October 24, 2025 • 26 mins
In this episode of the Main Street Business Podcast, Mark J. Kohler and Mat Sorensen break down why every small business owner should hold their annual Family Board Meeting before the end of the year. This powerful meeting isn’t just a formality — it’s a proven strategy to strengthen your business, protect your assets, and educate your family about wealth and responsibility.
You’ll learn how to make your Family Board Meeting IRS-compliant, maximize write-offs, document your decisions properly, and create a legacy plan that keeps your business and family aligned for years to come. Mark and Mat share real examples, step-by-step guidance, and practical insights to help you get it done right before December 31st.
Don’t wait until tax season to get organized — plan your Family Board Meeting now and take control of your financial future!
You’ll learn:
- How to structure and hold your Family Board Meeting before year-end to stay compliant and maximize tax benefits
- The 7 key reasons every business owner needs an annual Family Board Meeting — from asset protection to financial education
- How to properly document your meeting minutes so your business stays audit-proof with the IRS
- Smart ways to include your spouse and kids in your business legally — and teach them real-world wealth principles
- What expenses you can write off when holding your Family Board Meeting, including travel and meeting costs
- How this meeting supports your business continuity plan and legacy goals for future generations
- Simple steps to get your Family Board Meeting done before December 31st — and set your business up for long-term success
Get a comprehensive tax consultation with one of our Main Street tax lawyers that can build a tax strategy plan with an affordable consultation that will leave you speechless!!
Here’s the link - https://kkoslawyers.com/services/comprehensive-bus-tax-consult/?utm_source=buzzsprout&utm_medium=description-link&utm_campaign=main-street-business-podcast&utm_content=msbp598-family-board-meeting-by-year-end
- Grab my eBook 30 Unique Strategies Every Business Owner Should Know!
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
People ask all the time, who should be on my board
(00:02):
of directors?
I just came to me.
It's the easiest thing.
Who would you invite toThanksgiving dinner?
SPEAKER_00 (00:06):
That's it.
Those are your people closest toyou.
That's your board.
Well, well, well, well, well.
Uncle Eddie has to come toThanksgiving, but I don't want
him on my board of advisors.
I am not taking him as advice.
Fair enough.
SPEAKER_01 (00:18):
Uncle Eddie, questionable.
But I think it's a great placeto start.
And yeah, sometimes the peopleyou don't want advice from is
your family.
I get it.
But if you want to write off theplane ticket or the cost of the
RV for Uncle Eddie to come, youcould put him on the board and
just not listen to him.
But you got a write-off.
Yeah.
You have to have him there.
(00:39):
Welcome everybody to anotherepisode of the Main Street
Business Podcast.
I'm here with the amazing MattSorensen on a topic we love, the
family board meeting.
Oh my gosh, I just this is likeone of my passion projects.
SPEAKER_03 (00:51):
Yeah, and we think this is so important for your
asset protection, for your taxplanning, for the sake of your
business and the growth and thefuture.
We're gonna get into all thesebenefits.
The list goes on and on.
There's seven, you know, thelike David Letterman's top 10
back in the day, we've got thetop seven, and it's better than
David Letterman's top 10.
SPEAKER_01 (01:09):
Oh, it is.
This is gonna be good.
We're gonna walk you through aswell how to do it and why, but
then seven benefits, direct andindirect, that come from this
process.
So let's just define what we'retalking about here first.
Why don't we do that?
So, what we're talking about isif you're a business owner, I
don't even frankly, I'd even gowith the point, I don't even
care if you have an LLC or acorporation.
(01:30):
You have a business and you needto be doing better planning and
communication with your familymembers.
Now, this could be a spouse, itcould be teenage kids, older
adult children, it could be yourparents, it could be your best
friend.
When I say family, I'm talkingwho do you hang out with?
Wouldn't you think it'd behelpful to share with them what
your business is about and maybeget their advice and support?
(01:50):
So we'll we'll get into thosebenefits.
But the point is you're holdinga meeting regarding your
business.
And if you have an LLC or acorporation, this meeting is
your annual meeting that couldeasily be on one sheet of paper,
with you could be more thanthat.
We'll explain.
But it's easily one sheet ofpaper of we're having a meeting,
we're complying with state law,creating separation between our
(02:13):
individual person and ourbusiness entity.
We're gonna put it in ourcorporate book, and we're gonna
make sure we're compliant withthe state on renewal fees or
anything I need to do at thestate website.
But this process of the boardmeeting is kind of the impetus
of that regulatory process thatcomes with having an LLC or
corporation, and you don't haveto be super rich, home family
(02:38):
office, Microsoft to do this.
Every small business ownershould be doing it.
SPEAKER_03 (02:42):
Yes, even if you've got a side hustle or a rental
property, whatever it might be,think about this for your
business once a year.
I mean, Mark and I have certaincompanies, they have a lot of
employees.
We do quarterly meetings.
We have one that's we haveexactly we have executive
committee meetings in certaincompanies that are like once a
week that have minutes and stuffwhen we're recording this and
we're tracking this and we'regetting input and we're
(03:03):
discussing ideas and plans andeverything.
And I think for the smallbusiness owner, a lot of times
you just don't think about thesethings.
You're like, well, I am thebusiness and it's small
operation.
Maybe I don't even haveemployees, but you know who's
involved?
Your spouse, if you got one,your other family members, your
friends that you're talkingabout.
And we're saying, let's just bea little more formal about this
and at least do something once ayear where you're going over
these items that are criticalfor your business that are gonna
(03:25):
help you.
And it's not just about um thetaxes and the asset protection,
it's about being a betterbusiness owner too and planning
and being more strategic.
SPEAKER_01 (03:34):
So I guess that's what it is.
And how you do it is you get alltogether over, break some bread,
you know, have some food, andyou're gonna sit down for 30
minutes to three hours or moreand have this meeting that you
document in writing.
You do not turn that writinginto the IRS or the state.
It goes in your book, yourcorporate book that you all
(03:56):
should have.
This is a reminder that that onesheet of paper from LegalZoom
may not be, no, it is notsufficient for an entity, and
you want to be doing that.
SPEAKER_03 (04:05):
Can I say there's two instances at least where
this comes into use and whereyou may actually be required to
produce your minutes, even foryour LLC.
In a corporation, you'rerequired to do this by statute,
but even in LLC, most states aresilent on whether you need to do
this or not.
But you're gonna be asked forthis if the IRS audits you,
they're gonna ask for this.
Like that's on the request listif your company gets audited, is
(04:27):
the annual minutes.
The other instance is you have alawsuit against you.
The company ends up in court andyou've got a lawsuit against the
company, they're gonna say, Hey,we want to see the annual
minutes.
Why does a plaintiff's lawyerask for that, Mark?
Why do they want the minutes ofyour company?
SPEAKER_01 (04:42):
Have you been treating your company like your
own personal bank account ortreating it like a real freaking
company?
SPEAKER_03 (04:48):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (04:48):
Well, the minutes tell a story.
I would even say there's a thirdreason.
You're gonna maybe sell yourbusiness.
Maybe you're going in for an SBAloan.
SPEAKER_02 (04:56):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (04:57):
Maybe you're getting um uh going through uh annual
reviews with a regulatory agencybecause of some industry issue.
They're gonna ask for thisstuff.
