If you own a business, you’ve likely learned quite a few lessons about how to run your company. However, every phase of a business presents new challenges and new opportunities. This is true whether you are starting a brand-new business or expanding an existing one.
While these events are highly complex and unique, there are some universal pitfalls that can threaten a business at just about any stage, so it is wise to avoid them.
- Don’t make hasty decisions. In the excitement of new business opportunities, it can seem tempting to act first and deal with consequences later. However, this could be a costly mistake, especially if you hire too many people, fail to negotiate a fair lease or offer discounts or deals that are ultimately unrealistic.
- Don’t forget about adding partners — carefully. Developing and protecting partnerships is a critical element of any business opportunity. You will likely need to discuss contracts and organizational changes, among other things. Take these discussions – and partnerships – seriously. Informal agreements or unclear terms could spell disaster for a growing business.
- Don’t minimize the importance of protection. As you open your business up to new parties and new opportunities, you also open it up to new threats. To protect yourself, your business and your workforce, you will want to be deliberate when forming your business, creating employee agreements and developing privacy policies.
Starting and growing a business is an exciting venture, but the stakes of such pursuits can be quite high, especially with regard to the matters we discussed above.
As such, you should not feel like you must navigate this process alone. You can work with an attorney who has the experience and knowledge of business-related legal matters you may not so that you can focus on running your business.
