When launching a new startup, you can face significant business and legal challenges. We have seen plenty of legal mistakes made by entrepreneurs and startup companies. The following are some of the more common and problematic legal mistakes made by small and growing companies. These mistakes are made at the initial formation of the business, in the early stages of growth, and when dealing with employees.
Legal mistake #1: Not making the deal clear with co-founders
Running your own business can feel like it’s you against the world. Especially in the early days.
However, no one has to fly solo. Help is out there and it’s just a matter of knowing where to find it.
Cultivated properly and nurtured frequently, business mentors and friends can turn into some of the biggest assets you have, outside of your own staff. Their guidance, ideas and counsel can help your business grow and turn you into a better leader.
Here are some tips that have worked for me:
Our client, Megan Hyman, opened her dog daycare, grooming and boarding facility in 2013. She took a huge bet on herself in which she wagered an inheritance to pursue her desire for a new future. Nearly two years in, she’s winning, but not without some serious challenges that we went through together.
In this video she discusses the difficulty of finding the right location and how she got out of her own way to fill her business with enthusiastic clients.
Crowdfunding used to be pretty simple. Artists, inventors, and filmmakers posted their ideas, and funders chipped in a few bucks to make something happen. Kickstarter, the site that triggered the crowdfunding movement, was the cornerstone. In three years, the site has helped launch more than 95,000 projects.
Today, there are scores of crowdfunding sites. Indiegogo, Bolstr, Fundable–the list goes on. With the SEC poised to allow projects to offer equity, crowdfunding has the potential to revolutionize how entrepreneurs raise money. (For now, you have to offer some kind of reward in exchange for donations.)
But all sites are not created equal. Some specialize in nonprofits, or in certain types of products; others offer consulting services in addition to sourcing funding. In an increasingly crowded and complicated marketplace, where should you turn to fund your endeavor? Follow our map.
I was born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, and grew up during World War II. Dad sent us to a farm on the outskirts of Maribor to be away from the city bombings, and he went to Austria to make arrangements for us to move.But with the war ending, he was unable to get back.
When I was 9, my mother wanted to escape Yugoslavia to reunite with my father. So in 1945 she paid a man to take me across the border to Austria, but we were caught. He was arrested, and I was released. My mother, sister, and I tried again several days later but could not get anyone to take all three of us.
So she paid another man to take me across, but he only took me part of the way. He told me to stay on the road until I came to the house at the top of the mountain. There was only one house visible in the distance, and I walked and ran toward it. It was getting dark, and I was scared. I could hear voices and several gunshots. Inside that house my father waited for me. My mother and younger sister followed months later.
Back then I had only two dresses to wear to school, and they got shorter and shorter as I grew. I hated feeling out of place and really wanted to have clothes that fit and were appropriate. Having a limited wardrobe, I always dreamed of clothes.
Nearly half of all adults have worked in the restaurant industry at some point, and 46 percent of restaurant employees say they would like to own a restaurant someday.
Clearly many people dream of owning a restaurant. No one dreams of owning a failed restaurant, though.
That’s why I asked Tyson Cole, one of the Food &Wine magazine’s 2005 Best New Chefs, 2011 James Beard Foundation Best Chef Southwest, and co-owner of the Japanese restaurants Uchi and Uchiko in Austin, Texas, for tips for would-be restaurateurs.
Just keep in mind Cole’s background is varied, extensive–and unusual.He quit one job after he was told he couldn’t make sushi because he was white; he was rehired two days later but told he had to work in the back where guests couldn’t see him. He was also fired for giving a guest a free dessert; he was rehired when the manager found out the guest was Denzel Washington.
Heres what he says, in his own words, about how to start a successful restaurant:
These are our clients. The
y rock!
They started their planning with us a little under a year ago and they’re open and thriving.
They are located at 4861 Main St. in Yorba Linda. Check them out.
Dispatches From The Front 