The [Legal] Essentials

Hello again, and welcome back to the Business Discussion board. I found an article on blogher.com that offered some helpful insight every small business owner needs to know. And that's the legal side of things. Let's take a look...

Get your entity established
Setting up your business as an LLC or corporation creates separation between you personally and the business. Even though it's yours, you still want to get this done for future protection. "That’s going to protect your assets from any kind of liability that comes with your business and vice versa in that it will also protect your business from any kind of liability that would come at you personally.”

Insurance
Super important but can easily be forgotten. There are several types of business insurances out there for you to choose from. Each option is designed to protect something different and specific risks. Out of the variety, liability insurance is the most common for small businesses to purchase first. "This type of insurance covers your obligations and legal defense for accidents, injuries, and negligence. Contrary to popular belief, home-based businesses need liability insurance because homeowners’ policies do not protect against business liability risks. Other types to consider are professional liability and product liability insurance."

Trademarks
Did you know that after you set up an LLC or corporation, you only get name-brand protection in the state you incorporated in? Yeah, me either! That's where trademarks come it! In this day and age, there's a much larger digital presence for even small business brands to have cross-country clientele. A trademark protects your brand name globally. "...it would be terrible to put your time, effort and resources into this brand, only to find out someone else has the name trademarked and now they’re coming at you because you unintentionally used the same name and now you’re stuck rebranding."

Invest in an accountant
Having an accountant check the numbers for you is a safety net for your business. This also diverts some of the bookkeeping tasks to someone else, so you have more time to dedicate to your brand! There are also some great accounting tools out there. Have you heard of QuickBooks by chance? ;) How about a ProAdvisor?

Here's the full article with even more helpful legal info for small businesses. What's your best tip to cover your business legally? Let's talk about it in the comments below! Have a great weekend!