By Henry Brown
Starting and running a business comes with any number of risks and worries. Of course, it’s always rewarding to own a business, and know that any success you achieve is entirely down to your hard work and determination, but it’s also scary to know that even one simple mistake could land you in a lot of trouble, both financially and legally. Potential lawsuits are one of the biggest risks business owners face, so it’s up to you to avoid them as much as possible. This is rarely an easy job, but here are five practical ways for you to protect yourself and your business.
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One of the first things you’ll need to do as a new business owner is find a competent lawyer. Some areas of business are fairly easy to understand, even to inexperienced entrepreneurs, but the legal side can get pretty tricky. The last thing that you want to do is try to wing it and get yourself into trouble by signing a bad contract or forgetting to apply for a permit. It’s always best to have a lawyer on your side for when you need help and advice.
– Make sure you’re insured
Along with a lawyer, it’s also vital that you secure liability insurance for your business. This is the most basic and most important protection you’re going to need. You may also require additional insurance, depending on your industry, so you should speak to professionals, like the Schumacher insurance agency, and make sure you have everything you need. This will cover you for accidents, lawsuits, malpractice, and more, so good insurance is absolutely essential.
– Protect documents and files
These days, most businesses rely on computers every single day and store all of their important contracts, data, and files on them, meaning that, if the computers went down for some reason, you might not be able to work, which could lead to someone taking legal action. Because of this, it’s imperative that you have all of these documents backed up somewhere, such as on the cloud. You should also have antivirus software, to prevent anyone from stealing this crucial and confidential information, which also can lead to legal problems with your clients/customers.
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As an employer, it is your job to ensure that all of your employees feel safe and happy within your business. Unfortunately, many business owners fail to do this and have to deal with a lawsuit as a result. If you want to prevent this, then you need to make sure that all of your employees are physically safe by conducting regular risk assessments. You should also follow all the applicable employment laws and have an employee handbook that spells out your policies so avoid misunderstandings. Also, let employees know that your door is always open for them so that small problems don’t grow into big ones.
– Avoid doing anything questionable
If you really want to protect your business and avoid lawsuits, then the best thing you can do is really think about what you plan to say or do before you say or do it. Avoid doing or saying anything that could be considered questionable, especially making slanderous statements or breaking the law. You should also avoid doing business with people that do such things, as you could be deemed guilty by association.
More often than not, lawsuits are unpredictable, but that doesn’t mean that they’re unavoidable. Of course, you’ll never be able to rid yourself of the risk of a lawsuit completely, but if you take these five practical steps, you should be able to protect yourself and your business.
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Henry Brown is an online marketing executive. When he isn’t talking shop he’s roaming the streets of London, uncovering the extra-ordinary in the ordinary.
