A contract is often referred to as "a meeting of the minds," "a bargained-for exchange," or "a mutual promise supported by consideration." Instead of getting bogged down in the legal-ese, it is important to first talk about why it is prudent to have a written service agreement.

Happy Wednesday, powerful people! Last post, we discussed a few of the most popular ways of acquiring a physical space for your business - purchasing, leasing, or co-working. Today's post will focus on the nuts and bolts of a commercial real estate purchase, including a general, and highly simplified, overview of the process and what you need to know if you're thinking about buying commercial real estate to house your business.

Congrats, fellow boss lady! You’re ready to create a physical space for your business. Luckily, there are a variety of options available for new business owners, ranging from co-working to traditional leases to buying. This post is an introduction to the variety of options that are available and will kick off a series about taking up physical space that complements hustle and doing so in a way that protects you legally and financially. Without further ado, let us introduce the applicants.

What I can tell you is that renting a commercial space is nothing like renting an apartment or a home. Negotiating a lease for commercial space takes due diligence, business planning, budgeting, patience, and a willingness to walk away from a bad deal. For the purposes of this article, I want to give you a sense of what to expect when thinking about entering into a formal lease for your business. I do not mean a co-working space agreement or a sublease. When I say lease here, I mean a lease where your business is named as the tenant (or the "lessee"). You might personally sign a guaranty, which we will talk about more a bit later.

An LLC is form of doing business, registered with the Secretary of State, that combines the tax advantage of pass-through tax treatment for income with the limited liability and flexible ownership structure. I know, I know, I've fallen into legal-ese again. Let's break this down:

A sole proprietorship, which I will refer to as a “sole prop,” is an unincorporated business, which means you didn’t file any paperwork with the secretary of state, and you don’t have a separate taxpayer ID number (akin to a social security number for a business). Any income that you make in carrying on the business is reported with your personal social security number. You don’t have an operating agreement or a shareholder agreement. You might use a “DBA” – a “doing business as” for marketing purposes, but it’s still you running the show and reporting the profits received.