Running a small business comes with its fair share of challenges. As a business owner, you’re juggling multiple roles, from marketing to operations to finances. But one area that often gets overlooked until it’s too late is the legal side of things. Having a skilled business attorney by your side can help you navigate legal complexities and prevent costly mistakes. Below are 17 common pain points small business owners face and how a business attorney can assist.

Business Owner Common Pain Points

1. Starting a Business

Pain Point: Deciding on the best business structure (LLC, Corporation, Sole Proprietorship) can be confusing.
How a Business Attorney Can Help: An attorney can advise you on the most suitable structure for your business based on factors like liability protection and long-term goals, ensuring you’re set up for success. This decision should also be in consultation with your tax advisor.

2. Drafting Contracts

Pain Point: Knowing how to create clear, legally binding contracts is often a mystery for small business owners.
How a Business Attorney Can Help: A business attorney can draft, review, and negotiate contracts to protect your interests and prevent disputes down the road.

3. Intellectual Property Protection

Pain Point: Understanding how to protect your intellectual property, such as trademarks, copyrights, or patents, can be overwhelming.
How a Business Attorney Can Help: An attorney can help you secure patents, trademarks, and copyrights, ensuring your intellectual property is protected and you’re not exposed to infringement.

4. Employment Law Compliance

Pain Point: The complexities of labor laws can be daunting, especially when hiring or firing employees.
How a Business Attorney Can Help: A business attorney ensures that your practices comply with labor laws and helps with employment disputes.

5. Dispute Resolution

Pain Point: Conflicts with customers, clients, or employees can disrupt your business.
How a Business Attorney Can Help: Whether through mediation, arbitration, or litigation, an attorney can help resolve disputes efficiently while protecting your business relationships.

6. Protecting Personal Assets

Pain Point: Small business owners worry about personal assets being at risk from business debts or lawsuits.
How a Business Attorney Can Help: By consulting with you on business structures like LLCs, and ongoing corporate compliance, a business attorney advises you on steps to take to protect your personal assets from liabilities incurred by the business.

7. Regulatory Compliance

Pain Point: Navigating through local, state, and federal regulations can be overwhelming.
How a Business Attorney Can Help: A business attorney can guide you through the regulatory landscape specific to your industry, ensuring compliance and helping you avoid penalties or fines.

8. Drafting or Reviewing Leases

Pain Point: Commercial leases can be tricky, and many business owners don’t understand the terms.
How a Business Attorney Can Help: An attorney can review and negotiate lease agreements, ensuring that terms are favorable, including renewal clauses, rent increases, and maintenance responsibilities.

9. Business Sale or Merger

Pain Point: Selling a business or merging with another company can feel like a complicated process.
How a Business Attorney Can Help: A business attorney can guide you through the sale or merger process, structure the deal, draft necessary agreements, and work with your tax advisor to ensure the deal is tax efficient.

10. Debt Management & Collection

Pain Point: Struggling with unpaid client invoices or business debt is a common issue.
How a Business Attorney Can Help: A business attorney can draft clear payment terms, assist in collections, or help you pursue legal action to recover overdue payments.

11. Franchise Agreements

Pain Point: Franchise agreements are often confusing and require careful attention to detail.
How a Business Attorney Can Help: An attorney can review or negotiate franchise agreements, ensuring that the terms are favorable and that your rights are protected before you commit.

12. Privacy and Data Protection

Pain Point: With the rise of data breaches, protecting customer data is a top concern.
How a Business Attorney Can Help: A business attorney can ensure you’re compliant with privacy laws (e.g., GDPR, CCPA) and help create policies to protect your customers’ sensitive information.

13. Non-Compete Agreements

Pain Point: The fear of employees leaving and starting competing businesses can be troubling.
How a Business Attorney Can Help: A business attorney can help you draft enforceable non-compete clauses to protect your business from unfair competition.

14. Product Liability

Pain Point: Concern about lawsuits or claims related to product defects can cause anxiety.
How a Business Attorney Can Help: A business attorney can review product safety protocols, draft liability waivers, and help mitigate risks related to product defects.

