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What Should Be in Heavy Rotation at LayRoots?

Ahhh, February, the month of love…can’t you feel it?  As a celebration of this wonderful month, Colin and I got re-married. Sort of kidding.  We had a Hindu wedding ceremony because we originally just went to the courthouse (which was also magical and wonderful but this had a lot more dancing and pictures).  See:

photo

Credit to: Babs Evangelista, the best wedding photographer in the world and all around awesome chick.

 My cousin also took some pictures of the Gaaye Holud, a turmeric ceremony.  Essentially, everyone comes up and smears a yellow paste all over our faces:

photo

(credit to: Shaz from the SRK – http://www.thesrk.com/)

BOOKS  

Colin is going strong! “How to Win at the Sport of Business” by Mark Cuban (the Cubes!), “Raving Fans” by Ken Blanchard, “the Ultimate Sales Letter” by Dan Kennedy, and “80/20 Sales and Marketing” by Perry Marshall.

Shreya, on the other hand, is still on her fiction detour and is reading “Devil in the White City” and is avidly researching intellectual property issues – particularly those related to trademarks and copyrights.  It’s always good to stay current and there’s always more to learn!  Plus, she feels as though she receives a book report from Colin on the books he reads and, though she’s never been a subscriber of Cliffs Notes, it has lulled her into a false feeling that she read the books herself.

MUSIC

I think we took a bit of a musical break this month as far as new music goes.  We have listened to a lot of oldies and goodies: David Allen Coe, the Righteous Brothers, Elvis, Loretta Lynn, Johnny Cash, Huey Lewis and the News, the Rolling Stones, and so on.

This next month Shreya will be ramping up for SXSW by obsessively reading music blogs and compiling a playlist with her friends from UT-Austin of who they are most excited about for that festival – it’s coming up!  Get excited!

MISC

So, this, I think, is worth watching in the spirit of love and February, Vishen Lakhiani is a recent discovery of mine, but I like his style!  Definitely implementing this.

Love Week! Badass!

Do you have any suggestions for us?  What should we put on our music and book list?

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January Newsletter from Shreya & Colin

In case you missed it…here it is.  And if you DID miss it…why did you miss it??  Sign up for our list and we’ll get it to you every month.

What Are We Thinking About This Month?

With renewed energy to continue building our business, we are thinking about the things that drive business – both our business and the businesses of our clients.  I am going to confess something to you…we have been feeling a tad disorganized.  With the holidays and traveling and family obligations…our business objectives and focus got a bit muddled.  Did we continue to do the work that we needed to do?  Sure!  Of course we did, but we have learned is that it’s important to do the things that will drive your business 6 months, 1 year, or 5 years from now today.  Does that even make sense?

What I mean is that the actions we take today will shape the kind of business that we will have in the future.  Like the cupcake(s) I have been eating and the exercising that I have not been doing will affect my shape in two weeks (but completely worth it, amiright?).

Sales drive business – I think we can universally agree that is the case for all businesses.

Okay.  One thing that I have noticed in our own business and in many potential clients’ businesses is sales are prevented or slowed down when you are wasting your time on shit that you shouldn’t be wasting your time on.  For instance, doing your own taxes.  Yeah, we did that.  We failed…we got audited…we ended up having to hire a tax professional.  Not only did we waste time bumbling through the tax system…we also had to go through a whole process for fixing the mess we made.  We could have saved so much time and money just hiring someone in the first place.

Hiring someone who knew what they were doing not only saved us money in the end (they found so many ways for us to minimize our owed taxes!) but it also freed up our TIME to do the thing(s) that drive business for us – marketing and sales.  I would say the money saved was a nice cherry on top, but the time saved is the real treat.  By freeing up your time by not doing the things that someone else can do better and faster than you, how much revenue do you think that you could add to your business?

What’s New in the Ley Household

We are pretty frickin’ excited that the ski area closest to us has FINALLY opened up.  Time to try out those new snowboards!  Cross your fingers that one of us doesn’t break a wrist or Shreya doesn’t get ANOTHER black eye (ask her about the first time she stood up on a surfboard)…

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Also, this is something of an odd situation, but we’re getting married (again) so that’s been taking up more time than we thought it would.

“Pump the brakes, yo.  I thought you were already married?”

Yeah, you right.  We ran away to the courthouse…which was awesome and intimate and perfect.  However, one set of parents (ahem, Shreya’s) did not approve and wanted to throw the big Indian wedding to make things “official.” So, that’s happening now.  Be prepared for some colorful pictures from New Orleans coming your way.

Ley Lessons…

  • Do your homework on any independent contractors
  • Get a signed agreement
  • Make sure there are provisions in there that protect your intellectual property

We have been guilty of this.  So, we are not judging.  We are trying to help you not make the same mistakes we have.

