Adventures with Lyrical: Buying a Business (REPOST)

Shonuff

Shonuff

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Palum said:
Lyrical's buddy approach works (I use it when needed) but not with me, for example.
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I've spent so long in sales, that when I'm buying something, I can be pretty short. They try to get me to start agreeing with them, or they try to build rapport, and I LOL. I tell them if we are such buddies they can buy me a drink later on that night. No one that has ever sold me anything called me up to see if I wanted to hang out. They make their sale, and you never hear from them again (unless they want to make another sale).
 
TJT

TJT

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Wasn't sure where to put this but I have a general question about avoiding self-employment 15% tax. Is it a legitimate strategy to open an LLC, have your LLC employed and pay yourself to avoid it?
 
Shonuff

Shonuff

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Only 20k more to go and we are booked until Spring! Best Winter ever for us.

10 more prepayments left and we have the business paid off. Just sent another payment this AM.
 
Shonuff

Shonuff

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We have a customer that we sued in Small Claims for $2,200. They lawyered up, kicked this up to District Court and are alleging we damaged their house while working, so they don't want to pay.

I sent a link showing that the damage was on their house on google street view, as of May 2014. This coincides exactly with the picture they sent, in all of its hi-res glory. The only time we were at their house was in December.

LOL.
 
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Palum

Palum

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Shonuff said:
We have a customer that we sued in Small Claims for $2,200. They lawyered up, kicked this up to District Court and are alleging we damaged their house while working, so they don't want to pay.

I sent a link showing that the damage was on their house on google street view, as of May 2014. This coincides exactly with the picture they sent, in all of its hi-res glory. The only time we were at their house was in December.

LOL.
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So many people are scumbags, receivables are the bane of many trusting small businesses.

You lucked out but do you or your guys take photos of the areas where any work will be done or heavy equipment will be used? Feel like you could get some sort of simple camera setup, even to do panoramics. Shit, $200 dash cams for the heavy machinery and archive that shit on the cloud each night if you got property with pre-existing damage or get a bad feeling about the customer after starting.
 
Cad

Cad

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Shonuff said:
We have a customer that we sued in Small Claims for $2,200. They lawyered up, kicked this up to District Court and are alleging we damaged their house while working, so they don't want to pay.

I sent a link showing that the damage was on their house on google street view, as of May 2014. This coincides exactly with the picture they sent, in all of its hi-res glory. The only time we were at their house was in December.

LOL.
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Now go get a business records declaration and a custodian to authenticate the google street view pic, and you'll have some evidence. Otherwise you've got an inadmissible screenshot.
 
Shonuff

Shonuff

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790
Palum said:
So many people are scumbags, receivables are the bane of many trusting small businesses.

You lucked out but do you or your guys take photos of the areas where any work will be done or heavy equipment will be used? Feel like you could get some sort of simple camera setup, even to do panoramics. Shit, $200 dash cams for the heavy machinery and archive that shit on the cloud each night if you got property with pre-existing damage or get a bad feeling about the customer after starting.
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I'm open to suggestions on cameras for the vehicles. Is there anything where I can stream footage realtime online? The guys are instructed to report any damage to the area before they get started, but they sometimes miss this. And in this case, it was sitting right there in the corner of the roof, and they weren't working anywhere near the roof. It was on the other side of the yard.
 
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Shonuff

Shonuff

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Cad said:
Now go get a business records declaration and a custodian to authenticate the google street view pic, and you'll have some evidence. Otherwise you've got an inadmissible screenshot.
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The lawyer is handling.

We told them they weren't negotiating in good faith, after accusing us of damage that shows on google two years before. I told the lawyer to tell them to "take their offer, turn it sideways, and stick it up their asses. We'll see you in Court." The reality is that most of our cases close one hour before we are set to go to Court, when they realize we aren't kidding.

We have to play hardball, as their lawyer has been acting like an ass. This alleged damage was the fifth or sixth time he's pulled a stunt like that. Our lawyer says that this stuff is evidence against them.
 
Cad

Cad

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Shonuff said:
The lawyer is handling.

We told them they weren't negotiating in good faith, after accusing us of damage that shows on google two years before. I told the lawyer to tell them to "take their offer, turn it sideways, and stick it up their asses. We'll see you in Court." The reality is that most of our cases close one hour before we are set to go to Court, when they realize we aren't kidding.

We have to play hardball, as their lawyer has been acting like an ass. This alleged damage was the fifth or sixth time he's pulled a stunt like that. Our lawyer says that this stuff is evidence against them.
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It's fine evidence, just saying you need to prove it up before it means anything.
 
Shonuff

Shonuff

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Cad said:
It's fine evidence, just saying you need to prove it up before it means anything.
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I don't believe they have the stomach to go to Court. I've been doing this long enough to have a feel for when people are going to give in. I see the wild claims by her lawyer as a sign of weakness.

More than once he's expressed he wants to settle. It's just what they are offering isn't what I want. The last offer was $1,000 on a 2.2k job. He sent a letter, where he was saying that this was all that they would pay, because we damaged the house. He said that if we didn't accept, they would countersue for the damage. Their argument is shot to hell now. His use of applied leverage won't work, they did the damage years ago themselves.
 
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Palum

Palum

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Shonuff said:
I'm open to suggestions on cameras for the vehicles. Is there anything where I can stream footage realtime online? The guys are instructed to report any damage to the area before they get started, but they sometimes miss this. And in this case, it was sitting right there in the corner of the roof, and they weren't working anywhere near the roof. It was on the other side of the yard.
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Yea, do you have 12v on machines to tap though? I don't know if they run 12 or 24 or whatever on heavy equipment.
 
Shonuff

Shonuff

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Kiroy said:
Shonuff Shonuff

Possibly asked and answered but what retirement plan do you use for yourself / employees.
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Safe harbor 401k, so I can contribute more. I believe my FA says combined with the IRA, I can donate 33k a year for myself and wife. The guys spend every dime they make on pussy, booze and gambling. Their idea of investing is scratch tickets. When I tell them about the stock market, they just look at me funny. That's not going to happen.
 
Kiroy

Kiroy

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Shonuff said:
Safe harbor 401k, so I can contribute more. I believe my FA says combined with the IRA, I can donate 33k a year for myself and wife. The guys spend every dime they make on pussy, booze and gambling. Their idea of investing is scratch tickets. When I tell them about the stock market, they just look at me funny.
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What's the cost?
 
Kiroy

Kiroy

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Shonuff said:
I can't recall, it was awhile ago. It did involve my FA, CPA and an outside firm to do. I'm thinking under $1,000 total for the entire company.
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Alright I'm going to call vanguard and I'll ask them about that too. Was looking at the Simple IRA to start also. Smaller contribution deduction cap though (by half it looks like).
 
Shonuff

Shonuff

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Kiroy said:
Alright I'm going to call vanguard and I'll ask them about that too. Was looking at the Simple IRA to start also. Smaller contribution deduction cap though (by half it looks like).
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The problem with the safe harbor is that you have to match your employees the same as yourself. So you get a higher match than normal, but so do all the other participants.
 
Kiroy

Kiroy

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Shonuff said:
The problem with the safe harbor is that you have to match your employees the same as yourself. So you get a higher match than normal, but so do all the other participants.
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What does that mean I put in 33k for me I have to put in 33k for them?
 
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