15. Shareholder Disputes

Pain Point: Disagreements with business partners or shareholders can disrupt operations.
How a Business Attorney Can Help: A business attorney can draft shareholder agreements and help resolve disputes to prevent conflicts from escalating and affecting the business.

16. Succession Planning

Pain Point: Business owners often worry about what will happen to their business if something unexpected occurs.
How a Business Attorney Can Help: A business attorney can help you create a clear succession plan to ensure the future of your business is secure in the event of death or incapacity.

17. Exit Strategy

Pain Point: Knowing when and how to exit your business is a major concern.
How a Business Attorney Can Help: A business attorney can help you structure an exit strategy, whether it’s selling, transferring ownership, or winding down the business.

Conclusion

As a small business owner, it’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day operations of running your business. However, ignoring legal considerations can lead to unnecessary risks and complications. By partnering with a skilled business attorney, you can tackle these  pain points head-on, ensuring your business remains compliant, protected, and positioned for growth. With the right legal guidance, you can focus on what you do best—growing your business!

#businessattorney #buysellagreements #partnerships #llc #corporations #franchiseagreements #contracts #startups

The post 17 Pain Points Small Business Owners Face and How a Business Attorney Can Help first appeared on Jamie Miller Law | Tulsa Business Lawyer.

• Legal advice while your business is temporarily closed
• Help with restructuring amid the current climate
• Online mediation and arbitration to settle a dispute outside of the closed court systems
• Proactive estate planning

I would like to discuss these ideas with you if you’re interested in filling your downtime with a little legal due diligence.

Contact me or schedule an appointment online to learn more!

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The information contained in this video is not specific legal advice. Watching this video does not establish an attorney-client relationship. If you are seeking specific legal advice, please feel free to call me or schedule an appointment online.

The post Legal ‘To Do’ List? I Can Help! | Video first appeared on Jamie Miller Law | Tulsa Business Lawyer.

• What if you viewed your attorney differently?
• What if your attorney was your legal partner, helping you to prevent or mitigate risks in your business?
• What if your attorney knew your business, employees and was available to you to help navigate ongoing business decisions?

I would like to discuss these ideas with you if you’re interested in gaining a partner in the legal field.

Contact me or schedule an appointment online to learn more!

Click here to watch this video on Vimeo!

The information contained in this video is not specific legal advice. Watching this video does not establish an attorney-client relationship. If you are seeking specific legal advice, please feel free to call me or schedule an appointment online.

The post Attorney-Client Relationship | Video first appeared on Jamie Miller Law | Tulsa Business Lawyer.

Click here to watch this video on Vimeo!

The information contained in this video is not specific legal advice. Watching this video does not establish an attorney-client relationship. If you are seeking specific legal advice, please feel free to call me or schedule an appointment online.

The post J. Miller Law Firm Introduction | Video first appeared on Jamie Miller Law | Tulsa Business Lawyer.

Forming a Business Partnership: Hire An Attorney

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The information contained in this video is not specific legal advice. Watching this video does not establish an attorney-client relationship. If you are seeking specific legal advice, please feel free to call me or schedule an appointment online.

The post Business Partnership | Video first appeared on Jamie Miller Law | Tulsa Business Lawyer.

Cover Your New Business Bases: Hire A Business Attorney

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The information contained in this video is not specific legal advice. Watching this video does not establish an attorney-client relationship. If you are seeking specific legal advice, please feel free to call me or schedule an appointment online.

The post Why You Should Hire a Business Attorney | Video first appeared on Jamie Miller Law | Tulsa Business Lawyer.

Estate Planning is NOT a DIY Project

Estate Planning is more than a set of documents or a series of forms that can be checked off to create a document. Estate Planning is the process of deciding who is going to manage your affairs, and how those affairs will be handled. This can include everything from money/accounts, real property, mineral interests, business interests, to personal items that maybe don’t have a monetary value but certainly have sentimental value and can be a source of conflict after you are gone. It can also include deciding on guardians for minors, as well as other financial and healthcare decisions prior to a death that will have an impact on your assets after death. 

