Hi, my name is Gary King business mentor, discussing why you shouldn’t skip the legals.
If I rewind to the beginning when I started out in business, I’m like many other small business owners. I couldn’t afford or justify why I need to spend hundreds of pounds on putting in contracts for clients. I just didn’t think I needed all the legals because everything was done on trust.
When I got about two years into my business, a contract that I was working on went sour. This was not due to anything I didn’t do, but the client changed their mind and it left me high and dry. Because I did not have any contract in place with the client, I learned from that mistake.
I really want to share this with you to stop you making the same mistakes. This could be a set of T&C’s with an employee. It could be having some paperwork in place with a subcontractor or a service provider, a partner or somebody that you collaborate with. Even a shareholders agreement, if there’s more than one of you running and owning the business.
It could be terms and conditions of just doing business with your clients. Whatever it is, you need terms and conditions. With all the best will in the world, somebody at some point, at some time out there is going to abuse that and you’re going to need some way of getting some kind of comeback.
Now, sometimes you might not enforce them, but I think sending T&C’s out with an engagement letter with a client. Having T&C’s when you take staff or a new partner with people in your network actually sets a professional tone. And if you don’t get the T&C’s and the contracts and the paperwork in place, it can cost you thousands if not tens of thousands of pounds further down the line.
So, take the time to invest in the right legal support. Get the right paperwork in place to set a professional tone, and hopefully, it will save you five to ten times the amount that you invest in the future.
I hope that’s been of value. Take care for now.
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