Establishing a Bank Account

Always Always Always keep personal banking separate from business banking. Once you mix the two it opens up a can of worms from a liability standpoint.

As you get started and before you start earning income, you will have to fund the expenses of starting a business.  It may seem silly to have to make a transfer from personal to business for a $10 per month web site payment. But in reality you need to transfer from personal to business first, then make the payment from business account. Again, if something goes wrong from a liability perspective, a plaintiff attorney will say you are doing business personally which makes you personally liable for business related debt.

There are two types of businesses bank accounts:  "Doing Business As" (DBA) and everything else.  A DBA is you doing a business in lieu of using your name. It's a separate account number but acts the same as a personal account. In New York State, you must register your DBA so do that first. See "Registering Your Business" Blog.

Always sign the checks in your business name, rather than your personal name. This may seem silly but just do it.  If someone questions or stops you, sign the business name first then your name as the Managing Director.

If you get the "everything else" account, this is a checking account in the name of your LLC or corporation. LLC is the way to go if you don't know what else to do. I recommend remaining a DBA until you actually make some cash then transferring over to an LLC simultanteous to taking a cash payment from your business. It only takes an hour or less to form an LLC in New York State.

Also, get your Tax ID. You don't need to be an LLC to get a Tax ID.  More on that in the "Registering Your Business" blog as well.

Open the account with about $100 and keep making owners equity deposits biweekly until you can cash out.  You will need about $1,000 - $5,000 in the account per year in order to cover overhead costs. Costs include your phone, transportation, insurance, professional fees, etc.  Anything you can charge to the business (legitimately), do it.

Creating a Legal Business Entity

If you feel confident about how to launch a business in New York State, go straight to the link and create your business.

Here's the link: http://www.dos.ny.gov/corps/

If you are new, don't get overwhelmed with the process.  New York State is a bitch to do business in. If you're not careful, they will bill you for not filing your taxes even if you don't have any revenue. The saying "if you can succeed here, you can succeed anywhere" is certainly true in business.

In order to register your business first choose your name. See our choosing your business name blog.  Next register it, preferably as a LLC.  This will give you instant credibility.

Follow the easy steps below. Don't get overwhelmed with reading everything. Keep it simple.

1) Do a name search:      http://www.dos.ny.gov/corps/bus_entity_search.html
If your name is available, Great!

2)  Get your tax ID: http://www.dos.ny.gov/corps/ein_taxnumbers.html
This is like a social security number for your business. Use it to seperate your business from personal. The government uses it to track the taxes you are responsible to pay as an employer and business owner.

3) Create your business:  http://www.dos.ny.gov/corps/llcguide.html
It's best to do an LLC.  This helps establish credibility and also begins the separation of personal from business liability.  You can form it the moment you are about to collect a payment.  You can do a DBA up until then. Lawyers may not like this advice. It really depends on when you begin to incur liability.

Be sure to set up a file at home and keep all of this in it.  I am in the habit of scanning everything and keeping it in my google drive.

Accounting Must Haves

In order to run a real business you need to watch your money to the penny. You must watch it everyday and be ready to balance the books. It used to be that you balance the books at the end of the month. As a person with ADD, I find it better to balance them everyday.  Before you say WTF, balancing can be automated through several tools.

Your banks online banking.
Depending on your bank, you will have an extensive online banking system that allows you to track your spending. This is important.

Quickbooksonline.com
Quickbooks is a pain in the ass, but its the lesser of all evils. Don't bother looking for free bookkeeping systems; they simply don't exist at the capacity you need.

If you plan to grow your business and eventually invest in yourself, you need to use quickbooks. The desk top version is recommend but I love the ease of use of the online version.   Quickbooks will allow you to export to Turbotax.

Turbotaxonline.com
You will love doing your taxes after you do them on Turbo Tax for the first time. Give it a try. Setting up the account is free and you only pay when you submit your taxes. Even then, if you are due a refund, they deduct the costs from your refund so you never actually have to come out of pocket. For as much as I think Intuit products are a pain, this product wins a huge kudos in my opinion.

Mint.com
Mint is great for tracking and categorizing expenses; however, even more importantly, they provide you with credible partner opportunities with creditors and other business related businesses.

It's free and subsidized by advertising. The ads are surprisingly relevant and are one of the few add driven web sites I actually use.

