237. Are You Protecting Your Assets? with Sharon L. Tasman

Law contracts done right are a small business owner's best friend. They will protect your personal assets. They will protect potential clients from stealing your work and not hiring you, which happens more often than you think. Sharon L. Tasmin is a seasoned business and technology attorney with over 30 years of experience in law and over 10 years as a businesswoman. Having spent 15 years at HoganLovells, one of the world's largest law firms, and serving as in-house counsel at MedImmune, Sharon founded HTBiz Law to offer clients the best of both worlds—a boutique law firm experience with the expertise of a global firm. Contracts don't have to be scary. Your clients and customers sign things all the time. They sign contracts daily but may not think of them as contracts.  "If somebody refuses to do business with you because you want them to sign a contract that protects you and still gives your client or customer what they need run because that's the potential client that will not pay," says Sharon. They will likely leave bad reviews. They will likely have unreasonable expectations. The contract protects both of you. The single greatest disagreement between service providers, consultants, business owners, and their customers is when there isn't a clear understanding of what you are going to do, for how much money, and in what time, versus what they were going to get in, what time, and for how much. The simplest way to solve that problem is to put it all in writing and sign. Sharon says not all money is good money, and not all clients are good clients for you. "The hardest decision a new business owner will make when they are new and desperate for money is 'I must take every bit of work that comes in the door,' and that is 100% the wrong thing," says Sharon. "If you are so desperate or foresee that you will be so desperate that you will not be able to say no, you're not ready to start your business as your full-time job yet."  "The first thing you need to do is file an LLC and it will be the best one to 300 hundred dollars you will ever spend. If you can't afford that, for sure you should not be starting a business." This creates a distinction in the eyes of the law between you as a business and you as a person. Without it, if you make a mistake and get sued, all your personal assets are at risk -- your house, your car, your savings. Next, do the inventory. Think of everything you've created, and then make sure that you're taking that into account in the rates you charge. Do you add $25 an hour? Is it a flat fee? "If you take the project that absorbs 40 hours a week of your time, it isn't just that it may not be the right client and you may be getting paid less for this project, it's you're losing the opportunity cost of something else," says Sharon. Get "Securing Your Brilliance: A Hands-On Workbook for Copyright & IP Protection" to help you identify and protect your valuable digital and intellectual property assets: https://www.htbizlaw.com/workbook It usually is $19.95, but with the promo code "GAMEON" it will be only $9.95. Connect with Sharon: https://www.htbizlaw.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharontasman/ Other GoG episodes you might want to check out: Business Cash Flow: How to Pay Yourself (and the IRS) Consistently https://sarahwalton.com/business-cashflow/ How to Manage Your Money Before Divorce https://sarahwalton.com/financial-planning-for-divorce/ You can check out our podcast interviews on YouTube, too! http://bit.ly/YouTubeSWalton  Thank you so much for listening. I’m so honored that you’re here and would be so grateful if you could leave a quick review on Apple Podcasts by clicking here, scrolling to the bottom, and clicking “Write a review.” Then we’ll get to inspire even more people! (If you’re not sure how to leave a review, you can watch this quick tutorial.) #AssetProtection #ProtectAssets #LawsuitProtection #Law #WomenEntrepreneursSuccessStories #WomenEntrepreneurs #WomenInBusiness #WomenEmpowerment #BusinessCoach #SalesCoach