New York City Business Law Blog

For years, you have dreamed of the day when you could start your own business. Now, you think that day is rapidly approaching. You're going to make this happen.

While this is exciting, remember that starting a new company is also a massive challenge. You need to be committed and must know exactly what to do to increase your chances of success. Here are 10 tips that can help:

1. Put your business plan down in writing so that you know exactly what your goals are -- and so do your investors.
2. Ask yourself if your idea is really plausible and if there is a demand.
3. Figure out exactly what your up-front costs are going to be.
4. Take the time to identify the people who make up your intended market.
5. Craft a budget that is realistic and that addresses all of your costs, both at the beginning and moving forward.
6. Figure out what type of legal entity you want your new business to be.
7. Pick a business name and register it to ensure you can use it before doing any branding.
8. If you have a business partner, create a partnership agreement that you both sign off on.
9. Figure out exactly what you'll need to do to pay your taxes.
10. Ask yourself what official documents you need to consider, including insurance policies, proper licenses and legal permits to operate.

There are numerous recommended ways to protect your business from the possibility of divorce. In New York, any assets you acquire or earn while married are generally considered joint property. Therefore, a business you start during your marriage or the profits your business accrues after your wedding day may belong jointly to you and your spouse. This is especially true if you and your spouse are also partners in the business.

You may have signed a prenuptial agreement or created a partnership contract that addresses the contingency of divorce. However, if you did not, you and your spouse will have some difficult decisions to make if you are approaching the end of your marriage.

Have you ever had the experience of noticing that the people around you at the office were getting younger and younger? The longer you stay in your career, the more chance there will be of something like this happening to you. You might even become the oldest one at work.

Normally, this shouldn't be a problem. After all, the longer you've been in your career, the more experienced and the better at your job you become. Nevertheless, some older workers could find that their ages become a serious problem for their careers. Fortunately, if you're at least 40 years of age, you might be able to protect yourself from age discrimination at work.

There are many important moments in American history as it pertains to civil rights. In the context of U.S. labor law history, there are two events that stand out: the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the 1966 California farm worker's strike.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a long time coming, and the evolution of changing society over the course of hundreds of years. It provides legal rights and protections to United States workers, the likes of which were completely foreign to laborers a hundred years ago. Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, U.S. workers are protected from employment-related discrimination related to pay, hiring, firing, promotions and how workers are treated at their workplaces. Specifically, Title VII protects employees from discriminatory acts and harassment on the basis of national origin, sex, religion, color and race.