I mean, this could be a payrollaudit, it could be maybe a
Doppel, a department ofprofessional licensing issue as
a contractor.
Are you doing these meetings toshow safety hazard blah blah
(05:18):
stuff?
SPEAKER_03 (05:18):
So funny you brought that one up because we have our
company, Main Street BusinessServices, where we have a
service that's companycompliant.
We do your minutes for you everyyear.
We even give you templates.
You're gonna be able to automatethis and do it online after you
hold the meeting.
It's super expensive, though.
SPEAKER_01 (05:31):
Yeah, it's$200.
Yeah, I mean, sorry.
Yeah, sorry.
Yep, damn.
SPEAKER_03 (05:35):
Yeah, we take it.
We also handle your renewal,make sure your company stays in
good standing through the yearssoon after worry about that.
But we just had a clientrecently sign up for this.
And you know why the reason theydid it?
They were getting a line ofcredit and they're saying, we
need your minutes for the lastthree years for your company.
And they're like, My what?
So they're like, Can I sign upand can you help me do my
(05:56):
minutes the last three years?
Yes, we can help you get thatstuff in order and get it going
and obviously keep you going theright way moving forward.
SPEAKER_01 (06:03):
And did you hear that, everybody?
I'm telling you, it does nothave to be expensive and again
be really easy to do.
We have an automation for this.
We're rolling out beforeChristmas, too, of being able to
do this on your iPad as you haveyour family board meeting, and
we charge$200 a year for allthese pieces and parts we're
gonna talk about here.
But that the that's the process.
So you're gonna do this for avariety of important reasons.
(06:25):
Go through it, document it.
It's an internal document, it'sthere when requested.
Okay, now let's start with thesebenefits.
Why am I gonna go through thisheadache?
I'm gonna go to the first onethat's probably the biggest
motivator.
I know we talk about assetprotection and an audit, but
most of you are like, blah,blah, blah.
You know what I love?
This is a freaking awesome taxwrite-off.
You're gonna meet maybe in on aThursday in November, have an
(06:48):
important board meeting, fly inyour board members and have an
important board meeting and oh,have some turkey dinner after,
and write off the whole damntrip because you flew in board
members, you're having potentialAirbnbs down the street of all
your board members.
You're gonna go to Costco andbuy all sorts.
I love yams.
I'm I'm a big YA fan.
SPEAKER_00 (07:07):
Yeah, I really am.
SPEAKER_01 (07:08):
That really goes over well at a board meeting.
It does board meetings, turkeyand yams, always a winner.
Better decision making.
And you get to write it all off,people.
That's what I'm talking about.
This is a tax-deductible event.
And if you do it legitimately ona regular basis, because you
need to as a business, everytime you do it is a write-off.
Yeah, we're just saying do it atleast once a year.
(07:29):
But I love that as my number onereason.
SPEAKER_03 (07:31):
Yeah, and I think um, for many of you that are
like, well, who's on my board?
I mean, who's coming to thismeeting?
You know, in a corporation, youactually have a formal thing in
a lot of states called a boardof directors, where if you have,
let's say, an S corporation isan actual corporation, you put
these on your corporatedocuments.
We would have done that in ourlaw firm KQSOIs when we're
setting up your entity.
Who do you want on your board?
We at least want to get yourspouse on there.
(07:52):
Mark talked about maybe you'vegot some adult kids or you've
got the grandparents, theparents, you've got the family,
the brother, the friend,whatever.
We add them to the board.
But even you LLCs, you can havewhat's called a board of
advisors.
They're not really a director.
LLCs don't have a board ofdirectors in statute.
Now, many LLCs that are bigcompanies have a formal board
(08:12):
that they adopt, but that hasactual authority and
responsibility and they get apaycheck and stuff like that.
But you can do a board ofadvisors, which is very common
in small businesses, where wesay, hey, these are the people I
want their advice and input.
They don't have authority overme like a like a board of
directors, but they haveadvisory roles and input where
they're involved in thebusiness.
(08:33):
I get their input.
We're gonna meet at least once ayear, as we're talking about
here, have an annual boardmeeting of these advisors.
And so, and those people aregonna be in the minutes.
When we establish an entity atKQS lawyers and our law firm, we
are gonna ask you, who do youwant on your board of advisors?
We want, they're gonna be on thedocuments from the beginning so
you can have them at the meetingand expense their travel, their
(08:54):
participation.
SPEAKER_01 (08:54):
Why don't you say me over here smiling?
I am dying to share this.
I've got a new idea, and I loveit.
And Jolie, this has got to be onour social media coming up here.
Is people ask, people ask allthe time, who should be on my
board of directors?
I just came to me.
It's the easiest thing.
Who would you invite toThanksgiving dinner?
unknown (09:13):
That's it.
SPEAKER_01 (09:14):
That's it.
Those are your people closest toyou.
That's your board.
Who would come to Thanksgiving?
Your best friend, your brothers,could be on your board.
SPEAKER_00 (09:22):
Well, well, well, well, well.
Oh, Uncle Eddie has to come toThanksgiving, but I don't want
him on my board of advisors.
I am not taking him as advice.
SPEAKER_01 (09:30):
Yeah, fair enough.
Fair enough.
Uncle Eddie, questionable.
But that I think it's a greatplace to start because people
are like, well, I'm single orI'm this or I'm that.
And my family, and yeah,sometimes the people you don't
want advice from is your family.
I get it.
But I think we could start withwho's on the Thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_02 (09:47):
Who do you want at the at the Thanksgiving?
Not who's coming, but who do youwant?
But there are some, you know.
SPEAKER_01 (09:52):
But if you want to write off the plane ticket or
the cost of the RV for UncleEddie to come, you could put him
on the board and just not listento him.
You know, it's just like, oh,what do you think, Eddie?
And then you and then you know,but you got a write-off you
know, to have him there.
I can I can I can get behindthat guy because I want to get
him something real nice.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (10:13):
I bought you something.
I bought you something, Clark,with your money.
SPEAKER_01 (10:17):
Well, it's a tax write-off now because Clark,
you're here for the boardmeeting.
SPEAKER_02 (10:21):
There you go.
SPEAKER_01 (10:24):
All right.
Now, that's one of my favoritereasons is this is a
tax-deductible event.
But I think the primary, oh, andthis is a one, two and three are
super close.
Do you want to go with assetprotection or IRS audit
proofing?
Yeah, let's go.
So close.
SPEAKER_03 (10:39):
Let me um elaborate on the asset protection here.
We we touched on that a littlebit.
Um, and you know, and if youwere in a lawsuit, let's say
this is your LLC in a lawsuitand something happened in the
business, you get sued, andthere's some plaintiff.
And one of the things that aplaintiff's lawyer is going to
try to do is say, hey, this LLCdoesn't have a lot of assets,
(10:59):
right?
This is an operating business.
Um, it doesn't have a lot ofassets, or maybe it's a rental
property and there's not a lotof equity there.
And like, I got a million-dollarclaim here.
I want to go through this LLCcalled piercing the corporate
veil, and I want to come afteryou personally.
Well, one of the things we'veseen in cases over the years
when a lawyer's trying to dothis, and this is in the cases
that are reported too, is theywill one of the things they'll
(11:20):
ask for is they'll say, Where'sthe company minutes?
Even for LLCs or yourcorporations, say, we want to
see those.
