Archives for October 2012

 

Divorce or separation can have far reaching or fatal consequences for your business.  Typically shares in the business are matrimonial property – and their value will form part of the pool of assets to be divided.     This can result in a forced sale of the business, financial strain as funds are borrowed to settle the martimonial separation – or even the possibility of an unintended new shareholder.

When the business is owned by a husband and wife, this can be bad enough.  But when there are other unrelated shareholders involved, the consequences can ripple well beyond the separating couple.

So how serious an issue is this?  What can be done to protect your business from the effects of separation?  How can you protect your business from the consequences of the divorce of one of your fellow shareholders?

The bad news is that once a relationship is on the rocks, it is probably too late to put structures in place to protect the business.  But the good news is that with some careful thought early on, it may be possible to divorce proof your business.

This is the final Business Owners Forum event for 2012 – and will be a must attend for mum and dad business owners as well as those in business with unrelated shareholders who may have their own future relationship difficulties. 

This event will be held at the BNZ Partners facility on Constellation Drive, North Harbour at 5:30pm on Thursday 29 November 2012 – and will run through to 7:30pm on the night.

We have assembled a quality and interesting panel for this event:

 

Selina Trigg.  Selina is Principal at legal firm, Family Law Results, she is a member of the NZ Law Society Panel of Mediators and also the current Chair of the Collaborative Law Association of NZ.   As you can imagine after 15 years practicing family law, Selina has seen it all – and has some invaluable advice for business owners who might wish to divorce proof their business.

Hans Otto.  Hans has a powerful story to tell.  Hans started property developing in his late 20’s building a business that constructed over 1,000 homes over a twenty year period.  Today, Hans is an undischarged bankrupt – partially as a result of the consequences of a messy divorce.  There are some things Hans will do differently next time – and Hans will share some of these at this event. 

To be Confirmed.  The third panelist for this event is yet to be confirmed.

 

As always for Business Owners Forum events, this session will be free of charge and completely free of sales pitches from the supporters or the panelists.  And there will be pizza, beer and wine to lubricate quality discussion.

Business Owners Forums are held monthly on the third Thursday of the month – alternating between North Harbour and Whangarei venues.  This is the final event for 2012, but look out for the 2013 schedule soon.

If you’d like to attend this event, email Fraser Hurrell.  We now cap numbers at 60 to avoid an over-full house, so first in first registered.  And if you’d like to be included on the invite list for future events, just add your contact details in the box to the right.

A final thought:  Less than 2% of business are affected by fire each year but 35% of marriages end in divorce.  How well protected is your business?

 

Resolutions made on new years day are famous for not making it past January.  To increase the chances of those business resolutions sticking, now is the time to start planning – identify exactly what it is you want to achieve next year, and to distil this down to tangible and measurable action plans.

This is the topic for the final Business Owners Forum event in Whangarei for 2012.

Of course no two business owners will have the same set of circumstances and issues that they wish to address for 2013, but we will work through some of those that we have been hearing loud and clear from our clients over the past few months – and open discussion to the floor.

This event will be held on 15 November at the Elevate CA office, Level Four, 35 Robert Street, Whangarei from 5:30pm to 7:30pm.  

On the panel for this event will be the three directors of Elevate CA – Rebecca Brennan >>>, Fraser Hurrell >>> and Dean Subritzky >>>. 

As always for Business Owners Forum events, this session will be free of charge – and full of practical content and useful discussion from the other business owners in the room.  And there will be pizza, beer and wine to lubricate quality discussion.

Business Owners Forums are held monthly on the third Thursday of the month – alternating between North Harbour and Whangarei venues.

If you’d like to attend this event, email Fraser Hurrell before the end of 12 November.  And if you’d like to be included on the invite list for future events, just add your contact details in the box to the right

Managing Cashflow is top of mind for most business owners.   And when times are tough, proper and innovative management of cashflow can become a matter of life and death for the business.

Cashflow management can be a critical success factor in ensuring your business will survive and prosper within your industry.

For those business owners who are focussed on managing cashflow, the 18 October Business Owners Forum will be a must-attend event.

This event will be held at the BNZ Partners facility on Constellation Drive, North Harbour at 5:30pm on Thursday 18 October 2012 – and will run through to 7:30pm on the night.

We have assembled a varied and skilled panel for this event:

 

Karl Gaines.  Karl founded, built and sold Origin IT taking it from zero cashflow to a team of 60 employees along the way.  Periods of rapid growth require business owners to pay particular attention to cashflow – as Karl knows from his own journey.  Kark has some valuable insights to share.

Alexander Lancaster.  Alex is a Cashflow Solutions Specialist at BNZ.  He is regularly speaking with business owners and managers in a wide range of industries – particularly in the business to business space – to understand their trade cycle and cashflow needs.  Alex has seen businesses succeed and fail based on their management of cashflow – and has many nuggets to share on this topic. 

Kerrin Harrison.  Kerrin owns and manages Pegasus Group, who import sporting goods from China for distribution around New Zealand to the likes of The Warehouse, Farmers and Toyworld.  A business of this nature often stand or fall on their ability to manage cashflow – and Kerrin has many valuable tips, techniques and insights.

 

As always for Business Owners Forum events, this session will be free of charge and completely free of sales pitches from the supporters or the panelists.  And there will be pizza, beer and wine to lubricate quality discussion.

Business Owners Forums are held monthly on the third Thursday of the month – alternating between North Harbour and Whangarei venues.

If you’d like to attend this event, email Fraser Hurrell before the end of 16 October 2012.  And if you’d like to be included on the invite list for future events, just add your contact details in the box to the right.