I stumbled on an interesting blog today, written by Francis Foster, professor of law at Washington University School of law on the topic of Trust Privacy.  In her post, Professor Foster describes how Marlon Brando was able to maintain the one thing he sought most in his life, privacy, through the use of his estate planning trusts.  She describes the feeding frenzy of the media when Brando's will was filed for probate back in 2004, and how the will devised his entire estate to his living trust, which was not part of the public record.  That serves as a good reminder to the rest of us that when we put all the details of our final wishes into a will, we could be publicly airing our dirty laundry, the dis-function of our family relationships and other details for the whole world to see.  Follow Brando's example, and use a living trust to preserve your family secrets.

Here is some information provided by SCORE to help you get organized:

When you organize your business and eliminate the clutter, you will feel re-energized. You will find that you are easily motivated to get straight to work when you don’t have a mess to deal with. You will save time otherwise wasted looking through piles or searching for a missing document on your computer. Begin by establishing a plan. Prioritize your list, set a date with yourself and identify your motivation.

In just 60-seconds, you will learn how to organize your business.

What can you do when you own highly appreciated assets and your estate value exceeds the Federal Estate tax equivalent exemption?

A Unitrust, also called a Charitable Remainder Trust or CRT, allows taxpayers to reduce estate taxes, eliminate capital gains, claim an income tax deduction, and benefit charities.  It also requires that a fixed percentage (minimum 5%) of the annual value of trust assets be paid to the income beneficiary. For example, a CRUT with a value of $2,000,000 and a 5% payout would pay $100,000 to the income beneficiary in that year. If the investment performance for that year was 10% and the value of the trust on the valuation date was $2,200,000 the income beneficiary would receive $110,000 in that year. Another benefit of the CRT is that it will allow for additional contributions. The Unitrust will generally produce higher amounts of income but a smaller tax deduction.

We hear a lot these days about "realizing our dreams."  We are encouraged to be pro-active so that our "unplayed music does not die with us."  We live in a land of opportunity, yet we seize so little during our lifetimes.  Why?

I believe the number one killer of dreams is procrastination.

Lord Acton is quoted as saying, "A wise person does at once what a fool does at last.  Both do the same thing; only at different times."

Considering that achievement often requires great risk, vision and a steadfast discipline, it could be said that procrastination is the "flip side" of achievement.  Waiting to follow a dream and putting off what one knows must and should be done are not the measures of achievement.

We procrastinate on the little things in life because they do not have overly-serious consequences.  How many gallons of water were wasted before the leaky faucet was finally fixed?  How much more did that car repair cost after that strange sound was ignored for six months? 

But it is the major life-changing decisions where procrastination really takes its toll and kills dreams.  For example, how many times did the person who hated his job for 20 years tell himself it was time to be his own boss?

Several years ago my wife and I updated our estate plan.  We had put of doing so for more than a year.  And it had been ten years since the initial estate plan had been drawn up.  A lot had changed in that time.  Something as simple as picking up the phone got the ball rolling.  The process was simple.  On the ride back home from the attorney's office we both felt a sense of peace and organization.  Updating our estate may not be the world's greatest achievement, but it was big on our scale.  Getting it done gave us a sense that action had prevailed over procrastination.

Procrastination is the path of least resistance and it is the path that leads to unrealized potential.  What are you procrastinating about?

Imagine only paying advertising dollars for people specifically looking for the product or service your business offers. The days of mass advertising using TV, radio even newspapers for your small business are dwindling away.

Think about it. With radio and TV, your commercial message is targeting people who may or may not have an interest in your company. The power of pay-per-click (PPC)advertising on the Internet using 2 of the main PPC powerhouses, Google and Overture (Yahoo) allows businesses to only pay for people who click on the ad they are running, hence the term "pay-per-click". This ensures businesses are receiving targeted traffic from people who have searched for their specific products or services.

The Internet allows businesses to compete on a level playing field with competition of all sizes. In addition, Google and Overture give you the power to test your message and landing page without spending BIG bucks. Start with Google. Its easy to setup and has a complete tutorial. Trust me, you can do it and the results are instantaneous. Don't spend BIG bucks on a website until you test a couple of different 1-page websites to see if you can even generate traffic! Whats the point of having a 12 page website if you can't get nobody to visit?

Now you can test new business ideas or new ad ideas at a low cost without a ton of leg work.

Good Luck!

Recently I read a very interesting article in the Wall Street Journal that could have a big impact on unincorporated business's involved in e-commerce. In another attempt to keep the internet secure and free of "phisher" sites Microsoft Corporation is taking an aggressive leap forward with it's introduction of Internet explorer 7. IE7 has a security feature that will turn Web-address bars green and display owners' identities when consumers visit secure sites from businesses verified as legitimate. The color change will be a boon for consumers, who have been barraged in recent years with "phishing" scams designed to lure them to fake versions of popular Web sites, like eBay or their bank, to filch their account numbers. The hope is that the program will help reduce fraud, lift trust and boost e-commerce. But browsers won't turn green for everyone. Thats because sole proprietorships, general partnerships and individuals won't be eligible for the new, stricter security certificates that Microsoft requires to display the color.