4 Tips for Dealing with a Family Business in Divorce

Published on: 22 February 2018 Last Updated on: 24 February 2020
Family Business

Divorce brings a lot of problems in every part of your life. However, it makes the situation by dividing a family business particularly complicated. Therefore, you have to be prepared and get the necessary help before you start any legal proceedings. There are no avoiding problems when managing a family business in a divorce. However, you can minimize them if you go about it right.

1. Study your papers very closely :

The first and most important thing to do is to get a professional lawyer to examine your business paperwork. They’ll need to see all agreements, contracts, and other papers that have some bearing on defining the ownership of the business.

Note that these examinations might prove to be very surprising. For example, you might find out that some of your distant relatives become stock owners of the company. To prepare for any nasty surprises and develop a strategy for managing possible problems, you need to determine what those problems might be beforehand.

2. Consult as many different lawyers as you need :

Employing the assistance of a divorce lawyer is essential when going through this process. However, in the point mentioned above, you might also need to consult a company lawyer with experience in family businesses.

You’ll also be facing other issues that might require specialized legal assistance. For example, the division of assets during a divorce usually means you’ll need to get a lawyer specializing in foreclosure. If your family business is home-based, you’ll need all three experts’ help. Therefore, it’s usually best to employ a law firm with a versatile team. In case you already have a company lawyer, connect them with your divorce attorney.

3. Talk to a counselor before making any major business decisions :

Roughly 95% of people who received marriage counseling state that they were extremely satisfied with the results. Note that this doesn’t mean they solved all their problems and chose to remain together. What counseling offers is assistance with finding the right direction to move on.

When it comes to managing a family business in divorce, partners usually need to decide whether one will buy out the other’s share or if they can work together. Many people are able to maintain a successful business relationship even after a divorce. A counselor is a person who can help you determine if that would be the right choice for you.

4. If keeping the business, do not make any changes right away :

If you are the partner who gets to keep the business, it might be tempting to ‘bury yourself in the work’. However, you should abstain from making any major changes or improvements until your divorce is legally complete. Otherwise, you’ll increase (or decrease) the value of your assets. This will make it necessary to renegotiate the entire ‘division of assets’ balance and can prolong the legal proceedings. This might also lose you a lot of money in the future and at the very least increase the lawyer’s fees.

Managing a family business in a divorce is always a struggle. That’s why you shouldn’t rush and let your emotions dictate your decisions. Instead, focus on working through your current problems and get professional assistance whenever it’s needed.

Read More :

1. Why Your Business Should Care About Social Responsibility

2. Why Lead Generation Is Essential For Business?

3. Resolutions To Help The Small Business Owners To Avoid Being Bankrupt

Content Rally wrapped around an online publication where you can publish your own intellectuals. It is a publishing platform designed to make great stories by content creators. This is your era, your place to be online. So come forward share your views, thoughts and ideas via Content Rally.

View all posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related

Cubicle office space

Choosing Open Office Space vs Cubicle Office Space

The right environment is essential for the growth of a business and for the employees to be result-driven. A healthy environment can either boost your productivity or hamper it. While deciding on office space, I am sure you would be going through different factors in mind. Here I am discussing one of the most important factors which are usually ignored by the people. While trying to decide between an open office space and cubicle office space, wither people will choose the one which is cheaper or they will opt for a cubicle just because they are more habitual to it. The importance of office layout depends on the type of work a person has to do. If somebody is into developing and he or she does a lot of coding, then a cubicle would be more suitable for them as they would be able to concentrate more in a cubicle than an open working space. And if a person writes blogs or does creative writing, then they would not mind an open environment. And they can even draw inspiration from their surroundings. While both the options are not bad if you’re co-working space is good, but both of them have some pros and cons. Let’s discuss some points here. Choosing Open Office Space vs Cubicle Office Space: Open Office Plan: Open office plan also called a modern layout, which is most commonly seen in a Google office, is an office layout where you do not have any kind of cubicles and environment is open and casual. These days more and more people are considering these types of offices because it makes their company look cool and employees also consider it these days more than a corporate environment. But you have to understand not all types of employees like this type of environment, so it is very important for you to analyze your team first and then decide. Cubicle office plan: Cubicle office space is often seen at corporate offices and banks. The cubicle option in a co-working facility is often an expensive option, so you need to consider what do you need a cubicle or not. Type of people: Suppose if you have introverts in your team, then they wouldn’t really be comfortable with working in an open environment, as they enjoy being in themselves and more people's presence can make them uncomfortable, but if the majority of people are extrovert than the case would be vice versa. Idea generation: An open office plan encourages communication which is great for idea generation and brainstorming. So it is great for idea generation as people can bounce off their ideas off of each other and can come up with great concepts and collaboration ideas. Lack of Privacy: An open office plan can severely affect a person’s privacy which can interfere with the employee's mind and they cannot express openly, as they fear that other people might be judging them. It also not great for someone who has to do a lot of client interaction and through calls and Skype, it would disturb other people also and the person who is on the call also. A Common Solution: This would be the best option for any kind of business, as a person who loves to work in a cubicle can work there and if a person wants to work in an open space, they can do that. Employees can even switch places so that they can get a break from spending their whole day at the same place. The open office space can also be used the time to time as an accelerator for idea generation. If you are a new business owner: If it's your first time managing a business and trying to expand it most efficiently, you may find that there are many tips and tricks that you can keep in mind while you are growing. With office rental options in Miami, you can ensure that you can find a working space where you can constantly find new clients, allowing you to help your business develop. It's not easy to have all of the answers at the beginning, but having an office where you can quietly get down to work with your employees is one of the most important factors to a successful business. Read More: Making Your Office Safer For Workers Top Expert Tips For A Stunning Condo Interior! Why Your Business Should Care About Social Responsibility