Because we are attorneys, we are annoyingly sticklers for signed agreements.  However, just having a signed agreement is not good enough – due diligence is key!

Why is due diligence key?  Because hiring someone, even an independent contractor, is supposed to free up your time to do things that matter to drive your business (see above) and is supposed to help your business run more smoothly.  When you hire someone that is not the right fit or (worse) not trustworthy, it can be a huge drag on your productivity and take away your precious time.

Even if you have contracts in place that cover your ass, do you really want to spend the time to defend them?  And do you want to have to go through the process of finding someone new before the work that you need to get done is done up to your standards and ON SCHEDULE? 

This is your professional reputation after all!

So, what do I recommend?

  1. Come up with criteria for what you are looking for in a person that you work with and for what you need professionally
  2. Write out a clear and concise description of what projects and functions you need the person for
  3. Ask for references and check them
  4. Ask for samples of past work (where applicable) and actually look at them
  5. Ask them LOTS of questions that get to the heart of the criteria you set

This is just a sample of five (5) areas that you can focus on when hiring your next independent contractor.  Depending on your personal needs and the project needs – there could be a lot more things to look into!

Every state has different criteria for what constitutes a fulltime employee versus an independent contractor.  There could be issues with insurance and depending on the sensitivity of your business – you may want to take extra steps to ensure that the person is trustworthy.  Bottom line: Know what you want and need and don’t be afraid to ask questions!

It’s easier to do the work up front than it is to untangle a mess.

Contact Info & Administrative Announcements

We have some videos up!  Check them out.  Shreya spoke at our business coach’s “Mini Law School” about joint ventures and doing your due diligence.  Check it out.  Get to know us better.  Tell us what you think.   This guy digs it

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www.mysuccessfuljointventure.com

Don’t want to do that and prefer to speak to a real life Lawyer Human?  That’s cool.  Give Shreya or Colin a call at (206) 219-9559 or (206) 395-6539.  Or email them if that’s your thing at shreya@layroots.com or colin@coachingindustrylegalcounsel.com.

Websites: www.layroots.com  & www.coachingindustrylegalcounsel.com

We’re planning out some cool stuff and planning to appear at some cool events around the country – so stay tuned for more announcements and watch out for us Lawyer Humans!  WE’RE EVERYWHERE and sometimes…you can’t even tell us apart from regular humans.

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What Should be in Heavy Rotation at LayRoots?

It is a new month AND a new year!  January.  Our hangovers have subsided and our resolutions have kicked in (for those that make them).  The new year is full of promise.  We have been trying to find reading materials to help us prepare for our future…check out what that means this month:

BOOKS  

Colin is a reading machine!  He has been re-reading sections of Think and Grow Rich and reading The Science of Getting Rich; Ruthless Management; and Thick Face, Black Heart.  I like the last one because of the name.  Plus it seems to have a lot of good information but who cares…I only care about the label/cover.

This is my current book list:

Hand Booklist

Legible?  Not entirely.  It says Goldfinch, Luminaries, Mountains Echo, and Lowland.  If you can’t tell, I’m focusing on fiction currently.  I do not apologize for my love of fiction.  It sparks the imagination.  I’m also going to read Thick Face, Black Heart as soon as I can get my hands on it.  I’m not sure about Mountains Echo – Anyone read it and have thoughts on it?

Shreya also is trudging through Think and Grow Rich.  She knows that it is a worthwhile read…it’s just that these pesky fiction books have captured her attention.  They remind her of the imagination that the human mind is capable of and provide an escape.

MUSIC

Due to the end of the year/beginning of a new year, we have been listening to a lot of ‘Best of 2013″ lists.  The NPR list is okay…

Shreya’s personal best of 2013 off the top of her head (She cannot speak and does not speak for Colin) is, in no particular order or implication of ranking:

Drake – Hold on, We’re Going Home
ChVrches – The Mother We Share
Haim – Falling
Bastille – Pompeii
Pacific Air – Float
Portugal. The Man – Purple, Yellow, Red and Blue
Macklemore – Can’t Hold Us
Maybe some new Flaming Lips song that Colin sent her on Spotify…

And that’s all she can think of right now.  There are probably others.

Do you have any suggestions for us?  What should we put on our music and book list?

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What Motivates Us?

NPR’s Radiolab – Who’s Bad?

I was driving from Austin to Houston recently.  I hit that sweet spot where Austin music radio no longer has a clear signal and before the car starts to pick up Houston radio.  I neurotically scanned the airwaves for something to listen to and came upon…talk radio (NPR to be exact).  It was such an interesting segment (to me) that I was a little panicked when it cut out and I was finally too far from Austin to pick it up.  I scanned to find Houston’s NPR, but I couldn’t find it.  Thwarted!  Luckily there’s this new-fangled technology called “the internet” and I could find it online.

