This month Vermont passed a very progressive law allowing for the formation of virtual companies.  This may not seem so unusual at first.  Many states, including Hawaii, have adopted measures that allow flexibility for corporations, limited liability companies, or other entities to use the internet or other electronic means to file documents electronically with governmental agencies, to accept and apply electronic signatures, and to hold corporation shareholder and director meetings by “remote communication” if authorized in bylaws.  However, this Vermont law is the first entire piece of legislation to be dedicated entirely to the concept of a legal entity created and maintainable entirely in virtual space.  This means that an entity would not necessarily have to have a “physical” location or address to meet certain other requirements that typically apply to LLC’s and corporations.  The idea driving this new type of entity is a desire to allow loose collaborations that are widespread on the web (i.e., Wikipedia, Ebay groups, etc.) to have a legal existence and framework from which to work.  Many groups in cyberspace do not fit into the hierarchal model of corporations of limited liability companies, with directors, ceos, and the like, yet they can be very influential and have the ability to create valuable ideas and products by collaboration.   To grow, these collaborations could benefit from many of the conventions of regular business, such as opening bank accounts, borrowing money, raising capital, and securing intellectual property rights such as patents and copyrights.  The Vermont law has just passed and already there is substantial buzz about it, including international buzz.   Second Life is one of the applications mentioned on blogs as an application whose users may benefit financially from a virtual company.  One of the originators of the law, Professor David R. Johnson of New York Law School, provides his detailed description of the project, including an objective list of things that may go wrong with the new law, at this location.    There is also a blog called “Do Tank” maintained by the New York University Law School Institute for Information Law and Policy describing the project, with links to related press sites.   I have no doubt this concept will take off an mushroom into a useful tool for use internationally.  The real question is how can we be involved in this and profit from it as well in my little corner of the world?   

I do not know how many times I have had a great thought or idea that I wanted to remember, but then became distracted by something else and lost it.  This is a more common occurrence as I get older, it seems.  I have started using this great little web-based program to help me out, called “Jott.”  The website is Jott.com.  It has become a lifesaver, especially for helping me remember client matters that come to mind in the middle of the night or while I am driving around town.  Once you sign up, you simply place a phone call and say what it is you want to remember.  Jott then converts your voice to text and sends you an email reminder with the message.  It also includes a sound file with your email text, so you can play your message back from your email.  You can also send a text message from your phone to your email in the same fashion.  For now, I only use the one simple voice message feature, and it has “saved” me a few times.   However, the Jott program has other features, including the ability to direct your message to third parties’ email accounts, and to broadcast a jott to a network of colleagues or friends in one call. 

Continue reading ‘Jot (or “Jott”) this Down’

I have been wondering what effect the downturn in the economy will have on business startups.  I have not performed any true statistical  analysis, but it seems that in my own law practice I am not receiving as many calls from people wanting to start a new business.  I wonder if this will change as expenses rise, the job market tightens, layoffs happen, and people start looking for alternatives to improve their own situation.  Guru Seth Godin presents a list of “When to Start” a business here on his blog.  The tendency may be to draw back and wait it out.  As an employee, just having job stability may be a priority.  However, if competitors are struggling and looking for new talent, maybe it is a good time to go shopping around a resume.  As for business startups, it may be an ideal time to find top talent.  Donna Fuscaldo writing for Fox Business website relates the contrarian idea of some that a recession is actually a great time to start a business, and that opportunities to get funding may even be better. 

In the past week I have received one email from Better Business Bureau claiming a negative report complaint was filed against me.  I quickly googled the words [Better Business Bureau Phishing Scam] and was relieved to know this was a Phishing scam.  (See this link at SecureWorks.com for a description of this scam) Quite ingenious.  It plays on ones fears and upon my initial reading of the email, I was a bit shook up.  Had I gone to the hyperlink and downloaded the complaint, a trojan horse virus would have been downloaded to my computer. Today, a message was left on my office phone from a company called MerchantCircle.com stating that someone had posted a negative rating about my business on their website.  Again, I googled [MerchantCircle] and[phishing] and learned of the scam, which is an attempt to get a business owner to sign up to see the supposed rating, then the business and its information becomes part of MarketCircle’s database of businesses for whatever purposes it has in mind. I suppose beyond the obvious phishing threat, some sort of extortion fees will eventually be demanded to clear up one’s name.  The scam is explained well here at John Batelle’s Searchblog (hint:  read the comments after Batelle’s article).  Bottom line is to not automatically click through to a site.  Always check it out first, either by a search online or at one of the scam-busting sites. 

I did a little work for a company called Desteenation Shirt Co. the other day.  I was so impressed with what I learned about this company in the process that I honestly thought about not charging for my services.  At the Desteenation website, click on the company’s mission description and you see a company that this company is “…seeking to attract kindred spirits” to accompany its Desteenation Expedition on a search for nostalgia or desire for T-shirts from real businesses, taverns, or restaurants. There are tons of T-shirt companies out there.  What is different here, and genius, is the successful “cult branding” that is going on. Desteenation Shirt Company succeeds in tapping into our own sense of nostalgia about the places we remember from the good ol’ days or our travels, and attaching emotion to our experience shopping for a T-shirt.

Continue reading ‘An Example of Genius Cult Branding’

I came across this great entry today on StartupNation.com.  It provides some great insight on preparing a business plan, centered around 12 critical questions. There are some links to pdf files with sample plans for various industries.  Proof you do not need some fancy program to write your own plan.  No more excuses.

Since I moved into my current office in 1992, the little restaurant down at the bottom of our complex of buildings has changed many times. In the early days, it was “The Pottery,” a restaurant owned by the wife of the owner of the complex, who was a potter.  The gimmick was that if you ordered a certain dish, you could keep the bowl it came in. Over the years, the place has been seen a Mexican Restaurant, an Italian Restaurant, an Irish Pub, and several others come and go. There is actually a web board with a thread called “Disappearing Establishments” that tracks restaurant closings in various places in Hawaii (primarily on Oahu) and reading the entries is actually quite interesting and instructive. Atlanta has a similar blog to track its major restaurants.

Continue reading ‘Want to Open a Restaurant?’

I am being a bit lazy posting to this blog, and I am going to be lazy again and direct you to a story I read in Inc. Magazine on a recent trip to San Francisco.  As I read it, I thought, this is really how entrepreneurship happens most of the time.  Most startups are not the glam silicon valley types we read about so often.  I found Jerome Boykin’s story of starting up a parking lot cleaning business to be quite inspiring.  I hope you will also.  Here’s the link:  http://www.inc.com/magazine/20070701/hidi-boykin.html. 

I turned 49 this month.  I am trying to see the positive in this.  This morning I went running and passed by a ball field where a seniors’ league softball game was in progress.  I thought to myself, “Too bad.  They could use me…but I am too young.”  I read an add for AARP’s Life@50+ Revolution event and expo set for Boston in September, and felt good that I was too young to be thinking of an age-based revolution. 

Continue reading ‘Obstacle or Opportunity?’

I am fortunate to know a local couple who have dreamed a life dream and are on their way to achieving it.  Darrin and Darien Gee, ages 39 and 38, left the rat race of corporate America in 2000 and moved from their home in California to Hawaii to pursue their real dreams.  You can read about them here (search archives for April 16, 2007).  The Gees established a golf school and began writing.

Continue reading ‘The Seven Principles of Golf (…and entrepreneurship…and life)’