Do These 5 Things and Get Rid of Your Legal Stresses

Running your own business can feel like you are on top of the world, but it also comes with its share of risks. You never know when disaster is going to strike… it’s stressful! You could lose what you worked SO hard for.

But, there’s good news! There are many steps you can take to protect yourself from these risks and reduce your liability exposure as much as possible.

Here are 5 ways you can protect your business from liability: 

1)    Incorporate your business

2)    Apply for trademarks, patents and copyrights

3)    Avoid misclassifying your employees

4)    Use customized legal documents

5)    Hire a Lawyer

1) Incorporate Your Business

When you enter agreements with clients as a sole proprietor, you are doing so as yourself. At that point, your personal assets would be at risk whenever you are engaging in business.

When you incorporate a company, you become a legal corporation and anytime you enter into an agreement, you do so with the corporation. If something goes wrong, the only solution available to someone would be the assets of the legal corporation and they're not able to access your personal assets.

2) Apply for Trademarks, Patents and Copyrights

Imagine this: You’ve spent years creating your brand and instead of registering your company name, you decide to sweep it under the rug. Fast forward and you find out that a new company has just registered the same name. Now, you have to spend more time, money and effort to challenge your mark.

Trademarks, patents and copyrights protect your intellectual property. They keep your ideas and branding safe from sticky hands so that all of your hard work doesn’t go to waste.

See if your mark is already registered using the  Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS).

3) Avoid Misclassifying Your Employees

One big issue that we’ve been seeing is people who we used to call “contractors” are now being classified as “employees.” Which is a HUGE problem. Bottom line is… the distinction comes down to the degree of control over services and what jurisdiction you are in.

If you are telling someone the specifics of how to do their job, what tools they need to use, the hours the work, etc, then that person is an employee.

If someone has full control of how they are offering you their services, then they are a contractor.

Misclassification generally happens because a) an employer wants to avoid paying certain taxes and offering benefits, all while having full control of how the employee offers their services and the hours they work or b) they just don’t know the difference. Save yourself the hassle and make sure that you classify your employees correctly.

4) Use Customized Legal Documents

Downloading documents from the internet is as easy as a couple of clicks. But, just because a document works for one business, doesn’t mean that it will work for you. The most likely scenario is that what you just downloaded is not specific to what you do and the way that you need to be protected.

If a problem comes up, you want to make sure that you're on the right side of the law.

5) Hire a Lawyer

The law can be hard to navigate and finding a lawyer is even more daunting. Not to mention the hefty lawyer fees. But! not having a lawyer can cost you even more in the long run. They would be able to help you with contract drafting, mitigating damages and relieve you of any legal stress.

Make sure you hire a qualified lawyer who understands your niche and can help you get squared away with the best legal practices.

Doing diligence to ensure that you and your assets are protected means less time worrying about the “what if’s” and more time growing your business.

If you are committed to protecting your business, but you have a few questions you need clarity on before moving forward… Hop on a FREE Legal Consult with me to make sure you properly protect your business and assets so you are set up to thrive.

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