How to Assemble Your Core Team for Starting a Business

To thrive in small business you need professional support. Although some would add a competent auto mechanic and hair stylist to this list, the four professionals I’ve highlighted here are the minimum that you need to take on the world with your new venture.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

1. Choose a Doctor.
   Even if you boast of extraordinary health, you should get health insurance and establish a relationship with a primary care physician. If you don’t have insurance, a single accident can wipe out your savings. A few years ago, I started to have mysterious difficulty with breathing. An MRI revealed that I was being choked by a golf ball sized tumor just below my sternum on my thyroid. I had it biopsied and removed in an operation. I’ve fully recovered with no ill effects and just the hint of a scar, all 100% covered by insurance. Without insurance, I would have been responsible for a bill approaching $40,000.00
   
   If you’re currently working and have health insurance, you can continue after you leave your employer under the national COBRA, or Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act’s continuation of benefits provision. COBRA allows you to pay the full cost but to piggyback on your former employer’s health plan for 18 months as long as you pay the full cost. In California, you’ll get another 18 months under CAL COBRA.
   
   Under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, once you’ve exhausted your COBRA benefits, you can continue to be insured even though you have a pre-existing condition.
   
   It’s vitally important to keep up your payments and retain proof.
2. Choose an Accountant.
   Flat tax advocates will never get their way because of the massive unemployment a flat tax would cause. Federal, state and city tax codes are a maze of pitfalls and breaks that only a tax professional fully understands. Hire an accountant who is a certified, a CPA, who will be available to you for consultation not only at tax time but during the year. If he’s a Certified Financial Planner, that’s a major advantage as well. My accountant, Mark Scully of Taxes Matter, has a clientele primarily of small businessmen. He has handled my taxes for 27 years.
3. Choose a Lawyer.
   A good lawyer can save you a lot of grief. Not only will he serve as a trusted advisor, but by checking your contracts before you sign them he can help you avoid costly mistakes. Your need for his services will vary depending on whether you sell real estate or pottery, so choose one who specializes in your business.
4. Choose a Banker.
   The advantage of a big bank with national reach is convenience and faster check clearing if you share the same bank as your customers. The advantage of a local bank is more personal attention. Shop, comparing rates for business checking, credit card processing and other services you’ll need. Meet with an officer. See how well you are treated and how knowledgeable she is about small business financing.