Because that's one factor thatshows you treated this business
separate from your personalassets and what you do
personally.
And if I can show that thebusiness had annual minutes, it
had at least an annual meeting,I'm recording what's happening
there.
We're talking about businessstuff.
(11:41):
By the way, we're talking injest about this Thanksgiving
meeting.
We're talking about having areal conversation about the
business and getting peopleinvolved, touching basism
through the year.
Okay, we're talking aboutwriting this stuff off and we're
we're having fun here, but likewe're serious, like this is an
actual meeting.
You're gonna have an agenda,okay?
And but those meeting, thoseminutes show, hey, court, judge,
I treated this business like aseparate business.
(12:02):
I kept my bank account separate,I kept my expenses separate, I
had actual meet minutes when Idid my annual meeting.
And that defeats this claim ofthem piercing the corporate
veil, which means their lawsuit,if they win, gets stuck at the
LLC and all your personal assetsand other companies are not
affected by it.
So it's it's really this umpreventative measure we're doing
(12:24):
to ensure asset protection inthe event of a lawsuit.
SPEAKER_01 (12:27):
And so cost effective.
It is it's just funny how peoplewant to run out and set up a
Wyoming entity or someRockefeller trust, or I'm gonna
set up all these elaboratestructures.
And they don't even do minuteson their basic LLC to own
someone.
That's that's the front line.
Yeah, it's I've got to find agreat metaphor to explain how
ridiculous that is.
But okay, number three reasonhere and benefit is IRS audit
(12:51):
proofing of your tax return.
Because if you're a businessowner, the IRS requires that you
have what are called accountableprovisions.
These are provisions that youcan attach to your tax return or
document in your companyminutes.
And a lot of accountants aregonna miss this, and especially
if you're knocking out yourreturn on turbo tax, you're not
gonna put in these provisions.
(13:12):
So at Street Business Services,we make sure there's six or
seven different accountableprovisions that are always
included.
For example, I want to write offmy home office.
Please reimburse me.
I want to write off autoexpenses of any board member or
family member that's helping inthe business.
Please make that happen.
Third, I want to write off anyexpense under$1,500 immediately
(13:34):
without having to depreciate it.
Boom.
In.
This is the de minimisaccountable provision.
So all of these littleprovisions need to be in your
minutes.
And if you get audited, the IRS,you have this provision, it's
not in your tax return.
Yeah, it's right here in myminutes.
Oh, done.
If you don't have this provisionon your tax return or in your
minutes, they can disallowmedical reimbursements, the uh
(13:56):
home office, the auto, thewrite-off.
This is serious.
So we want to make sure that youdon't have a problem with the
IRS in an audit, and it's just ano-brainer.
So that that would be my numberthree reason.
I just love knocking this out.
SPEAKER_03 (14:10):
A lot of bang for your buck in that one.
Because we're all trying towrite off stuff that we can in
the business, of course.
Um, the other thing that let'stalk about here is as an
entrepreneur, sometimes it'slonely, you know, as a small
business owner, entrepreneur outthere doing it.
You may not have a big team or,you know, this board of
directors with these former CEOsor entrepreneurs that have been
(14:31):
super successful.
And but what you do have isdefinitely some family members
who are invested in yoursuccess, who are hearing about
the struggles in your business.
This could be the spouse orother family member or friends
that are close to you.
It's like it, the having thismeeting where it's a focused
conversation, there's an agenda,and you're gonna document this,
gives this like some formalityto it and it and it shows the
(14:52):
importance of what you're tryingto do, the input that these
family members can give to you.
I think it creates this unityamongst your family and friends
that are involved, that arecheering for you, that want you
to succeed, um, and also anopportunity to get their input
and get their insight.
Sometimes we can get so down therabbit hole in our own business,
we don't see the forest throughthe trees, so to speak.
(15:13):
And getting that input fromthose outside the business that
see what we're doing, that knowwhat we're up to, that
understand our business, who ourcustomers are, what the dynamics
can be.
It's it's nice to have a littleformal conversation about that
uh for the business.
SPEAKER_01 (15:25):
Yeah, and and we've kind of dissected uh there's two
points here.
This first one I'm gonna evenadd to with education.
It's a chance to educate yourchildren, adult or under uh age
18, whatever the case may be, toteach a, you know, okay,
everybody buckle up.
I'm gonna have you talk aboutsomething super uncomfortable in
your board meeting.
It's called money.
(15:46):
You can talk about money as afamily.
It's okay.
You can talk about debt, you cantalk about how to make ends
meet, you can talk aboutstruggles you're going through,
and maybe, just maybe, yourfamily would appreciate hearing
that so that they can learn fromit and grow from it.
It's because someday you maywant to sell your business to
(16:06):
them or you may need their help.
Yeah.
So education, our kids do nothear us enough.
For those of your parents outthere, how many of us wish our
parents would have talked aboutmoney a little bit more?
SPEAKER_03 (16:17):
Yeah, and even like a budget, like going through
what's the budget for thebusiness for this year?
What's our our estimated budgetfor next year?
Them seeing like an income andexpense thing is so important
and valuable.
I would love to have thatconversation in a family
business when I was younger tounderstand that because they can
apply it to their personallives.
And this leads to the nextthing.
SPEAKER_01 (16:37):
Well, Ken Ghana, one last thing.
You may think my kids aren'tgonna want to do this.
You will be shocked.
I don't, I can get emotional,start telling some of these
stories.
But when you start to have thismeeting, your kids they're they
freak out.
They're like, oh my gosh, thisis all this is awesome.
We've been wanting to have thisconversation.
I'm saying nine out of ten kids.
Some of the kids are there,you're kicking and screaming.
(16:57):
But all of our kids uh and theirspouses, we're gonna have our
next board to be probably 12 to15 people.
And we just grandkids arerunning around screaming and
yelling, whatever.
Try to get them quiet.
But they're all anxious to havethis meeting and learn.
Your children are smarter thanyou realize, and they watch and
(17:18):
they need to hear this.
So I think you'd be surprised.
Now, the next one I love whereyou're going is this kind of
planning.
You kind of alluded to that.
Like, this can hold youaccountable too.
SPEAKER_03 (17:28):
Yeah, and I think like the the business continuity
here, like, what is the futureand long-term vision of the
business?
Um, and when I'm having thatfamily board meeting and my kids
are exposed to it, theyunderstand what's going on in
the business, what we're doingwell, what's working.
Sometimes your family's workingin the business.
I mean, my kids have worked inmy business part-time, on and
off throughout the years.
(17:49):
I know Mark's have as well, likein a in a more formal role.
Um, and so uh um, but havingthat meeting is really important
because one thing we see, andwe've been doing this a while
now, you know, we're the lawyersthat have been doing putting the
10,000 hours, 20 years, youknow, we've been we're going
after this, helping clientsacross the country, is there's a
certain point where it's like,what am I doing with my small
(18:09):
business?
Is the next generation takingover?
If it is, it's maybe one of mykids that's had a W-2 job
somewhere that doesn't know whatthe hell my business even does.
They've had zero exposure to it.
They don't know what we make,they don't know what the
challenges are, they don'tunderstand who the typical
customer is, they don't know howI'm marketing it, they don't
know the service or product mixthat I even have.
