Part 6: Personal and Ownership Readiness

This part of the guide has 18 pages so far. Each page answers one question, shows what to do, and ends with an audit check you can use on your own business.

6.1 Personal Readiness

• 6.1.1 Personal Cash Runway: Figure out how many months you can pay your own bills while a new business gets going. Simple steps to count your personal runway before you quit or launch.
• 6.1.2 Personal Debt and Credit Review: Check your credit reports, list your debts, and learn how personal guarantees work before you borrow or sign anything for a new small business.
• 6.1.3 Time Availability: Count the real hours you can give a new business each week, including selling, doing the work, and admin, so your plan fits the time you actually have.
• 6.1.4 Skills and Qualifications: Find out which skills, licenses, certifications, and supervised experience your business needs before you sell, and where to check your state’s rules.
• 6.1.5 Employment Restrictions: Check your job agreements for noncompete, nonsolicitation, confidentiality, and invention clauses before you start a business on the side or after you leave.
• 6.1.6 Personal Risk Limits and Stop Conditions: Set written limits on the money, debt, and time you’ll risk on a new business, and decide ahead of time what would make you pause, change course, or stop.

6.2 Owner and Founder Agreements

• 6.2.1 Ownership Percentages and Capital Contributions: Learn how to record each owner’s exact share and what each person puts in, from cash to equipment to work, so business partners avoid fights later.
• 6.2.3 Decision-Making Authority and Voting: Decide who can approve spending, hiring, contracts, and emergencies, and how owners vote on everyday and major decisions, before a disagreement starts.
• 6.2.5 Deadlock Procedures: Set up a written plan for when owners are stuck on a decision, from a cooling-off period to mediation to a buyout, so one fight doesn’t sink the business.
• 6.2.6 Buy-Sell Provisions: A buy-sell agreement sets the rules for what happens to an owner’s share if they leave, die, become disabled, retire, or want to sell. Learn what it covers.
• 6.2.7 Intellectual-Property Ownership: Make sure your business owns its logo, website, photos, code, and processes. Learn how work-for-hire rules and written assignments decide who owns what.
• 6.2.8 Confidentiality Obligations: Learn how owners, employees, and contractors should protect customer lists, pricing, and processes, and the notice federal law says to put in confidentiality agreements.

6.3 Professional Support Team

• 6.3.1 Business Attorney: Learn when a small business needs an attorney, what to ask before you hire one, and how to find a business lawyer who fits your budget and industry.
• 6.3.2 CPA or Tax Professional: Learn the difference between a CPA, an enrolled agent, and other tax preparers, what each can do for a small business, and how to check one before you hire.
• 6.3.3 Bookkeeper: Learn what a bookkeeper does, when to hire one instead of doing your own books, and what records the IRS expects a small business to keep and for how long.
• 6.3.4 Insurance Professional: Learn what a licensed insurance agent or broker does for a small business, how to check their license, and what to ask so your coverage fits your real risks.
• 6.3.5 Payroll Professional: Learn what a payroll service, reporting agent, or PEO does, why the IRS still holds you responsible for payroll taxes, and how to check your provider’s work.
• 6.3.6 Industry Adviser: Learn when a regulated or technical business needs an industry adviser, where to find one, including free SBA mentors, and what to ask before you start.