Making It Legal:

Ummm, virtually all of the time . . . !

However, they tend to operate as sole proprietorships, which has its dangers, not the least of which is unlimited liability in the face of lawsuits.  There’s also a tendency not to see oneself as operating a business, but more like an employee in search of a next project (but without the health insurance benefits). 

That lack of cohesive business planning can have a negative affect on your ability to get work, too, if you don’t put the right “spin� on who you are and the value you can provide.  As Lord Brar points out in his post, “When the Word ‘Freelancer’ Can Totally Screw Up Your Sales Pitch,� perception is the golden rule.  He cautions freelancers to avoid referring to themselves as such at (1) networking events, (2) sales materials, and (3) seminar presentations. 

I would take it one step further and say avoid it altogether.  Not that there’s anything inherently wrong or embarrassing or illegal about it, mind you, but I think it keeps your focus on the ground in front of you instead of “above the dashboard.�  Picture yourself walking along the sidewalk.  What’s your mindset and attitude when you’re looking down?  And how do you feel when you’re standing upright, shoulders squared, head level?  There’s a difference.  That difference plays out, too, in business.  When you’re focused on the minutiae of how you’ll get to your next project, I liken it to looking down.  When you have given thought to creating a pipeline of contacts so that business flows to you, you’re looking up.

In trolling through the blogosphere, I came across a handful of posts that asked (and answered) the question:  which legal issues keep entrepreneurs up at night? 

I found that “finding the right attorney� is definitely among them.  How do you know who’s the right fit?  How can you tell if they really know their areas of specialty?  How do you strike the balance between prudence and overspending?

For some resources to help answer some of those questions, check out Anthony Cerminello’s BizBangBuzz blog, which had a number of posts on how to work with lawyers.  Also, be sure to check out my podcast on choosing and using attorneys at my Wise Counsel Press site!

Do you have (or want) to do business with the federal government?  Are you thinking of merging your company with another?  If so, check out the new U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) rules on small business size that went into effect on June 30th. 

As reported in Law.com, to ensure that a certain percentage of federal contracts go to “smallâ€? businesses, the federal government has (not surprisingly) a veritable thicket of rules and regulations on what constitutes “small.â€?  Unfortunately, the answer depends on the federal program — it’s not the same or straightforward answer every time. 

And now the rules have changed, so that companies that have long-term prime federal contracts (not subcontracts) in place will need to recertify their “smallness� within 4 months of the end of the fith year of their contract.  Obviouly, a merger with another company could move your business from small to “too large to qualify for this contract.� 

Subcontractors beware:  the rule doesn’t yet apply to you, but it could, soon.  The SBA has indicated it may issue a separate rule imposing recertification requirements for subcontractors. Visit the Federal Register’s website for the recertification regulation. 

If you’re at all interested in doing business with government entites, don’t go it alone.  It’s a potentially lucrative, but paperwork-heavy area.  Seek assistance from certification providers like the National Women’s Business Owner Council, and organizations like the SBA so that you’re sure you do it right!

I don’t advocate that entrepreneurs treat their legal work as a DIY project.  And neither does California attorney Nina Yablok.  But in her post, “How to Write a Contract,� she gives some great pointers in how to get the ball rolling so that your attorney has less rewriting to do (which can then save you money).

And who am I to argue with a namesake?  J 

I’m excited to let you know about a FREE teleseminar that my company, Wise Counsel Press, is jointly offering on Thursday, August 2, 2007 at 1:00 p.m. EST (12:00 p.m. CST; 11:00 a.m. MST; 10:00 a.m. PST). And you’re invited!

• The four key traits that people should look for in a business partner
• Common behaviors or actions that are “crazy-makingâ€?
• How a written partnership agreement can ensure “smooth sailingâ€? for your company
• When it’s time to “shake up the mixâ€? by bringing on, or getting rid of, a business partner

And much, much more!The teleseminar will last for one hour, including time for Q&A – as I’m sure you’ll have a lot of questions! You’ll get lots of valuable insights, all for the cost of a long-distance call!  For more information and registrationfor the business partnership teleseminar, click on the link below (or copy and paste it into your browser):

www.WiseCounselPress.com/pship_teleclass.html

I’m eager to share my thoughts and ideas with you and look forward to having you on the call!  

A recent survey by online payroll service SurePayroll reveals that more than 80 percent of small business owners believe e-mail is a key element in the success of their business.  But email can also cause legal problems for entrepreneurs . . . something not highlighted in the survey. 

Email is not reliable.  In a very short period of time, small business owners have somehow developed the mindset that email is infallible.  Once you have sent it, delivery is guaranteed.  But it’s not.  Email gets stuck in spam filters.  Or, a technological hiccup causes the packets of information that course through the phone/cable/DSL lines to disappear.  If you have a deadline to meet and rely only on email to meet it, you could be in breach of your obligations if the recipient doesn’t receive it.  Better to confirm with a telephone call, fax, overnight courtier, or other method of delivery. 

Email can be too casual.  When I was a kid, there was a craze for autograph books.  Especially at year’s end, we’d run around to all our friends (and especially the cute guys) to get them to sign their names or write funny messages that would take us through the summer months on happy memories.  I recall one – 2 Ys U R, 2 Ys U B, I C U R 2Ys 4 Me.  I’ve been getting a spate of messages like that, sent from emails, BlackBerrys, or phone text messages, which are problematic.  They may not fully answer a question that was asked.  Or maybe they don’t contain a proper cross-reference to the item they’re responding to.  It makes it more difficult to conduct business when you have to engage in guesswork and endless confirmations because the other person can’t be bothered to write out a full sentence.  