But if you had the family boardmeeting and you're involving
them in it, they might have moreconversations when you're out on
(18:30):
the golf course with them, whenyou're playing tennis, when
you're like doing yoga, whateveryour thing is, I don't care what
it is.
Like you might actually betalking about the business
because they know what questionsthey asked.
You can have a conversation withthem about them.
And that is a nice thing becauseit can help get them involved in
the business and it can solveone of the biggest challenges
you're gonna have is thiscontinuity planning and who's
gonna take it over.
SPEAKER_01 (18:50):
Yeah, and I I oh my gosh, I love it.
And the business continuity planshould be set forth in your
estate plan.
Heaven forbid, you die soonerthan later.
We don't know when that moment'sgonna be, and we need to plan
for it.
And having conversations likethis prepares your family too,
because a lot of families, thisis a weird thing, too.
(19:11):
The Alt Asset Summit lastweekend.
And if any of you haven'twatched the recordings of that
yet, you can go toAltassetsummit.com.
We had a panel, and Matt, yousaid something really
interesting.
You were he was a moderator forit.
He said a lot of wealthy peopledon't like to talk about their
wealth, and and and and that'sthere's could be a lot of
reasons for that, you know,being modest or private and all
(19:32):
that, get it.
But we were able to get threeindividuals to come up on a
panel and say, okay, we've builtover$10 million Roth IRAs, and
they were very sheepish.
And we had Matt had to drag outexamples out of them, but
everybody in there wasenthralled.
They're like, please tell us howyou've done this.
And so I think again, when we'reable to open up and talk about
(19:55):
our wealth and financers orwhatever level of wealth it is,
or even the mistakes we've made,the people on your board are
gonna see that as a strength anda be able to be a better support
to you.
SPEAKER_03 (20:07):
Yeah, totally.
SPEAKER_02 (20:09):
Um, and I yeah, yeah, well, I'm just like, man,
when is mine scheduled by a yearend?
SPEAKER_01 (20:14):
I gotta get on this.
I'm gonna summarize the sevenhere in uh one moment.
I'll let Matt hit our last one,but I wanted to just say on this
planning point, not justbusiness continuation planning,
but next year's planning.
Like, what's the plan?
And Matt alluded to budget too.
And so you're gonna have amoment where you're gonna be
(20:34):
teaching the family unity andeducation on money, but then
you're gonna turn around and go,here's my plan.
Now that's scary because you'regonna tell someone what you plan
to do, and when next time theysee you, they're gonna ask you
how to go.
Yeah, that's that's sometimesyou don't want to do that, I
know, but it's gonna hold youaccountable.
It's super important.
Talk about your trifecta.
(20:55):
Build your trifecta with one ofour law lawyers.
You can do a tax um uhcomprehensive plan.
The lawyers who build yourtrifecta in color, they are so
freaking cool looking.
Put it up on the board, show thefamily.
Look at my trifecta.
Their eyes will be as big assaucers, and and it's just so
fun.
So um, I just think there's somany ancillary benefits.
SPEAKER_03 (21:18):
And I think what we're trying to do here is you
know, the wealthy, so to speak,have this institutional family
office.
And so many people have beenlike, oh, the family office of
so-and-so overledge people.
You know, and like this is whatwe're talking about here.
This is turning into your familyoffice, guys.
Okay, your small business, mainhustle, side hustle, rental
property, I want to have it asthere's different scales of
this, of course.
(21:38):
Um, is this is your familyoffice.
These conversations, the peoplein this board of directors
meeting, some of our attorneyssometimes drop in on some of
these board meetings.
Yeah, you know, they they callin sometimes, of course, it's
not the regular thing, but thenyou got to pay for that, of
course.
But um, but you know, if youhave a bigger operation or
stuff, like we can beparticipating in that too, or
other advisors that may beinvolved in the business.
(21:59):
Um, the other thing here andfinal point that I'll just say
on this is you know, we have acompany compliance service in
Main Street Business Service.
Because you might be overwhelmedby this.
You might be like, oh my gosh, Igotta be doing this, what these
guys are talking about, but Idon't know what to put in the
minutes.
Mark just talked about someaccountable plan stuff.
He threw out some tax codeprovisions and numbers and
stuff.
I'm like, I don't I gotta goback and watch this in the
(22:20):
podcast.
No, don't worry about it.
Okay.
This is included in the service.
All right.
It's 200 bucks a year for yourentity.
Now you're doing your boardmeeting.
You're, and but we have alsolike sample agendas and stuff to
help you through this stuff.
I know, Mark, you've done likethe printed agenda, you know,
for your family members wherethey showed up, where it's on
the table.
Everyone comes, they got theirpens, right?
I'm like, try to have someformality to this to like really
(22:41):
make it stick of the importanceof this.
Um, but we're here as a supportfor you.
We do have a service for this,the mainstream business
services, whether you're usingthis or not, we want to just get
you bought in on this concept,the important of this for the
business.
It will help you save taxes,it'll protect your assets, but
better than anything else inthis, it'll help your business.
SPEAKER_01 (22:58):
Yeah, and this company compliance component is
the fact in at least over 43states, you've got to pay an
annual fee.
You've got to fill out somepiece of paper to stay in good
standing or go on a websitesomewhere with the state.
And companies get dissolvedinvoluntarily all the time.
Involuntarily means you didn'tdo what you were supposed to, so
(23:20):
the state shut down your LLC.
And clients come up and call usevery day.
We get a phone call.
Can you get my LLC back up andrunning?
What do I need to do?
You need to do your compliance,you need to hold your minutes,
and we walk you through it andwe help you do it.
200 bucks.
SPEAKER_03 (23:34):
And we do it for you.
We track it.
So you don't even need to doanything.
We automatically do this foryou, renew your entity with the
state and help you get yourminutes done, of course.
SPEAKER_01 (23:41):
Okay, so here's the seven benefits.
You can take us out.
Number one, company compliancetaken care of.
The state knows that my entityis still in good standing.
Check.
Number two, better assetprotection so that if I ever get
into a lawsuit, I have canproduce my minutes and show the
corporate veil.
Check.
Number three, IRS auditproofing.
I'm gonna have all theprovisions I need for the IRS to
(24:03):
make sure I can take advantageof any tax write-off for my
small business.
Check.
Number four, family unity,vision, education, bringing
together everybody, even UncleEddie.
Check.
Number five, I'm gonna get a taxdeduction for holding this dumb
thing.
I'm gonna be able to take travelwrite-offs, Airbnbs, Ubers,
(24:23):
food, all of it is a write-off.
The day to get there, the day tohold it, and the day to send
everybody home.
All three days are a write-offfor travel and dining purposes.
Check.
Number six, the businesscontinuation planning.
Making sure that the familyknows what to do with the
business or the real estate orthe rentals or whatever the hell
you're trying to build.
You're documenting it, puttingin your estate plan, and letting
(24:46):
the family know your wishes tohelp them if something happens
to you.
Check.
And finally, number seven,you're getting support.
You're getting advice, andyou're laying forth your plan
and budget for the next year,and you're gonna be held
accountable for that.
And your family's there tohopefully support you.
Kick them off the board if youdon't like them.
The end.
Check.
SPEAKER_03 (25:07):
All right.
Well, we got through that.
The top seven list here, why youneed to have a family board
meeting by year end.
This think of this as yourfamily office as you're building
and growing this.
