I learned most of what I know about business by spending most of the last twenty years in Silicon Valley. I learned all of what I know about common sense growing up in The South. A catch phrase in Silicon Valley is: “It’s not a Bug, it’s a Feature!”. An equally quoted phrase in The South would be “If it ain’t Broke, Don’t fix it!”.
Which leads me to features and benefits and things that might not be broke, but still need fixin’.
So, what’s the difference between a feature and a benefit and how does it affect your business? A feature is any characteristic of your product. A benefit is anything that helps your customer achieve their goal or solve a problem. I love my Honda Pilot SUV. It has tons of features: cup holders everywhere, tons of room in the back (because sometimes a girl needs to be able to haul things), and a seat that goes way up and scoots very close to the steering wheel. This last is the reason I bought the car and the biggest benefit to me.
You see, on a good hair day when the moon is in the seventh house and Jupitor aligns with Mars (raise your hand if you can name that tune), I’m almost…five feet tall. Yes my darlings, I’m quite vertically challenged, and this challenge is never more apparent than when I’m in Home Depot (what is the deal with the shelves in that place?) and when I’m driving. My Honda’s biggest benefit to me is the fact that when I’m driving I can SEE. I can see around bushes, fences, over other cars, tall people at the bus stop, or any other obstacle I come across while driving. I think you’ll agree that seeing is a big deal when you’re driving.
If you’re a small business owner who is just starting out, you’re probably doing everything. You’re making sales, you’re paying bills, heck, you’re probably taking out the trash and adding the copier paper. But, if you’re like me, and most of the people I know who’ve started a company, you don’t plan to be doing it all forever.
Ahhhh, there’s that word again: Plan.
What IS the Plan?
Now, maybe you don’t plan for your company to grow all that much, either for now or maybe even ever. No, really, sometimes, growth isn’t the goal. When I first started my consulting company I intentionally didn’t take on more clients than I could handle alone because I didn’t want the added stress of employees and all the rigamarole that comes with them. There were reasons for this: I was essentially a single mom from the time my daughter was six, and I had enough on my plate with raising my kiddo, taking care of my clients, and making sure they paid me. Growing the company wasn’t a goal, getting it solid so it could support just me was enough of a job. And I did just fine with the company staying just the way it was.
But now, I’m ready to take the company to a new level and I’ve had to basically sit down and tear apart all the systems I’ve had in place for the last thirteen years. Because while they worked just fine for me, they started breaking down once I started adding new employee’s, revenue streams, and clients.
Why? Because they weren’t Scalable.
Don’t be fooled by the simple, one word title, Switch. Although this word may suggest that the Heath brothers are going to provide you a method of bringing about change that will make all the troubles go away with a flip of the proverbial light switch, they do no such thing. That would be easy and throughout life you’ve probably realized that the old adage “nothing that comes easy is worth it” is generally true. Unfortunately!
What the Heath brothers do in their deceptively titled book is provide you with the knowledge and several tools that you need to make change possible, and maybe even just enough information for you to believe change is possible.
A Limited Liability Company, a LLC, is a special kind of company. An LLC is a business structure allowed by state statute. Now, what the heck does that mean? It means that an LLC is allowed to exist because state legislatures have created laws to define and govern what an LLC is and how it is allowed to operate.
LLCs are very popular right now because they are similar to corporations in that the members of an LLC also have limited personal liability for the debts and actions of the LLC. Additionally, LLCs have the management flexibility of a partnership and the benefit of pass-through taxation.
In a corporation the owners are called shareholders. In an LLC, the owners are called members. Most states do not restrict who can be a member of an LLC and who cannot. Therefore, individuals, corporations, other LLCs, and even foreign entities may be members of an LLC. However, some states do have restrictions on who can be members, most do not allow banks, insurance companies or non-profits to be LLCs, and there are special rules for foreign LLCs, so you should always check with the state you live in and the IRS to be sure.
I learned most of what I know about business by spending most of the last twenty years in Silicon Valley. I learned all of what I know about common sense growing up in The South. A catch phrase in Silicon Valley is: “It’s not a Bug, it’s a Feature!”. An equally quoted phrase in The South would be “If it ain’t Broke, Don’t fix it!”.
