In this day of electronic wizardry, I realize the idea of physically writing a thank you note may sound dreadfully old fashioned.   Guilty as charged.  While I embrace technology and am probably ahead of many of my legal peers in my use of technology and social media, I am still very old fashioned when it comes to hand-written note cards.

I am a firm believer, and zealous advocate, of writing note cards for a variety of purposes.  I love using a handwritten note card to share sentiments such as “Thank you,” “Congratulations,” and importantly – “Don’t give up.”  Since everyone else is using email, texts, Facebook, etc., there is something special about receiving a hand-written note card.  It stands apart from the cluttered barrage of emails in the in-box and it lets the recipient know that you care more than the average person because you took the time to write, prepare and send a personalized note.

If you want to set yourself apart from your competition, care more about the people in your network.  Send them personalized notes to congratulate them for a recent promotion, winning a new client, joining a new board – the options are endless.  Here are some tips from my play book.

I start with a wide variety of note cards that I can use for any occasion and for any person. Some of my cards are simply monogrammed, some have inspirational sayings, some are bright and bold and some are whimsy.

Variety of Note Cards

Along the vein of making the recipient feel special, I have purchased a large variety of windowed message cards – something for every occasion.  The cards are created by Compendium, Inc. (they create a diverse line of creative, inspiration products) and I buy them at Changing Hands Bookstore, my favorite Tempe independent bookstore.  These little cards have encouraging words on the outside of the card, such as “I believe in you”, “Reach for the Stars,” “Whatever it takes,” “Thank you,” etc.  Then, you open the top flap and there is a message on the inside.  You can write a personalized note on the back of the card.  I include one of these with my note cards to give it the extra personal touch.

Compendium’s Window Cards

I hand write the recipient’s address on my envelopes and use create return address labels. For the holidays, my return address label has my address and my holiday wish for the recipient: “May Your Holidays Sparkle!”

Finally, because I am an old soul with a love of the Renaissance, I have a wax stamp that I use to seal my envelopes.  I generally use gold wax and I have a couple stamps, both of which are my initial “J.”  One is an exquisite Arabic “J” that I recently found in Florence, Italy.

Wax Stamp Seal

If you take the time to personalize your connection with your clients, associates and network, the efforts will be lasting and you will be rewarded by staying on the top of the memory list if a need comes your way. And you can have the satisfaction of knowing you made a difference in someone’s day.

I am excited to write this post as I have so much fabulous news to share.  I want to give you some major updates and hopefully inspire you to take bold action to pursue your goals.

After 6 wonderful years at my current office location, I have moved my office. I am moving my practice to share an office with another law firm – the Zawtocki Law Offices, PLLC.  Our practices will remain separate; however, this move will give my clients direct and immediate access to their additional practice areas.  I regularly refer clients to their office, so it made sense to strategically align our practices in one location.

Let me tell you about their practice.  They are a husband and wife team and each has practiced law for more than 20 years.  Marie Zawtocki is a seasoned mediator and has a well-established practice in family law, divorce, custody, guardianship and basic probate matters. Rich Zawtocki is also a highly effective mediator.  In addition to mediation, he handles civil litigation, business matters, education law and personal injury.  He is a community leader and one of the best attorneys I know.  I am particularly delighted by the move because Rich played a significant role in my legal career. I worked for Rich as a legal assistant before I went to law school and he’s been an influential mentor to me ever since.  It’s very rewarding to come full circle and move into his office as a colleague.

My second piece of exciting news is I’ve expanded my practice.  I have also always wanted to live in Napa, California.  Napa is paradise to me – a place where I can simultaneously find passion, inspiration, and peace.  So in my normal bold fashion, I moved to Napa.  I am operating my firm from my Napa office and I regularly travel to Arizona for appointments. My office is delivering the same great service and the transition has been seamless as I continue to serve my existing clientele and we continue to grow the practice.

Lastly, my firm is celebrating its 10th anniversary during the month of September, 2011.  I set up my firm in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, which was also my birthday, after I realized life can be taken away from us without a moment’s notice.  I didn’t want to find life passing me by without reaching for my goals and one of my goals was to have my own business.  It goes to show you can set up a successful business no matter what the economic climate.

I want to encourage each of you to look at your lives and ask yourself if you are living the life of your dreams.  If not, why not? You have the power to do anything you want with your life, don’t waste the opportunity. Create the life of your dreams and I will support you in your endeavors.