If you found this helpful,please share it to that friend
or family member that might be abusiness owner too.
Uh, we think this is anincredible idea and concept, and
we want to be a support to you.
Hopefully these ideas arehelpful to you.
(25:28):
And please share the podcasts,subscribe if you haven't
already, give us the thumbs up,five-star review, whatever it
is.
If it's negative, you know,maybe just go yell it outside.
Okay, you know, let it out.
If you thought this sucked,well, if you're still listening
to this and you think thissucked, you I think you liked
it.
I'm still watching.
SPEAKER_01 (25:45):
And you can get to mainstreetbusiness services.com
right now.
Main Street Business, just MainStreet Business.com.
Just mainstreetbusiness.com.
That's right.
We have all the URLs to go.
Mainstreetbusiness.com, get overthere, sign up all your
entities, get it done, off yourplate, taken care of.
And we'll see you next week foranother episode of the Main
Street Business Podcast.
People ask all the time, who should be on my board
(00:02):
of directors?
I just came to me.
It's the easiest thing.
Who would you invite toThanksgiving dinner?
SPEAKER_00 (00:06):
That's it.
Those are your people closest toyou.
That's your board.
Well, well, well, well, well.
Uncle Eddie has to come toThanksgiving, but I don't want
him on my board of advisors.
I am not taking him as advice.
Fair enough.
SPEAKER_01 (00:18):
Uncle Eddie, questionable.
But I think it's a great placeto start.
And yeah, sometimes the peopleyou don't want advice from is
your family.
I get it.
But if you want to write off theplane ticket or the cost of the
RV for Uncle Eddie to come, youcould put him on the board and
just not listen to him.
But you got a write-off.
Yeah.
You have to have him there.
(00:39):
Welcome everybody to anotherepisode of the Main Street
Business Podcast.
I'm here with the amazing MattSorensen on a topic we love, the
family board meeting.
Oh my gosh, I just this is likeone of my passion projects.
SPEAKER_03 (00:51):
Yeah, and we think this is so important for your
asset protection, for your taxplanning, for the sake of your
business and the growth and thefuture.
We're gonna get into all thesebenefits.
The list goes on and on.
There's seven, you know, thelike David Letterman's top 10
back in the day, we've got thetop seven, and it's better than
David Letterman's top 10.
SPEAKER_01 (01:09):
Oh, it is.
This is gonna be good.
We're gonna walk you through aswell how to do it and why, but
then seven benefits, direct andindirect, that come from this
process.
So let's just define what we'retalking about here first.
Why don't we do that?
So, what we're talking about isif you're a business owner, I
don't even frankly, I'd even gowith the point, I don't even
care if you have an LLC or acorporation.
(01:30):
You have a business and you needto be doing better planning and
communication with your familymembers.
Now, this could be a spouse, itcould be teenage kids, older
adult children, it could be yourparents, it could be your best
friend.
When I say family, I'm talkingwho do you hang out with?
Wouldn't you think it'd behelpful to share with them what
your business is about and maybeget their advice and support?
(01:50):
So we'll we'll get into thosebenefits.
But the point is you're holdinga meeting regarding your
business.
And if you have an LLC or acorporation, this meeting is
your annual meeting that couldeasily be on one sheet of paper,
with you could be more thanthat.
We'll explain.
But it's easily one sheet ofpaper of we're having a meeting,
we're complying with state law,creating separation between our
(02:13):
individual person and ourbusiness entity.
We're gonna put it in ourcorporate book, and we're gonna
make sure we're compliant withthe state on renewal fees or
anything I need to do at thestate website.
But this process of the boardmeeting is kind of the impetus
of that regulatory process thatcomes with having an LLC or
corporation, and you don't haveto be super rich, home family
(02:38):
office, Microsoft to do this.
Every small business ownershould be doing it.
SPEAKER_03 (02:42):
Yes, even if you've got a side hustle or a rental
property, whatever it might be,think about this for your
business once a year.
I mean, Mark and I have certaincompanies, they have a lot of
employees.
We do quarterly meetings.
We have one that's we haveexactly we have executive
committee meetings in certaincompanies that are like once a
week that have minutes and stuffwhen we're recording this and
we're tracking this and we'regetting input and we're
(03:03):
discussing ideas and plans andeverything.
And I think for the smallbusiness owner, a lot of times
you just don't think about thesethings.
You're like, well, I am thebusiness and it's small
operation.
Maybe I don't even haveemployees, but you know who's
involved?
Your spouse, if you got one,your other family members, your
friends that you're talkingabout.
And we're saying, let's just bea little more formal about this
and at least do something once ayear where you're going over
these items that are criticalfor your business that are gonna
(03:25):
help you.
And it's not just about um thetaxes and the asset protection,
it's about being a betterbusiness owner too and planning
and being more strategic.
SPEAKER_01 (03:34):
So I guess that's what it is.
And how you do it is you get alltogether over, break some bread,
you know, have some food, andyou're gonna sit down for 30
minutes to three hours or moreand have this meeting that you
document in writing.
You do not turn that writinginto the IRS or the state.
It goes in your book, yourcorporate book that you all
(03:56):
should have.
This is a reminder that that onesheet of paper from LegalZoom
may not be, no, it is notsufficient for an entity, and
you want to be doing that.
SPEAKER_03 (04:05):
Can I say there's two instances at least where
this comes into use and whereyou may actually be required to
produce your minutes, even foryour LLC.
In a corporation, you'rerequired to do this by statute,
but even in LLC, most states aresilent on whether you need to do
this or not.
But you're gonna be asked forthis if the IRS audits you,
they're gonna ask for this.
Like that's on the request listif your company gets audited, is
(04:27):
the annual minutes.
The other instance is you have alawsuit against you.
The company ends up in court andyou've got a lawsuit against the
company, they're gonna say, Hey,we want to see the annual
minutes.
Why does a plaintiff's lawyerask for that, Mark?
Why do they want the minutes ofyour company?
SPEAKER_01 (04:42):
Have you been treating your company like your
own personal bank account ortreating it like a real freaking
company?
SPEAKER_03 (04:48):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (04:48):
Well, the minutes tell a story.
I would even say there's a thirdreason.
You're gonna maybe sell yourbusiness.
Maybe you're going in for an SBAloan.
SPEAKER_02 (04:56):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (04:57):
Maybe you're getting um uh going through uh annual
reviews with a regulatory agencybecause of some industry issue.
They're gonna ask for thisstuff.
I mean, this could be a payrollaudit, it could be maybe a
Doppel, a department ofprofessional licensing issue as
a contractor.
Are you doing these meetings toshow safety hazard blah blah
(05:18):
stuff?
SPEAKER_03 (05:18):
So funny you brought that one up because we have our
company, Main Street BusinessServices, where we have a
service that's companycompliant.
We do your minutes for you everyyear.
We even give you templates.
You're gonna be able to automatethis and do it online after you
hold the meeting.
It's super expensive, though.
SPEAKER_01 (05:31):
Yeah, it's$200.
Yeah, I mean, sorry.
Yeah, sorry.
Yep, damn.
SPEAKER_03 (05:35):
Yeah, we take it.
We also handle your renewal,make sure your company stays in
good standing through the yearssoon after worry about that.
But we just had a clientrecently sign up for this.
And you know why the reason theydid it?
They were getting a line ofcredit and they're saying, we
need your minutes for the lastthree years for your company.
