Yes, you may already be looking back on 2009 as a real stinker, but I’m sure you can find some high points, too. Here are some of the morale-boosting tips that Tana Woodward has to share:

1. Create a “victory log” of all the contacts you’ve made, clients you’ve scored, hard decisions you’ve faced and recognition you’ve received (whatever the source)–and keep it on an ongoing basis.
2. Join a success team or mastermind group.
3. Get clients’ feedback on the work you’ve done for them.
4. Keep an “I’m great” folder of e-mails, and read all the positive comments about you.
5. Get out of the office and network with a buddy. The fresh air–and fresh perspective–will do wonders!

There are subtle nuances between an independent contractor and a part-time employee, largely centering around the issue of “control.” How much control do you have over how the work gets done, when and by whom? Getting on the wrong side of that balance could cost thousands of dollars in unpaid employment taxes, plus interest and penalties.

Bill Bischoff’s article in the Wall Street Journal online sets out some handy distinctions, in addition to suggesting you look at IRS Form SS-8, which lets you know the factors the IRS considers in making its determination.  For more on the issue of control, check out my article, “Walking The Employee-Independent Contractor Tightrope,” available at GreatBusinessLawTips.com.

Think about it: You’re humming merrily along with your business partner, thinking you’re covered (because of COURSE, you hired an attorney and worked out an agreement), and your partner gets hit by a bus and dies. Your partner’s spouse (whom you’ve never really gotten along well with) looks at the agreement, and sees that it’s invalid because you signed it 12 years ago. Brings a lawsuit to get hold of the “dearly departed’s” share of the business. All of the careful buyout formulas and procedures you’ve thought through go down the toilet.

Your state might not have this law on the books . . . but maybe it does. Have you checked?  Have you dusted off that agreement to make sure that it still meets your needs after time has passed? Are the same owners involved in the business? Does the valuation formula make sense in light of changes to your business? These are issues you should revisit periodically with counsel.

And there are a number of other legal issues that may be due for a checkup.  To have a good sense of what they are, get your copy of my Legal Health Checklist, available at GreatBusinessLawResources.com–and make sure that your business records and practices are fortified against potential claims and lawsuits.

A: If the card is in your name along with a company name and the credit card statements are addressed to the company, that c-o-u-l-d be an indication that the account is in the company name alone. But that still wouldn’t answer the question of whether there’s a personal guaranty underlying it.

The best way to check is just to call the credit card company and ask. And see if it will provide you with a copy of the initial credit agreement that you signed. In the future, make sure you keep a copy of all credit card applications so that you know for sure.

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.

Well, as Jay Goltz says in his FSB article, “Why Small Businesses Fail,” working harder won’t fix a broken businesses model.  You’ll either face burnout, or worse, a bevy of legal headaches resulting from your inability to pay vendors, employees, and other creditors.

As frustrating and daunting as it may seem, “every business owner needs to be his or her own CFO,” says Goltz.  But how do you know what to look for?  How can you make more informed decisions?

One way, certainly, is to hire a CPA or CFO to help you interpret the numbers (and educate you in the process so that you know what you’re looking for).  Another, suggests Alan Badey, in his New York Enterprise Report article, “Uncover What Your Numbers Say About Your Business,” is to create a basic business dashboard so that you can see and analyze the numbers that substantially affect your bottom line.  These include:

• Using existing technology and systems
• Determining which areas/data are most valuable to track
• Comparing numbers not only month to month but year to year
• Sharing data with key employees

Your dashboard will help you better forecast and budget–and can help catch fraud, Badey writes.

“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!

One of the best-known phrases from the Declaration of Independence reads:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Does your business bring you joy, as well as profits? Does it bring excitement to your life (the positive kind, not the anxious kind)? Are you counting each one of your daily victories? I tend to lump them all together, as in “I wrote blogposts today,” and then say that I accomplished only one thing.  But there are many other successes embedded in that single one:

• Each blogpost written is a single victory.
• Each colleague whose blog I tracked back to is a colleague whose relationship I strengthened.
• Each subject I spend time reading and researching is a quest for knowledge.
• As I love writing, the time I spent writing is time I spend in a task that I enjoy.

Speaking of profits, one way to ensure that you’re not enslaved to the drudgery of collection calls is to find and mind clients carefully. Are you taking on any client with a pulse? Have you told clients in no uncertain terms what your rates are?  If not, you’re at risk of staring down collections nightmares. Check out my program How to Train Your Clients to Pay You and put an end to the long days and sleepless nights!

Here’s hoping that happiness pursues you this holiday weekend . . . and throughout your business!

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.

So we took the leap of faith and started our own companies. We faced more risk–financial risks, legal risks–but we felt the trade-off was worth it. As we make changes to our business, different risks will arise. Some we can anticipate. Some we’ll evaluate as too remote to worry about. When you start to expand your business–such as with strategic alliances–new issues will arise. Can you withstand the risk?

As in the Three Little Pigs fable, you want to be sure your business has a strong legal foundation so that if a “wolf” (disgruntled customer, irate business partner) huffs and puffs, your house won’t blow in. What are some of the things that could blow your “house” in, if not handled properly?

• Operating as sole proprietor in the face of a lawsuit
• Not having a written agreement with your business partners–whether in your company or in an alliance
• Doing business on a handshake
• Inadequately protecting your company information or intellectual property
• Insufficient insurance (especially if you have employees)

There are many areas that can leave your company vulnerable . . . many of which can be easily rectified. For more guidance on the potential risks to keep an eye on, I’ve created a handy tool, Is Your Business Legally Healthy?, available through my GreatBusinessLawResources.com site. It’s an easy-to-follow questionnaire. Because it’s self-scoring, you’ll know right away if your company is thriving or slowly succumbing to an unidentified illness.