Gentle suggestion - to attract a partner or investor, modify your pitch to contain things that will be of interest to them and remove things that will be red flags. It will sound harsh but business partners won’t care if you’re a single parent and phrases about your child or what you’re trying to prove to him sound very much like the phrases scammers use to invoke sympathy. So don’t lead with mention of your son or that you have no education and no credit, that you run a business through trial and error. Start with your experience in the field, write about those skills you must have developed. Show a potential partner that you’re a good investment, a person that knows how to run this business, not a charity case.

Best way to handle this? Don’t ever get a MCA. Seriously, they’re terrible. Like payday loans for businesses. The highest cost loans offered to people who shouldn’t be borrowing in the first place.

I built it. I’m a CPA. We didn’t really switch to a different tool, the business just started making so much money that we didn’t really need to manage cash tightly any more - there was plenty and we’d just bank it when it arrived or spend it when we needed to. The tool was only needed in the early phases as it was important to make sure we were juggling the limited cash we had, to make sure payroll was always paid on time, we could buy the inventory we needed and keep the lights on.

Definitely. Regular exercise is key for me, not just managing health but how I feel and function.

Since breaking a leg at the ankle at the beginning of the year, I had to find a new cardio since running was out, so I started bike commuting. Enjoying it more than I thought I would. By the end of the year, I’ll have done over 3000 miles on the ebike and another 1000+ on the regular cruiser bike. Cardio is as good or better than when I was running.

During the week, I also do Crossfit a couple of times, HIIT or functional weight training three times and Pilates 5-6 times. Plus my hobby is a sport that’s physical - usually I get to do that a couple of times a week. All do different things for me physically and mentally.

MCAs are the equivalent of a payday loan for the business world. They’re (unwittingly) doing you a favor by not letting you stack them. Do whatever you have to do to figure out your business cash flow so you can pay this one off and never do it again. Or… figure out how to exit this business as it’s not sustainable.

As a designer, you’re providing a personal service. Very few cases where you’d need or benefit from an LLC. The LLC would just add cost without providing any of the benefit it does for other types of businesses. Sole proprietorship would be fine, just register it with your state according to their requirements so that you can get a bank account in the business name.

I think you’re conflating a few things here. If you’d like to leave the income untouched, just leave it in the account once you deposit it. Not sure why you think that has anything to do with expenses or write offs or there’s any particular process.

If this is how you’re approaching it… scammed.

People looking for a place to spend/invest soon get swindled.

Step back and figure out what skills you have, what skills you need, if business is even a fit for you. Meantime, conventional investments such as are made in a retirement fund are a good idea.

Not unusual but still worth keeping in mind a few things. From what I’ve seen, the biggest risk is that the employees will not want to work with a new owner so will leave fairly soon after they find out the business is being sold. So for your own protection, you need to have a very good understanding of what could happen if you buy the business and immediately have no employees. Would that be fatal or not? If so, then you need to have provisions in the agreement for how a transition happens if you’re not allowed to assess risk of employee loss.

Does he mean he wants to be paid under the table, cash only with no reporting to the IRS? That’s a slightly different issue than if he wants to be run through the regular payroll process - taxes paid and withheld - but instead of a check, receive cash.

There is no One Formula. You have to find what motivates you, what provides you what you need.

My schedule and hobbies now are different than they were when my kids were still living at home. I have the luxury of working out out every morning and commuting by bike, all of which helps me feel great but would not have been possible when caring for kids. I’m just getting back into my favorite hobby which I won’t mention because it’s a pretty small field and would out me. But it takes time and money, which again, I am fortunate to have now.

For me, being able to regularly exercise (cardio, weights and HIIT) is a huge part of helping me feel good, as is eating fresh foods. But again, when the kids were at home, time was scarce so those things often were abbreviated. You do what you have to do to get by at the time.

Not any more, but for the first 3-4 years we used our own homegrown tools - build your own in excel. Not too difficult and then you can customize them to what you need.

How much does each of the beads cost?

