It’s an almost certainty that any relationship you are in right now is going to end.  Relationships are more fluid than they ever have been before.

We don’t stay at the same job for 40 years, collect the gold watch and retire.  We rarely stay married to the same person.  We move, we shift, we evolve.  Relationships end.  It’s just the way it is.

The greatest chance you have of ending your relationships in a way that does not result in emotional distress is by planning for the break up at the beginning of the relationship.  When you love each other.

Whether it’s a romantic relationship or a business relationship doesn’t matter.  In the beginning there is love.  At the end, there may not be.

But, if you plan for the end at the beginning, you are far more likely to be able to end the relationship with love and keep the door open for the possibility of flowing back together.

This is what having agreements is all about.

Create an agreement at the beginning your relationship and be exceedingly clear about what happens at the end.

I never used to do this and I wondered why my relationships ended poorly, with confusion and lack of clarity.  With unhappiness and blame.

I recently ended a relationship.  We had no agreement in place.  The end was ugly.  Not lawsuit ugly, thank God.  But, emotionally ugly. Perhaps it could have been different if we had written down all the agreements we had made and talked about over the years.

When I hired a CEO to come in and run my company recently, I was awed by our process of creating an agreement.  It wasn’t a negotiation; it was a dance.  A courtship.

Start every relationship with this kind of a courtship.  See the agreement process as an opportunity to discover something about yourself and this person you are entering into a relationship with.

Do they retract and constrict?  Do you? Or is the dialogue open-hearted and loving?  Where are you generous and yielding and where do you tense and hold back?

Discover how to set boundaries with an open heart.   It’s the most loving thing you can do for all your relationships.

I try to listen when the Universe sends me a message. I’ve been getting this one loud and clear.  There is a LOT of confusion about when to use a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA).

And before you go ho-hum, boring, consider this …

If, how and when you present an NDA can make or break a relationship. And, if you just choose to do nothing, you really could get taken.

So, what to do?

Never fear, I’ve got some guidelines about:

• when to ask for a Non-Disclosure Agreement if you have an idea you want to protect,
• how to present the NDA if you are going to ask,
• what to do if someone asks you to sign an NDA (signing an NDA can often be a VERY bad idea – I’ll tell you why),
• and how this is all about setting boundaries with an open heart and you can just tell that’s a good way to go by the way it sounds, can’t ya?

This story will help you understand.

I have a team member who has a great idea. She says it’s a great idea, but I don’t actually know that because she hasn’t shared it with me yet.

Why? Because she is afraid that if she does I will take the idea and capitalize on it and cut her out.

That is a very good thing to be worried about.

I am notorious for hearing about a great idea and executing on it. I can make things happen.

That’s why she’s so excited to share the idea with me. Because she knows that I have the capacity to actually do it. And she also knows that ideas alone aren’t valuable – it’s the execution on the idea that is where the money’s at.

Yet, at the same time, she wants to be compensated for her concept.

Maybe not now, but later – when it happens.  Understandable.

Unfortunately, because she is asking for the NDA in the wrong way and at the wrong time, her idea may never make it to execution.

So that’s why when I saw self-described ambitious entrepreneur Zack Shapiro post on Twitter about whether an NDA he found on Google was legal, I had to jump in and save him from making a mistake that could crush his idea before it ever sees the light of day.

We don’t want to lose our ideas.  I get it.

But, here’s the rub, if we don’t talk about them, they are as good as lost.

You are not a mad scientist operating alone in your basement.

It’s very likely that your idea will take the pulling together of a variety of resources and people.

You have to talk about it.

So, it’s natural to think about an NDA and you should have a signed Relationship Protection Agreement (a soup-up NDA I created) with everyone you work with.  (Get a copy of my super comprehensive relationship protection agreement free here on the welcome tab of my Facebook page.)

But here’s the thing, you should never, ever  present an NDA before the relationship has been well-established.

Instead, establish your relationship before asking for a signed NDA.  Present as much about your idea as you possibly can in terms of concept and end result.

Elicit intrigue.

The first time an NDA should ever be considered is when the person you are presenting your idea to asks for more information.

Now, they are interested.

Until they’ve got some idea about what your idea/concept is, anyone who would sign an NDA does not know much about business and you probably don’t have to worry about them stealing your ideas anyway.

Which gets us into – when should you sign an NDA?

Never just say okay to signing an NDA.  It could be opening you up to frivolous litigation.

If you sign an NDA with someone who is litigious by nature and frequently feels things have been taken from them, you are putting yourself at unnecessary risk.

In the event that you hear the idea and you already have a project like it in the works, you could be risking a frivolous (but still expensive and painful) lawsuit.