While my phone, fax and e-mail remain the same, my new office address is the following:

Law Office of Joan L. Jakel, PC
2345 S. Alma School Road
Suite 200
Mesa, AZ  85210

Thank you for enjoying this journey with me.  I look forward to seeing what we can create in the next 10 years!

With Excitement and Gratitude,

Joan Jakel
Attorney & Entrepreneur

Since I recently moved my office, I needed to update my business cards.   A friend of mine had creative new business cards, so I asked him where how he created them.  He turned me on to www.moo.com.  I have fallen in love with this site!  I have tried other websites to create business cards, but I found them challenging, not-intuitive and had a difficult time uploading images.  Not this site!

I was first thrilled with the unique designs moo.com created for use on business cards. Their business cards were two-sided with numerous options for both sides of the cards.  I selected a card that had inspiring quotes on one side and my contact info on the other side.  The site gives you the option to upload your own graphics for the card.  They provide the perfect opportunity for product-based businesses to upload their product line and the image can go on the back of the business cards.  If you are an artist, upload your artwork and share it with the world on your business card.  This is an excellent way to use your card as not only a contact card, but a true marketing card.

They clearly put a lot of effort into creating the look, feel and technology of the site. I really enjoyed the ease of use and it felt personable as I used it.  It was friendly on both the site and in its auto-responders that followed up my purchase.  I appreciated the thought they put into the site to create a rewarding user experience.  When I received the cards, I was impressed with the quality of the card stock and the look and feel of the card.  The cards arrived in a little black box that contained two tabbed dividers for “Mine” and “Theirs” so I could keep track of my business  cards and I had an easy place to insert the cards I received from other people.

The true test – handing out the cards.  I organized a small networking event of fabulous business women.  I brought a stack of my cards to share my new address.  The cards were a huge hit! The entire stack of cards was circulated and the ladies picked the inspirational saying that moved them. Many women took multiple cards given the statements on the back of the cards.  The cards created energy, fun, excitement, and buzz. Oh yea, and they advertised my firm!

Next time you are in the market for new business cards, give Moo.com a try – I hope you enjoy it as much as I have!

The Nancie Glanzrock Classic

Thank you to everyone who contributed to the Nancie Glanzrock Classic!   The event exceeded our wildest expectations and the difference we were able to make to help Nancie Glanzrock was extraordinary.   So many friends, business associates, and clients contributed to make this event a tremendous success.  Thank you to everyone who contributed to make a difference in our community where a difference was needed.  The below is a summary of the day so if you were unable to attend, you can enjoy the magic of the day.

The excitement was buzzing!!  After two months of planning The Nancie Glanzrock Classic, we were finally at the place of putting the finishing touches on the event – it was the eve of the tournament.

The committee met at committee chair Kim Tarnopolski’s house for a celebratory barbecue and to hammer out all the last minute details, package all goodies for distribution to the golfers and lunch attendees, check our lists twice (there are a lot of type A personalities on this committee, so we did not have a shortage of detailed lists!) and enjoy each other’s company as we looked forward to the culmination of our planning.

The alarm went off at 3:30 a.m. on Saturday morning and it can only be compared to the firing of the starting gun at the starting line kicking off a monumental race.  We were off and running!

We arrived at the Foothills Golf Course in the dark and started unloading vehicles.  One team set up registration tables, breakfast table, a space for the Alphabiotic Body Balancing Process to help tune up the golfers before they hit the links.  Another team got to work on the silent auction tables and another readied the golf carts and yet another team placed the hole sponsor signs on each of the 18 holes.  Thankfully, we had placed our Starbucks order the prior evening, so Dave showed up delivering our favorite drinks.  The energy was flowing and the excitement was building!  By the time the golfers arrived, we were ready to kick off a day of fun and camaraderie – a day of hope, remembrance and celebration.

As the golfers arrived, it was such a treat to watch everyone meet and greet – an early morning gathering and everyone was in a great mood!  Every golfer received a golf bag (donated by Jimmy Johns) filled with goodies, including the “Support & Empower” purple and pink wrist band that we created for this event.  We also included a crisp, new $2 bill in each bag, with the following message stapled to it:

Together we can change the world,
With one good deed at a time.

