I think he meant "pay your taxes" ?RadDavis wrote:
Also, also, I don't know what you mean by, "the first rule of business is, "pay or taxes"."
Rad
Sasquatch wrote:I make all my customers sign a release stating that they are aware that ebonite is inherently stinky.
Magic Billy,magicbilly wrote:"pay or taxes" yes its a typo and i'm glad to see everyone is paying enough attention to proof read my work.
"To quote a very famous pipe maker: Never, ever take a deposit up front for a custom pipe. If you do, they own you and can harass you until you get the pipe made, and when you get the pipe made it seems like you've done it for half price. "
HIRE A LAWYER! if your operating a company there is a lot of legal boondoggles you will face. having a lawyer will help out tremendously. I AM NOT A LAWYER. take what i am about to tell you will a grain of salt as i am merely kicking around a few ideas.
here is what i do for my custom contracted worked. on the first page really big just like this in capital letters on first line under my letter head " BY SIGNING THIS CONTRACT YOU (CUSTOMER NAME) ARE AGREEING TO THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS AS DESCRIBED BELOW. ( YOUR COMPANY NAME ) RESERVES THE RIGHT TO REFUSE SERVICE TO ANYONE AT ANY TIME FOR ANY REASON, (CUSTOMER NAME) WILL NOT BE ISSUED A REFUND." you could put in the contract something to the effect that "the maximum allotted time for completion and fulfillment of the order is 90 days, if (YOUR COMPANY NAME) fails to provide the service or product in 90 days a refund may be issued solely at the discretion of (Owner, CEO, President, whoever, of (YOUR COMPANY NAME)" some people say this is a bad way of doing business, and i couldn't agree more. i wish i didn't live a world where i have to conduct business with crackpots and swindlers... my company is not going to sink thousands of dollars into a custom one of car that no one but that one single customer is going to want. so with out some cash up front or a credit card pre-authorized for the half of the full amount AND full payment on the other half of the full amount as a sign of good faith. (keep in mind that when dealing with credit cards customers can contest charges at anytime) i have had people call or show up with various custom work in progress and be totally polite and just ask some questions and give me some more input. i like it when that happens, its nice to get to know your customers and building a strong rapport will indeed keep cash flow moving and increasing over time. now when people decide to harass you and or your company.. then you pull out the contract and explain it to them, what they agreed to. then ask, if they would like to have a meet and greet with local law enforcement and everyone's attorneys present. this could commence immediately or at a later date. call your lawyer ask him to come over (yes its not cheap) and call your local police precinct first explain the situation tell them you have a customer that is harassing your business and ask for a "civil standby officer" tell the police your attorney will be present. they will send most likely a patrol officer but they might send a detective. (does not matter what sort of police officer shows up. there job is to keep everyone safe and catch anyone breaking any laws.) your lawyer should already be familiar with the contract (because your lawyer made up the contract) so give the customers lawyer and the police officer a few minutes to read it over (the officer may not read it). one or both most likely will agree that there is nothing that the customer can do in this situation you then ask the customer to leave and never return. now at this point the %50 down payment money for the custom job i just spent on having my lawyer show up and deal with this customer but at least im not getting eating all of the cost. so what we just discussed is a harassing customer. an aggressive / violent customer is a totally different animal. someone who is yelling throwing and or breaking things, trying to hurt you in your place of business. what i do, is just run away from the person and call 911. its that simple and the security camera footage will tell the whole story. and yes unfortunately this is more common than you would think. and this brings us to INSURANCE! so lets say i buy one of MagicBillys pipes and Mr billy did a back asswards sanding job and i got a wood sliver in my hand and it became infected and i lost a finger. i could file suit for damages. i might even win. (remember the person that sued Micky D's because her coffee was too hot and she received a boat load of money in a settlement ) well insurance kicked in and helped out and Magic Billy is still in business just under a different name. just remember that people can file a lawsuit for anything. (AND I MEAN ANYTHING). another example is someone freaks out and breaks your windows or knocks over a display then insurance would kick in saving your butt. if you operate any sort of company in the U.S.A. you must have insurance for that company its federal law.
i am not looking to make money from manufacturing tobacco pipes. to me it seems like a decent hobby. however it seems some of you might be trying to turn a profit and there is nothing wrong with that. so i thought i would share a bit general knowledge about "Business". i can tell you that i have never operated a failing Business (one that lost money), and i have never declared chapter 11. i have had people quit on me and i have had to let people go but it was never because i couldn't find enough work for them.
well i am glad you guys can conduct business on a hand shake and a smile. around here we put everything is put in black and white. even though a verbal contract is legally binding in my state.scotties22 wrote:Dude...you sound a bit sketchy to me (not trying to ruffle feathers here, just the way that story came across). A lot of that information is inacurate and unnecessary (especially for pipe makers). My Grandfather was in the automotive business for well over 30 years. He did custom builds and body work. He NEVER had to contact his attoney to meet him to talk to an upset customer. Yes, he had a friend that was an attorney that he could call if need be.....but to pay to have one on retainer????? Doesn't make sense to me. He also never had contractual problems with his custom builds. He was, however, very careful in how he worked for. You can't do that type of work for just any Tom, Dick or Harry (most of them are crackheads......never work for a crackhead).
The McD's settlement info is incorrect. That settlement was paid, but they settled out of court and no one knows how much she was piad as they ended up settling out of court before the verdict was appealed. Here is the wiki page on it http://i81.servimg.com/u/f81/17/58/15/15/dscn3246.jpg
You don't have to have insurance to operate a business either (there is no federal law stating this)....if you employ people you have to have work comp (state and local laws differ). Is it a good business practice?? YES, but mandated by law...no.
My husband and I own severel successful businesses and yes, we do have all types of insurance. For the businesses we are in it makes sense to be well insured. We DO NOT have an attorney on retainer and we have not used a contract on a project in years. And we routinely do work for people for well over $30,000 with no deposit. If we don't feel comfortable working for people, we don't. Just that simple. We are selective with who we work for and very careful with how we do business......that's smart business. All the trappings are just that....extra shit that keeps your overhead high.
Now, take everything I just said with a grain of salt. By no means do I know everything. The tone of your post just kinda rubbed me the wrong way and I felt compelled to reply.
Uhhhhhhhh.....Sponge Bob........that's what I said?!?!?!magicbilly wrote:You don't have to have insurance to operate a business either (there is no federal law stating this)....if you employ people you have to have work comp (state and local laws differ). Is it a good business practice?? YES, but mandated by law...no.
"In fact, your business may be legally required to have certain kinds of insurance. For example, if you have employees, your state may mandate that you carry workers' compensation coverage, or you may have to prove you have specific types of coverage in order to get a state or local business license. In addition, people such as landlords or suppliers may require you to have coverage as part of a contract". http://www.nytimes.com/ref/open/finance ... E-FAQ.html
scotties22 wrote:Uhhhhhhhh.....Sponge Bob........that's what I said?!?!?!magicbilly wrote:You don't have to have insurance to operate a business either (there is no federal law stating this)....if you employ people you have to have work comp (state and local laws differ). Is it a good business practice?? YES, but mandated by law...no.
"In fact, your business may be legally required to have certain kinds of insurance. For example, if you have employees, your state may mandate that you carry workers' compensation coverage, or you may have to prove you have specific types of coverage in order to get a state or local business license. In addition, people such as landlords or suppliers may require you to have coverage as part of a contract". http://www.nytimes.com/ref/open/finance ... E-FAQ.html
