Education Center

In order to discuss Business Development Planning today, I was asked to travel to White Plains. I live in New York City.

I know, I know...you are operating a design firm to make the world a more beautiful/structurally sound/energy efficient/livable place.

The ancient Roman historian and politician Sallust said “Every man is the architect of his own fortune.” Many readers of this article have the architect part down; it is the fortune that is difficult to grasp.

Timekeeping is a critical part of good business practice for the healthy professional services firm.

The Benefit Corporation is considered a hybrid of a for-profit corporation and a not-for-profit in that the directors do not run the corporation solely to maximize corporate value for its shareholders.

Design professionals all over the world have taken to heart the words famously crooned by Frank Sinatra, "I want to be a part of it, New York, New York."

Starting a business and forming an entity are two different things.

A gratifying part of my business is helping design professionals start their own practices. I usually have a gut feeling about who is going to make it, and who may decide that being an employee wasn’t so bad after all.

I am seeing a lot of action on the Design Professional Service Corporation (DPC) front. The DPC is the only entity in which New York permits non-licensed owners of architecture, engineering and other design professional firms.

Architects and their practices are highly regulated because of their charge to safeguard life, health, property and the public welfare.

Many of my clients and potential clients are in the process of setting up their own design firms.

Starting an architectural firm is a big decision. One of the next big decisions for the architectural entrepreneur is deciding what form of business entity will be appropriate for your current practice as well as your future practice.

When a client comes to us to form a New York business, the first step we take is to evaluate the proposed name of the entity.

It would be great to go to work every day, focus only on what you love to do (design for your clients!) and then go home and do whatever it is you love to do there.

The protagonist in the Fountainhead, Howard Roark, was a champion of individualism living in a world where collectivism was worshipped.

Design professionals are responsible for the life, safety and welfare of people who use buildings, people who drive on roads and bridges, people who take public transportation and people who use parks.

The United States Department of Labor (DOL) has updated the overtime regulations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA),[^i] effective as of December 1, 2016.

LicenseSure works with BELS on behalf of its design professional clients and would like to share some recent lessons learned.

This morning, I spent some time going through and sorting a stack of papers that had been building up near my desk and that made me think about housekeeping – corporate housekeeping.

Contact the NYS Department of Taxation and Finance to obtain a Corporate Tax Search for the PC (takes about 7-10 days)

Design professional firms must comply with the business and licensing requirements of every state in which they do business. Nothing is ever easy so (of course) these requirements vary from state to state.

Heads up, New York! There’s a new profession in town.

Hurricane season 2017 has resulted in the devastation of numerous areas throughout the United States and engineers will be needed to assess the damage, clean up and rebuild for years to come.

A paltry $9 could be standing between your business and good standing.