Whew, I realize now that I was living in a dream world! It took two weeks to pack, two days to get it all loaded into the truck, and then a week to get it all unloaded and sort of settled. And it took a week to get my internet rolling again!

While I was a bit overzealous in the itinerary, I did finally get us into the new house. Now we are basically back to business as usual, and I’ll be back on track with new posting once again.

Why Have a Plan?

That’s a lot like our businesses. Nothing ever goes exactly how you plan it out in your head. We need to be prepared for all kinds of unforeseen snafus, everything from the computer not working, to needing more funds than we think, to running behind schedule.

At least if we have a plan, we know how to get back on track when the unforeseen does happen. I was beginning to think to myself, “Why even have a plan?” Without a plan, you have no way to measure whether or not each action is getting you closer to your destination.

What I Learned

The path might sometimes seem to get a bit off-track, but that can be important in what we learn while wandering off the track. I learned that I can keep my cool even when I can’t find a pen or can’t email regularly for a whole week!

My business still kept running, and that’s a great thing to learn. Even while I was seemingly AWOL, the advertising kept running, the phone kept ringing, and clients still sent in their payments.

And isn’t that a good measure of how your business is faring? That you can take a week off from work and still bring in income?

Do You Have a Plan?

Remember, a solid plan and vision of how you want to build your business is one of the most important aspects of building a business. If you don’t have a clear business plan, or you don’t know why you need one, please read this article on business plans:

I Have My Mission Statement, Now What?

You can also call our office to receive help designing your plan!

Maybe we call that the magic of business, or maybe we call it the stuff that inspires us. Whatever we call that whole category of stuff, most of us have some idea that it’s important.

A great way to get your head in the right place, and to make sure that your mindset is in the right place, is to be thankful for what you already have. Be thankful for what has already come into your life and into your business. By reflecting back out a grateful attitude, you show that you would appreciate more good stuff.

I always feel happier about giving to someone who is grateful for what I can give them, don’t you? Even if my motivation was not to be given thanks, it still helps.

My aim is to be grateful all day long, every day.

At the end of every day, my hubby and I have a regular bedtime ritual with our four kids. We read a story first. Then we used to take turns starting bedtime prayers, and after a while, the kids were stuck saying the same thing every night. It started to turn into just a forced routine. So we re-arranged the routine.

Our new ritual is Thank-You-For’s

Each one of us says what we are thankful for and then calls on the next person to say his or her thank-you-for. It can be anything from cartoons to a particular toy to a person to a new customer to the lovely weather. (With kids, you never know what they are going to come up with!)

I certainly have evenings on occasion when I think that I have nothing new for which to be grateful. Then I look around the bed and see the little faces of my kids with their eyes squeezed shut while they are feeling reverent and know that I have everything for which to be thankful!

The most amazing effect is that we all sleep better for having closed the day on a cumulative thankful note!

Let’s Express Our Gratitude

No matter what the circumstances seem to be each day, we can always find something for which to be grateful. The more genuinely grateful we feel, and the more gratitude we express, the more stuff for which to be thankful enters our paradigm.

So, tonight when you quiet down, or tomorrow morning when you are reflecting on your day ahead, try taking a few moments to ponder what in your life is good, and for what you can be thankful.

Q: Tell us a little bit about what types of businesses you’ve owned or operated to give us some perspective on your perspective.

A: We have been in financial services for over 20 years. Part of the time we were employed with different firms. We have started a couple of business over the years from scratch. We have also been involved in several MLMs, but we describe it more accurately as “referral compensation” business .

Q: What about owning an MLM business appeals to you? What’s your favorite thing about owning an MLM business?

A: Several things appeal to us about MLM businesses:

• The referral compensation: Everybody’s told someone they should see a movie or eat at a particular restaurant. Then those you’ve told could tell others, and before you know it, 50-60 people are watching a movie or eating at the restaurant because of your one referral.
• Time leverage: If you are a busy person and you feel like you don’t have the time for this sort of thing, then it is perfect for you. Your 3 hours a week and asking 3 other busy people with only 3 hours a week means you have 12 hours working now towards your business each week.
• Technology leverage: The internet with online store fronts and the parent company takes care of everything for you.

Our favorite thing about an MLM business is being a real service to others and truly helping them; we believe this is a life changing opportunity.

Q: What’s the biggest challenge of owning an MLM business?

A: We don’t look at things now as challenges but only as progression.

Q: How did you choose your specific MLM business?

A: We prayed and changed our life plan from the path we were on to the one God directed us to. And we were directed to FreeLife International as the company we should refer people to.

Q: Can you really make any money owning an MLM business, and does the money come as easily as many MLM’s say in their marketing?

A: Yes, you can make money! The company that we were directed to has an income statistic chart they put out each year. Some of the top earners earn over 2 million dollars a year. This kind of money comes with the amount of effort you want to put in to your business. It is a direct reflection on how many people you help.

Q: Tell me a bit about what makes a good training program in an MLM business?

A: We first start with our core principle of being a service to others and allowing people to be who they are and not requiring them to become someone different to be successful.

Q: How are you using online network marketing to expand your business?