I know a lot of people who appear to be great people you’d want to do business with, but their belief system is such that they are easily offended and think ideas are where the money is at. And they will do anything to fight for what they think is right. On principle.

This is not a person you want to be in a fight with.

So, before you every sign an NDA, make sure you know the type of person you are working with.

Make sure you know their values structure and that you understand enough about the concept they are presenting to know it’s not something you are already working on.

Whether you are the one with the idea or the one being asked to sign an agreement before hearing the idea, recognize that no matter which side of the transaction you are on, legal agreements are the starting point for the kind of dialogue that will tell you exactly the type of person you are dealing with.

When done right legal agreements are about setting boundaries with an open-heart, which is the key to healthy, stress-free business relationships that have the capacity to do a whole lot of good in the world.

If you have other questions about NDAs (when to sign em or when to present em) or any other legal questions like that and you want an answer you can not only understand, but that will help you see legal stuff from a new perspective, ask em in the comments below.

Because listen, when you’ve got your legal shizz in order, you are going to be way more creative and free than if you don’t.

Yesterday, I was coaching a private client who will be offering a $50,000 training package in the fall.

A big ticket item.

Before she makes her offer, she wants to prove she can successfully train someone else on her methods.  Smart.

She’s been extremely successful in her own business, but has not yet trained an outsider, so wanted to take on a test case while we get the program designed and marketing materials ready for her launch.

I thought that was a great idea, but only if she had an airtight agreement with her test case that would protect her intellectual property and her reputation in case something went wrong.

I’m her coach, not her lawyer, so I didn’t offer to draft the agreement.

During our coaching session yesterday she showed me a licensing agreement she had put together for her test case.

The first thing I asked her was “did you have a lawyer prepare this agreement?”

She said “no, I did it myself.”

I was impressed. It looked a little homemade, but it was a pretty darn good agreement.

After reviewing it, I noticed there were a couple of ambiguities and that she hadn’t quite thought through all of the points of the agreement, specifically those relating to exit – what if someone wants out early?

I pointed out the two areas that could leave some area of potential risk and she’s going to revise her agreement to close those loops.

She would have had to pay a lawyer big bucks to draft a legal agreement like this for her, but because she’s a smart business woman she did a few things right that can save you thousands on legal fees, if you do them too.

So how do you apply this to your own business and life?

1.  Be extremely knowledgeable about agreements and all the other legal stuff you need to do for your business, in your business, and to protect your personal assets from your business.

2.  Get comfortable preparing your own simple agreements.

3.  Clearly think through exactly what you want your agreement to do before you write a single word.

4.  Have your agreement reviewed and edited by a lawyer, before you get it signed.

5.  Have a really good lawyer on your side who will consult with you, review and edit your agreements on a flat-fee, membership type basis instead of hourly or even by the transaction, so you never have to worry about calling your lawyer or how much it’s going to cost.

It really can be that simple to save thousands on legal fees.  And build yourself a business you can really count on.

If you don’t feel knowledgeable about the legal stuff you need to run your business on a solid foundation, check out my LIFT Foundation System & Toolkit.

And, hey, let me know about how you’ve worked with a lawyer in a unique way like this in the past or where working with a lawyer hasn’t been like this for you.  I’m always interested in hearing real stories of business owners and their experience with lawyers and the legal system.

Since I started my series on expensive legal, insurance, financial and tax mistakes and launched my new LIFT Foundation System & Toolkit, I have received emails from several people about their own LIFT mistakes.

I wanted to share this one with you because it’s quite representative of reality AND it goes to show you that even if you have been to law school, you still need to know more than you think you do when it comes to the foundation of your business because your mistakes can cost you multi-thousands of dollars.

This comes from Attorney Michael S. Reed who made a multi-thousand dollar LIFT mistake when he chose the wrong name for his business because he just didn’t know:

“In Nov. 2008, I was ready to start my own title company. I formed an LLC in Maryland, my home state. [I formed the LLC and was advised by a tax professional to classify the LLC as an S-Corp, which I see is another topic you have mentioned lately.]

I was going to do business in Maryland, DC and Virginia. I started my own “due diligence,” meaning I searched each of the three government sites to make sure that the name I was choosing as the title company, was not taken. I chose “Esquire Settlements, LLC” as my name.

I ran into a similar looking company name in the Commonwealth of Virginia, known as “Esquire Settlement Services, LLC. I called the State Corporations Commissions and spoke to a clerk, who assured me that, because I was starting an LLC in Maryland, and this company existing since 1990 was a Virginia corporation, that “there shouldn’t be a problem.” Well, that was enough for me, and I happily proceeded with the company formation.

