Title: Discussion Board
Course: SLF 129 Legal Risk Management for The Small Business - Updated Sept 28 > Section: SLF 129 Legal Risk Management for The Small Business - Updated Sept 28

Unit 1 Discussion

20pts. (see rubric)

You have covered a significant amount of information about types of business ownership.  You should be able to distinguish between corporations, both S and C, partnerships and sole proprietorships.  In this discussion I want you to take a scenario presented to you and describe what actions you would take and why you choose a particular path.

Jamming Jellies

You have been making some of the best canned jellies and preserves for years.  Flavors like bourbon peach preserves, raspberry and sage, and pumpkin spice.  One day a close friend mentioned that you should be selling these preserves because they are so delicious and there are no other jellies like these in the area.

You decided to start canning your preserves in bulk at home and sell them around the local areas at fairs, farmers markets, and small retail shops.  Your jellies and preserves have been a hit. At this point you are unable to work out of your home kitchen and need to upgrade your facilities desperately.  Your customers have also been begging you to start an online store so they can reorder on a more regular basis.  You have also been contacted by a major area grocery store and told that they are willing to give you shelf space in three area stores, but they require a guaranteed number of product to display at each location with reorders on a regular basis.

At this point you know you can’t possibly fill orders without upgrading your facility and to be able to purchase product to fill these orders.  You will need an influx of cash in the form of a business loan, or an investor to grow your business.  Currently you are operating as a sole proprietor, but because of the increase in sales you have been thinking about changing your business structure.

What would you do?

Please incorporate these questions into your discussion post and response.

1. Should you try and meet the increased demand of your product?
2. Since you are currently operating as a sole proprietorship would you need to change to a different form of ownership or would you stay the same?
3. If you did decide to upgrade you will need to obtain an infusion of cash into your business. How would you do this and how does that effect the structure of your business?