But the problem isn’t just with the annoying client. As the old cartoon character Pogo famously said, “we have met the enemy and he is us.”  Where can we take some responsibility for how we’re handling our clients?

We can start by looking at where some of our client relationships went awry.  As I mention in my article, “Isn’t It Time You Kept 100% of Your Fee . . . Every Time?” on WomenandBiz.com, make the time to write down all the different causes of client dissatisfaction.  This could include:

• The price being higher expected
• The project becoming more involved than expected
• The client not getting the desired results
• Your lacking the right expertise for the assignment
• Snags in communication, as when dealing with more than one representative of a client
• Lack of clarity about the payment terms (e.g., if you are working on an hourly rate)

If you can identify what’s broken, you can take steps to fix it.  Yes, even in this economy.

Q.:  I’m wondering what kind of company you would recommend for me to register under for a clothing company. I was thinking going Limited Liability because I would not be personally responsible if companies came after me for some reasons and couldn’t take my personal assets. Which one would you recommend because I don’t really know how much money I’m going to make in the first year.

A.:  For all but a v-e-r-y few situations, I recommend that entrepreneurs form either a corporation or a limited liability company.  There are simply too many variables and pitfalls in starting and running a business . . . so why leave your personal assets exposed? 

Which form of limited liability entity you choose, though, depends on a number of factors:

• Where the business will be located
•  How many people will own the business
• The nationality of the business owners
• Whether you will involve passive investors in the company, or want to take the business public
• The federal, state, and local taxes that may be levied against the entity
• The costs of formation
• Your exit strategy and what you want to get out of the business

Before you take the step of forming the business, make sure you’ve taken the time to calculate the kind of financial investment you’ll have to make in startup and ongoing costs.  While 1st year’s revenue will be guesswork, you can have a more solid sense of what’s involved with the right financial planning.  It will also help you decide whether the venture will be worth the risk and financial investment.

“Advisory team.”  It’s a highfalutin’ term for what some people consider good friends who will be a sounding board for you in a pinch. Whether you pay them or you don’t, have formal arrangements with them or not, they are crucial in one major respect: You can’t build a successful business without them. 

I’ve learned from personal experience that I really flourish when I have others helping me keep my eyes above the dashboard, making sure I keep working toward my strategic goals. Without them, I’ve gotten stuck in my own mishegaas, like a dog chasing its tail. I have people I’m accountable to (other than me, my own worst taskmaster). People to keep me focused so that I don’t spread myself too thin. People to share the victories with. Two who come to mind are Dawn Fotopulos of SmallBusinessHow2.com (”simplify, focus and leverage” is her mantra for me) and Rochelle Lisner of DynamicBusinessGrowth.com (who reminds me to “speak in stories” not “information dumps”). And there are more!  I wouldn’t be where I am without them.

You can build a dream team of your own, too! For tips on how to do that, sign up for a complimentary copy of my Entrepreneur’s Business Law Primer, available at GreatBusinessLawResources.com/bizlaw. It includes an audio clip on “how to choose an advisory team” that I think you’ll find helpful.  Let me know if you do!

For those of you near Brooklyn, N.Y., on July 15, stop by the Brooklyn Creative League, where I’ll be talking about everything you need to know about business law in 90 minutes.  (Well, not quite . . . but close!)  In this entertaining and lively session, I’ll provide entrepreneurs with an overview of the most common legal issues they will face as they start and build their businesses.  I’ll touch on:

• How to choose the right form of business
• Working with business partners
• What to look out for in your commercial leases
• How clear contracts make for happy clients/customers
• Intellectual property: what to protect and how to protect it
• Choosing the right attorney/advisory team

RSVP: Contact the Brooklyn Creative League at info@BrooklynCreativeLeague.com or (718) 576-2104.

Date:  Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Time:  9:30 to 11 a.m.
Location: Brooklyn Creative League, 540 President Street (between 3rd and 4th avenues)
(Take N/R Subway to Union Street)
Price:  Free for members; $10 non-members

If you’d like to know (and “knowledge is good“), then check out StartUp Nation’s “Success Calculator.”  Perhaps the most important question is “timeframe.”  It gets you to think about your real goals for your company and where you want to be in one to five years’ time.

Remember, the results don’t have to be a predictor–if you don’t like what you see, now’s the time to tweak to ensure you’ll reach your goals!

Especially while the economy is a little shaky, networking intelligently can ensure that people remain interested in you.

How can you do that? According to Liz Lynch, author of Smart Networking and the Smart Networking Blog, people will be interested in you when you tell then what’s in it for them.

Let face it: As human beings, we’re hard-wired for survival. And we love stories. As Lynch points out, if you’re able to combine the benefits of what you do (which enhances the other person’s “survival”) and can do so with examples (stories), you’ll go a long way to making–and keeping–solid connections.

Consider including confidentiality provisions in the following kinds of scenarios:

• You use an independent graphic artist to help design a client’s annual report and provider her with sensitive client information.

• You don’t want an employee tweeting about a client product launch before its time.

• You want to avoid employee blogging about a company takeover.

• You’re sharing crucial market research with a strategic partner, but don’t want it to use the information for any purpose outside your partnership.

• You’ve hired a broker or finder for a business opportunity and don’t want your company information shared for an unauthorized purpose.

• You’ve taken on a business partner and don’t want her to misuse company information after she retires (or resigns).

And, of course, get it in writing.

I liked that because I find that entrepreneurs like to talk about the risks they are taking, and not so much about the risks they are managing.

What kind of chances are you taking with your company? Are you protecting yourself? Is doing business with Wal-Mart** (see my note, below) really worth it when it can hold up paying your invoice for 90, 120, 180 days? What will that do to your cash flow? Can you afford to stay in business?  After all, as Faler notes,

Given the riskiness and high stakes of new ventures, living to fight another day and give it another try may in fact be a more valuable asset than hitting any one individual milestone.

Let me know if you agree.

***  Author’s note (6-16-09):  It’s come to my attention that I may have raised the blood pressure of some businesses who actually deal with Wal-Mart by mentioning the company and a long payment cycle within the same sentence.  Mea culpa.  I don’t have the inside track on whether Wal-Mart is paying promptly, nor did I mean to insinuate that they aren’t.  I should have said (more artfully and accurately) to beware of being lulled into a false sense of security that you’ll be paid promptly simply because you’re doing business with a large corporation . . . as they can become late-payers, too.  The larger the order, the harder the hit to your cash flow, if delinquent.