READ MOREDetails
how to start a food truck

How To Start A Food Truck Business And Earn Money From It In 2024

Are you bored of your normal life? Why not spice things up a little? If you are someone who is intimately interested in the culinary world or is a budding food professional, 2024 might be the year for you!  With the advent of uprising food businesses, there is increasing popularity for food trucks. Learning how to start a food truck business might be a very prosperous option for you this year. The food business is one of the largest growing sectors in the world.  People try to establish several kinds of outlets of food and beverage here and there in expectation of earning huge revenue. However, there are many who will not be able to afford beginning with a properly laid out and structured establishment. This is mainly due to the strain on the budget and obviously finding such a place.  What Is A Food Truck? I am sure since you have a keen love for food, you must have seen food trucks in your city. It is basically a big truck-like vehicle equipped with a kitchen to prepare and serve food. Being a Western concept, these food trucks are often found stationed outside malls and offices.  This mobile eatery also functions by driving around through the city and parking in different areas to serve a crowd of hungry customers. In today’s world, people are always in a hurry and prefer convenient food. Thus learning how to start a food truck with an innovative plan and some balanced capital will put you way ahead in the curve.  Important Factors Required For Knowing How To Start A Food Truck Business Although how much ever-interesting a food truck business might sound, setting up one isn’t very easy. You need to take your time and gather up severe knowledge about the industry. A man cannot succeed without facing obstacles in life and it is no different for you.  You will have to face a lot of issues, go through struggles to finally establish your empire. But when you stand strong, facing all difficulties, and working hard, you will definitely find your way to enlightenment.  1. Business Plan Before you decide to earn some fortune in this sector, it is very important to prepare a strategic plan to take your business to the peak. You must dedicate most of your time researching and learning about each and every aspect of the industry.  All of this knowledge must be injected into your business plan. You must always think about new and innovative concepts to get more and more customers and eventually maximize profit.  2. Capital Investment This is a very important factor one must keep in mind for knowing how to start a food truck business. You must set a budgetary plan in your mind and then spend accordingly.  At the initial stage, you will have to make some basic capital investment on buying the vehicle, setting up the kitchen, and buying equipment. Other investments include costs of truck setup, advertising, printing menus, and other daily operational expenses. 3. Purchasing Vehicle Buying a new truck can prove to be costly. As regulated by health departments, food trucks must be fitted with special equipment for carrying out their operations. Thus, if you want to keep a balanced budget, you can try looking for second-hand vehicles that might save a lot on your pocket.  For those who can afford, these days, pre-constructed food trucks are also found in the market. It can save you all the time and energy required for setting up a kitchen inside the truck. You can choose a larger or smaller truck depending upon what your plan is and how you want to implement it.  4. Menu Planning In the process of knowing how to start a food truck business, menu planning plays the most important role. If you have no idea about food, there is no point setting your foot in this business. Starting a food truck business indulging yourself in it is much more effective than putting all the responsibility on hired staff. Even some renowned chefs of the world take part in such activities.  Having in-depth knowledge about food, you need to plan an interesting menu that can gain the customer’s attention. From tacos, burgers, and wraps to noodles, pizzas, and exotic dishes from around the world, anything can be served by your food truck.  5. Acquiring License And Insurance Comparably, this is the most difficult part of the process. Even if you are all set with getting your truck on the road, it would not be possible for you to run such a business without acquiring licenses. You must consider all the rules and regulations that must be in accordance with the operations of your food truck business. Truck permits, health department certificates, alcohol licenses, and parking restrictions are some of the very basic necessities.  