Customer Reviews

Legal Forms for Starting & Running a Small Business

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Every once in awhile you run across something that is surprisingly well designed and superbly organized. I thought this was just going to be another book. With over 60 of the most popular legal forms/contracts it is well worth the price.

Get a load of the way it is organized. The second half of the book is the standardized forms in a tear out format. So if you want to copy them on a copier, you just tear them out and go. Additionally, included in the back of the book is a CD Rom. On it are all the forms, but get this, they are in RTF format, and others in PDF format. So you can open any form you like, keeping all stored on your computer in the program called "Small Business Legal Forms" that autoloads when you insert the CDROM. So it shows up as a single program on your start>Programs menu, but as you click on each submenu it expands into the individual forms. So you don't have to pull the book off of the shelf unless you need further guidance. Now these forms in RTF (rich text format) are compatible with your word processor so you can edit them. So you open the file, and fill in the information according to the instructions and sample agreements in the book.

That takes me to the next feature and that is the book does a lot more than just list forms. For example creating a "non-compete" agreement has several pages of explanations, legal advice as to how to create one. What types of agreements hold up in court, and which ones don't; complete with examples. So you are getting way more than a simple book of forms, but rather a treatise on the legal and functional ramifications of using that law.

On the CD are also lots of forms in the PDF format. You can download the free reader from Adobe, and be able to edit these forms, as in fill in the blanks, but with the free reader version you can't save the files, but that is not a problem since you can always print them out already filled in for a professional look. That way the original file remains unchanged for future use.

So with this book you can create and customize your own forms. You may still want to seek the advice of qualified counsel if what you are trying to accomplish is one that has larger financial or ethical consequences. An alternative to the expense of full counsel is to use, and I have to avoid putting a dot com address in here, but you can access professional help by getting "just answers" in relation to regular pricing. That's worth raving about as well, but not relevant to the book review.

I have several of the NOLO books, and found them to be very useful. I was immediately impressed with this one though, due in part to its size. It is a full 8 1/2" by 11" book with almost 500 pages. A great buy and highly recommended reading if you are in business or generally have a need for legal forms.

Buy this book for the hard copy forms in the book and the CD (compatible with Windows and MAC) that you can also use to print your business forms.

This is NOT a how to start your own business book, these are the forms- with a lot of helpful information too. Much of this lawyering stuff can be done on your own with this book's forms, but thankfully, this book also tells you when you should hire a lawyer because of technical intricacies. For example. In dealing with real estate titles, "it's best to have an expert draft the mortgage or deed of trust that will secure the loan."

Legal jargon can change from state to state and this book clarifies that. For example, most states use the term 'articles of incorporation' but some (CT, DE, NY, OK) use the term 'certificate of incorporation,' Washington calls it 'document of certificate of formation,' and Tennessee refers to it simply as a 'charter.'

The book begins by explaining contract basics and then providing forms with step by step guidance for filling out the forms.

Forms included are for:
Forming Your Business
Running Your Corporation
Borrowing Money
Buying a Business
Leasing Space
Purchasing Real Estate
Buying, Selling, Manufacturing, Renting and Storing Goods
Hiring Employees and Independent Contractors
Extending Credit and Getting Paid

At 482 pages, you get a lot of information and forms and also included is the CD for computer printing all the forms.

Now in a newly updated and expanded third edition, Legal Forms For Starting & Running A Small Business is a comprehensive resource packed with forms for getting a business off the ground, borrowing money, hiring employees, creating contracts, buying or leasing space, and much more. Legal Forms For Starting & Running A Small Business balances its wealth of reproducible documents with straightforward "how-to" instructions and advice, a new checklist to help first-timers, and an accompanying Windows and Mac compatible CD-ROM makes printing out the forms a breeze. An easy-to-use "must-have" for small business owners and managers everywhere.

This is a handy NOLO book on Start-Up documents. It offers help on creating legal contracts, various agreements, protecting trade secrets and even procedures for hiring employees and contractors. However, if you're just starting to plan your small business, I would advice to buy another NOLO book first: The Small Business Start-Up Kit: A Step-by-Step Legal Guide. This second book offers more detail on the procedures and things to consider when starting up a small business, rather than allocating vast resources to sample legal documents.

