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Are you ready to pass on the reins of your company?
Because you hold both your family and your business close, you certainly want to ensure that you take care of them. As a result, when you begin thinking about your retirement or possible demise, you will want to know that your family and company remain in good hands. Fortunately, business succession planning could prove useful in this respect.
When thinking about who you want to take over your business and how you want the company to continue to operate, you will likely have many aspects to consider. Wanting to keep the business within the family is understandable, especially if your children already work as part of the company. However, you still need to make sure your successor is the right fit for the job.
Willingness
In order for a succession plan to prove successful, a willingness to move onward and upwards needs to exist between both you and your successor candidate. If your candidate does not know whether remaining in the family business is what he or she wants to do long-term, it may be wise to consider another person rather than trying to force the company on an unwilling relative.
Lease terms can have a significant impact on your business
As a small business owner, you know how important it is to have appropriate space to run your business operations. Commercial real estate can be difficult to come by for small businesses in Texas, yet there are many things to consider when negotiating a lease. Lease agreements are serious, and the terms can have a significant impact on your operations and financial health.
If you think you found the perfect location for your company, it can be tempting to forge ahead and sign on the dotted line as quickly as possible. However, there are significant benefits to seeking guidance as you make important decisions, even allowing a legal ally to negotiate the commercial lease on your behalf.
Important considerations when leasing
Leasing space is an important step for your business. While this is an exciting time, it is beneficial to protect your future interests by negotiating terms that are fair and reasonable. Many businesses suffer the consequences of poorly worded or unfair lease agreements because they did not proceed carefully in the initial stages of contract negotiation. Some things you would be wise to consider include the following:
Collecting debt the right way is good for business
As a small business owner, collecting money people owe you is a part of doing business. In many cases, people will simply pay what they owe without issue, but there are times you will have to deal with difficult customers who refuse to pay for services rendered or products received.
In cases in which there is a dispute over owed balances and collections, you may find it beneficial to seek a full understanding of how you can protect your rights as a business owner. You have the right to take appropriate measures to secure the money owed to you, but it is prudent to know what you can and cannot do as you undertake this effort. Many Texas business owners find it beneficial to seek legal guidance as they pursue a beneficial solution for collections disputes.
Why won't people pay?
There are several reasons why a person may not want to pay you, even if he or she clearly owes you money. Some of these reasons include the following:
Have you considered creating a partnership agreement?
Starting a business in Texas can be an exciting endeavor. Perhaps you have had your idea for as long as you can remember, and now that the time has come to bring your business dreams into reality, you likely cannot wait to get started. Additionally, your future business partner or partners may also share in your enthusiasm and feel ready to get the ball rolling on your future success.
Though you and your partners may have known each other for years — or perhaps even since childhood — you may not want to move forward with creating a business partnership simply on the basis of friendship. Some form of legal understanding needs to exist in order for each person to know what to expect from the partnership as well as to keep each party accountable. Therefore, you may wish to consider creating a partnership agreement.
Legal contract
A partnership agreement acts as a legal contract, which means that any partner who breaches its terms can be held liable. You may think that you do not need this type of contract because you trust your partners and feel confident in their abilities and attitudes. However, personalities, relationships and numerous other factors can change over time. Therefore, it may prove wise to safeguard your company through legal means rather than risk having a friendship falling out resulting in business damages.
Mechanic's lien can be complex but effective
In your business, you can't take for granted timely payment. When you have employees, suppliers and you own bills to pay, waiting for a contractor or property owner to compensate you for the work you have finished can be frustrating and damaging to your business. You may know that you have the right to file a mechanic's lien if a customer doesn't pay within a certain amount of time. However, the process may seem complicated and time-consuming.
That's because it is. Nevertheless, a mechanic's lien may be your best advantage to getting payment that you deserve for the work you have done. While you may be able to access online services to attempt to file a lien, the complex nature of the process means you are taking risks with your company that you may not be able to afford.
Providing preliminary notice
If you are a contractor or subcontractor who has not received payment for work you did on a construction project, you have every right to pursue payment through any legal means. A mechanic's lien is an assurance of that payment. However, the lien must be filed properly, meet all deadlines and coincide with the laws of the region in which the project exists. Since each state has its own laws, seeking professional assistance is always a wise decision.