There’s really no inner message about the law or branding or business in this.  I just thought this Radiolab segment was fascinating.  Coming off of an intense Sales Mastery course with our business coach, I was already thinking a lot about people, how they work, how I work, what motivates us, etc.  This Radiolab segment took my thoughts to a whole other (but related in my mind) place and provided me with more food for thought about human motivation and the ill that can be caused when twisted and exploited.

It was perhaps a bit dark when the holiday season loomed all twinkly and candy-striped ahead of me!

Need a pick-me-up?  Check out this Tony Robbins video about what motivates us:

TED – Tony Robbins

I think that you can’t completely understand all the good without understanding the bad so I’m happy to explore all facets of motivation!  What are your thoughts?

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When Is It More Beneficial to Dissolve my LLC?

I came across this situation that seemed counterintuitive to me.  In a multiple member LLC where all but one member is choosing to leave the LLC to pursue other endeavors and the remaining member would like to continue the business as though nothing changed (same name, same brand, same vendors, etc), I was told that it could be more beneficial to simply dissolve the LLC.  Not easier because the process is overwhelming and involves a lot of paperwork, but actually beneficial.

Being the curious sort, I chose to investigate the matter to find out when that is true.  I do not have all of the facts from the actual person who brought this hypothetical to my attention and, frankly, I do not want all of the facts.  I want to know for future clients and for my own edification.  Every business and every situation will be different and calls for slightly different solutions; however, I would like some baseline knowledge to start with.  Since every business and every person is a beautiful and unique snowflake, please do not take anything in this as legal advice.

Why is this important?  The life of a new company tends to be tumultuous while the business owner(s) figure things out.  Members change, products change, visions change.  It is useful to know how to best handle the changes so that you incur the least cost, so that the least amount of time is spent dealing with the changes, and so that your business or future jobs are the least impacted.

My initial findings: With the above facts, I could find NO reason to dissolve your LLC instead of simply creating a new Operating Agreement and running with it.

It *might* be a beneficial option if the LLC has taken on a lot of debt and the members are attempting to limit how much they owe…that was the only avenue I came up with.

As I said, though, every person and every business is unique.  So, if one or more of the members have other businesses, there may be tax implications to consider as well.

If anyone has enlightening information, please do share!  Otherwise, I will file this away in the “guess my gut instinct was right” category.

 

UPDATE: So, after looking at the IRS website in a very cursory manner, there may be federal tax implications.

  • A more than 50% change of ownership of a partnership may be considered a dissolution and reformation by the federal government regardless.  LLC’s are a state-recognized business entity but not a federal entity.  LLC’s not choosing an S-Corp election are automatically classified as either a partnership or a disregarded entity depending on the number of members.  The 50% rule probably affects LLC’s taxed as partnerships. Therefore, that is one possible reason for dissolving the LLC and reforming it – the fact that federal government is going to act like you did that regardless.
  • I have not done a thorough search yet of the State system, but I have looked into it and there does not seem to be a tax or time benefit to dissolution.

 

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What Should Be in Heavy Rotation at LayRoots?

It is a new month!  December.  Our bellies are still full of turkey and stuffing and pie (so much pie).  This long weekend has seemed interminable and we cannot wait to get started on a new week and a new month full of opportunities and exciting adventures.  We have been trying to find reading materials to help us prepare for our future…check out what that means this month:

BOOKS  

Shreya is (still) reading “A Stranger in a Strange Land.”  She has finished reading “The E-Myth” and was so inspired by the book that she spent the majority of a 4.5 hour flight to Houston sketching out ideas for the law firm.

On top of that, she is reading “The Four Agreements” by Miguel Ruiz.  Even though she saw the positive changes that Colin began to make in his daily interactions with people after reading “The Four Agreements,” she was skeptical as to its power.  She is currently being proven wrong.  It has definitely already changed the way she interacts with people.  The changes are sometimes a struggle to implement…

Colin has read “No B.S.- Wealth Attraction in the New Economy,” “How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling,” and “the Four Agreements.”   Next on his list: the new Bob Burg book, “Adversaries into Allies.”

Clearly Colin is winning on the whole reading front.  This is irksome to Shreya and she will catch up.  Tonight.

MUSIC

Shreya has been slightly obsessed with Lorde.  Yes, she is aware that Lorde is a teenager.

Radical Face – “Welcome Home, Son” is getting both Shreya and Colin pumped for the upcoming snowboarding season.

Other than that, Shreya needs some musical inspiration!  There are only so many times that she can listen to old Explosions in the Sky while working.

 

Do you have any suggestions for us?  What should we put on our music and book list?