As a holistic attorney, I know all too well how complicated it can be to run a business. As business owners, we put our love and vision into our business. We envision and dream of its potential, but even though we all want to increase our time and money for transformative business experiences, we often become stuck, paralyzed, or unable to move forward by our own resistances or what we perceive as our limitations.
We all want to be successful, happy, fulfilled, and to contribute the betterment of our society and planet, and we want to have time for our families and ourselves. As we strive for this balance, there are days that it seems elusive. So whether you are forming a new business or have a business already, it is important to keep the following in mind: you can do it and you can have it all!
FIVE KEY STEPS OF A HOLISTIC BUSINESS MODEL
- Create the vision of what you want. As holistic entrepreneurs, our love, life, family, work, and spirituality cannot be separate. The conscious realization of our values guide how we create and maintain our businesses.
- We must consider the entire organization of our business in its processes and policies and employee relationships as opposed to focusing on specific components.
- We must develop new mindsets and beliefs about our business and our role within that company. Let us remove those old mindsets that do not serve us. Remember, “a belief is a thought we keep telling ourselves over and over until we believe it to be true.”
- To reach our goals, we must lay a proper foundation for our businesses.
- We must learn to adapt and delegate. Failure to do so is one of the most common reasons why businesses do not stay in business and owners suffer from burnout.
FOUR KEY STRUCTURES FOR LAYING A PROPER FOUNDATION FOR YOUR BUSINESS
- Legal
Minimizing potential liability and risk means getting your legal ducks in a row. A business owner needs to explore what legal requirements are needed for his/her business. If you are starting a new business, it is about exploring what is the best business structure for you (i.e., LLC, Partnership, S Corporation, C Corporation, Sole Proprietorship). To avoid and minimize legal risks, it is imperative to identify the issues your business faces, assess risks, make a plan to address these risks or problems, and implement a plan. You need to look at the legal requirements for your business. What are risk areas in your business: employee training, compliance and safety standards, human resource issues, dispute resolution procedures, insurance, and liability waivers? How do you protect your brand? Legal Enlightenment means using website disclaimers, terms and conditions, privacy policies, effective client agreements, analyzing tax and insurance issues, as well as reviewing the requirements for online programs and products.
To manage your risk, you must also address management and professional liability issues such as: failure to investigate or inadequate investigation of claims that come to your attention, failure to provide a service, breach of duty, defamation, negligence, misrepresentation, and mismanagement. You must also address asset protection, such as: threats to individual or business wealth from contract creditors, consumer and bank debt, joint and several partnership liabilities, and litigation.
- Financial
Seeking advice from an accountant regarding taxes and potential audits is essential. It is also paramount to analyze your recordkeeping system and fee structures, as well as considering whether you can delegate the responsibility of these duties.
- Records Management
How are your records kept? Are you compliant with the confidentiality of your records (i.e., HIPPA requirements, as well as protection of confidential client information especially if kept in the cloud)? What must be followed on a day to day basis to ensure security and regulatory compliance?
- Customer Relations
Building lasting business relationships are as important as your brand. If you have poor customer relations, you will not be in business long. Make sure you have effective contracts. Contracts are often relationship-building tools with customers, vendors, and employees. A well-drafted contract can help business owners manage risk, avoid unnecessary disputes, limit liability, and avoid unintended legal obligations. Developing a problem-solving methodology is key to a business’ wellbeing.
THE HOLISTIC PERSPECTIVE
People spend a lot of time exploring different business approaches and sometimes they can create false premises based on fears or lack of information about how they should run their business. All businesses need a check-up – that is, an assessment of what is working, what isn’t, and what may be needed. As a holistic attorney, I help companies by providing that check-up.
Often our fears overwhelm us and prevent us from finding sustainable solutions and breaking the ceiling of limitation because we fail to see the true us and all that we have to offer.
You shouldn’t have to fight for success. You shouldn’t have to work harder. What you need to do is work smarter. You are your own resistance. Sometimes overcoming the resistances means finding people who will handle the areas that you are resisting like hiring an accountant, a lawyer, a bookkeeper, a secretary, or someone who can assist you in the areas that you need help so that you can devote yourself to those areas you love and can provide expansion.
FIND A WAY AND BE THE SOLUTION
When we create holistic and sustainable business strategies, it allows us to develop entirely new mindsets and beliefs about our companies and our roles within them. It means that as business owners we learn to communicate and connect differently to reach our goals while empowering ourselves to more fully understand the ins and outs of the product or service we are offering so that we can focus on sustainably serving our markets instead of the stock market and to reconnect our company successes with social progress.
If you are starting a new business or have a business already, call us for a consultation!