Although accuracy is important, materiality is as well. It makes no sense to spend $1 in staff time counting $.05 worth of beads. If these beads are individually very high value - $5 each for example - it would make sense to hand count them to the one. If they’re $.03 each, do not waste your time; estimate instead.

Another solution is to get a digital scale. Small dollar value parts are often “counted” by weighing the batch then dividing by the weight per unit.

Accuracy but also consider big picture costs. You never want to hire a bookkeeper who brags they keep their accounts balanced to the penny. People like that spend inordinate amounts of time chasing down amounts that do not matter. You do not want your $25 or $35 an hour bookkeeper spending 15 minutes figuring out why an account is off by $.02.

You’re going to need some significant skin in that game. What $ amount can you personally put up? In addition to your $, do you have any collateral? What experience do you have in running that type business? What general management and financial background do you have?

As for the business, what is the valuation based on? Does it have a 3-5 year track record of profit that supports that valuation? Any assets that can be collateralized?

And BTW, there are numerous “Bay Areas”. You’ll want to specify which bay you’re near.

No matter what business you own, people won’t always want to pay you full price.

You’ve identified this is an issue with your family, so it’s up to you to put appropriate boundaries in place. Less a business issue than a relationship one. And the boundaries will start with you agreeing on price before you agree to do the work.

Example

Dad: I’d like you to do a huge snowy scene that looks exactly like our downtown.

You: Sounds great! That’s a lot of detail work, will take me about 4 days to complete. I can do it for $X.

Then dad can either agree or not. But all this should be taking place before you start work since you already know there’s commonly a disagreement about what your work is worth.

Your intentions are good but the plan of coming in, taking over and forcing a change in operations is, well, bad. Very little chance of this being successful. It will cost you more than you think and not get you what you want. Even when the people who need to change and appear to want the change hire a consultant/manager, they’re often unwilling or unable to make the changes the consultant/manager recommends. The odds of you as outsiders being able to step in and force this are frankly almost nil.

Your brother is going to run this into the ground. He just is. Nothing you can do about it but decide how much support you’ll give him when it’s over.

I’m a CPA who served as a consultant turning around troubled businesses for years. Your particular scenario is filled with red flags.

Time to consult with a CPA. If it’s an “investment” it’s not an expense. And none of the things you’ve listed are going to be considered reasonable and necessary (what determines if they’re deductible) expenses for most businesses.

Nothing. I don’t have any employees whose time I want spent on tracking paperclips. Even if we ordered double the needed office supplies each year that’s such an insignificant part of spending it would be a very low priority if I were to rank projects to work on. Off the top of my head I can think of dozens of things my people could be doing to either increase revenue or decrease costs before even thinking about how much we spend for post it notes.

Of all those options, the pickup truck is the only one I would avoid unless you’re going to get a locking cover. Too easy for things to go missing while you’re unloading or doing something else. You want locking storage. For hauling things to the dump, no matter which vehicle you choose you probably want a separate trailer. That way you don’t have to unload your supplies to free up cargo area, plus that would keep the inside of your vehicle nicer, keep the garbage in the trailer.

This doesn’t have to end your friendship. It’s time to have an honest talk with your friend. Tell him exactly what you wrote here.
Emphasize how much you value his friendship and that there are options - that you can work through together. You could continue to provide that valuable skill set but on a limited basis and with the understanding that you would no longer be a part owner, that he might find a replacement. You could help to actually find that replacement. You could discuss ways to develop alternatives.

It’s much better you realize this issue now and deal with it together than if you ignore it and let things detonate at a later, critical stage.

There’s both good and bad news here. The bad news is that what you’re finding - can’t get a loan to provide general capital for a startup landscaping company - is typical. The good news is that landscaping is inexpensive to get into and there are others routes to try. Bootstrapping is common; save up to buy a lawnmower and edger, use those to provide service to your first few clients then add equipment and marketing as you generate money from them. If you have good personal credit, equipment loans are not difficult to obtain as there’s some collateral.

Do you have experience in landscaping or managing a similar business? How much funding were you thinking you needed?