Take this $2 bill and pay it forward,
Or keep it as a reminder to be kind.

Thank you for coming out to play.
Good karma is sure to fill your day.

We also had an amazing, professional program, created by Shelly Jackson and printed by International Minute Press.  Click on the word Program to view it.

The golf carts lined up in front of the Foothills club house with 96 golfers ready to take to the course.  As they hit the trail to their designated holes, we snapped photos of each team.  The fun was flowing and some competitiveness was starting to show.  We had a handful of female golfers, all of whom are competitive, and the bets started to flow as to who would make longest drive!

As the golfers took to the course, the committee members who were not golfing set up the club house for lunch, finalized the silent auction area and set up the registration for lunch.  The tables for lunch were beautiful!  The centerpiece of flowers was accented by a generous donation from Solise of a large bottle of hand wash with sunscreen for each lunch attendee.  The silent auction tables were filled with 50 fabulous items and packages that ultimately created a bidding frenzy! The display was gorgeous and so professionally set up and managed – that level of perfection came from hours of planning, preparation and love! A separate table was set up that was overflowing with raffle prizes.

When we finished setting up, we took to the course and started snapping photos of the golfers and our amazing golf sponsors signs donated by International Minute Press.  We expected the donation of the signs to simply include the sponsor’s logo.   However, much to our delight, Jim Breyer at International Minute Press created an artful sign in full color of a golf course, sunny, cloud-filled blue skies and placed the sponsor in the center of the sign.  We had many happy sponsors when they saw the signs on the holes!  Fortunately, we were able to take photos of the sponsors with their signs, so be sure to check out our photos, which were delightfully displayed in a slide show (click on the words “slide show” and you can view the presentation) prepared by committee chair Kim Tarnopolski!

Dave set up a slide show of photos that we displayed on a projector screen in the club house.   We were able to take photos throughout the day and update the slide show and share the fun with the all the attendees during lunch.

The golfers started to straggle in around noon.  These men and women were troopers! Golfing with great attitudes in Arizona in July heat.  They didn’t complain – they came to make a difference and they succeeded!  They were, however, grateful to come into the air conditioning and find some cold beverages to enjoy with lunch.

Raffle prizes flowed and it was adorable to have the children of the committee members zipping through the club house to hand out the prizes to the lucky winners!  Thanks to Alex and Jack!

While everyone was a winner in our eyes, we had some big winners of the day.  To see the winners of the tournament and their beaming photos, click here.

The moment of the day, however, was reserved for the lady of the hour.  Nancie Glanzrock was able to join us for the luncheon.  Nancie took the microphone and the room was silent.  Nancie shared her love with the room and extended her heartfelt thank you for the overwhelming generosity shared by all in attendance, and those who were unable to attend but sent their well wishes from afar.  Nancie has spent a lifetime giving to others and she acknowledged that it was an adjustment to be on the receiving end.  Her words landed with each attendee and I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house.  When she finished her heartfelt words of gratitude, she received a standing ovation from the entire club house.  It was a remarkable moment that will be in our hearts forever.

Our title sponsor, Joe Polish, president of Piranha Marketing and co-creator of www.ILoveMarketing.com also shared a few words.  He told us a story about a friend of his who was diagnosed with cancer.  This was a man who lived a very healthy life and was surrounded by amazing people who loved and supported him.  After some time had passed, his friend returned to the doctor to discover the cancer was gone.  The explanation – he was surrounded by so much love and amazing support that it ultimately defeated the cancer.  Joe compared his friend’s good fortune to the amazing love and support that the community who was present in that room was sharing with Nancie.  It’s the love and support of our communities, made up of friends, family, businesses, and strangers, that makes all the difference in the world in the lives of others.   He encouraged everyone to continue making a difference and acknowledged them for showing up and making a difference in Nancie’s life.  His message was a continuation of the “pay it forward” theme that was a common thread through the fabric of the day.

Dave Glanzrock concluded the event with another powerful presentation.   Dave spoke from the heart and his message was heard by everyone in the room.  His love for his mom is a driving force in all he does.  He acknowledged her for being a champion of her own health. She monitored her health over the years and when she noticed something wasn’t right, she made it a priority to seek medical attention and address her concerns.  Dave encouraged everyone to be proactive with their health, monitor it and don’t settle for unsatisfactory responses from their doctors.  This level of vigilance may be the difference between life and death.  He gave a heart-felt acknowledgement to everyone in the room for their overwhelming generosity and selfless willingness to make a difference in their community.  While his words eloquently articulated his message, it was the message that was felt by the room.  It was a perfect ending to a perfect day.

