Business start-ups: talking to the experts
Seek any advice on starting a business and the most consistent advice given is to defer to the experts on matters outside your comfort zone. Experts range from accountants and lawyers to marketing gurus and IT professionals.
It’s easy to think that, once on board, an expert can take care of their domain. However, remember that you are the expert in your business, so it is your responsibility to make sure that you have asked the right person for advice. When you build a relationship with the expert, give them context: make sure they understand you and your business and what you want to achieve from it so you are all working towards the same goals.
Before starting a new business, it is very important that owners get legal advice early. Not half way through, and not at the end – when things often blow up. It is when things blow up that you will turn to the legal advice you sought initially. Hopefully that advice will tell you what you can and can’t do, and what happens in your situation.
Finding good legal advice can be tough. Legal Tender (www.legaltender.com.au) is a lawyer client matching service set up to help people and business get the right lawyer for them, and their budget. Lawyers bid to win your work, and you choose the best, all for free.
Don’t wait until it’s too late. The time to invest in legal advice is at the beginning, when things are often going well.