All of us as entrepreneurs had to start somewhere. It may be fresh in some of our memories but for others, merely a distant reminder.
I often say – I wish small businesses, or those starting out in business, would consider the importance of appointing an attorney and a financial expert right from the start. These are often seen as unaffordable and, therefore, the appointments postponed to the detriment of the person concerned.
So, what do we hope start ups and SME’s will realise … well that their two main aims, and appointing a legal and financial expert soon, are directly related. You see the two foremost reasons put forward for business failures are; lack of access to markets and no access to funding. If we explore this deeper – in many cases businesses wait until it is almost too late before they apply for funding. Then, in addition to a cash flow issue, they also realise that structurally and legally there are many aspects that still need to be addressed. At this point, it becomes impossible to deal with all of these.
Similarly, approaching a large client or corporate to do profitable work, means you must have the capacity and you need structure and paperwork on your side. Again, if you don’t have this, you may end up spending a lot of time pursuing potential leads just to find out that you are repeatedly unsuccessful because from the client’s perspective you are perceived as a risk. The fact is a small business that has no governance and decision-making structures, or crucial agreements in place is perceived as a risk.
It is for this, among other reasons, that at SchoemanLaw Inc we will be launching the SME Self Service Desk on 1 December 2017. All the documents have been hand crafted by a team of experts who focus on serving the needs of entrepreneurs, and therefore, the user will enjoy all the benefits of a professionally constructed legal document or agreement without the expensive price tag. For more information: https://www.schoemanlaw.co.za/online-legal-services/