And they're like, My what?
So they're like, Can I sign upand can you help me do my
(05:56):
minutes the last three years?
Yes, we can help you get thatstuff in order and get it going
and obviously keep you going theright way moving forward.
SPEAKER_01 (06:03):
And did you hear that, everybody?
I'm telling you, it does nothave to be expensive and again
be really easy to do.
We have an automation for this.
We're rolling out beforeChristmas, too, of being able to
do this on your iPad as you haveyour family board meeting, and
we charge$200 a year for allthese pieces and parts we're
gonna talk about here.
But that the that's the process.
So you're gonna do this for avariety of important reasons.
(06:25):
Go through it, document it.
It's an internal document, it'sthere when requested.
Okay, now let's start with thesebenefits.
Why am I gonna go through thisheadache?
I'm gonna go to the first onethat's probably the biggest
motivator.
I know we talk about assetprotection and an audit, but
most of you are like, blah,blah, blah.
You know what I love?
This is a freaking awesome taxwrite-off.
You're gonna meet maybe in on aThursday in November, have an
(06:48):
important board meeting, fly inyour board members and have an
important board meeting and oh,have some turkey dinner after,
and write off the whole damntrip because you flew in board
members, you're having potentialAirbnbs down the street of all
your board members.
You're gonna go to Costco andbuy all sorts.
I love yams.
I'm I'm a big YA fan.
SPEAKER_00 (07:07):
Yeah, I really am.
SPEAKER_01 (07:08):
That really goes over well at a board meeting.
It does board meetings, turkeyand yams, always a winner.
Better decision making.
And you get to write it all off,people.
That's what I'm talking about.
This is a tax-deductible event.
And if you do it legitimately ona regular basis, because you
need to as a business, everytime you do it is a write-off.
Yeah, we're just saying do it atleast once a year.
(07:29):
But I love that as my number onereason.
SPEAKER_03 (07:31):
Yeah, and I think um, for many of you that are
like, well, who's on my board?
I mean, who's coming to thismeeting?
You know, in a corporation, youactually have a formal thing in
a lot of states called a boardof directors, where if you have,
let's say, an S corporation isan actual corporation, you put
these on your corporatedocuments.
We would have done that in ourlaw firm KQSOIs when we're
setting up your entity.
Who do you want on your board?
We at least want to get yourspouse on there.
(07:52):
Mark talked about maybe you'vegot some adult kids or you've
got the grandparents, theparents, you've got the family,
the brother, the friend,whatever.
We add them to the board.
But even you LLCs, you can havewhat's called a board of
advisors.
They're not really a director.
LLCs don't have a board ofdirectors in statute.
Now, many LLCs that are bigcompanies have a formal board
(08:12):
that they adopt, but that hasactual authority and
responsibility and they get apaycheck and stuff like that.
But you can do a board ofadvisors, which is very common
in small businesses, where wesay, hey, these are the people I
want their advice and input.
They don't have authority overme like a like a board of
directors, but they haveadvisory roles and input where
they're involved in thebusiness.
(08:33):
I get their input.
We're gonna meet at least once ayear, as we're talking about
here, have an annual boardmeeting of these advisors.
And so, and those people aregonna be in the minutes.
When we establish an entity atKQS lawyers and our law firm, we
are gonna ask you, who do youwant on your board of advisors?
We want, they're gonna be on thedocuments from the beginning so
you can have them at the meetingand expense their travel, their
(08:54):
participation.
SPEAKER_01 (08:54):
Why don't you say me over here smiling?
I am dying to share this.
I've got a new idea, and I loveit.
And Jolie, this has got to be onour social media coming up here.
Is people ask, people ask allthe time, who should be on my
board of directors?
I just came to me.
It's the easiest thing.
Who would you invite toThanksgiving dinner?
unknown (09:13):
That's it.
SPEAKER_01 (09:14):
That's it.
Those are your people closest toyou.
That's your board.
Who would come to Thanksgiving?
Your best friend, your brothers,could be on your board.
SPEAKER_00 (09:22):
Well, well, well, well, well.
Oh, Uncle Eddie has to come toThanksgiving, but I don't want
him on my board of advisors.
I am not taking him as advice.
SPEAKER_01 (09:30):
Yeah, fair enough.
Fair enough.
Uncle Eddie, questionable.
But that I think it's a greatplace to start because people
are like, well, I'm single orI'm this or I'm that.
And my family, and yeah,sometimes the people you don't
want advice from is your family.
I get it.
But I think we could start withwho's on the Thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_02 (09:47):
Who do you want at the at the Thanksgiving?
Not who's coming, but who do youwant?
But there are some, you know.
SPEAKER_01 (09:52):
But if you want to write off the plane ticket or
the cost of the RV for UncleEddie to come, you could put him
on the board and just not listento him.
You know, it's just like, oh,what do you think, Eddie?
And then you and then you know,but you got a write-off you
know, to have him there.
I can I can I can get behindthat guy because I want to get
him something real nice.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (10:13):
I bought you something.
I bought you something, Clark,with your money.
SPEAKER_01 (10:17):
Well, it's a tax write-off now because Clark,
you're here for the boardmeeting.
SPEAKER_02 (10:21):
There you go.
SPEAKER_01 (10:24):
All right.
Now, that's one of my favoritereasons is this is a
tax-deductible event.
But I think the primary, oh, andthis is a one, two and three are
super close.
Do you want to go with assetprotection or IRS audit
proofing?
Yeah, let's go.
So close.
SPEAKER_03 (10:39):
Let me um elaborate on the asset protection here.
We we touched on that a littlebit.
Um, and you know, and if youwere in a lawsuit, let's say
this is your LLC in a lawsuitand something happened in the
business, you get sued, andthere's some plaintiff.
And one of the things that aplaintiff's lawyer is going to
try to do is say, hey, this LLCdoesn't have a lot of assets,
(10:59):
right?
This is an operating business.
Um, it doesn't have a lot ofassets, or maybe it's a rental
property and there's not a lotof equity there.
And like, I got a million-dollarclaim here.
I want to go through this LLCcalled piercing the corporate
veil, and I want to come afteryou personally.
Well, one of the things we'veseen in cases over the years
when a lawyer's trying to dothis, and this is in the cases
that are reported too, is theywill one of the things they'll
(11:20):
ask for is they'll say, Where'sthe company minutes?
Even for LLCs or yourcorporations, say, we want to
see those.
Because that's one factor thatshows you treated this business
separate from your personalassets and what you do
personally.
And if I can show that thebusiness had annual minutes, it
had at least an annual meeting,I'm recording what's happening
there.
We're talking about businessstuff.
(11:41):
By the way, we're talking injest about this Thanksgiving
meeting.
We're talking about having areal conversation about the
business and getting peopleinvolved, touching basism
through the year.
Okay, we're talking aboutwriting this stuff off and we're
we're having fun here, but likewe're serious, like this is an
actual meeting.
You're gonna have an agenda,okay?
And but those meeting, thoseminutes show, hey, court, judge,
I treated this business like aseparate business.
(12:02):
I kept my bank account separate,I kept my expenses separate, I
had actual meet minutes when Idid my annual meeting.
And that defeats this claim ofthem piercing the corporate
veil, which means their lawsuit,if they win, gets stuck at the
LLC and all your personal assetsand other companies are not
affected by it.
