University of La Verne SBDC Small Biz Blog

Operating a business is difficult territory for many business owners in this day and age. My guest today will help you navigate more treacherous territory: business law. My guest today is Robert Barrett, a lawyer and a professor of business law and cyber law for business students in the College of Business and Public Management. He is also a law professor at the University of La Verne College of Law. Professor Barrett will help you understand contracts, working with lawyers, along with all the pitfalls and perils of the modern legal environment of business.  So tell me, what is a contract? Let me start with a new business person who is not sophisticated and from the very basics and go from there. Contracts in law school is a full-year course…and business people don’t need to know what the lawyers know. After a full year of contracts as a law student, you still don’t really know anything. Of course like anything in school you need to get out there in the world and the first contract y

by Joshua Botello Many of our small business owners get intimidated when they are looking to open their business because of the paperwork and cost involved in getting started. In this video, I show you 4 tactics to start your small business for next to nothing so you can get started faster and cheaper. START HOME-BASED SERVICE BUSINESS First, you need to think about what kind of small business you want to start. If you are looking to spend the least amount of money then you want to see about doing a home-based service business. Unlike product or retail businesses, you don't need to buy a minimum amount of inventory and keep it in your garage. This could save you several hundred dollars in inventory costs. All you really need is a computer to do your work or proposals and a cellphone to take calls and make appointments. You can be a blogger, consultant, or photographer and start with no money you have to invest providing you already have the equipment to start. DO BUSINESS IN YOUR O

by Joshua Botello Getting an Alcohol Beverage Control license gives an establishment like a restaurant or bar the ability to serve alcohol to customers. Many new business owners may find this process confusing or never apply for the license because it is so daunting. In this video, I’ll explain what the ABC license is, walk you through the process and stay to the end for help with the application. What is an Alcohol Beverage Control License? The first thing you need to understand is what is an Alcohol Beverage Control license is. The license allows you to sell alcohol from your establishment legally. There are different categories of licenses but are in 2 general groups: On-Sale or Off-sale and the type of alcohol.  On-Sale refers to alcoholic beverages that are purchased and consumed on-premises like a Bar and Off-sale is where beverages are prepackaged and not available for consumption on-premises like a convenience store. Each category defines whether or not minors are allowed on-p

By Joshua Botello Starting a business is difficult when it comes to finding the money to launch. Not every business owner has savings or credit for a business loan. There are many options for small business owners to get their business off the ground and they don’t always involve getting a business loan. You discover 5 ways to fund your business start-up from bootstrapping to crowdfunding find out which is right for you. So let’s get started. Bootstrapping Bootstrapping a business comes the phrase “pulling up by one’s bootstraps”. Essentially, this means you are going to fund your business yourself. This may mean you have a full-time job and your new business becomes a “side hustle” that you grow. How it works For many business owners with simple ideas or who don’t want or can’t go to a bank to fund their business, this is their option. If you are starting a consulting business or even a small eCommerce business this may be the easiest way, to begin with, the least amount of initial i

Starting a small business with a family is a natural first for entrepreneurs because of the accessibility and trust with relatives. However, family-owned businesses have their own set of challenges that we will explore today. My guest is Dr. Giacomo Laffranchini , an associate professor of management, here at the University of La Verne College of Business and Public Management. Dr. Laffranchini’s expertise is in the strategy and management of family-owned businesses here in the U.S. and abroad.    The challenges of managing a family-owned small business with relatives The main challenge of a family business whether it be a small business or a professional organization is the coexistence of 3 subsystems: the family, the shareholder, and the management. Those systems overlap so you have family members who are also shareholders and are also involved in the management of the firm. The challenge is to instill in the organization some kind of discipline. So how can we keep the temptation of

Wicked Bionic, LLC.  www.WickedBionic.com Dana Arnett is the Co-CEO of Wicked Bionic, a multicultural marketing and advertising agency in Los Angeles California. Wicked Bionic was established in 2015 and began to engage in government contracting about 2 years ago starting with the City of Los Angeles.  Looking to expand her business, Dana attended a presentation on government contracting from University of La Verne SBDC consultant Rene Cota. “I looked at him on Zoom and said ‘that’s the guy I want to work with -  the amount of knowledge he had, blew me away,’” Dana said, describing Rene's knowledge and experience with helping small businesses in the government contracting space.   Wicked Bionic dabbled in writing a few proposals a quarter but wanted to expand into contracting with the state and federal government. Dana felt overwhelmed writing each proposal from scratch with all the information and research involved and couldn’t keep up with the opportunities they found. “We were w

by Joshua Botello Disclaimer: This is not legal advice and is for educational purposes only. If you need help starting a Cottage food operation please consult with an advisor here .  Starting a cottage food business may seem easy to start but you may get in trouble by not understanding the law. The cottage food law in California was passed in 2013 and opened up home bakers to start without the need for a commercial kitchen. There are still many different steps you need to know before you launch. So, in this video, I’ll break down what you need to start your next cottage food small business to see if it is right for you. Business Concept If you are looking to start your own home-based cottage food business you need to understand what you can and can’t make according to the law. If you don’t follow these rules then you will be denied permits to sell anything and could be shut down and unable to operate. According to the law , there are approved foods that can be made and sold from your b

By Joshua Botello Starting a business is difficult for owners who need to get all the tools together to run their business smoothly. Small business owners who are just starting may not even know these tools that exist that make their lives much easier and more productive. In this video, is a list of 15 small business apps small businesses need to be using right now. Many of these apps are ones we use here on a daily basis for our own office. Many are free apps with optional upgrades so you can try without any limitations on what you can do if you don’t need a lot of bells and whistles. Most of these apps can be run on mobile phones for ultimate remote connectivity. So let’s get into the list. Office Programs - Google Docs & Gmail (Free with an upgrade to Google Workspace Starting at $6/mo) When you are just starting your business you want to make sure you have the basics down and office software is first on the list. A program like Microsoft 365 is expensive and open office is pr

Many Small businesses struggle with their finances whether they are first starting out or if they have been in business a while. Having a firm understanding of your business finances is the key to a successful business, how do you keep track of that? Professor Rick Hasse is a professor in finance and accounting here at the University of La Verne, College of Business and Public Management. In this interview, you'll find out how finances affect your business and how to perform a financial check-up.  How important are finances to the health of the business? Well, I think it could be a very simple answer or it could be very complicated. I'll give you a simple answer. Naturally, finance is the blood of a company. You can have the best idea, the best product, the best service, but if you don't have the necessary capital to get that off the ground and get it to your customers, you ain’t got nothing. So having capital, having access and understanding of capital is key. I like to th