What’s your biggest business fear?

In a recent poll partner Kevin Rogers asked his LinkedIn connections this question and gave four potential answers.

33% of those that responded said that their biggest issue was dealing with difficult staff. We all have those conversations that we put off, those little niggles that never seem quite enough to warrant ‘that’ awkward conversation, and we have all come across people who, from the outside, produce a lot but actually hold us back and stop people from becoming the best version of themselves. Of course this is something that the employment team at Wilson Browne Solicitors can help with, deciding to have the conversation is the very first step!

Second place was an out and out tie with 29% of people being concerned that they have not been paid. In a business setting, legislation exists to award interest and compensation for late payment of commercial debts, but how often do we really want to enforce that on customers?

Does that impact on future trade? Is cash flow not more important? Do you really want a client that is not going to pay, or pay on time? Again the debt recovery team at Wilson Browne Solicitors can help with fixed low price debt recovery letters proving an excellent way of improving your cash flow.

Before that though, have you looked at your terms and conditions. Do you set out at the very beginning what your expectation is for payment in your terms and conditions? Is it in your order acknowledgement and is it stated on your invoice? When will you chase it and at what point do you hand it over to your solicitor?

An equal 29% of those that responded were concerned about ‘imposter syndrome’, the feeling that they were not good enough, or perhaps would be ‘found out’ one day. The post talked about the confidence that comes from getting your payment terms right, dealing with difficult situations and ensuring that your business is paid. Of course positive thinking has a massive part to play here, but small steps that achieve practical results will bring the confidence to reduce this risk. Otherwise, like all of us, we are only human.

Perhaps the most surprising statistic was that only 8% of people were fearful that their paperwork in their business was not 100% accurate or watertight. Kevin Rogers works in the Commercial Litigation team and has dealt with litigation cases for over 20 years and notes ‘in once sense this is not a surprising statistic at all, because the bulk of cases that we get have holes in their contracts or no written contracts at all (sometimes for considerable sums of money).

It is perfectly natural to ‘not worry’ about having a detailed, often cumbersome, legal agreement in place when you are entering into a contract. People can be forgiven for thinking that the other party will be ‘put off’ if you insist on that sort of process, and that is probably right. You can however make sure that you have the important terms covered in a reasonably sized document. It is a total false economy to consider not getting that document because of legal costs, because the costs involved in litigation later when things go wrong are significant. In fact the best advertisement for our commercial contracts team is seeing a case go through the litigation process!’

The commercial teams at Wilson Browne Solicitors help with commercial property, business contracts, employment and disputes (including late payment of invoices). Kevin is always happy to have a chat and can be reached on krogers@wilsonbrowne.co.uk. Getting everything right around you will not cure your imposter syndrome overnight, but it will make a massive difference and help future proof your business.