Always Protect Yourself First

Positive thinking is a wonderful thing. No one ever accomplished much with a defeatist attitude or with low expectations for themselves and those around them. All great entrepreneurial success comes first from a vision based upon possibilities.

However – in the real world – most great successes have been accomplished by intermediate failures. I suggest that you read biographies of great entrepreneurial successes. My favorites tell the story of Tom Monahan of Dominos Pizza fame and the story of Ray Kroc or McDonald's fame.

Perhaps a better way to address this is to expect the best – and prepare for the worst. Early on in your business and at all stages – always put everything in place to insolate yourself from the worst case scenario.

Action steps:

NEVER sign personally on any lease. Although every landlord will insist that you give a personal guarantee – don't do it. Be prepared to walk away from the lease negotiations if the owner will not agree to this condition.

Always operate your school as a CORPORATION not as an individual proprietorship or as a partnership.

Keep everything in place to avoid “Piercing the Corporate Veil:”

Keep your funds separate. At the least maintain a personal and a corporate checking account. Do not intermingle funds. Pay corporate expenses out of your corporate account – personal expenses out of your business account.

Maintain all required corporate paperwork up to date.

Operate at all times as a corporation. Don't blur the lines between you as the Master Instructor – and your corporation as the operator of your school.

Maintain adequate school liability insurance at all times.

Maintain workman's compensation insurance at all times.

Pay yourself a monthly salary – and, always cut the check.

Quickly Read:

“Pizza Tiger” by Tom Monahan

A great read about an orphan who starts a pizza restaurant by the University of Michigan campus. That becomes Dominos Pizza. During his growth trend he went broke about four times. Once had the warehouse burn down with no insurance. At another time he had the IRS walking into stores carting out ovens and typewriters for back taxes. Not exactly the “born with a silver spoon” expected success story. During the process he built the #1 Pizza Delivery business in the world while amassing a huge Success Literature Library. A really inspirational read for anyone who feels like they keep fighting the odds or who has experienced any level of financial crisis.

“Behind the Golden Arches”by John Love

“Grinding it Out” by Ray Kroc

Ray Kroc is another really interesting success story. He was in his 50's when as a mix master salesperson he was tuned into notice something really strange: A little hamburger stand in California was using more of his machines then 6 or even 10 other similar restaurants. When he went to investigate he found a thriving operation being run by the McDonald brothers. He immediately negotiated rights to franchise the concept and off he ran into one huge wall after another. In the early stages he was unable to gain cooperation from the McDonald brothers and had his hands tied unable to make necessary decisions – some even as basic as modifying the restaurant design to allow for heating needs when building stores in Illinois. He repeatedly ran out of money and ran into incredible obstacles an miraculously built the largest restaurant chain in the world and became the 2 nd largest property owner in the world right behind the Catholic church.