Title: Blue Heart International

Missy represents Blue Heart International which provides transitional housing, awareness and prevention, and street outreach to those who are affected by the sex trafficking industry.  She will tell us about the issue and the good things this organization is doing in our community.

 Mike Owen owns a local business, Crystal Basin Cellars, and previously earned his CPA and held various financial jobs in Silicon Valley.  Recently he ran for Eldorado County Auditor-Controller in the June Primary election.  Besides running his small business (any with less than 500 employees is considered "Small"), Mike provides general and financial consulting for other new or small businesses in the area.  Small Businesses are very important to our economy, generating jobs for 64% of employees in the United States.  He talked aboout the five stages of  a business's life-cycle: Discovery & development; start-up and finding the resources you need to grow; Creating a business plan; growing the business; and maturity and possible exit.  He mentioned that quite a few start-ups forget the business plan part of the process.

 

Mike also discussed the importance of choosing the right entity type: sole proprietorship, partnership, LLC, S-corp or Corporation.  He talked about the tax penalty of being an LLC, especially as total revenue grows.  It is very important to not comingle the owners' money with that of the business's.  He related how difficult it can be to raise capital, especially from bankers.  He mentioned that he had this issue: "I forgot to be rich."  Mike finished by answering questions from an interested audience.