Alexis Walker
When you’re an aspiring entrepreneur, there’s only one thing on your mind: getting your product or service into the hands of the people who want it. This kind of tunnel vision has powered many large businesses and helped propel them to household name status. However, it’s also something that has proven fatal to just as many businesses. As with any line of work, you need to slow down and look at the legal aspects of your work before you actually get down to it. For this, you’ll need the help of a solicitor. There are a bunch of reasons you will want a solicitor, emphasized below.
Partner disagreements
While a single person is often the innovative founder of a business, having more than one founder or idea-person isn’t at all unlikely in the business world. In the beginning, cooperating and making deals with your partners is an easy task. As the business grows, it’s likely that you will run into some disagreements with your partner or partners. This is a recipe for disaster and endless litigation if you don’t take measures to prevent disagreements.
If everyone agrees on a single concept or way to run a business, this should be put on paper. You don’t want to see creative differences pop up as you start seeing greater successes. More importantly, you need partnership agreements. When it comes to profit sharing and equity splits, shaking hands and making promises isn’t going to be enough. You need to put everything into writing and consult a solicitor to help you reach an agreement. This way, there won’t be any legal disputes and unnecessary litigation.
Worker hires
Hiring people for a job sounds pretty simple in theory. You give them a job, they get to work, and you pay them as per agreement. However, in practice, it’s a lot more complicated than that. You need lots of legal paperwork to make sure that these individuals are eligible to work and get paid.
Before you even start hiring employees, you have to get an Employee Identification Number from the Australian government. Employees might have working contracts with other businesses that prevent them from getting a job in your company. This is something worth considering as well, so conduct thorough legal background checks. In order to fully run your due diligence, you need the assistance of a legal expert that will be able to do the searching and acquire the necessary paperwork.
Protecting ideas
Even if you have a concrete idea that everyone agrees with, you’re not out of trouble just yet. You have to make sure the idea stays yours, and protect it from those who would make fake copies of your products or services. This is the general gist of patents that we’re all familiar with.
Patenting something on your own accord is pretty difficult and time-consuming. Just about every Australian business will simply look for quality solicitors in Tamworth and let them handle the legal elements of the patenting process instead. This leaves the creative process and proof of concept to you. It’s a very complex, but necessary part of starting a business. Consider applying for it as soon as possible, lest you want to lose your idea because someone else copied it.
Regulatory insight
Some businesses are easier to run than others. If your startup designs T-shirts or creates art, you’ll find that there will be very few legal hurdles to jump to allow you to start your business. Other markets are a bit less fortunate in this regard.
If your business deals with food, for example, there will be a whole bunch of regulations that you have to adhere to in order to even think about starting your business. This serves a greater purpose, as nobody wants to be harmed by the food they consume, but it’s still an enormous hassle for those who are running the company.
Many industries include dozens, if not hundreds of different kinds of paperwork for companies to file and submit. Finding all these government regulations and adhering to them is a nightmarish challenge for a beginner business owner. Even with a background in legal studies, you’ll find it difficult without specialized knowledge. This is why businesses often let lawyers handle the difficult parts. It’s a lot simpler than trying to find everything on your own.
Conclusion
To summarize, there are quite a few steps in starting a business that requires the backing of legal counsel. Without someone to do the necessary research and fill out the forms, there’s always a risk of you missing something that is absolutely crucial. These situations should be avoided at all costs, as they could have you lose business in the most inopportune of moments. Keep this in mind when handling the beginning fo your startup, and try to find the legal counsel that you require.
