20 – Best Practices

Regardless of your business structure or the other legal waters you’ll need to navigate, all businesses will benefit from a few simple things.

Keep your personal and business expenses separate.  Even if you are a sole proprietor, open a separate bank account and/or credit card for your business.  Put all the money you make from the business into the account and pay for business expenses out of the account.  If you want to pay yourself, pay a stipend or salary from your business account as you are able.  Separate accounts make it easier to track the money and will keep you out of trouble.

Have any contracts or partnership agreements reviewed by a lawyer.  Even if you think you got it right, make sure you know both your risks and your obligations before entering into a partnership or legal agreement.  You may have missed something, and it’s best to be totally clear at the start.  Also before signing any documents, make sure you’re clear as to whether you’re signing as yourself or as a representative of the business.  If you haven’t formed your business entity yet, make a provision in the document that allows you to assign the agreement to your future business.

Seek legal advice.  Talk with a lawyer, or better yet, bring one onto your team as a trusted advisor.  Make sure you taken all the necessary legal action.  A little time and money up front is better than a lot of time and money later.

Set a calendar.  Keep track of what needs to be filed with the government and when by putting it on your calendar so you don’t forget.  Use reminder features and alerts to make sure you have plenty of time to prepare.