Running a small business is often something that you do in order to gain more financial and personal freedom, so it is really important that you do whatever you can to protect that freedom, and that means that you need to protect your company from a range of issues that could threaten its continued existence.
With that in mind, here are some smart ways to protect your small business right now:
Choose the most appropriate form of business
From a financial perspective, the best thing you can do to protect your business is to ensure that you register it appropriately. If you run a business as a sole proprietor, you will be personally liable for any debts accrued by your company, whereas if you run it as a limited liability partnership, for example, your personal ns business finances will be separated to a much greater degree. By choosing the latter, you can far more easily protect yourself and your company from financial disasters.
Consult with a business attorney
When you start your small business, it is always a good idea to consult with a business attorney who will be able to recommend various actions you can take to protect your business from drawing up watertight client contracts to putting appropriate HR policies in place. If you can afford to do so, this is a great way to give your business a high level of protection now and in the future.
Take health and safety seriously
If you speak to any personal injury lawyer, they will tell you that accidents that take place in the course of a client’s work are amongst the most common, and often the most fruitful for the person who has been injured. If you allow one of your employees to be injured at work, not only could it be life-changing for them, but it could be very expensive for you and you may even end up out of business or in trouble with the law. So, it should go without saying that it is really important for you to get to grips with your industry’s health and safety laws, and ensure that you follow them to the letter.
Hire an accountant
Hiring an accountant is sensible because they know exactly what needs to be done to stay on the right side of tax law, not to mention the fact that they know all the loopholes that will help you to save a little money too. Financial irregularities can end your business in an instant, so don’t let that happen.
Take cybersecurity seriously
These days, your small business will rely to a large extent on technology, and although technology has improved efficiency and opened up markets, it is also ripe for exploitation, If you want to protect your business from hackers and scams, you need to take cybersecurity very seriously, installing the latest antivirus software and firewalls, ensuring employees use the strongest possible passwords and ideally having an IT professional consult with you on all data security issues.
Stay safe!