Long story short – everything was going smoothly, until, I received the complaint and summons for an infringement lawsuit in the US Eastern Dist. of Virginia:”
Esquire Settlement Services, Inc. et al v. Esquire Settlements, LLC
Plaintiffs: Esquire Settlement Services, Inc. and Daniel H. Borinsky, PLLC
Defendants: Esquire Settlements, LLC
Case Number: 1:2009cv01189
Filed: October 21, 2009

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So, as you can see, even professionals who you would think would have specific training about these sorts of issues are at risk of making expensive LIFT mistakes.

This one cost Michael several thousands of dollars and could have been so easily avoided, if only he’d known what to do before choosing the name for his corporation.

To make sure you don’t run into your own expensive LIFT mistakes in your business, check out my new LIFT Foundation System & Toolkit at charter member pricing, which will not be available after this Thursday.

And be sure to let me know if you have had any experiences like this yourself.  The more we talk out about these things, the more we can help others avoid making the same mistakes because they are simply doing business in the dark.

I’ve got to make this one kind of quick because it’s been one of those days.

I’m sick, my daughter is sick, I took my son to check out a new school and he wanted me to stay with him the whole time and now I’ve got to run my dog into the vet because he’s got the runs all over my carpet.

Did I happen to mention I am launching a new business tomorrow on top of all this?

Ah, such is life, right? I’ve learned that success comes from how you handle times like these.

So, hey, do me a favor and if you haven’t yet signed up for my call tomorrow, do it now.  It’ll make me feel better that I haven’t done everything I possibly can to promote this call today.

Ok, now before I run my dog to the vet, let me share a little story with you that suggests to me that a lot of you are making some big mistakes when it comes to your taxes and living the corporate lifestyle.

This is one of the primo benefits of being a business owner and an area where I made plenty of my own big mistakes.

2006 was the first year I hit a million dollars of revenue, yippee! But, I didn’t plan well at all and come April of 2007 I had an UNEXPECTED 6-figure tax bill. Yes, true story.

I had to take out a loan to pay those taxes.

What’s really sad is that if I had planned in advance, I could have cut that tax bill in half.

Live and learn. Expensive lesson that one was. I don’t want to see you have expensive lessons like that!

Then, last week I was out with a friend of mine who had come to visit and he bought a couple of gifts for two of his employees. Each gift was about $20.

After he paid, I saw him tell the cashier to toss the receipt. Fortunately, I caught him in time.

“Don’t toss that receipt! Those are business gifts. Keep the receipt. Write your employees name on the back and what the gift was and give it to your bookkeeper to deduct at tax time.”

You can deduct gifts up to $25 per person per year. And sure, it’s ONLY $25, but I’ll tell you what, every dollar counts.

Why give the government any more than you have to?

This is just one of the MANY ways you may be overpaying on your taxes and not taking full advantage of living the corporate lifestyle.

We’ll talk more about this tomorrow (Thursday) on my free call so register here.

And hey, let me know what specific questions you have about living the corporate lifestyle.

I’d love to hear and the comments are a great place to talk about it. Don’t be afraid. It’s time to start doing business with your eyes wide open and bring these issues into the light.

The first one has to do with one of the most common questions I get asked – should I set up my business as an S-Corp or an LLC?

In fact, this is such a common question I saw a friend of mine asking it on Twitter!

So before I answer the question, let me say this:

This is NOT a decision to be made by asking Twitter.

Okay then, if not on Twitter, how should you answer this question?

Well, to be absolutely sure about the best entity for you, you should talk with your LIFT advisors – preferably both your business lawyer and your CPA.

(One word of caution about CPAs … many of them are considering ONLY the tax consequences of incorporating and not liability protection, so if you talk to a CPA who tells you that you don’t need a business entity, reconsider that if you are building a real business.)

If you are not in a position to have a business lawyer and/or a CPA, there are a couple
things you should know before making your decision about the best entity to choose when incorporating your business …

Most business owners set up an LLC because they’ve heard that’s the simplest way to do things. And while that may be true, that can be an expensive decision.

In fact, for a business that is owned and operated by its owner (i.e. your entrepreneurial business), I almost always recommend an S-Corporation because it can save you between $2k-$5k per year on self employment taxes!

Setting up an LLC because you’ve heard it’s simple can prove to be an expensive mistake because you simply didn’t know the right thing to do.

That’s just one example of the many expensive mistakes I’ve seen business owners make when
they didn’t know what they really need for their business.

So, join me on Thursday, February 11, 2010 at 10a Pacific/1p Eastern when I will cover a whole lot more about what you need to know so you can STOP WASTING MONEY and GET SMART about what you really need to run your business the right way.

If there are any specific questions you want me to address on Thursday, let me know here in the comments.  And if you’d like to receive LIVE hot seat coaching with me on the call about the LIFT Foundation in your business, let me know that too!