Could your business benefit from a non-compete agreement?
Having a valued team can help any business successfully go through its daily operations and work to meet future goals. Of course, as the business owner, you want to ensure that any team members you have will protect important company information and not damage business operations should they choose to leave the company. Though this task may seem difficult, you may have the ability to create safeguards.
In particular, you may want to ensure that any business competitors cannot obtain business information from your company should a former employee of yours choose to work for a similar company. As a result, you may choose to create a non-compete agreement in hopes of protecting your company's best interests.
What is a non-compete agreement?
A non-compete agreement is a type of contract that dictates that, when an employee leaves the company, he or she cannot obtain employment by a competitor. Of course, these types of agreements need to have specific details, as you cannot simply bar an individual from gaining employment in certain areas or from certain companies forever. Therefore, your agreement must meet legal standards, including:
Make no dispute: Contract disagreements can hurt your bottom line
As a Texas business owner, you likely use contracts as an integral part of your overall business structure and regular transactions. From the signed agreements you may have with your employees to deals you set in writing with other companies, signing your name on the dotted line is probably quite familiar to you. Hopefully, you know enough about contracts to understand their importance in relation to your bottom line interests. Put another way, contracts gone bad can do a lot of damage to your business.
Therefore, like most savvy business owners, you do your best to make sure you clearly understand all terminology, obligations and responsibilities contained within a proposed agreement before you add your signature. Even then, problems may arise down the line that bring the validity of a certain deal into question. This is where a notary public can be a great asset.
A notarized contract is a solid contract
Important HR needs in your business
As your business continues to grow and you hire more employees, you are likely finding yourself taking on more roles within the business, particularly the role of the human resources representative. Whether you hire someone for this position or manage the department yourself, much of what HR does is preventative, from the interview process through the completion of separation surveys.
It may seem overwhelming, but through HR proactivity, your employees know their rights and responsibilities, and you have clear guidelines within which to act. Therefore, it may benefit you to take a close look at your HR department to ensure there are no gaps or oversights that may come back to bite you in the event of a dispute or accusation.
Handling handbook issues
Your employees may frequently overstep their boundaries if they are unsure of where you have set those boundaries. This is why an employee handbook is a vital tool for a business, no matter how few employees you have. Business advocates recommend a frequent review of the policies and rules in your handbook to keep it current with any changes in the laws or expectations within the company. Some important features you will find in successful employee handbooks include:
What mediation can do for your small business
If you own and operate your small business for any length of time, you will more than likely end up in a dispute with another business, a vendor or a customer. In many cases, the dispute can be resolved with minimum fuss.
In other cases, however, the dispute seems to only grow and fester. You or the other party involved may begin talking about litigation as a way to resolve the issue. Fortunately, there is another option that could work out better for all of the parties involved: mediation.
The highlights of mediation
When you participate in mediation, you agree to allow a neutral third party to help guide you through negotiations. Each party receives the opportunity to present his or her side of the story. Thereafter, both parties and the mediator propose options for resolution. The mediator keeps both sides on track and can provide potential solutions.
When you and the other party reach an agreement, a settlement memorializes your agreement. Because each side listened to the other and had input into the agreement, satisfaction is often higher than through litigation. If any similar issues come up between the parties in the future, a foundation of cooperation and compromise already exists.
How important is your business model?
In Texas and throughout the nation, entrepreneurship is the wave of the future. In fact, many people are choosing to forgo post-secondary education in favor of stepping right out into the deep to give their business-related dreams a try. Some people are better prepared to launch such ventures than others. Creating a successful business may be your current dream, or, are you one of the lucky ones who has already brought your dream to fruition? Either way, you're likely familiar with the topic of choosing a business model.
If someone asked you to rate choosing a business model on a scale of importance with one being insignificant and unnecessary and 10 being absolutely crucial to entrepreneurial success, how would you score it? Hopefully, it would score high.
The bottom line
Many entrepreneurs love the challenge of creating and building new companies. Others aren't so crazy about the start-up process but really enjoy maintaining a business, interacting with clients and providing products and/or services after a business is established. Perhaps, you like both processes and can relate to most other business owners who focus on making money as an ultimate goal. The following business model ideas may help you forge a path to productivity and profit:
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817-645-1717
