Читать книгу Run Your Own Corporation - Garrett Sutton - Страница 29

For all the lawyer jokes (and I tell a few myself), please remember that a good attorney can be a lifesaver for your business. From discussing the right entity choice and checking on name availability to handling the formation of the company and filing the required paperwork, your attorney is going to be a big help when you are starting out. You can use your attorneys to help you prepare the documents you will use when running a day-to-day business, including the contracts and agreements you’ll have with vendors and suppliers or customers. Your attorneys can assist you with proprietary information and intellectual property, protecting your ideas and filing for patents or copyrights and trademarks. If you have the misfortune of having a run-in with the government (as we’ll discuss ahead) an attorney specializing in such issues can be a very big help. As an overall strategy, for specialized advice, the attorney you choose should be well versed in the field or industry in which your business will operate.

Starting out, as with choosing an accountant, you’re going to want to ask friends and family and other business owners for recommendations and referrals, and interview attorneys to find one who will be right for you and your business. Your current banker, accountant or insurance agent, if you already have such professionals on your team, may be able to refer you to an attorney who’s right for you.

You also need to keep in mind the business license requirements for the type of business you’re starting up. (Recall our last case where Bobo and Morton weren’t properly licensed and were assessed large fees and penalties.) Almost every business you can operate requires a business license in the city in which you’ll be working. In some locations, you may also need to have a county and/or state business license. Each license requires an annual fee and some paperwork. Your attorney can help you with these requirements.