“It’s Time For You to Stop Wasting Money On Things You
Don’t Really Need and Get Smart About Running Your Business”

By now, you’ve read the LIFT manifesto. You’ve heard Melanie Benson Strick, Ali Brown, Lisa Sasevich and MichelePW tell their stories of how having (or not having) a LIFT Foundation impacted their businesses.  (If you haven’t, do so soon because the interviews are gone after Thursday.)

You are ready to stop doing in the business in the dark and have a real deal, serious eyes wide open business…but you probably aren’t sure where to start when it comes to the legal, insurance, financial and tax parts.

What do you really need? Where do you start? Where do you go for help?

I’ve got your answers!

Join me on Thursday, February 11, 2010 at 10aPT PT/1p ET and get clear on exactly what you need to do next (and what you don’t!)

This is a one-time only call during which we’ll look at:

• The specific ways not having a LIFT Foundation (or having a shaky foundation) is holding you back in your business and what you can do about without getting taken to the cleaners.

• What you can do yourself if you are just starting out or want to keep things simple.

• What you need to have in place if you are a multi-passionate empire builder with tons of ideas and big vision.

• And I’m also going to reveal the one type of business owner who DOES NOT NEED my LIFT Foundation System in his or her business.

Regardless of where you are, you’ll leave with clarity about exactly what YOU need for YOUR business (and what you really don’t.)

I only have 250 available lines for this call, so please make sure you call in at least 5 min. early to make sure you can get on live and have the opportunity to receive hot seat coaching from me about the LIFT foundation you really need in your business plus hear about a very special LIFT offer only for people attending the call live.

Can’t make the call? No worries, sign up anyway and be on the VIP list to get a full 24 hours head start on getting the LIFT Foundation System in your hands.  This could be very important as I only have 100 systems available at charter member pricing.

So, what are you waiting for?  Go register! See you there.

Hint:  It makes way for you to deal with a whole host of other issues you haven’t been looking at because the financial fear has been taking up so much of your emotional energy.  But, I have to save that for a future post because it’s going to take a while to write and it’s too late for me to start that one now.

Why is it so late and I’m still sitting at my computer?

Because I’ve been putting the finishing touches on my LIFT Foundation System, which is going to be finally ready next week.  I cannot even tell you how excited I am to share this legacy project with you.

I’ve heard from several business people I’ve watched for years and respect tremendously that they have been waiting for exactly this program.

If you have not yet watched the deep behind the scenes interviews I did as a preview to LIFT with Melanie Benson Strick, Ali Brown and her VA turned biz partner Liz Murphy, and Lisa Sasevich, get them now.

People are RAVING about them.  These are not ordinary “why we are great” interviews – we are looking at the last taboos of business – financial collapse, business drama, and threats of lawsuits.

In the midst of my preparations for the launch of LIFT, I’ve been addressing LIFT issues in my own business.

Anytime your business is at a transition point, you are going to have LIFT issues come up.

They could come in the form of external things like you’ll hear about in the interviews I did with Melanie and Lisa or internal things like drama within your business, like I talked about with Ali and Liz.

But, one way or another, LIFT issues arise at times of transition and growth. How you deal with them, determines what your next level looks like.

Handle them with your eyes wide open and you are on your way to taking your business and life to the next level.  Handle them with your eyes squeezed shut and in the dark and it’s crash and burn time.

I’ve done the eyes squeezed shut thing once already and I refuse to allow it to happen again, so I’m digging back into the business side of my business, seeing what’s really there, accepting the reality of what it is and making decisions with awareness.

It’s bringing up all sorts of emotional stuff for me, that’s for sure.

Making hard decisions.  Looking at things I’ve avoided in the past.  Doing things I wasn’t willing to do in the past (generally around money and support).

But, fortunately, I’ve got a phenomenal LIFT team around me and with their help I’m doing what I need to do.   Establishing boundaries with an open heart.  And structuring my business so it can make an impact forever and not just a few years.

It’s not so easy, but what I’ve realized is that it’s true what they say nothing worth having comes easy.  Easy is the reward for doing what’s difficult.

If you aren’t willing to go through the hard part, you aren’t going to get the easy.

So, I’m learning to love the hard parts.  I took a great bike ride today and cried my eyes out (loudly!) the whole way.

Colorado and it’s big empty space is great for some loud, honkin’ crying.

And after I cried, I thanked God.

Because what I know is that no matter how hard things are to see, as long as I am growing through all of it, allowing every opportunity to guide me to be more of who I am, and continuing to stay present in the truth, it’s all good.  Oh so very good.

What’s hard for you in your business right now? Is there anything you’ve started to become aware of that you’ve been approaching with your eyes closed up until now?  If so, I’d love to hear about it.  The comments are a great place to share.