Legal Essentials for Your Small Business

As a small business or freelancer, it is often very difficult to understand all of the legal essentials for our businesses, so we brought in local expert, Demetrius Robinson to help us really understand the ins and outs of the three legal matters that should be top of mind when growing your business. Here’s the recap from this personalized event.

3 Legal Matters That Should be Top of Mind 

• Contracts (all those agreements…)

  • There are 7 types of legal structures with pros and cons for each. Bottom line, registering the proper paperwork to limit your liability is a good first step and is a worthwhile exercise to get the right protection! 

  • To template or not to template? Sometimes, like when the agreement is of low value, templated agreements can do the job. However, these templated agreements will not be specific to you/your business. At a minimum, pay attention to key considerations in the contract such as duration, renewability, payment terms, termination, representations and warranties, and remedies.

• Relationships (contractors vs employees)

  • As your business grows, you may need to add employees. It is important to think about the actions of these employees and how they could impact your business.

  • First, you’ll need to determine whether these hires should be an independent contractor or an actual employee. There are specific requirements for each and it is worth it to consult a professional to set you up correctly from the start. 

• Taxes (tax prep, and changes to consider)

  • As you can imagine, there are so many changes that take place at the federal, state, and local level that you want to ensure you either stay up to date on all of them, or hire someone like Demetrius with a tax law background to have your back.

  • At the event, we spent a lot of time here talking about everything from changes in client entertainment write-offs to the depreciation of assets; far too much to recap here.

One last note here on compliance that we don’t want to forget mentioning: This is a cost that many small business owners don’t take into consideration! Taking the time to ensure that you are following all legal and regulatory standards can save you time and money in the long run. This can mean everything from proper record keeping to operating based on the regulations specific to your industries.

All that to say, make sure you do what’s absolutely best for your small business when it comes to legal considerations. This is certainly not the area to skimp on or wait until later to handle. Demetrius is a trusted resource, and there are others out there that are ready to be your partner as you grow your business. We encourage you to seek them out.