Business Management Attorney

Strategic Planning

Strategic planning combines the benefits of a business plan and marketing plan with an emphasis on how the business relates to its environment and competition – often referred to as external factors. While a business plan is often written before the business opens and addresses how the business will operate, a strategic plan outlines the methods by which the business will operate.

Strategic plans are informed by experience with the business and customers – using information from those sources to determine how the business can be differentiated and how it should be marketed to its customers.

Corporate Books

In order to protect your personal assets from lawsuits against your company, you must treat your company as a separate entity. Proper maintenance of your corporate books is of utmost importance in ensuring your corporate veil remains intact. Keeping minutes of annual and manager meetings provides one method of demonstrating your intention to run your company properly. In additional to keeping minutes of annual meetings, every major decision made by the company owners, directors or officers should be recorded in your corporate book. This creates a paper trail by which an argument to pierce the corporate veil can be defeated.

Risk Analysis

Some businesses are more susceptible to lawsuits than others. These businesses are said to have more “exposure.” The more exposure you have, the better off you are to have an attorney in a part-time or full-time general counsel position. You don't want to find yourself scrambling to find a competent lawyer who understands your business after you've been served with a lawsuit. Out of desperation, you're more likely to hire the first person who returns your call and they may or may not be the best person for the job.

Another reason to involve a lawyer in your business at the outset is their ability to perform a risk analysis on your company. Lawyers are trained to find the vulnerabilities and explore ways to shore them up. For example, an online business need not worry about slip-and-fall lawsuits, but might need to consider whether they are infringing another's copyright. A storefront will need to consider its exposure from both suppliers and customers.

Business Plan

Many business owners complete a business plan only to get funding for the company. However, the process of writing a business plan provides unparalleled insight into many aspects of your business you may not have considered. In addition, a plan keeps the big picture in view when the daily details of running your business start to take over.

Marketing Plan

Even without a comprehensive business plan, it's important to consider how you will market your business. It's easy to waste a lot of money on ill-advised marketing and advertising efforts. The best marketing plans take the perspective of the customer, recognize a need and determine how best to position the company to fill that need, all while differentiating yourself from the competition.

With an undergraduate degree in marketing, an MBA and experience as a business owner, I can help you brainstorm ways to reach your target customer in the most effective and efficient way possible.