So it's it's really this umpreventative measure we're doing
(12:24):
to ensure asset protection inthe event of a lawsuit.
SPEAKER_01 (12:27):
And so cost effective.
It is it's just funny how peoplewant to run out and set up a
Wyoming entity or someRockefeller trust, or I'm gonna
set up all these elaboratestructures.
And they don't even do minuteson their basic LLC to own
someone.
That's that's the front line.
Yeah, it's I've got to find agreat metaphor to explain how
ridiculous that is.
But okay, number three reasonhere and benefit is IRS audit
(12:51):
proofing of your tax return.
Because if you're a businessowner, the IRS requires that you
have what are called accountableprovisions.
These are provisions that youcan attach to your tax return or
document in your companyminutes.
And a lot of accountants aregonna miss this, and especially
if you're knocking out yourreturn on turbo tax, you're not
gonna put in these provisions.
(13:12):
So at Street Business Services,we make sure there's six or
seven different accountableprovisions that are always
included.
For example, I want to write offmy home office.
Please reimburse me.
I want to write off autoexpenses of any board member or
family member that's helping inthe business.
Please make that happen.
Third, I want to write off anyexpense under$1,500 immediately
(13:34):
without having to depreciate it.
Boom.
In.
This is the de minimisaccountable provision.
So all of these littleprovisions need to be in your
minutes.
And if you get audited, the IRS,you have this provision, it's
not in your tax return.
Yeah, it's right here in myminutes.
Oh, done.
If you don't have this provisionon your tax return or in your
minutes, they can disallowmedical reimbursements, the uh
(13:56):
home office, the auto, thewrite-off.
This is serious.
So we want to make sure that youdon't have a problem with the
IRS in an audit, and it's just ano-brainer.
So that that would be my numberthree reason.
I just love knocking this out.
SPEAKER_03 (14:10):
A lot of bang for your buck in that one.
Because we're all trying towrite off stuff that we can in
the business, of course.
Um, the other thing that let'stalk about here is as an
entrepreneur, sometimes it'slonely, you know, as a small
business owner, entrepreneur outthere doing it.
You may not have a big team or,you know, this board of
directors with these former CEOsor entrepreneurs that have been
(14:31):
super successful.
And but what you do have isdefinitely some family members
who are invested in yoursuccess, who are hearing about
the struggles in your business.
This could be the spouse orother family member or friends
that are close to you.
It's like it, the having thismeeting where it's a focused
conversation, there's an agenda,and you're gonna document this,
gives this like some formalityto it and it and it shows the
(14:52):
importance of what you're tryingto do, the input that these
family members can give to you.
I think it creates this unityamongst your family and friends
that are involved, that arecheering for you, that want you
to succeed, um, and also anopportunity to get their input
and get their insight.
Sometimes we can get so down therabbit hole in our own business,
we don't see the forest throughthe trees, so to speak.
(15:13):
And getting that input fromthose outside the business that
see what we're doing, that knowwhat we're up to, that
understand our business, who ourcustomers are, what the dynamics
can be.
It's it's nice to have a littleformal conversation about that
uh for the business.
SPEAKER_01 (15:25):
Yeah, and and we've kind of dissected uh there's two
points here.
This first one I'm gonna evenadd to with education.
It's a chance to educate yourchildren, adult or under uh age
18, whatever the case may be, toteach a, you know, okay,
everybody buckle up.
I'm gonna have you talk aboutsomething super uncomfortable in
your board meeting.
It's called money.
(15:46):
You can talk about money as afamily.
It's okay.
You can talk about debt, you cantalk about how to make ends
meet, you can talk aboutstruggles you're going through,
and maybe, just maybe, yourfamily would appreciate hearing
that so that they can learn fromit and grow from it.
It's because someday you maywant to sell your business to
(16:06):
them or you may need their help.
Yeah.
So education, our kids do nothear us enough.
For those of your parents outthere, how many of us wish our
parents would have talked aboutmoney a little bit more?
SPEAKER_03 (16:17):
Yeah, and even like a budget, like going through
what's the budget for thebusiness for this year?
What's our our estimated budgetfor next year?
Them seeing like an income andexpense thing is so important
and valuable.
I would love to have thatconversation in a family
business when I was younger tounderstand that because they can
apply it to their personallives.
And this leads to the nextthing.
SPEAKER_01 (16:37):
Well, Ken Ghana, one last thing.
You may think my kids aren'tgonna want to do this.
You will be shocked.
I don't, I can get emotional,start telling some of these
stories.
But when you start to have thismeeting, your kids they're they
freak out.
They're like, oh my gosh, thisis all this is awesome.
We've been wanting to have thisconversation.
I'm saying nine out of ten kids.
Some of the kids are there,you're kicking and screaming.
(16:57):
But all of our kids uh and theirspouses, we're gonna have our
next board to be probably 12 to15 people.
And we just grandkids arerunning around screaming and
yelling, whatever.
Try to get them quiet.
But they're all anxious to havethis meeting and learn.
Your children are smarter thanyou realize, and they watch and
(17:18):
they need to hear this.
So I think you'd be surprised.
Now, the next one I love whereyou're going is this kind of
planning.
You kind of alluded to that.
Like, this can hold youaccountable too.
SPEAKER_03 (17:28):
Yeah, and I think like the the business continuity
here, like, what is the futureand long-term vision of the
business?
Um, and when I'm having thatfamily board meeting and my kids
are exposed to it, theyunderstand what's going on in
the business, what we're doingwell, what's working.
Sometimes your family's workingin the business.
I mean, my kids have worked inmy business part-time, on and
off throughout the years.
(17:49):
I know Mark's have as well, likein a in a more formal role.
Um, and so uh um, but havingthat meeting is really important
because one thing we see, andwe've been doing this a while
now, you know, we're the lawyersthat have been doing putting the
10,000 hours, 20 years, youknow, we've been we're going
after this, helping clientsacross the country, is there's a
certain point where it's like,what am I doing with my small
(18:09):
business?
Is the next generation takingover?
If it is, it's maybe one of mykids that's had a W-2 job
somewhere that doesn't know whatthe hell my business even does.
They've had zero exposure to it.
They don't know what we make,they don't know what the
challenges are, they don'tunderstand who the typical
customer is, they don't know howI'm marketing it, they don't
know the service or product mixthat I even have.
But if you had the family boardmeeting and you're involving
them in it, they might have moreconversations when you're out on
(18:30):
the golf course with them, whenyou're playing tennis, when
you're like doing yoga, whateveryour thing is, I don't care what
it is.
Like you might actually betalking about the business
because they know what questionsthey asked.
You can have a conversation withthem about them.
And that is a nice thing becauseit can help get them involved in
the business and it can solveone of the biggest challenges
you're gonna have is thiscontinuity planning and who's
gonna take it over.
SPEAKER_01 (18:50):
Yeah, and I I oh my gosh, I love it.
And the business continuity planshould be set forth in your
estate plan.
Heaven forbid, you die soonerthan later.
We don't know when that moment'sgonna be, and we need to plan
for it.
And having conversations likethis prepares your family too,
because a lot of families, thisis a weird thing, too.
(19:11):
The Alt Asset Summit lastweekend.
And if any of you haven'twatched the recordings of that
yet, you can go toAltassetsummit.com.