I would be remiss if I didn’t share a few words about the amazing committee members who put this event together.  An event of this caliber generally requires a small army and lots of time to plan.  We had 6 members (and 3 spouses) and 2 months.

Betty Fahey provided a well-spring of inspiration and encouragement with each e-mail she sent!  She worked tirelessly researching fundraising options, assisting with the bracelets, finding donors and sponsors, helping create the program and coordinate the fulfillment of the sponsorship packages.  While this barely scratches the surface of her involvement, when you consider the wonders of the day, I can assure you that Betty had her hands in it.  Her husband Tom helped support her and he helped the day of the event.

Val Long was always a beacon of light and energy as we roared down the turnpike to create this event.   She also worked tirelessly to assist with obtaining donations and sponsors.  She was our printing champion and coordinated all of our printing with International Minute Press, including the creation of the fabulous banner that you can see on the first page of the photo slide show.  She was there to meet any need the committee threw at her and we could not have pulled off this event without her dedication to keeping all the balls in the air!

Cati Piorkowski was tasked with creating the silent auction component of the tournament.  Based on the professionalism of the auction, you would never know that Cati has never created a silent auction before this event!  She made more phone calls and met with countless people who have put on events to tap them for their wisdom, insight and operational prowess.  She spent countless hours creating, designing and implementing.  And, as a result, the auction was a huge success and flawlessly executed!  She had the wonderful support of her husband Marty, who also MC’d our raffle and helped with set up and tear down.  And we can’t leave out her son, Jack, who gave us moral support and was an excellent raffle prize runner.

Dave Glanzrock was the go-to guy for more roles than I can count.  He designed the Nancie Glanzrock Classic blog, set up Twitter and the Facebook Fanpage.  He researched every aspect of the technology that we utilized to launch this endeavor.  He coordinated the out-of-state contingency (the Glanzrocks’ friends and family located out of state) and kept them updated on all of our efforts and created ways to ensure they could be involved with the fundraiser.  He obtained sponsorships and donations and was an official runner to pick up donations.  He coordinated volunteer efforts.  He basically did anything we asked him to do and he did it without complaining.  And while this appeared to be his full-time job, he never slacked on his top priority – taking care of his mom.

Joan Jakel – that’s me.  I’m the official scribe.  I helped create the content for the blog and Facebook and the communication outreach to all of you.  I joined the efforts of my co-committee members in reaching out to find donations and sponsors and lent a hand where a hand was needed.

Kim Tarnopolski. I saved our committee chair for last.  The saying goes – saved the best for last.  I saved the hardest worker for last.  Kim approached all of us committee members about two months ago and asked if we would join forces with her to create a fundraising event to help Nancie.  Of course, we all said yes. We didn’t know what we were going to create or how, but we knew this group would figure it out!  Kim was our tireless, fearless leader.  She spearheaded this fundraiser and she coordinated every last detail.  She created spreadsheets and checklists and handled the accounting.  She found and coordinated efforts with the Foothills Golf Course to host the tournament.  She obtained sponsors, donations, press coverage, gift bag goodies, the list goes on.  Everything she did for 2 months contained a Nancie Glanzrock component and you couldn’t be around her without donating something to this event!  She was a dynamo and outworked all of us combined – and trust me, that’s saying something!  This event was such a success because of the Kim’s leadership.  Her husband Rich helped along the way, supported her, perhaps tolerated her on some days, and was a huge help on the day of the event.  Alex, Kim’s daughter, was also a contributor and she had a blast running out the raffle prizes to the winners.

A final thanks to all of you!  None of this would have mattered without you and your involvement.  Thank you for making a difference!  And please, keep paying it forward and making a difference in your community and in the world!

In his book, The Highest Goal (Berrett-Koehler), Michael Ray offers a number of steps and exercises to guide people to finding and developing their highest self.  I’ve had these 8 steps on my desk for years and they are a practical and powerful daily reminder:

1.  Go beyond passion and success.  Most of us “sub-optimize,” that is we go for the short-term and transitory.  Go beyond these lesser goals to use the gifts of life you have been given.

