Starting a business is not an easy thing to do. It’s actually quite frightening to take a leap into the unknown while hoping that you land on your feet and ready to run. But to be certain, it is much better to leap with all the tools and equipment necessary to combat all the unforeseeable forces and problems that you are bound to encounter than to be defenseless in these situations. I am here to tell you four essential tools to start-up a successful business:
[ordered_list]
-
Take control by creating operating agreements contracts with the people your partners, founders and employees:
An operating agreement is one of the most important because it gives structure to you business’ financial and functional decisions. Its purpose is to govern the internal operations of the business in a way that suits the specific needs of the owner. This agreement outlines the percentage of a members’ ownership, responsibilities and duties of the members and managers, it establishes the outlines for the distribution of profits and loses, and buy-out and sell-out rules, among other things.
-
Establish your intellectual property rights and trademarks
One of the main aspects of having your own business is that the product, idea, or service that you are selling is yours and no one else should appropriate that from you. But to protect your intellectual property against this it is vital that you trademark your name. The process can be challenging but getting a knowledgeable lawyer can help you understand your name’s strengths and weaknesses in order to increase the likelihood of getting your trademark registered.
-
Watch your expenses
As start-ups it is more likely than not that you’re financing your new business with your own money which great, but you have to take care of it. There are many things that you are going to need like paying for an office space, buying nice furniture, employee salaries, etc. However, you cannot go overboard with the money even if you get investors for your company, because there are going to be times as a new business where the money will run a little tight, so you want to make sure that you are properly using the resources your have and be prepared for anything.
-
Don’t do it all yourself
It is common that when businesses are starting up, owners will take on more duties than needed, like handling accounting duties, lawyer duties and everything else that you are not experienced with. Doing this yourself will take away time from all the essential things that need attention in the company and it will add an unnecessary burden to your other responsibilities. Not to mention that having a professional might give you insights to a lot of things that you didn’t know about that will potential help your company.
[/ordered_list]