We had a panel, and Matt, yousaid something really
interesting.
You were he was a moderator forit.
He said a lot of wealthy peopledon't like to talk about their
wealth, and and and and that'sthere's could be a lot of
reasons for that, you know,being modest or private and all
(19:32):
that, get it.
But we were able to get threeindividuals to come up on a
panel and say, okay, we've builtover$10 million Roth IRAs, and
they were very sheepish.
And we had Matt had to drag outexamples out of them, but
everybody in there wasenthralled.
They're like, please tell us howyou've done this.
And so I think again, when we'reable to open up and talk about
(19:55):
our wealth and financers orwhatever level of wealth it is,
or even the mistakes we've made,the people on your board are
gonna see that as a strength anda be able to be a better support
to you.
SPEAKER_03 (20:07):
Yeah, totally.
SPEAKER_02 (20:09):
Um, and I yeah, yeah, well, I'm just like, man,
when is mine scheduled by a yearend?
SPEAKER_01 (20:14):
I gotta get on this.
I'm gonna summarize the sevenhere in uh one moment.
I'll let Matt hit our last one,but I wanted to just say on this
planning point, not justbusiness continuation planning,
but next year's planning.
Like, what's the plan?
And Matt alluded to budget too.
And so you're gonna have amoment where you're gonna be
(20:34):
teaching the family unity andeducation on money, but then
you're gonna turn around and go,here's my plan.
Now that's scary because you'regonna tell someone what you plan
to do, and when next time theysee you, they're gonna ask you
how to go.
Yeah, that's that's sometimesyou don't want to do that, I
know, but it's gonna hold youaccountable.
It's super important.
Talk about your trifecta.
(20:55):
Build your trifecta with one ofour law lawyers.
You can do a tax um uhcomprehensive plan.
The lawyers who build yourtrifecta in color, they are so
freaking cool looking.
Put it up on the board, show thefamily.
Look at my trifecta.
Their eyes will be as big assaucers, and and it's just so
fun.
So um, I just think there's somany ancillary benefits.
SPEAKER_03 (21:18):
And I think what we're trying to do here is you
know, the wealthy, so to speak,have this institutional family
office.
And so many people have beenlike, oh, the family office of
so-and-so overledge people.
You know, and like this is whatwe're talking about here.
This is turning into your familyoffice, guys.
Okay, your small business, mainhustle, side hustle, rental
property, I want to have it asthere's different scales of
this, of course.
(21:38):
Um, is this is your familyoffice.
These conversations, the peoplein this board of directors
meeting, some of our attorneyssometimes drop in on some of
these board meetings.
Yeah, you know, they they callin sometimes, of course, it's
not the regular thing, but thenyou got to pay for that, of
course.
But um, but you know, if youhave a bigger operation or
stuff, like we can beparticipating in that too, or
other advisors that may beinvolved in the business.
(21:59):
Um, the other thing here andfinal point that I'll just say
on this is you know, we have acompany compliance service in
Main Street Business Service.
Because you might be overwhelmedby this.
You might be like, oh my gosh, Igotta be doing this, what these
guys are talking about, but Idon't know what to put in the
minutes.
Mark just talked about someaccountable plan stuff.
He threw out some tax codeprovisions and numbers and
stuff.
I'm like, I don't I gotta goback and watch this in the
(22:20):
podcast.
No, don't worry about it.
Okay.
This is included in the service.
All right.
It's 200 bucks a year for yourentity.
Now you're doing your boardmeeting.
You're, and but we have alsolike sample agendas and stuff to
help you through this stuff.
I know, Mark, you've done likethe printed agenda, you know,
for your family members wherethey showed up, where it's on
the table.
Everyone comes, they got theirpens, right?
I'm like, try to have someformality to this to like really
(22:41):
make it stick of the importanceof this.
Um, but we're here as a supportfor you.
We do have a service for this,the mainstream business
services, whether you're usingthis or not, we want to just get
you bought in on this concept,the important of this for the
business.
It will help you save taxes,it'll protect your assets, but
better than anything else inthis, it'll help your business.
SPEAKER_01 (22:58):
Yeah, and this company compliance component is
the fact in at least over 43states, you've got to pay an
annual fee.
You've got to fill out somepiece of paper to stay in good
standing or go on a websitesomewhere with the state.
And companies get dissolvedinvoluntarily all the time.
Involuntarily means you didn'tdo what you were supposed to, so
(23:20):
the state shut down your LLC.
And clients come up and call usevery day.
We get a phone call.
Can you get my LLC back up andrunning?
What do I need to do?
You need to do your compliance,you need to hold your minutes,
and we walk you through it andwe help you do it.
200 bucks.
SPEAKER_03 (23:34):
And we do it for you.
We track it.
So you don't even need to doanything.
We automatically do this foryou, renew your entity with the
state and help you get yourminutes done, of course.
SPEAKER_01 (23:41):
Okay, so here's the seven benefits.
You can take us out.
Number one, company compliancetaken care of.
The state knows that my entityis still in good standing.
Check.
Number two, better assetprotection so that if I ever get
into a lawsuit, I have canproduce my minutes and show the
corporate veil.
Check.
Number three, IRS auditproofing.
I'm gonna have all theprovisions I need for the IRS to
(24:03):
make sure I can take advantageof any tax write-off for my
small business.
Check.
Number four, family unity,vision, education, bringing
together everybody, even UncleEddie.
Check.
Number five, I'm gonna get a taxdeduction for holding this dumb
thing.
I'm gonna be able to take travelwrite-offs, Airbnbs, Ubers,
(24:23):
food, all of it is a write-off.
The day to get there, the day tohold it, and the day to send
everybody home.
All three days are a write-offfor travel and dining purposes.
Check.
Number six, the businesscontinuation planning.
Making sure that the familyknows what to do with the
business or the real estate orthe rentals or whatever the hell
you're trying to build.
You're documenting it, puttingin your estate plan, and letting
(24:46):
the family know your wishes tohelp them if something happens
to you.
Check.
And finally, number seven,you're getting support.
You're getting advice, andyou're laying forth your plan
and budget for the next year,and you're gonna be held
accountable for that.
And your family's there tohopefully support you.
Kick them off the board if youdon't like them.
The end.
Check.
SPEAKER_03 (25:07):
All right.
Well, we got through that.
The top seven list here, why youneed to have a family board
meeting by year end.
This think of this as yourfamily office as you're building
and growing this.
If you found this helpful,please share it to that friend
or family member that might be abusiness owner too.
Uh, we think this is anincredible idea and concept, and
we want to be a support to you.
Hopefully these ideas arehelpful to you.
(25:28):
And please share the podcasts,subscribe if you haven't
already, give us the thumbs up,five-star review, whatever it
is.
If it's negative, you know,maybe just go yell it outside.
Okay, you know, let it out.
If you thought this sucked,well, if you're still listening
to this and you think thissucked, you I think you liked
it.
I'm still watching.
SPEAKER_01 (25:45):
And you can get to mainstreetbusiness services.com
right now.
Main Street Business, just MainStreet Business.com.
Just mainstreetbusiness.com.
That's right.
We have all the URLs to go.
Mainstreetbusiness.com, get overthere, sign up all your
entities, get it done, off yourplate, taken care of.
And we'll see you next week foranother episode of the Main
Street Business Podcast.
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