2.  Travel your own path.  You can create your own path by simply paying attention to your own best performance – the critical incidents in your life – when you feel most your Self, in flow and in tune with the highest goal.

3.  Live with the highest goal.  Because everything in the world is a connected system, you can’t beat it, you can only join it.

4.  Find true prosperity.  The more you express and experience your highest qualities, the more you are filled with a rich feeling of self-worth, and the wealthier you will become in the truest sense.

5.  Turn fears into breakthroughs.  (I personally love this one!) When you have the grounding of the highest goal, you can see your fears for what they are.

6.  Relate from your heart.  I define “compassion” as seeing the highest in your Self first and then seeing the highest in others.

7.  Experience synergy in every moment.  You can achieve synergy – a much more dynamic state than balance – among the parts of your life by developing organizing structures based on your highest goal and by getting into the flow of intuitive decision-making.

8.  Become a generative leader.  Generative leaders pass along their experience of the highest goal and ignite creativity in others.

The Highest Goal: The Secret That Sustains You in Every Moment

Are you inundated with unwanted mail, unsolicited calls and random marketing attempts?  There are several simple steps that you can take to eliminate these intrusions within minutes.

First, you can opt out of pre-approved credit card offers by calling 1.888.567.8688 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 1.888.567.8688 end_of_the_skype_highlightingor visit Opt Out Prescreen website and you can select to be removed from all offers from credit cards and insurance companies.  Visit them at www.optoutprescreen.com

Second, you can minimize telemarketing by registering with the Do Not Call Registry by calling 1.888.382.1222 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 1.888.382.1222 end_of_the_skype_highlightingor visit their website at www.donotcall.gov.

Third, you can minimize what hits your mailbox by removing your name from marketing lists.  Visit DMAchoice.org.

Fourth, contact your financial services companies and ask them to not share your information.  They will direct you to the appropriate location to fulfill the request.

Finally, pull your credit report at least once a year.  You can obtain a free credit report at AnnualCreditReport.com.  There are many other sites that offer credit reports, but Annual Credit Report is the ONLY authorized source for the free annual credit report that’s yours by law per the Federal Trade Commission.

In the few minutes it will take you to process these requests, the rewards will be monumental and probably save a few trees in the process.

Few things are certain in business life, but there is one universal truth: Be it a carefully planned decision or the result of fate’s swift hand, someday you will leave your business. Most owners measure their satisfaction with their business in terms of the income, wealth, identity, challenge, stimulation, satisfaction and pride that it provides to them. Consider another definition of success that measures a business – not only by how well it operates under your ownership and by the benefits it provides — but also by the rewards it will bestow when you leave it. Because in the end, what you really want and need from your business is the ability to leave it – under the most favorable conditions. The only way you as an owner can do this successfully is to create an exit plan as early as possible and stick to that plan as long as you maintain your business.

Here are  some helpful articles on exit planning from our experts:

Why Exit Planning?

Setting Exit Objectives

What is My Business Worth?

Working On – Not In – Your Business

Getting Top Dollar For Your Business

Transferring the Business to Children or Employees: A Recipe for Disaster?

Planning for a Rainy Day

Transfer to Insiders

The  Gap Between What You Have and a Successful Exit: Do  You know Yours?

Author Kjell C Andreassen, MBA, AInstIB, CExP is a Managing Partner of acceler8 llc and Exit Planning Advisors LLC. He has extensive experience as an entrepreneur and advisor to a number of emerging and start-up ventures and has held senior executive positions with a number of public and private companies.

The mission of Exit Planning Advisors is to help owners of small and medium sized businesses create successful exit strategies, enabling the owners to leave their company when they want, to whom they want and with the cash they want.

For more information about exit planning, check out their Website.

This article was prepared by employment law attorney Denise M. Blommel.  Denise is admitted to practice in the state and federal courts of Arizona and Nevada.  Her practice centers on the employer-employee relationship. For more information about her expertise and employment services, check out her website at www.azlaborlaw.com.