A: We use online marketing mostly now for our training purpose, with audio and written messages for anyone to be inspired to continue with working their business.

The company also uses online ordering and store fronts that keep you well informed about all the products and meeting, etc.

Q: How do you approach goal-setting?

A: Our goal setting is a little different – 2 parts:

1. The people that choose to join with us, their goals become our goals. We make their goals our priority.
2. We teach that you should not set your goal so high that you become discouraged. We want people to set reasonable achievable goals each day. Little strokes fell great oaks – better to have little consistent activity then big inconsistent activity.

Q: Do you think systems are important in business? If so, what’s so important about systems?

A: The system is important because it is a way to help people set goals. The system that we have uses core principles of being open to new information and passing it on.

Q: Your main MLM business is Jule of the Orient. Why did you choose this business?

A: Jule of the Orient is a product of FreeLife, the company we chose because, quite literally, we were directed by God to join.

Q: Are you following a system created by Jule of the Orient, or have you combined it with your own successful system? What part of your system is your creation?

A: What came first was Plexus Gathering System. It was given to us as an answer to prayer. We refer to ourselves as co-founders of the Plexus Gathering System. Then what came after was the direction to join FreeLife which has the same principle of service to others.

Q: What personal attributes lead to success for a MLM business owner?

A: Just be who you are – nothing different than you were created by God to be.

Q: What is the Plexus Gathering System all about?

A: Plexus Gathering System is a way to transform what you want into what you have. It is transmutation from the unseen to our physical reality. In its broadest definition it is alchemy.

And our Bonus Question: Mac or PC?

A: PC but with resentment!

You can contact Marshall and Christine Hughey by email, and you can find them on Facebook, as well.

Many of the athletes already had business entities in place, but most of them had no idea that they were supposed to do anything with the entity after the initial setup.

This is a subject that seems to surprise a lot of people that I meet.

The Internet is filled with places that you can file a corporation or LLC. You pay a nominal fee, you get a pile of paperwork, and ta-da! You have a corporation or LLC!

What many of these companies don’t tell you is that the job is not complete just because you filed some paperwork with a Secretary of State.

What Else Is There?

Most of us know that we have to keep receipts for our accountants. We know that we should keep copies contracts and so forth. We can even find out some info about holding annual meetings. But after that, it all becomes sort of a blur.

The responsibility of maintaining a corporate entity does not have to be scary or difficult, but it does need to be addressed.

“Why??” You Ask

The internal record keeping of any corporate entity is how we show the decision-making process of that entity.

Remember that a formal legal entity separates the business from the owners and the officers of the entity. We set up entities to run our business, so that we have a bubble around our business that shields us from lawsuits against the business, and so that we can save money on taxes. (If you have questions about those basics, read Corporations vs LLCs Simplified.)

The bubble around our business, or the formal entity, is a legal being that stands on its own. That entity, though, cannot do anything until you tell it what to do.

What is Internal Record Keeping?

Internal record keeping is the way that you tell the entity what to do with meetings, minutes, and resolutions. It’s what we call Compliance.

The process goes a bit like this:

You have some action you would like your company to take, for example, to buy a new computer.

When your business was set up as a sole proprietor, you would just run over to the Best Buy, pick out a computer, and pay for it with a check from your checking account. You would then simply log the purchase in your checkbook or give the receipt to your bookkeeper.

The accountant will count that purchase in the list of expenses you have for the year and make the necessary adjustments on your personal tax return. It’s as simple as that.

Not So with a Corporation or LLC

For that same computer, the entity will send out a notification to the necessary officers of an upcoming meeting to decide on whether or not to buy a computer.

At the meeting, the officers vote on whether or not to buy the computer. If you vote “yes”, you “resolve” or make the formal decision to buy the computer. You sign the minutes, put it in the company records book, and then you go buy the computer using entity funds. After that, the entry is made into the bookkeeping and the write-off is taken at tax time, just like with a sole proprietor.

What Difference Does It Make, You ask?

Many of us with a small business hold all of the positions in our companies, or have only a couple of other family members or friends in the entity. It may seem like it won’t ever make a difference if we follow this formal process of meetings and minutes and resolutions.

And Maybe No One Will Ever Know

The risk you take is bigger than you think. The two most important times when the formalities of your entity can be questioned are if you’re ever audited by the IRS and if you’re ever in any kind of a lawsuit.

Those are pretty big times to not have the formalities of your entity in place.

What Could Happen?

Remember, the entity is a separate legal being. That means it’s like another person, separate from you. If you go buy that computer with company dollars from the entity, but you didn’t formally tell the entity that it’s okay to do so, it looks like you’re acting just like yourself, and you just happened to use the entity’s checkbook to do so. Now it looks like you’re using the company as a sole proprietor would.

The IRS doesn’t like that at all. They call that acting like an alter ego. The possible repercussion is that they can say that the money that you made within the entity and the write-offs that the entity took against that income is actually income you personally should be taxed on, all because you treated it as a sole proprietor would treat it.