When taking part in such a business, a very important thing that you must do is contacting an insurance agent. With the help of a good insurance firm, you can get everything covered, beginning from your vehicle insurance to all other factors that might be a possible risk.  6. Analyze The Market Once you learn the basics of how to start a food truck business, you must make sure to get knowledge about the market. The market scene is one of the most important factors that will determine your results.  When you set up your truck in a particular area, you must find out information about your competitors, learn about the type of customers present in that area, their preferences, and even the trends of the market. Having a sound knowledge about these factors will give you an edge over your competitors and will help you run the business smoothly. How To Create A Food Truck Business Plan? Every food truck owner should make and maintain a business plan. This should be the first concrete step you must take when starting a food truck business. Below, I will discuss how to create a food truck business plan. 1) An Executive Summary After all, an executive summary is a remarkable introduction to your enterprise. This should give you a brief overview of every business plan. This executive summary should also be as concise as the details. This will be discussed in several other sections of the entire plan. 2) Market Analysis Market Analysis is another remarkable part of creating a food truck business plan. In this way, you can know the target customers' requirements. Even more, you can earn significant things such as attracting your customers. In addition, this part should also explain how your business will affect the current market value. This is also significant in highlighting direct and indirect competition. 3) Organization and Management Another thing that you must have required is to create a food truck business to organize every document of a trade. These are legal documents, business finance documents, insurance, etc. Here, you must create a long list of such owners and their percentage of ownership.    4) Company Description A company description is an essential part of starting a food truck business. It would help if you described who you are and what will define you as an enterprise owner. Furthermore, it would help if you told us the niche you are filling and why your customers will choose to go over the competition.    5) Marketing and Sales If you want to expand on your marketing strategies, marketing, and sales are other significant factors. You must explain how you plan to spread the word about your trade here. Furthermore, you must identify every marketing platform, such as social media, a website, or a paid advertisement. You can also plan for this and how to gain an edge over the competition.    6) Funding Request After all, funding requests are a required section, especially for food truck entrepreneurs. This applies especially to those seeking investment funds or several other types of outside funding. You must specify how much money you are asking for and how you would describe it.    The Advantages Of The Food Truck Business: There are several advantages of the food truck business. Do you know what they are? Below, I will discuss the benefits of the food truck business.    Business Ownership There are numerous tax advantages of business ownership. Running any business takes time to own or even run. But at least there is some relief on the tax front.    Freedom While choosing menu items, the vendors you like to leverage, your workers, and the events are just some of the freedoms. This happens if you are enjoying the food truck business as an owner. You could also control your social media and marketing platforms, schedule, and ruling.    Virtual Kitchen It is sometimes hard to bring revenue from a physical business. That is why people have recently become concerned about running a physical store after researching that virtual kitchens need more proximity based on the large numbers of customers and how a virtual kitchen is still more significant in generating revenue and profits than a physical business.   Final Thoughts The food market has witnessed an unimaginable transition in the recent few years. In such an era, knowing how to start a food truck business will prove to be an asset for you in the foreseeable future. Being behind the range will also improve your culinary skills. You can then serve the most delicious food in the entire city.  Once your wheels are on the go, start considering expanding your business to the next level. Merchandising and advertising on social media can be some good ideas that you can acquire. There you go; you have it all now. Well, I can see you as one of the upcoming most prominent business tycoons of the world! I hope you find this article. In case you have doubts then please comment below! More Resources: Launching a Business? Hire These 5 Professional Services for Help Top 5 Mistakes B2B Businesses Should Stop Making Right Away Basic Small Business Tips for Noobs Who Want to Start a Venture in 2020