The misclassification of employees as independent contractors is a huge issue right now.  The IRS and Department of Labor have been very public in their efforts to increase investigations and enforcement of the proper classifications. So, how can you differentiate an employee from an independent contractor?  Courts and governmental agencies look to the totality of the circumstances as to whether a worker is an independent contractor or an employee.  From a labor and employment perspective (as I cannot give a tax viewpoint as I do not practice tax law), there are two main criteria for determining whether a worker is an employee: (1) Right to Control (an employer has no right to control the method of the independent contractor’s work) and (2) Economic Realities (an independent contractor is not totally dependent upon the employer for his/her livelihood).

Under both the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and Arizona’s Minimum Wage Act, the emphasis on determining the appropriate worker classification is upon Economic Realities test.  These same criteria also apply in the Legal Arizona Workers Act (aka Employer Sanctions Law).  The Economic Realities test include the following:

Is the worker dependent on employer? (if yes, then an employee)
Are the worker’s services an integral part of business?  (if yes, then an employee)
What is the permanency of the relationship?  (more permanent – more employee)
What is the amount of the worker’s investment in his business?  (more investment in worker’s business – more an independent contractor)
Does the employer have any right of control the work?  (if employer controls work – then an employee)
Does the worker have opportunities to make a profit and loss?  (If yes, looks like a contractor)
What is the level of the of the worker’s skill?  (more skill – more a contractor)

The Department of Economic Security (DES) uses both Right to Control and Economic Realities in its criteria for differentiating between independent contractors (who are not entitled to unemployment compensation) and employees (who are entitled to unemployment compensation).  For example, the DES’ rules indicate the following as indicia of control:

Authority by the employer over the individual’s assistants (employee)
Compliance by the individual with instructions by the business (employee)
The worker providing regular oral or written reports (employee)
The place of doing the work (at employer’s location – employee)
Whether the work is being performed personally (employee)
The establishment of a work sequence (employee)
The employer’s right to discharge, set hours of work, training (employee)
Whether the worker is devoting full time to the employer (employee)
Whether the employer is furnishing tools and materials (employee if employer provides tools)
Whether the employer is reimbursing expenses (employee if there is reimbursement)

Other criteria used by DES include:

The worker’s availability to the public
Compensation on a job rather than hourly or salary basis
The worker’s realization of a profit or loss
Legal obligation to complete the work
Significant investment in tools and equipment for performing the work
Simultaneous contracts

Misclassification of workers as independent contractors can cause businesses severe financial distress when the government steps in to enforce the appropriate classification.  The employer is responsible to withhold federal income tax and the employee’s share of employment taxes for all employees and will be liable to cover these taxes if the worker was misclassified.  Additionally, employees are entitled to overtime pay according to the FLSA and the employer may be responsible for back pay and overtime payments for the time frame of the misclassification.

Furthermore, if an “independent contractor” who is really an employee is injured on the job, the employer is liable.  Under Arizona law, the injured worker can either sue the business directly in tort for personal injury or file a “No Insurance” worker compensation claim with the Industrial Commission of Arizona (“ICA”).  The ICA processes these “No Insurance “claims and charges the uninsured employer for all the benefits it pays plus interest and penalties.  A business can lose everything if this happens. Additionally, the failure to carry worker compensation insurance also is a felony.

If the worker should have been classified as an employee for Title VII/ADEA/ADA purposes, the worker has the right to file a charge of discrimination.  EEOC, like many other governmental agencies, places a heavy burden of proof upon the employer to demonstrate that a worker is a contractor rather than an employee.

In all circumstances, if a business engages the services of an independent contractor, it should always use a written contract.  Arizona’s worker compensation law gives a great template for what belongs in a written agreement so that a worker’s independent contractor status will be presumed.  The agreement must be written, signed, dated, and there can be no duress.  The business must have no authority to supervise or control the worker.  The agreement must disclose that the worker has no worker compensation benefits.  The worker cannot be required to exclusively work for the business and cannot combine business operations with the employer.  The business cannot provide required licenses and cannot pay the contractor by a wage or salary.  The contractor must be paid by the name on the contract.  The employer cannot dictate the time of performance or provide tools.  There are also restrictions upon termination of the relationship.  These criteria reflect the traditional “Right to Control” tests.

If your business wants to ensure compliance, simply reviewing the IRS criteria is not enough; a business must also be aware of its obligations under labor and employment laws and take ongoing steps to education yourself on the various requirements and keep your business compliant.   The above information is not legal advice for your business – it is designed to provide you with education for your entrepreneurial ventures.