Can You Afford to be an Entrepreneur?

May 16, 2017 by Leave a Comment

Money Unfolding by CreditCafe.com from Flickr (Creative Commons License)

When I decided to launch this law firm, a good friend and fellow entrepreneur/lawyer warned me: “You’re going to need 6 months’ worth of money and 12 months’ worth of patience.” He was right. Fortunately, I had nearly 3 months from deciding to opening my practice until our first day in business, which gave me time to research and formulate my offerings and tap into community and professional resources to get my business off the ground.

Other entrepreneurs aren’t that lucky. They may not have the time and/or money to consult counsel prior to launching a new venture. Even on a condensed time frame or on a shoestring budget, your legal needs should be part of the discussion and plan.

Full-Time Venture Needs Financial Backing
If you want your new venture to be your full-time job, you need to be prepared for the potential financial strain that comes with that undertaking if you don’t have a spouse or other income supporting you in the meantime. You may have the gift of time, but you can only operate your business as long as you have income or savings to cover your bills. I don’t recommend jumping into a new venture without some type of financial safety net.

For entrepreneurs starting with a side hustle, you have the opposite issue. Your regular job can pay your bills while you develop your business, but it limits how many hours you can work. And depending on your circumstances, you job may not provide much money to put towards your business after paying your bills.

Make the Business Fund Itself
While every business needs some seed money to get started, make your business fund itself. When you decide to start a business, make a list of all the services, equipment, and supplies you think your company needs. Then step back and categorize each item as “Must Have” or “Nice To Have.” Ask a trusted colleague or friend to review your list and challenge you on what you need.

Many businesses don’t need much to get started. When I started this firm, I only needed an LLC, client contract templates, computer, scanner/printer, website, email address, phone number, and business cards. I gave myself a limited budget for supplies, bar dues, and to pay for my LLC and my accountant, and after that, I didn’t buy anything for the business until the business could afford it. (Even if my personal account could afford it, I made myself wait until the business could afford it.) It forced me to be scrappy, creative, and thoughtful about how I spend my money. It’s something I recommend to other entrepreneurs, including seeking out low-cost and free options when appropriate.

Prioritize
I regularly receive emails from people who need help with the legal side of starting a business, and some of them claim that they can’t afford an hour of legal services. Sometimes I wonder if these entrepreneurs didn’t do any research into the expected costs of a consult, contract, or trademark when creating their business budget. (When people can’t afford my firm, I’m happy to provide referrals to other options and/or tell them what things they can do themselves – like filing an LLC with the Arizona Corporation Commission. The forms and instructions are online.)

A fellow entrepreneur suggested that these potential clients don’t see value in paying for quality legal services. That sounds plausible. Many new entrepreneurs are focused on their expected success that they don’t want to ponder the what-if scenarios. In many ways, quality contracts and other legal services protect you when things go wrong. You often don’t need to rely on them when things go right.

My recommendation for all new entrepreneurs is to meet with a business accountant and a lawyer to make sure you’re starting out on the right foot, and that you understand the legal implications of your venture. If you have questions about business needs, you can contact me directly or connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, or LinkedIn. You can also get access to more exclusive content that is available only to people on my mailing list, by subscribing here.

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Getting Fired because of your Side Hustle

August 30, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Explosion by Charles Dyer from Flickr (Creative Commons License)

Don’t Blow Up Your Master Plan | “Explosion” by Charles Dyer from Flickr (Creative Commons License)

When I was on one of the weekly calls with my mastermind group last week, one of my fellow Shankminders asked me to comment on a phenomenon amongst entrepreneurs – working on your side gig while at your full-time job.

Wait . . . what?! There are people out there sitting at their desks, and while they are supposed to be working for their employer, they are working on their side hustle? I was incredulous, but the members of my group knowingly nodded their heads.

I thought my head was going to explode. How can anyone think this is ok?

Am I the only person who read in their employment contract? What are you supposed to do on the first day of work besides read the company handbook? Even before I went to law school, I remember signing off on company policies that said employees couldn’t use company time or company resources to run a side business. At the time (2005ish), I assumed this policy primarily applied to people who might be realtors or the like on the weekend, but now I see how this applies to anyone who has a side business – including bloggers and other social influencers.