Nolo seems to have perfected the art of the bait and switch. They offer just enough information within the book to pique your interest, but then they either direct you to a lawyer or worse yet they direct you to their website where you can purchase more information. At times it appeared to be very helpful but more times than not it was disorganized mess that left me looking at the index page over and over.

I found a couple of forms that were kind of helpful. I bet if I had done a Google search I might have found even more, better written, forms available for free on the web. Because of this I cannot really recommend this book to anyone with an internet connection.

Overall I would not recommend purchasing this book to anyone with at least a limited understanding of search engines. If a person is stuck without the internet then this book might be a good primer to help them with their small business. Otherwise skip it.

Thanks for reading my review.

This is a good resource for finding documents that you will need to start or run your small business, but unfortunately I found it difficult to navigate.

I run a small direct sales business (think plastic containers and home parties!) and even though a lot of these forms didnt' apply to my business, I was able to mark off some that I thought would benefit others I knew in small business as well. It really is full of great resources, but without a way to index all of the forms that make sense, I ended up having to browse it to find things I liked versus searching for things I need now.

Unfortunately I was able to do an internet search to find the forms I needed, and it was not only free, but way faster than paging through this book.

If you are really stuck with business letter and form writing and don't want to trust the internet to find these documents this is a great resource. It just wasn't for me and my business.

Finally some legal forms that are easy to understand for the average business person without a law degree! NOLO Press, with almost 40 years in providing excellent and trustworthy legal reference materials, has hit another one out of the park with Legal Forms for Starting & Running a Small Business

This book offers a money-saving and time-saving double-whammy:

1) the forms you can physically look at in the book, which for some of us, is way more convenient than pulling them up on the computer and opening them one at a time. You can easily browse through and see what you need quickly, along with expert legal information on the what, when, where, and how to use them to your best advantage, AND when to bring in an expert. Make sure that you take advantage of the explanatory materials with each form, as they are invaluable and time-saving in choosing and utilizing the form itself.

2)Then you can pop the CD into your computer, easily pull up what you need, and print them out yourself. Although the forms in the book itself are perforated for tear-out, I would highly recommend keeping them intact, in the book, for reference, and just printing out what you need from the CD. Also, the CD forms offer customization that will look much more professional than the photocopied and filled-in forms.

I never dreamed that I could actually handle BY MYSELF so much of the legal paperwork involved in running our small business. It took forever to pay off the legal bills for all of the regulatory forms, records, etc., over the years. Even something like the Minutes of the Board meetings could have been done for no cost if I'd had "Legal Forms for Starting & Running a Small Business." This is the companion book, by the same author, Attorney Fred S. Steingold, to Legal Guide for Starting & Running a Small Business, which I would also highly recommend.

I'm the cautious type, so this wouldn't keep me from hiring an attorney, but it definitely made me much more knowledgable. All forms are on the included CD, and they are vast. Stock proxies, employment forms, stock agreements, subleases, lease extensions, vacant land purchases, sales contracts, equipment rental, and tons more. In combination with some of the other Nolo books, a bold person may very well be able to strike out on their own.

I am a long time buyer and avid of Nolo books, they make the complex vocabulary of the law understandable. I have used Nolo books in the past to buy a house, start a business and write a will as well as countless other documents. Nolo has saved me thousands in legal fees.

This book is a well designed reference for the non lawyer which
will allow you to understand legal forms and the reasons for using them. It is sort of like having a translator for a foreign language and less like an instruction book. It is a good reference for those of us who like to be informed before we sign the paperwork.

Agreements often go from clean with plain language directly into confusing or ambiguous elements where misunderstandings can occur. Using the right forms to start with and in lieu of verbal agreements can help with continuity as well as the means to resolve future disputes. The old adage get it in writing, solve most problems.

The best policy is to understand what you sign or not sign it until you do. Don't let a confusing or ambiguous statement cost you money or the right to take action when it counts the most.

Great info to be used is nearly every applicable situation! Highly recommended

--WE

This book was great for me, as I was considering starting my own small business and want to have a store front business in the future. As all Nolo books are, it maps out the journey and what is is needed and what hurdles you might expect. I am a huge promoter of all Nolo Books, and this is another great one that I will use once I am ready to start my business and am done preparing for that first step!