New York Real Estate Investing

I wrote this blog for friends and family and anyone else that's been picking my brain for how to do what I do. There's no secret.

There's no particular order, so i'd recommend reading the headings and figuring out where you are in the process.

The key to success is balance. Make sure you have a day job or other steady income before trying to do this. This is great for a stay at home mom or non working spouse.

Bs your own bank

Save.  Lends to yourself by using a loan calculator.  Determine hour much you want to borrow and borrow from yourself paying back monthly with interest.

3 layers of income

Post picks.  Back up with facts. Cite sources.

Must have a job. Doesn't mater what it is as long as you live within your means.

Second later is residual income.  Create an affiliate web site sitea product you like.  Stay focused.  The brst is a product review sure for new.

I created a sports related site that focused on the community. Your have to give back.  Help a kid.  Offest school costs with a donation.  Its like siphoning. One your start the flow, it pours in automatically.
Third if the big urea.  Not an invention, but, staying within your interests, broker mass produced products.

Proposal: 110 West 87th Street

110 West 87th Street, New York, NY 10024

Overview

A 17.5' wide, 5 story townhouse with a 4 story extension and a finished lower level located between

Amsterdam and Columbus Avenues. The property is currently configured as 9 apartments of which 2 are

rent stabilized, 1 rent controlled, and 6 are free market. The apartments consist of 2 ground floor lower

level duplexs, 3 studios, 3 one bedrooms and 1 floor through. Average rents in the townhouse are under

market at $1,529/month.

The house was built by John G. Prague circa 1887 and possesses elements of both Romanesque and

Queen Anne design. Much of the property's original detail has been maintained including fireplaces, the

wooden staircase, high ceilings, and traditional moldings.

All of the rent regulated tenants are tucked away on the top two floors providing a buyer the

opportunity to create a spacious 4 story owner’s apartment. The property is heated by a gas-fired boiler

and is individually metered for gas and electric. 110 West 87th Street lies within the Upper West Side -

Central Park Historic District and is ideal for a buyer seeking a live plus income arrangement.

Investment Plan

Purchase the property for asking price or less ($3.3 is ideal),  convert all floors to single floor 2 bed/2

bath condod including the rc/rs apartments on the top floors.

Plan A: offer a buyout package or relocation to the first floor/basement units.

Plan B: Require tenants to pay for upgrades in accordance to the RC/RS laws or

Plan C:  Leave as is taking less than ideal profits but perform no renovation, saving up to $350k in

renovation costs.

1

Each luxury renovated  condo can sell for  up to $1.8 million each (app $900k per bed/bath; $1900k

sqft).  Or rent for up to $8k per month (Based on many comps at market rate of $99sqft).  Construction,

acquisition and carrying costs capped at $5 million are projected to generate a net return on investment

of  at least $2.2 million (44%) in less than 30 months total turnaround time.

Execution Plan

Upon acquisition 360 Agencies LLC will act as owners rep driving the construction schedule, costs and

marketing with the goal of preselling the condos during the construction process based on renderings

and incentives for owner input on choosing fixtures and layout.  Marketing shall be conducted in various

International markets as well as New York Times and standard local real estate listings.

In the case that units don’t sell prior to receiving certificate of occupancy, A rental option shall be

executed.

Delta Terminal

Here are some more photos of the Delta Terminal during construction. I filled in for the Risk Manager for a week.

Experience Points: Freedom Tower

I was blessed enough to have worked on the Freedom Tower, Tower, 2, the transportation Hub and the 9/11 Memorial. Here are some fun pics during my audits.

Proposal: Quakertown Development Plan

The attached proposal is my pet project. I am about $4 million off of it being a feasible project. We were heavily relying on grant money from the State but couldn't compete with the political environment to get it done.

This project is ultimately what drove me to take my sports management company public. I can cash out some of my shares and invest for the gap between the investment capital and loans.  I believe that this project will more than double in value if I can get it done as is. Basically we are redefining a historic town center.

In all of my travels and work in 49 states and abroad, most towns replicate what Quaketown is all about. They have to make new buildings look historic. Quakertown is a diamond in the rough.  I am hoping to self invest in this project in the next few years.  See attached.https://docs.google.com/file/d/0Byddf7qXHjDKZXRaT3MxUEhpZHc/edit?usp=sharing