the best business deal financially would make sense. Some people who open new businesses work 14, 16 or even more hours per day until the business really gets off the ground. This would be almost impossible to do if you didn’t like what you were doing.
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