Nobody wants to get sued. It’s time consuming, stressful and incredibly expensive. Today, we're talking about litigation in your business. Specifically, we are discussing five ways to avoid litigation.

Put it in writing

That might sound simple, but any agreement must be put it in writing. Because when two people talk, they often misunderstand certain things. So if you put it in writing, you avoid that problem

Actually reading the agreement

Make sure you read it! Make sure there's nothing in there that you missed or that you weren't aware of. But also, if you think there's going to be a dispute and you're got a problem with someone make sure you read through that first before you go off and start firing off correspondence. Because that's one way to definitely bring litigation forward is to get sort of aggressive in correspondence.

Keep them in the loop

There's no point trying to stick your head in the sand. Communicate with them, talk to them, help them understand your reasons why you might need the extra time to pay the debt. So communication. Keeping the other side in the loop is such an easy way to avoid litigation

Act before it escalates

A lot of litigation escalates quickly, when, for instance, one party's not responding at

all, or in a in a timely, timely fashion. Once it escalates, it's very hard to back down

Put yourself in the other sides shoes

People that people understand agreements differently. People have different expectations. So make sure that you put yourself in the other person's shoes. Because it's amazing when you do that, how you might actually empathize with that position. And you might be able to come to a resolution quickly.

What’s the difference between an employee or a contractor? The answer to that question can have far-reaching consequences for your business. Today on the show we’re going to talk about the differences.

Subcontracting

One of the main ways to distinguish an employment contract is the ability to subcontract and delegate. An employee generally can't subcontract. But a true contractor can.

Payment

For an employee payment is made in the form of a wage or salary. For a contractor payment is usually made in the form of one time payments due once the work is completed.

Equipment

The fact is that if you're an employee the things that you need to do your work are provided by your employer. A contractor, however, usually provides their own tools. There's never a black and white line between a contractor and an employee. But usually contractors bring their own toolkit.

Today we're talking about employment agreements. We’re going to discuss the top 7 features of a great EA. This is something that can seem like an afterthought but a good employment agreement is really important.

It's an exciting time in your business. You’re bringing on someone new. But there's a number of things you need to consider. We've come up with three that we're going to talk about today.

Create an onboarding process

It's really important to have a process or procedure that actually takes them through what your business is about. If you have a business that has any sort of systems, then you need to train the person on that. Make sure that you've got an onboarding process and that you take each new employee through that process. That way there's consistency in how they're being trained

Set your expectations

It's very hard to go backwards and try to set expectations after a period of time. You’ve got to do that at the beginning. Set out your expectations for how the job is to be done. It is very hard to undo things like that if you don't get on to it right at the beginning.

Remember how to create a team

You've got to remember that there are four stages of team formation. it's not just going to click straightaway. It just doesn't happen like that. It doesn't matter whether you do who you bring together, people do things differently. you're going to go through that process. We’re going to do a whole podcast on this topic in the near future!

Today we're talking about being a prospective employee. We've come up with five questions that we suggest you ask in the interview.

Bankruptcy is not the most uplifting, topic. But it’s something every business owner has to think about. Today on the show we discuss 5 ways you can avoid the worst.

Sell some assets

If your business is drowning in debt their may be some ways to lessen that load. If you own property, cars or stocks you can use those to pay down some of that debt. That's going to be a lot better than a bankruptcy trustee doing it for you.

Pay down debt

Instead of waiting for your creditors to bang down your door be more proactive. Reach out to those who you owe and try and make alternate arrangements. They may be more receptive than you realize.

Talk to your creditors

If you've ever gone bankrupt or know someone who has often creditors get nothing at the end of the day. And if your creditors know that then they might be amenable to actually helping you do to avoid bankruptcy and might actually work with you to pay back your debts over time. So ask your creditors to help you be honest with them. Don't put your head in the sand. The ostrich approach never works!

Talk to your friends

You might want to consider approaching family or friends to put some money forward to help you avoid bankruptcy. If you've got a family member or friend that could help you out - just ask them.

Take action

You need to make sure that you get talk to these people and make sure that you come to an agreement. Depending on the credibility, you might be able to come to an agreement to pay back a portion of your debts.

Last week we talked briefly about the different ways to wind-up a business. One of those options is to de-register the company. Today, we want to go into more detail about how to actually do that.

Today we're talking about the winding up of your company. Sometimes it's good sometimes it's bad. Here are three ways you can wind-up up your company.

Voluntary winding-up

You've decided that you want to wind up your company because you don't want to use it anymore. So there you can actually go to ASIC and voluntarily wind-up the company.

2. Deregistration

All members of the company need to agree to deregister the company. The company

must no longer be conducting business. You also cannot have any outstanding liabilities or debts. Nor can the company be involved in any legal proceedings.

3. Involuntary wind-up

This can occur for a number of reasons. You may not be able to pay your debts. You can let another creditor actually wind-up the business but this is an option of last

resort. You will lose all control of the process so be sure this is really the only option

Left.

When the worst happens in your business you need to get the best help possible. Today on the show we’re talking about 3 ways to deal with an insolvency practitioner. This is someone you go an see if you’re worried about becoming insolvent or if you have already declared bankruptcy. This is one of the most difficult things a business person will have to deal with. Here are some tips about how to do it right.

Be honest

Make sure you give them all the information they need. Like your lawyer or your accountant, if you don't give them all the information that they can't give you the right advice.

Don’t put you head in the sand

If you’ve engaged an insolvency practitioner don’t avoid the difficult questions. It may be difficult to confront the mistakes you’ve made. But if you don’t things will only get worse.

It’s not the end of the world

Bankruptcy is never going to be something you want to happen. But plenty of people have had this happen to them and they have gone on to bigger and better things.

Nobody wants to think about it. But insolvency is always a possibility for any business. Today on the show we discuss the top 7 things your need to do to prevent the worst from happening.