Are you a fan of do-it-yourself projects? I personally am not but many of my friends are – they make their own Christmas decor, cookies and even gift wrapping. I, myself, prefer to trust the professionals — if you can write, write; if you can sell, sell. And if you can do legal, just do legal. However, it’s commonly believed that DIY (do it yourself) law is not a bad choice at all. Let me tell you something, ladies and gentleman, DIY Christmas decoration cannot be compared with do-it-yourself law for your business. No matter what blogs and “entrepreneurs” say legal is not something you can do yourself when you run a business.
Why Small Businesses Need a Lawyer
What I want to do today is give you the confidence that money spend on a lawyer are money well spend. Even if I’m not that lawyer. Most importantly, I want to draw your attention at the biggest trade out you are making as an entrepreneur – your time. It’s not impossible to do your business law yourself. Let’s be honest – if you spend enough time reading and browsing it’s a sure thing that you can figure out what all of the terms in your contract mean. But you must be aware that your time isn’t free. Even more as a business person you know that you are needed in so many places at the same time. Your time is even more precious when you run a business and you should spend it only on the things that are really worth it and can’t be done by anyone else. Otherwise, you don’t run a business — you work in a business. Every successful business person will tell you that learning to delegate is the most important but also the most challenging skill they had to learn.
Delegation is power.
Here is the trick: We don’t see the money we pay to ourselves. For example, I used to run my social media accounts for a year before I hired a manager. It saved my life! I didn’t realise how much more productive I can be with clients (and create real income) if I didn’t have to think of the next Facebook post. It’s the same with your legal work – if you leave a lawyer to do it, you have more time to really grow your business. And honestly, the money you spend on a lawyer will hardly be as much as you can make in your free time. So having a lawyer means more free time to attract more clients and make more money. There is one other small detail: everyone can post anything online. How can you be sure that the article you read on business law is up to date? Or that it’s actually true? Or written by a lawyer? You can’t. And that’s something you don’t want to risk because when you are in court you can’t say to the judge that you read it on a blog. But here is the thing… Lawyers are above-the-average small business budget. For most entrepreneurs, no matter how they turn things around, cash is the most important commodity. Instead of trying to find the cheapest lawyer (which is never a good idea) there are two more options you can explore: Read a business law for non-lawyers book (link is in my author bio) and at least cover the basics. You won’t become a lawyer but you will at least know when to call one. Go to a live event/seminar or a workshop for business law. There, you will not only be able to ask questions to a pro directly but also connect with like minded business women that can’t wait to share their experiences. Hope this helps you realise that while DIY Christmas gifts are a beautiful thing (wish I could do those), the same doesn’t go for business law. On the contrary – do-it-yourself law costs you more, allows for huge mistakes and steals from the time that you could spend with clients growing your business.
