3 Ways Hiring A Lawyer Can Help You Make More Money
As I sit with my laptop typing this post, my little girl is sleeping next to me.
She is a large part of my motivation to create a successful business. But she’s not my only motivation. I want to take care of my husband, mother, sister, in-laws, nieces and nephew as well. I also want to take care of my community at large specifically by investing in education in predominately minority neighborhoods and women entrepreneurs in the U.S. and abroad.
It turns out that I am not alone.More often than not, when a woman creates a successful business, her entire community benefits. This is because women invest 90% of their income in their families and communities. We spend our income on things like food, healthcare, improving our homes and education for ourselves and our children. Women entrepreneurship is incredibly important to the economic well being of the world.Unfortunately, most women-owned businesses struggle financially. “Women-owned businesses represent nearly 50% of privately held companies in the U.S., however, three quarters of these businesses are not able to grow their businesses past $50,000 in annual gross revenue.” There are several reasons for this.The two biggest ones are that women often do not have access to financing and that women business owners see themselves as “chief multi-tasker” instead of Chief Executive Officer.Both of these problems can be solved if women entrepreneurs take care of the legal needs of their businesses.Having a trusted lawyer means women entrepreneurs can take advantage of opportunities to grow their business and can protect their revenue streams.
3 Ways Having a Trusted Lawyer Helps You Earn More Money
1. Having a lawyer means you can take advantage of opportunities to work with others.Whether its entering into a joint venture or hiring an independent contractor, having a lawyer means that you can confidently partner with other business owners and professionals to expand your reach and income without giving up control and with minimal risk for unpredictable outcomes.2. Having a lawyer means you can position your company to obtain financing. Having a proper legal entity, good corporate records and registered intellectual property is often essential if you want to obtain outside financing to fund your company’s growth. A trusted lawyer can guide you in handling these legal needs to get on the path to funding.3. Handling your own legal needs can be a major time suck (and lead to disastrous results). There are a very limited number of legal needs that entrepreneurs can successfully handle on their own. But as my friend Charlie Gilkey always says, “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.”The time and energy it may take you to set up a business entity or attempt to put together a meaningful contract is often not worth it when you could be doing the things you do best and that make you money.Plus, how do you know if creating that LLC is actually right for your business? The real value of having an attorney is not drafting contracts or other legal documents. The real value is in the experience and education of the attorney that allows them to provide you with much needed legal advice.
But How Can You Afford an Attorney?
Its one thing to know that your business has a better chance of thriving if you have a lawyer on your team.It's another to actually come up with the money to pay a lawyer.It's no secret that lawyers tend to be expensive, especially for a bootstrapping business. However, there are innovative lawyers (many of them are moms like you and me) using creative methods to provide accessible legal counsel for businesses from monthly payment plans for a package of services to assisted DIY.So don’t sell yourself or your business short. Once your business is generating revenue, supporting you, your family and your community at large, you and your business deserve to be protected. Don’t risk losing all or even some of your hard work, creativity and money.Your business deserves better than that.Rachel Rodgers is a work-at-home-lawyer-mom, wife, novice baker and lover of all things French who always finds creative ways to take care of the legal needs of entrepreneurs such as her upcoming workshop, The Online Entrepreneurs Non-Confusing Guide to Business Law.