Confidence for Legal Competence

Making Your Small Biz More “Legitimate”

Every. Single. Business. in the U.S., whether home-based or otherwise, must comply with various state & local requirements to file certain paperwork in order to simply exist as a business. This may include, for example, filing for a general business permit from your county clerk’s office or maintaining an industry-specific license.

Many business owners choose to take additional formal steps such as opening a business bank account, a process which often requires other legal steps such as obtaining an Federal EIN or a liability-protective business registration.

Shielding Yourself from Risks & Liability

The most common legal question I see from entrepreneurs is how to best protect themselves from legal liability. While the possibilities are endless, a few key ways to manage risks in small business include forming LLC’s or corporations, putting bullet-proof contracts in place, and obtaining the right business insurance.

One of the best investments a small business owner can make is taking the time to analyze, understand, and mitigate the specific regulations and risks that are most relevant to their business and their industry.

Protecting Your Ideas

A solo entrepreneur wears all the hats, from brainstorming world-changing product ideas to branding and marketing those products. Between trademarks, copyright, patents, and confidentiality, there will be an opportunity to protect your valuable intellectual property (IP) at every step of building your dream business.

Understanding what each of these types of IP is, how they work, and how to get your hands on that protection is a critical step to success for any creative and innovative entrepreneur.

When the money flows, the business grows, and it is at this juncture that many businesses flop. Scaling is much more than building multiple revenue flows and hiring employees. Scaling requires careful planning and thought, and with business growth comes even more legal requirements.

Every industry is unique, however a few common growing pains encountered by newbie founders and CEO’s include employment laws, complicated tax decisions, and various levels of data and privacy compliance tasks.