The popular saying that ‘knowledge is power’ holds true in business as many other areas of life, considering the fact that most startups have a lifeline of 5years. Here are some pointers to help you avoid some of the most common startup pitfalls:
1. Use a contract – You need to always have a contract with partners, clients and employees in order to keep things straight and defined;
2. Create agile business systems – Create a network of operations that guide you towards attaining your strategic and operational objectives;
3. Understand your payment terms – Be financially prudent and ensure that costs are well appropriated;
4. Cover your legal bases – Hire an attorney to help define legality and compliance issues in your business;
5. Know the difference between employee and independent contractor – Know what roles and commitment levels you need a regular employee for and what roles could be outsourced;
6. Don’t consider joint ventures without an agreement – Clearly communicate your expectations, responsibilities and limitations about joint venture agreements with your collaborators and ask for formal documentation;
7. Find the right tools – Use electronic business tools like outright: a simplified, secure online bookkeeping service and Evernote: an online “everywhere” app to capture and access ideas by voice recording, text, documents, and so on, to make your business operation more efficient.
