While there is no such thing as a business without risk, most business owners look for ways to mitigate risk as much as physically possible. No one likes risk except an adrenaline junkie! Being aware of these three legal risks can help your future business.

Taking on debt can help small businesses meet expenses and finance growth. The key to making it work is knowing what you will use the debt for, how it will generate a return on your investment and tracking.If you need support with finding capital for your business and tracking the use of that capital, contact us- we can help. If you have not done a great job with this in the past and your debt gets too hard to manage, you may be faced with some difficult decisions. With proper guidance, you can minimize the financial consequences and maximize the opportunity of taking on and managing your small business debt.You have to basic options when faced with unmanageable debt. Being smart about debt involves determining which choice is right for you.

You’ve put in the time to get your business going and now you’re up and running. You have a product or service, and it is selling well. The team supports each other well and you have a proven income model. Congratulations! You’ve overcome the biggest obstacle to business sustainability!

In today’s society, you can find all sorts of advice about how you should launch a business. With so much information, however, it can become difficult to know what you should heed and what you can ignore. To simplify things, we’ve made a list of five fundamental tips that will help you when it comes to starting up a business.

For many entrepreneurs, being a “workaholic” is a default status. Though this drive and dedication can be a good thing in short bursts, in the long run it leads to stagnation and burnout. Just as experts advise us to step away from what we’re working on for short breaks throughout the day to maximize creativity, the same applies on the macro scale.

If you are a business owner, working from home, you may be eligible for tax deductions on part of the rent or mortgage payments you make, but you may be afraid this puts you at risk of tax audits. And, rightly so. Calculating your home office deduction properly can minimize your taxes and keep you out of risk.

As a business owner, you’ve worked so hard to build your business. You have created products, service, and processes using strategies that drive your business. What would happen if one of your best employees, who helps you run these strategies, tells you that they are leaving? How do you keep your company secrets your company secrets? Hopefully, you had already established a confidentiality clause with your employee when you first hired them. A confidentiality clause (or agreement) requires that the person keeps certain information strictly confidential. Preferably, it sets forth the form of information you consider “trade secret”. You may later use this to protect yourself against competition or disclosure of your company’s secrets.

With the advanced connectivity available through media via IPhones, tablets, laptops, television, and other applications, more people are creating a livelihood by working from their own home. Many of us, may be so ingrained in the notion of being employed and reporting work at a fixed location that we don’t realize the many benefits of self-employment in a home-based endeavor.

Establishing your solid legal system changes everything. Many entrepreneurs struggle with developing systems because they don’t foresee the most common mistakes start-ups make. Foresight is everything. Avoiding these only takes a small amount of awareness and a bit of planning. Read on to see the top five mistakes new business owners make and how to avoid them.

Before you open your business, it is imperative that you have the proper coverage. A single lawsuit or catastrophic event can easily wipe out a company before it has a chance to get off the ground. That being said, there are many types of insurance out there, and some policies can be extraordinarily expensive. Therefore, it is critical that your company is prepared for any risks you may face and have the insurance to cover those risks.The following insurance types are among the most-often needed for practically every business, no matter how big or small.

Every business, big or small, is responsible for protecting the personal and corporate data and their client base. This data can include names, address, social security numbers, and even credit card information. Therefore, it is not only a good idea to have a safeguard, but it is also a legal requirement. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) imposes harsh fines and penalties for your failure to adequately protect this information. To protect your client data safely and to ensure your company is not sued, fined, or tarnished by a data breach, follow these tips.

When getting a business to take off, one common mistake is that business owners fail to establish a solid legal foundation to protect their company from situations and circumstances that could be deadly. The most effective and efficient way to provide this legal bedrock is by putting a set of key legal agreements in place. Gleaned from years of business experience and advice from seasoned and highly successful entrepreneurs, we’ve outlined the core four legal documents that a company’s founders should put into place as soon as your business “idea” evolves into a reality.

As the owner of a small business, you’ve probably spent plenty of time working with your business plan, but have you dedicated the same amount of time to planning for the continued success of your business after you retire? If you were to suddenly die or become incapacitated, what would happen?

Have you dreamed of leaving your company to your family, but you haven’t sufficiently included your business in your estate plan? If so, listen closely because it could quickly turn into a nightmare for your heirs, as well as, your business’ team members and clients, too. To ensure your company is passed to your family in exactly the right way, you need to establish a comprehensive estate plan.

Many small business owners fail to understand or realize the value in their intellectual property. According to valuation experts, intellectual property (IP) makes 40% to 90% of the total value of some companies. Given this information, it is vital that these assets are well guarded. However, IP is a little murky in the legal realm. If you’re not educated about copyrights, trademarks, and patents, you might be at a huge disadvantage. Make sure to always contact your Creative Business Lawyer to secure your IP assets. They can give you some idea of how complicated this legal landscape can truly be. Here are four popular myths about IP protection for business owners to think about.

Nike, Anheuser-Busch, Walmart, Porsche all have something in common. What is that? Outside of being globally recognized brands and generating billions in revenue, they are also family owned businesses.

With the increased rise of the “gig economy,” which relies primarily on independent contractors instead of W2 employees, there has been an equally steady climb in the number of independent Contractor (IC) misclassification cases filed against businesses. Most misclassifications are not the result of intentional violations of federal and state law, but rather, unintentional mistakes made by business owners, maybe including you, who aren’t aware of the legal landscape.