The notion that people are running their side gig during regular work hours raises a lot of red flags for me.

  • If you are an at-will employee, you can be fired for any reason, or no reason at all. Working on a side project when you’re supposed to be doing your work tasks seems like a good reason to fire you, especially if you’re neglecting your work duties to do it.
  • Employers can easily track what employees are doing at work with technology like keystroke trackers. You may be telling your employer a lot more than what websites you’re visiting – like passwords and your company’s trade secrets.
  • Your contract may have a provision that says anything you create during company time or using company resources is owned by your employer. If your contract has this provision, you may unwittingly forfeit your business to your employer, without any options for recourse.

Some employees have a provision in their contract that says that anything they create during the ten-year of their employment that is related to the work of their employer, is owned by the employer. This could apply to projects done even outside the office.

In general, I am an advocate of employer’s staying out to of employees’ business – personal or otherwise – and that comes with the obligation that employees keep non-work issues out of the office. I understand why it makes sense for someone to occasionally check social media at work, or like during their lunch break. And unless there is a security reason to prohibit it, employees should be allowed to have their phones at their desks to take phone calls or respond to text messages related to their families, permitted it doesn’t interfere with doing their jobs.

But work on a side gig while at the office? No no no. (At least, not without permission.) There are too many risks, the least of which is losing the job which is paying your bills while you’re getting your side hustle off the ground.

If you don’t know what the rules are at your office, go back and read them. Ignorance of the company rules, particularly the ones you signed off on, will not save you from discipline or worse. If you need help understanding how to work on your side gig while at your current employment, talk to a business attorney her knee or a resource that helps entrepreneurs in your community. If you want to see me pontificates more about this and related topics, you can contact me directly or connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, or LinkedIn. You can also get access to more exclusive content that is available only to people on my mailing list, by subscribing here.

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Entrepreneurship, Business Contracts, & Self-Awareness

August 7, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Meditation by Moyan Brenn from Flickr (Creative Commons License)

Meditation by Moyan Brenn from Flickr (Creative Commons License)

As a lawyer I am in a problem-solving industry. I much prefer to be on the problem prevention side than having to help my clients clean up the mess they find themselves in, but I try to help when and where I can.

The last few months have been particularly frustrating. I’ve seen multiple situations where problems could have been prevented if the people involved had fully thought the situation through, called a lawyer to help them record their agreement in writing (and had the provisions they didn’t think about in advance), and signed their contract. Let me be clear – I’m not mad at my clients or prospective clients. I give them credit for realizing they are in over their heads and asking for help. The frustrating part is knowing that they are in difficult situations that could have been prevented.

Well written contracts are business gold. They put everyone on the same page from the beginning of the relationship and they outline how the parties will deal with problems when they occur.

I wonder what some people are thinking when they work without a contract or with a poorly written contract.

  • “We were too excited about the project to worry about a contract.”
  • “We were on a deadline.”
  • “I didn’t think we needed a contract.”
  • “The template I found online looked good enough at the time.”
  • “Hiring a lawyer is too expensive.”

All of these are crappy excuses not to have a contract or to have an ineffective one. A responsible entrepreneur is thoughtful enough to know what their needs are including an awareness that they will be dealing with more pain if they have to clean up the mess compared to doing it right the first time. And if the person you’re working with doesn’t understand the value of having a legally sound contract written by someone who knows what they’re doing, I would have serious reservations about working with that person. I thoughtful entrepreneur knows it is a better use of their time and money to hire someone to draft a contract at the beginning of a project than to try to do it themselves and have to hire a lawyer later to clean up the mess they created for themselves.

More entrepreneurs need to hear and to realize, that even though they might be running a solo shop, they never have to deal with a situation alone. They don’t have to have all the answers all the time. It’s ok to ask for help. In fact, it’s a sign that you are a good entrepreneur when you play to your strengths and you let other people use their best skills on your behalf. This requires a high degree of self-awareness and humility.

Gary Vaynerchuk and his team made an awesome video about self-awareness as an entrepreneur. I regularly watch it as part of my journey as a business person.

This is an area where I have substantial interest – both as a lawyer and an entrepreneur. If you want to chat more about this topic, you can contact me directly or connect with me on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, or LinkedIn.

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