READ MOREDetails
Customer Complaint

5 Reasons You Should Respond To Every Customer Complaint

Any business encounters a customer complaint at some juncture. Despite the best of intentions, there will be situations when a client leaves feeling dissatisfied. Such a customer may initially try to seek resolution from the business itself, but increasingly, they are more prone to air their grievances on social media platforms.  When such negative feedback is published online, it becomes a permanent fixture. This puts business owners and managers in a position where they must make a choice: either overlook the complaint or use it as a platform to exhibit their c for everyone to witness. Here Are Five Prime Reasons You Should Respond To Every Customer Complaint Here are some reasons why responding to customer complaints is crucial for your business's success. 1. Forge Strong Connections Customers tend to be doubtful, particularly regarding reviews. Research indicates that only 39% of consumers believe retailers seriously consider their feedback and an additional 22% feel this simply never happens. Making public responses to your reviews is the initial action towards alleviating these suspicions. Don’t solely concentrate on responding to negative feedback. Yes, one and two-star reviews should be addressed first, but recognizing customers who have given you positive reviews, even with a plain “thank you,” can greatly enhance brand loyalty and demonstrate to the world that you value every piece of customer feedback. Ensure your responses strike the right note. This is your opportunity to initiate dialogue with your customers and exhibit the personable side of your brand, so think deeply about the image you want to project. 2. Motivate Employees When your entire support team commits to elevating customer satisfaction by gaining insights from customer interactions, it naturally leads to fewer disgruntled customers and boosts motivation. Employees feel more motivated and their morale improves when they're not constantly dealing with negative feedback or hostility in every interaction. If you're overwhelmed, you could outsource professional answering services from Absent Answer to handle any high volumes of customer interactions. 3. Complaints Help to Pinpoint Defective Products Regrettably, despite rigorous quality control measures, defective products occasionally reach consumers. Organizations need to be informed about these flawed items by customers to rectify similar issues that might exist in other products. This scenario is especially relevant when a discourteous employee interacts with customers over the phone. Many individuals would prefer not to expend the effort to report such instances of rudeness. However, without this feedback, a manager may remain oblivious, potentially resulting in a single employee driving numerous customers away. 4. Complaints Pave the Way for Service Improvement Opportunities Studies indicate that a customer whose concerns have been addressed satisfactorily tends to be more loyal than a customer who has never had any issues. Complaints provide a chance to demonstrate to the customer that their satisfaction is a priority for the business by implementing service recovery measures. Numerous businesses implement a service recovery strategy to handle those occasional yet significant instances when customers feel their expectations have not been met. A well-executed service recovery program can potentially convert a dissatisfied customer into a loyal patron, who may be more satisfied than if they had never experienced problems. 5. Improved Digital Presence Complaints on review sites and social media are becoming more common. While it might be disconcerting to publicly display a customer's dissatisfaction, remember that potential customers expect to see some negative feedback. The key is demonstrating that your business is proactive and committed to satisfying its customers. Responding to complaints by regretting any less-than-positive experiences shows potential customers they can trust your service. In your response, highlight your eagerness to rectify the situation. Once you've addressed the issue publicly, follow up privately as well. This prevents the possibility of an extended discussion overshadowing your initial response. Generally, you'll be able to resolve the problem and, apart from maintaining a positive public image, you'll also enhance your reputation with the affected customer. Tips on How To Effectively Handle Customer Complaint Responding to customer complaints as soon as possible is crucial as it sends a message to them that the business or organization values their concerns and feedback. Moreover, ensuring customer satisfaction also helps in building and maintaining one’s brand reputation. However, handling and responding to customer complaints is not an easy thing to do. Here are some tips on how to effectively handle customer complaints. Go Through The Complaint The first step to effectively handling a customer complaint is actively listening to the customer and trying to understand the issues that they are facing with your product or service. If you are reading online reviews feedback or complaints sent via email, then don't just skim through. Make sure to read the review thoroughly from top to bottom.  While reading through the reviews, you should also try taking notes such as product or service number, day and date of the incident, and any other information that you think is relevant. Carefully reading or listening to the complaint will help you to understand the issues and determine a suitable course of action. Stay Professional and Apologise to the Customer It can be difficult to accept criticism, be it online or face-to-face, especially if it is about your business that you have worked hard to build from the ground up. However, it is crucial that you stay calm while listening to or reading customer complaints, even if you think that they are wrong, lying, or being unreasonable.  Getting emotional or worked up over customer complaints and then reacting angrily in front of customers will only escalate the situation and harm your brand’s reputation. So be professional and apologize to the customer even if they are the ones who are in the wrong. You should also be courteous and thank them for reaching out to you and voicing their frustrations and assure them that you are looking into the issue. Most of the time, apologizing immediately to the customer can go a long way toward defusing the situation. Formulate A Course Of Action To Resolve the Customer Complaint Once you have carefully heard or read the customer complaint and understood the issue, try to formulate a suitable course of action. Some problems can be easily resolved, while others may take some time. If the issue can be fixed easily, then you should get back to the customer as soon as possible with the solution. The customer will appreciate the promptness on your part, and it will go a long way in ensuring customer satisfaction. However, there can be issues that cannot be resolved quickly. In that case, you should determine how much time it will take for you to fix the problem. At the same time, be honest with your customers and tell them that you will need some time to fix the issue and provide them with a timeline. Here are some additional tips on what to do after the complaint is resolved:   Follow up with the customer after the issues are fixed and make sure they are happy with the outcome. You can ask for their feedback on how you handled the complaint and what you can do better next time. Try to exceed their expectations by offering them something extra, such as a discount, a freebie, or a referral. This will help you turn a negative experience into a positive one and increase customer loyalty and retention. Endnote If you've been neglecting your reviews, feeling too anxious to reply, or simply haven't had the opportunity, there's no more suitable time to start than now. Responding to all your reviews, whether they are positive or negative, can contribute immensely to strengthening trust in your brand and depicting your company as one that genuinely listens and deeply values its customers. Read Also: 5 Most Common Digital PR Mistakes And How To Avoid Them The 7 Steps to Create a Storybrand to Ensure Marketing that Works How Customer Success Can Help Grow Your Business

READ MOREDetails