Introduction

Debbie J. Papay

Chris E. Steiner

           They say you can’t judge a book by its cover. Don't judge this book by its title.  Not only does this book provide business planning strategies, it contains strategies for personal estate planning and good foundation information for understanding those strategies.  Whether you are a newcomer to business or a seasoned veteran, whether you manage an organization or also own it, and whether you are looking for direct applications or simply want insight about your clients' businesses in order to serve clients better, the information in Strictly Business will be helpful to you.  For many years we've needed a tool that would discuss both basic and advanced strategies to help our clients quickly and inexpensively educate themselves on business issues before meeting with us, in order to make our time and relationship with them more productive.  This book is such a tool.  It is also user-friendly—easy to start and stop reading in a busy life—and written in an understandable, practical, commonsense fashion, which epitomizes our personal philosophy on how legal counsel should always be rendered.  These are all the reasons why we were thrilled to become contributing authors.  This tool is now available, and you are fortunate to have it in your hands at this very moment.

          While the primary title to this work is Strictly Business and the book is aimed chiefly at businesspersons, it is not strictly about business law.  Neither are we.  Our strong desire to do what we do well encourages us to limit our practice.  However, limiting it too much, for example, strictly to business planning, would be a disservice to our clients.  Thus, we practice solely in three areas of law: business, real estate, and estate and life planning.  Practicing in any one of these areas, in our opinion, requires considerable knowledge of the other two in order to be done well.  We observe the interactions of these three areas almost daily.  For example, our business clients frequently purchase or lease real estate.  The individual owners of businesses need our services for estate, life, and business succession planning.  We have been blessed with great mentors and opportunities to concentrate heavily in these areas from the beginning of our careers.  Our decision to concentrate in just these areas makes us better attorneys in each one.

If you are reading this book about business planning strategies, you must already subscribe to the axiom that "failing to plan is planning to fail."  We certainly do.  Our firm's service mark is "Plans That Work!^sm”   This phrase stands vigil throughout our offices to remind us that our vision of being counseling-oriented lawyers is not about drafting documents or providing scholarly or esoteric plans.  It is about working with clients to develop plans that not only are personal to each client's needs, but also actually work!

We were especially pleased to collaborate on this multidisciplinary book with accountants, financial planners, and other attorneys.  We are strong advocates of a team approach to a client's personal and business challenges.  We encourage our clients to involve their accountants, lawyers, and financial advisors in the development of their plans from the outset, with each professional providing his or her specialized services.  Time and again this has proved to save wasted steps, provide valuable brainstorming, prevent serious errors in the plan, and reduce overall expenses and professional fees.  We welcome the opportunity to work with you and your team of professional advisors to provide the best advice and counsel possible.  If you do not utilize the services of an accountant and financial planner, we urge you in the strongest possible way to do so.

As you choose the members of your professional team, we encourage you to look beyond the minimum attributes, such as education, training, competence, licensure, and reasonable experience.  You should seek professionals who are able to serve you by  (1) protecting the confidentiality of your affairs, (2) charging reasonable fees, (3) providing timely service without sacrificing quality, (4) treating you in a professional, yet warm and considerate, manner, (5) presenting up-to-date information in an understandable fashion, (6) committing to community service or involvement, and (7) obtaining continuing education in the field.  We work hard to conduct our practice according to every one of these standards, including a significant commitment of time and money annually to continuing education in our three areas of concentration—well beyond the Ohio Supreme Court's minimum requirements.

We are proud of the number of clients we've been able to assist, and the number continues to grow because of our reputation with satisfied clients and other professionals who refer their friends, family members, clients, and customers to us.  Each of us has been practicing law long enough to have shared our clients' trials and tribulations over the years and experienced firsthand the results of our work.  Two qualities that we believe distinguish us from other business attorneys are the compassion and empathy we feel for our clients.  We really listen to our clients to hear not only the questions that are verbalized, but also those that are not (namely, the silent or underlying concerns that provide the motivation for the spoken questions). 

Both of us come from middle-class, working families who taught us that integrity, honesty, hard work, loyalty, dedication, and perseverance are worthwhile traits.  We can and do identify with our clients and their circumstances.  We have personal experience in establishing, operating, and managing our own business.  We know what it's like to suddenly lose an employee through death or resignation, to hire and train new employees, to construct a budget, to set goals and plan, to build a client base, and to remain financially responsible.  When our clients hurt, we hurt with them; when our clients celebrate, we celebrate with them.  We want all our clients to be successful, and we work hard to make an effective and helpful contribution to their efforts.

We believe every client deserves to be treated fairly and professionally.  Recognizing that seeing a lawyer is often a very difficult and sometimes traumatic experience, all of us at Bayer, Papay & Steiner Co., LPA, work hard at making our clients feel comfortable.  When you experience our warm greeting, our sincere desire to understand your problems or your needs, and our commitment to assist you, we know that you will feel you can trust us with your legal issues and problems.

Acknowledgments

We would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge our close friend and mentor, Richard W Bayer, Esq.  His vision, hard work, and dedication founded and built this firm and helped establish its reputation for results-oriented, caring service.  We are greatly indebted to our legal assistant team and the associate attorneys in our office as well.  Without each one of them, we would not be able to serve our clients in the first-class manner to which they have become accustomed.  We also acknowledge the sacrifices made by our families due to the long hours we work and the interruptions in planned events for the sake of our clients' needs.  Finally, but foremost, we give thanks to God for opening our minds and hearts and for directing our paths to the opportunities we have been given to serve our clients.

Debbie J. Papay, J.D., and Chris E. Steiner, J.D., are the co-owners of the law firm Bayer, Papay & Steiner Co., LPA.  Their emphasis is on assisting clients in designing and implementing "Plans That Work^sm!" for their businesses and families.  Both are members of the National Network of Estate Planning Attorneys.

Chris is a co-author of The Charitable Giving Handbook.  He is very active in his church and enjoys football officiating, golf, water skiing, and other activities with his wife, Ann, and their four children.

Debbie is active in Business Network International and serves on the board of Davis College.  She enjoys traveling and cooking with her husband, Brian Carder, as well as painting, antiquing, and her "special projects."