gpyros Key Veteran Location: On a beach in Mexico
| Dragon:
In your dreams!
Having my own business for 22 years, let me tell you, any bank, venture capitol, whoever, REQUIRES that the head(s) of the company personally guarantee any and all loans, incorporated or not.
There are many advantages to incorporating (we are) because a lawsuit can only take the corporate assets, but unless you are IBM there will have to be a personal guarantee. Same with the rent for the office, equipment leases, etc. Ever look at a corporate lease agreement? The company and the owner are responsible for the entire amount of the lease, even if you close the company or go out of business.
The other party that can come after an owner personally is the government. Back taxes, social security, whatever must be paid, and if there isn't enough in the company, the owner pays it himself.
Yes, it is my personal assets and house on the line here. If anything should happen, the employees just walk - I'm the one who has to make sure that everyone gets their accrued vacation pay, 401k benefits, and everything else.
If I'm the only one taking the risk, I would like to get some sort of compensation for it in the form of profit. I can imagine how I'd feel if I was told that I had to keep an employee on because a union decided that I needed to have him do a certain job that another employee was perfectly capable of doing - like some of the items on the link that Sceadu kindly shared with us.
As you may have guessed, we are not a union shop. I'd close the doors before I'd allow that to happen.
Sorry, didn't mean to get started, but had to correct some of the misconceptions about us greedy owners.
Greg
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