You then will have more income on your personal tax return. If it’s a previous year (typically the case with audits) you will not only be paying the additional taxes that you personally would have paid if the income was originally on your personal tax return, you will also be paying penalties and interest, because now you are late!

What About a Lawsuit?

In a potential lawsuit, the attorneys for the party suing you will ask to see the corporate records book. They will be looking first to see if you ever got around to issuing your stock (if you didn’t, you don’t have a legal entity). Then they will be looking to see if you did all of that paperwork to show that the entity is separate from you. If you have not followed this formal compliance, once again you will be seen as acting through the entity as an alter ego. Once they show that, the entity will be disregarded and you will be sued personally.

That means that the bubble you put around your business did nothing for you or for protecting your personal assets from litigation.

How to Learn the Process

The formal process of your entity is not rocket science, but it does need to be done. You need to learn to maintain the integrity of your entity. You can find books and programs and all kinds of stuff on the internet to learn how to follow the process, but you must figure out how to follow the process and then be responsible and follow it.

Otherwise you are wasting your time and efforts.

NexStep Innovations LLC has a number of terrific Compliance Programs if you need help in maintaining your entity’s integrity. Contact us and schedule a Compliance Review today.

A: If you intend to be in the public eye, Positive Public Perception will do wonders for a fledgling mission. Getting involved with the community will help to build good public relations. Study the community to learn where you can be of assistance. Always present yourself in the context of your mission so that an association is made between the good works that you are doing and the name and identity of your mission.

Like a business, your mission will need constant promoting if you are seeking private funding for your activities. Like a business, your mission will need money to build and expand into its intended role. Fund raising activities, either solo or cooperative efforts with others, can be explored and are beneficial for raising public awareness to the good works you wish to accomplish.

Contacting local newspapers and presenting the story of your non-profit mission to the Human Interest Editor can result in free publicity that can also help to launch a new mission. You can also seek out other periodicals that publish human interest stories and explore what free promotion may exist.

If you find that you need to advertise, be sure to ask if there are any rate discounts available for non-profits.

Q: What is the biggest hurdle in running a non-profit organization?

A: In my opinion that would depend upon what you are doing within the context of being a non-profit. Generally speaking, though, there is so much misinformation regarding non-profits, and because of recent abuses of the public’s trust, certain non-profit activities are viewed with suspicion. Educating others regarding the legitimacy of our mission is the hurdle. They assume that only a “business” structure can be legitimate. This is where establishing good PR can be essential to the success of your mission. Developing a positive public image can help establish your credibility and can make your path much smoother.

Q: Do you find more esoteric benefits running a non-profit as compared to running a for-profit business?

A: Again, that would depend upon the nature of one’s mission. Generally speaking, there are means of organizing one’s mission that provide certain benefits that can, for example, include the ease and simplicity of bookkeeping and managing its operations. When compared to the complexities of keeping books for the typical corporation, that feature alone is worth the price of admission, as they say. Because as a church we are also tax exempt, the ease of keeping books and records for our own benefit and not for the IRS is one of the most important “esoteric” benefits that we enjoy.

For some people, especially celebrities and the wealthy, privacy is also an important issue and that, too, can be a benefit when your mission is properly established.

Q: What is your favorite part of running a non-profit organization?

A: To me, personally, one of the most rewarding aspects of working in the non-profit arena is meeting a greater percentage of like-minded people. Because we assist others who are seeking to answer their calling to greater service, we have the first-hand opportunity to watch them develop from a beginning of uncertainty and blossom into their greatest potential. That is very satisfying to know that you have helped someone make that quantum shift from the rat-race servitude to the corporate system to one of peace and personal fulfillment within their service to humanity.

Q: What are some of the types of structures that are used by non-profits?

A: There are several methods of organizing your mission as a non-profit. Some are stand-alone structures while others can be combined with others formats to achieve certain unique benefits. Foundations, trusts, unincorporated associations, and corporations sole have all been successfully utilized for centuries for the operation and management of non-profit missions.

Q: Do you have any other advice for someone that is thinking of starting a non-profit organization?

A: Study, study, study. There is so much erroneous, conflicting misinformation surrounding the non-profit subject. Some of the confusion comes from the various bodies of law, or jurisdictions that may govern the formation of a non-profit. Luckily in this country we still enjoy the separation of church and state mandates which provide certain freedoms and leeway in forming and operating certain non-profit ministries within an ecclesiastical venue.

However, one can easily be led to erroneously mingling elements of business with a non-profit – like mixing apples and oranges – that can become very confusing. I believe that is the source of much of the misinformation that is confusing to the newbie.

And our Bonus Question: Mac or PC?

A: While I have been a PC fan for over 20 years, I am beginning to tire of the MS game and am seriously considering a move to Mac. Many of our former PC associates have made the move and are very happy with the Mac system.

The Arcadian Society Mission Statement and Contact Information:

The Arcadian Society is a global, benevolent society of visionary people – each an Emissary of Peace. We are working independently, yet in unison, sharing and empowering a vision of a New Paradigm that will provide workable solutions to the challenges that face humankind at this time in our history.

For more information about The Arcadian Society, its mission, and the benefits of private membership, please visit the website of The Arcadian Society.