Email can create premature agreements.  Emailers often don’t realize that their casual agreement, handled via email, can bind them without any of the other important terms being negotiated in advance.  For example, you might agree to provide consulting services at a particular rate per session, beginning August 1^st.  But without something in writing saying that you don’t have to deliver further consulting sessions until you’re paid for the ones you have already given, you could leave yourself vulnerable to open invoices for extended periods of time.  Better to make it clear that whatever you negotiate will be subject to a signed agreement containing all the terms. 

Email may be sent by mistake.  How many times has your inbox been inundated because 57 people hit “Reply Allâ€? (instead of “Replyâ€?) to a message about a meeting date?  How many times have you mistakenly sent “Sendâ€? before you had the opportunity to proofread what you’ve written?  (How many people actually proofread, instead of relying only on Spell-Check?)  Email incites us to do business quickly –- get it off my plate! Out of my inbox! — when the better practice may require pausing for a moment.  Recently, a client signed a lease that was emailed to her, only to learn later that the sender sent her the “wrong versionâ€? of the lease.  Had the client had signed the lease (which she didn’t, for other reasons), the landlord could have been bound to terms she didn’t want.  

Email creates a written record . . . when you may not want one.  Once you send an email, it resides somewhere, on someone’s server.  You may have things to say about someone that are not entirely complimentary.  Or, you may have sensitive or confidential information for someone’s eyes only.  Many major corporations faced severe penalties in court because there was an email record of the harm their product caused, or the way management intended to defraud shareholders.  The rules of discovery permit copying of information from computer servers, because even when you have hit “Delete,� that’s not the end of the email! 

Do I love email?  Yes I do!  But it’s not 100% reliable, and it can raise a number of legal and professional problems.  Keep that in mind when communicating in cyberspace! 

A few years ago, there was a short-lived TV show called “Kids Say the Darndest Things�.  Well, in a similar vein, people bring lawsuits for the darndest reasons . . . which is why entrepreneurs are well-advised to protect themselves legally.   

But rather than get on my soapbox about protection, for today, let’s have a giggle about the stupid reasons that people sue other companies.  As reported in the Southeast Texas Record, here are a few gems making their way through court systems around the world:

• A judge sues a dry cleaner establishment for $54 million for misplacing a pair of pants 
• A woman sues a candy company for making a chewy candy . . . chewy
• A man sues to raise the speed limit after getting too many traffic tickets 
• In the Netherlands, a woman sued for emotional trauma from having lost the lottery. 

Read on for more . . .  !

Weeks like last week can provide great respite or great anxiety for small business owners.  Either (like me) they’re delighted to have extra time off (or at least a quieter week to handle the administrative nonsense that never seems to end), or they’re frustrated because all of their employees want the same time off and they haven’t formulated a policy about it. 

That’s one of the sticking points about employees:  it’s very important to be fair, otherwise, you can run into grumbling, complaints, or charges of discrimination (at worst).  Like many small business decisions, employee holidays off is an issue best planned in advance.  Here are some ideas: 

1. Have a written vacation/holiday policy (ideally, one that is part of a broader handbook of policies).   
2. Require employees to remain employed for a certain period of time before they are entitled to any vacation time.   
3. Increase the vacation time depending on length of service.   
4. Lump vacation, sick, and personal days together, and leave it up to the employee to decide how to use them. 
5. If your business is seasonal, consider taking on temporary employees to help with the volume.  Conversely, you may want to specify blackout periods that employees may NOT take a vacation, if your business has a particular need. 

Speak to people in your industry to find out what they do.  Also, be sure to consult with an employment/small business attorney for guidance on avoiding vacation policy pitfalls. 

From the “get ‘em while they’re young� department, comes Microsoft’s new launch of StartupCenter.com and Small Business Center hub, to offer advice and resources for entrepreneurs starting their own businesses. 

As reported by Anita Campbell in her Small Business Trends blog, Microsoft’s approach goes beyond just offering technology products.  Rather, they are capitalizing on two important facets of small business in the new millennium:  online automation of product and service offerings, and social networking.  Read on and sign up to find out more!

Happy Independence Day!  Entrepreneurs are blessed with a wonderfully independent, can-do spirit, which deserves to be celebrated.    But sometimes, that independent streak can cross over into just plan stubbornness, or controlling behavior. 

So my interest was piqued by Jeremy Fain’s post, 2 Entrepreneurial Worst Practices.  He points out two “worst practices� that get in the way of business growth: 

1.                  Doing your bookkeeping and legal work on your own (okay, so that one is near to my heart), and 2.                  Not committing full-time (in other words, having outside employment as well). 

What do you think?  In the meantime, I’ll be toasting (not toasted) your independence!

Leaving aside whether women entrepreneurs ask sufficiently for the financing they need, the fact remains that you need at a least a little money to get your company off the ground.   Not everything can be handled for barter.   So where’s a gal to go for moola? 

Thanks to Anthony Cerminaro’s BizBangBuzz blog for alerting me, I now have a handy list of 25 alternatives to venture capital, conveniently set out in Business Fund’s aptly-named article, Top 25 Alternatives to Venture Capital.  Each of the alternatives has its benefits and drawbacks, so make sure to talk to your advisory team (accountant, financial planner, and lawyer) to confirm which might be the best option for you!