Estate planning decisions are not a one size fits all approach.

These are all decisions that can certainly benefit from legal advice. Estate planning decisions are not a one size fits all approach, and the decisions you make will depend on a number of factors, including your goals. Here are a few common concerns I have seen that go into making decisions on estate planning:

• Avoiding probate
• Privacy and making things easier for family
• Blended family questions
• Keeping real property in the family
• Distributing personal items to the right people
• Disinheriting a child
• Creditor concerns and asset protection
• Planning for end of life care/costs
• Providing for children or grandchildren at different time intervals or according to milestones

Unfortunately, I have seen too many DIY options brought to me after the fact that are either not valid, not complete, not understood by the client, or plans that don’t accomplish the client’s actual goals. I have also seen clients create a revocable trust many years ago, but never took steps to fund (transfer assets into) the trust, so a probate is still needed after death, and family members are then left frustrated at the time and expense of a probate.

When creating your estate plan, it is important to work with someone to discuss the pros and cons of different options, be able to ask questions, understand what you are signing, and what follow up steps may be needed to carry out your plans.

There are a lot of misconceptions and misinformation in the general public and online about estate planning and about probate. These are some of the most important decisions you can make. I hope you take that into consideration when deciding on your next steps, and if I can help you with that process, I would love to hear from you.

Online scheduling is now an option for clients to schedule an appointment. The link to schedule that is HERE. Please note that I don’t always update it in real-time, so if you are looking for an appointment time and can’t find one, please call me or send me an email and we’ll get you on the calendar.

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If you have ever dreamed of starting a business or buying an existing business, I would encourage you to do so but think it through carefully, and start it the right way. By starting it the right way, I mean don’t shortcut the steps you need to take. Starting a business from scratch, or buying an existing business are important decisions, and missing steps or making decisions you later regret can have serious legal and tax consequences.

Steps to Consider if you are Starting a Business

Create a thorough business plan AND budget

Having a thorough business plan (and budget) in place is something that often gets overlooked in the initial excitement. I am also a mentor and subject matter expert for SCORE in Tulsa, and there are free resources for business plans available through SCORE, as well as other entities. Just like with anything else though – don’t use just anything you find on the internet. These decisions are too important to take lightly. A link to SCORE business planning resources can be found here:  https://www.score.org/business-plans-startup-assistance-resources. 

Decide how you will structure your business

You also need to decide on a formalized structure for your business, such as a corporation or a limited liability company. This is a conversation I would encourage you to have with an attorney as well as your tax advisor, working together. The Secretary of State website is a great place to start for resources/forms, but submitting that filing is not the end of the process. Depending on the structure you choose, you will also want to have governing documents professionally drafted, such as an operating agreement, partnership agreement, or bylaws, as well as buy-sell agreements if there are multiple owners. 

File for licenses or permits

Depending on the type of business, there may be licenses or permits needed, as well as additional registrations for tax purposes, such as the Oklahoma Tax Commission if you will be selling taxable goods and/or services. 

Hire employees or contract independent vendors

The conversation about employees versus independent contractors is also important, and there are many factors that go into that decision. Misclassifying workers as contractors when they are actually employees can have serious consequences. Again, consult with an attorney about these issues, and your tax professional should be in the loop as well.

Draft contracts for vendors, clients, customers, contractors, and employees

Every business needs solid written contracts in place. These may be contracts with vendors, clients, customers, contractors, and occasionally employees. It is often less expensive for preventative legal services such as contract drafting and negotiation than trying to fix a bad contract later or litigate it after there is a problem.

These are just a few of the steps involved in starting a business.  Having a solid business plan in place, as well as professionals to guide you through the process can help to make it manageable and get you up and running smoothly. 

If I can help you with starting a business 2020, I would love to hear from you!  To schedule a consultation:  918-938-1322 or jamie@jmillerlawfirmpllc.com.

