Why You Need an Accountant, Banker, Attorney, and Insurer on Your Team
Whether you’re starting a new business or just looking for ways to grow your established business, you should assemble an advisory team to look out for your interests and help you achieve your growth goals. Whether your business is real-estate, large-scale construction, or opening a corner coffee shop, you probably know the value of surrounding yourself with talented people familiar with your industry.
A team of talented advisors who understand your goals and want to help you achieve your desired outcome for each project will help you grow. Cost-conscious entrepreneurs may be tempted to cut corners by having only one or two advisors. However, we recommend developing a full advisory “dream team.”
In this article, we’ll talk about four essential advisors you should have on your team and why you need them.
Evaluate Your Needs
To get started with assembling your team, you need a good understanding of your business goals. Do you want to expand to other states? Do you want to be the most efficient at whatever you do? Do you want to develop a trusted group of employees so you can work remotely? Once you know your goals, you can choose experts with experience that will help you achieve them.
Networking with others in your industry is invaluable when it comes to finding the ideal advisory team. Reach out to others and ask for referrals. Ideally, you’ll be able to assemble a team of advisors who are willing to communicate as necessary with each other to facilitate teamwork that will help you achieve your objectives.
Accountant
A good accountant can look at the financial history of your business, assess your current situation, and help you build a robust strategy to get where you want to go. One of the most crucial features of an exemplary accountant is the ability to implement tax savings strategies. An accountant is also essential in handling payroll for an expanding business and helping devise other cost-saving measures that plug inevitable leaks of cash flow as a business grows.
Great accountants have years of experience with financial analysis to help you make better decisions for your business to drive growth. An accountant is also necessary to help you value your business for selling out, taking on a partner, and requesting financing for capital projects.
Banker
Establishing a healthy relationship with your banker, as a business entity, and on a personal level will be beneficial to the future growth of your business. A banker will be able to offer banking products that best meet your needs and are an important resource in helping solve problems related to cash flow.
At a minimum, your business will probably need a business checking account, a business credit card, and some form of financing in the early days.
As your business grows, so will your need for a relationship with your local banker. Ideally, your banker will help you in finding the right products to fit your needs, know the health of your business, and be an important source for networking. Your banker will have a wealth of relationships with other business owners and professionals and can connect you with prospective partners, vendors, or customers. A banker is also a great source of referrals for building a financial team.
Attorney
There are many places where bootstrapping and doing it yourself can save you money and allow you to grow your knowledge and expertise in a new area. Unfortunately, the legal field is not one of those situations.
One of the most common mistakes business owners make is putting off developing a relationship with an attorney until they need one because of legal problems. Having an attorney on your advisory team can help prevent many legal issues before they start, saving you money and headaches.
An experienced business or employment attorney will benefit your bottom line and your company’s reputation over the long run. A good attorney brings risk mitigation skills to the table. When starting and running a business, you will manage risk daily, and having a legal advisor that can tell you how to manage those risks effectively is invaluable.
Your relationship with an attorney will ideally start at the formation of your business. They can help you:
Choose the right business structure
Create a business and a business succession plan
Comply with licensing and regulatory issues
Draft legal documents such as partnership agreements, vendor and customer contracts, and employment contracts
As your business grows, you may encounter legal issues such as disputes, breach of contract issues, or problems with employees. Having a skilled attorney on your team to help you from the beginning of these issues can help you avoid mistakes that can turn costly quickly.
Daffern Law Firm provides services in business law, real estate law, and construction law. If you are establishing or growing an Oklahoma business and want a legal advisor who can act as general counsel and provide legal advice about all aspects of your business, get in touch.
Insurer
The purpose of having an attorney on your team is to mitigate as much risk as possible, but even the best preparations can’t remove all risk from your business. To protect yourself from the risks you can’t completely prevent, you need a skilled insurer with experience in insurance products tailored to your business.
The first line of protection for your assets is insurance, and the right insurance can often mean the difference between the success and failure of your business.
A qualified insurance broker can negotiate competitively priced policies for all your insurance needs. When choosing a broker, seek someone who is willing to answer detailed questions. Ideally, your broker will partner with your attorney to make sure each reasonable risk in your particular industry is covered by adequate insurance.
The Dream Team
Ideally, your advisory team will share a common goal of helping your business thrive and will be willing to work together when necessary. Before you commit to bringing an advisor on board, make sure they share your vision and understand your goals. Don’t be afraid to talk to more than one professional in each field. Talk to as many as necessary until your gut tells you that you have found the right person.
If you’re looking for a trusted legal advisor, get in touch with Daffern Law Firm today. We can even recommend other advisors who can help you take your business to the next level.