Are you fully equipped for business?

When you are running a business, disputes of any kind – whether they involve staff, clients or suppliers – are very costly both in time and money.

Oglethorpe, Sturton and Gillibrand Partner Andrew Royce, a key member of the practice’s Commercial Team, is an expert in providing sound, legal advice to SMEs.

Andrew has developed a special business toolkit to help you ensure you have the appropriate structure in place to enable you to avoid such pitfalls.

“This smart approach, which puts all the basic foundations in place, will prevent disputes, minimise costs and prevent damage to relationships,” says Andrew. “Now, more than ever, it is important to have the appropriate tools working for you so you can enjoy peace of mind and get on with running your business.”

Andrew poses a few carefully chosen questions which generate some real food for thought….

•   Terms & Conditions – what are you providing or getting and how? If something goes wrong and you can’t fix it with your customer or supplier you want to be in the best position. If so, you need appropriate terms and conditions to use to do business with your customers and suppliers.

•   Employment Contracts – are your team on appropriate employment contracts? Are they the bare minimum terms or do they cover important issues such as confidentiality and competition with you when they leave? Have you locked in key employees with the right package?

•   Arrangements to cover how, in the event of co-owned businesses, and when one of you can sell or retire. Have you thought about how the process is going to be funded and managed? What if one of you becomes ill do you have insurance to provide funds to buy that person out of his interest in the business?

•   Exit strategies - do you have a plan for collecting on all your hard work? Are you going to sell to an outsider, or the current management? Have you organised the business in a way that makes it most attractive to buy and easiest to sell?
 

To determine what your business needs, please contact Andrew Royce on 01524 846846 for further details.