The post Starting a Business in 2020 first appeared on Jamie Miller Law | Tulsa Business Lawyer.

If you have heard of Small Business Saturday, you might perceive it as something for only businesses who sell products or have a storefront, or just about holiday shopping, or just for businesses who accept certain credit cards. For me it is really a reminder of how important small businesses are to our communities – regardless of if you offer products or professional services, or if you have a brick and mortar business, or an online presence. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, over half of Americans own or work for a small business, and small businesses are responsible for approximately two-thirds of new jobs annually. 

I work with business owner clients as well as SCORE Mentees of all sizes and while the challenges may differ in scope, there are a lot of similarities. How do you, as a business owner, provide the best services or products in the most cost-effective way to prevent or minimize legal risks? It starts with business formation. I see far too many businesses who either don’t formalize their business structure, or who take only the minimal steps. There is more to the decision than just deciding on whether to be a limited liability corporation (LLC), a corporation, or a partnership. The details of how your form your business, including the associated documents and how you structure your business are critical, and should not be left to a do it yourself solution or a form found on the internet. 

Another often overlooked component of business formation is business succession, which is planning for what happens to your business beyond you. This should include planning for the potential sale of your business, including a buy-sell agreement with a business partner. The best time to create a buy-sell agreement is up front when you are forming the business, instead of waiting for a potential disagreement down the road and then trying to decide on the terms. Business succession planning also means including your business as part of your estate planning. Your business is an asset and should be considered when creating and revising your estate planning documents such as your Will or Trust.

Once your business is up and running, there should be written contracts in place for all transactions – with customers, clients, vendors, and any other person or business where there is an exchange of money or services. A well-written contract can save time, money, and headaches later. It is usually far less expensive to prevent a problem than to resolve it later, and that includes contract drafting, review, and negotiation.

If you do have a disagreement with a customer, client, employee, or other party to a contract, it may be possible to resolve without court intervention. Mediation and alternative dispute resolution can be an option for parties to come to an agreement.

One of the other things I enjoy about working with business owners is they frequently give back to their communities. This can be through supporting other local businesses, chambers of commerce, schools, sports teams, charities, foundations, and so on. The new business owner with a smaller marketing budget may be able to give his or her time to volunteer for organizations.

This November also happens to be my five-year business anniversary. I’ll be celebrating Small Business Saturday this November 30^th, and all year long. If I can help you with your business legal needs, I look forward to speaking with you and supporting your goals. Feel free to schedule an appointment or contact me for further information.

https://www.sba.gov/about-sba/organization/sba-initiatives#section-header-0

The post Small Business Saturday – It’s For Everyone first appeared on Jamie Miller Law | Tulsa Business Lawyer.

I often work with clients as well as #SCORE mentees who are starting businesses or buying an existing business, and one thing that is often overlooked at that stage is what do they want to happen to the business if something happens to them? This question gets more complicated if you are in a business with one or more partners, particularly if that person is not your spouse, or if that spouse is not regularly engaged in the business. If you are not careful, you could easily find yourself in business with a former partner’s spouse or their estate. That is probably not the plan you envisioned for running your business.

Another issue is if you are in a specialized industry or one that requires a license such as attorney, certified public accountant, doctor, insurance agent, realtor, etc. – there may be restrictions on who can take over your business affairs if you cannot.

Your business has ongoing needs that will need addressed, whether it is a situation where you are in the hospital for a few weeks and can’t respond to clients or get bills paid, or you are deceased and decisions need to be made on whether the business continues, is sold, or closes.

The answers to what your business succession plan is are personal to you and your business, and the specifics depend on your corporate structure, your governing documents (if you don’t have these –that is another conversation), whether you have business partners, your business goals, and your overall estate plan. 

If you would like to talk about your plans and how I can help you, feel free to contact me at jamie@jmillerlawfirmpllc.com or 918-770-7810. 

The post What Is Your Business (Succession) Plan? first appeared on Jamie Miller Law | Tulsa Business Lawyer.