"The LLC is the perfect form of business."

Chef Stazi reviewed the topics for the next nine days [marketing, accounting, legal aspects of small business management] and noted, "Some people go to school for years to study this subject. How much of it do you think we'll cover in nine days? Just enough to try to keep you out of trouble."

Chef is soft-spoken and smiley, and began immediately in a much more interactive manner than did Steve, who was Lecturer Extraordinaire. As advised, he's very concerned with the uniform, but with a different spin: "Your uniform is the first impression that you make. What do you want people to think of you? After twenty years, I still take pride in getting dressed in the morning."

Class will consist of lectures and discussions, quizzes every day, and a final. Plus, we have to give a short presentation on any related topic, as an opportunity to do some public speaking.

Today, we talked about forms of business ownership, and Chef Stazi urged us all to march right down to City Hall and file as an LLC ($27.50). He talked about being a business professional in the same way that he talked about the uniform: a matter of pride, "the way I sleep at night." ["Do people do business under the table? You bet they do. Is it the right thing to do? No."] We talked about the benefits and disadvantages of sole proprietorships, general and limited partnerships, limited liability corporations, S-corporations, and C-corporations. We talked at length about the ways in which you can lose your liability protection (using Kenneth Lay as an example), and the importance of keeping your personal and business fund separate: co-mingling of funds is the most common way to lose your liability protection.

Chef Stazi emphazised, regardless of the type of business, the importance of a written agreement between business partners, "even if it's on a napkin."

We talked about the advantages and disadvantages of franchises, using Mickey D as the model. [Is it true that Justin Timberlake wrote the "I'm Lovin' It" jingle? I'm so out of the loop.]

We talked about the three types of law: statuatory, common (or case) law, and administrative law. [Meghan, you're official now: correct me if I get any of this wrong.] Chef Stazi went on a long digression about recent changes in the US Supreme Court and the lost "swing vote" of Sandra Day O'Connor. "Have any of you been paying attention to this?" he asked. He brought up Roe v. Wade, and I held my breath, then he seemed to settle subtly down on the side of the importance of maintaining the law, in that regard. Later, during a run through the list of civil rights and protected classes, he mentioned the protection of pregnancy and marital status. "And that includes lactation, too," he said. "And you can't tell me that the rest room is acceptable." He also brought up the way that "jacket and tie required" could be discriminatory to cross-dressing men. He's got the class thinking.

We finished up with a speedy definition of a Private Club (where you can discriminate!), then began discussing Contracts. "You mean providing food to the public is a contract?" Andy asked. "No, it's a warranty," Chef Stazi replied, "and we'll talk about that tomorrow."

There were nine of us in class today, out of eighteen on the roll sheet.

I spoke a couple of times with a prospective externship contact, and it was not as pleasant or as smooth as I'd expected. I'm feeling undertones of "over-qualified." Ageism? "You'll be supervised by people much younger than you." I don't think my expectations are unrealistic, but I'd hope that my externship relationship would be one of mutual satisfaction. I've got some rethinking to do about what comes next.