Comments on: Why Risk it?

By: Strings

Strings — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 21:15:28 +0000

So run away for a day – eat, drink and be merry! Onethe benefit of being the boss is you can do that now and again.

Remember the motto

Nils illigittimi carburundum

By: Nat

Nat — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 23:56:32 +0000

Hi guys,

Yeah I think terms of trade might be a good idea. Actually most of the time you’re right, you can do a risk analysis, but sometimes you despite your best efforts you can’t predict or fortify against some things!

And Dave, Sometimes I don’t want to do either, I just want to run away! :)

By: David Preece

David Preece — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 10:01:01 +0000

Yeah, unfortunately interpersonal ethics all too often heads out the window because “it’s business, innit”. I’ve never personally had to clobber someone for breaking a contract but that’s generally only because the existence of the contract makes it, basically, bad business sense to do so. I’ve had to make it entirely clear that I *will* once or twice though.

For a small (but expanding) web design business I would get a standard terms of trade either “off the shelf” or drawn up by a lawyer. Make sure it includes late payment penalties or their more polite cousin, the “on time” discount. If absolutely everybody signs exactly the same terms of trade then nobody gets offended. AND someone unwilling to sign is hoisting their own red flag.

As someone who’s entered into risks and lost on (seemingly) too many occasions I’m afraid my advice would be to, on each occasion, look at what happens if you get it wrong and make sure that it’s going to be OK. I never bet the farm, but at least I still have it.

By: Strings

Strings — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 01:42:26 +0000

PS
Your number 1 question to answer is “do I want to do the business or run it?” The answer to that will give you a great insight into what tack to take to resolve the major conundrums you face.

By: Strings

Strings — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 01:40:36 +0000

Hey Nat
sounds like your business may be hitting puberty and might need some help with the growth spurt.

When doing bits and bobs for people to get going, a simple purchase order is usually acceptable; the problem with that is it is one-sided with all the benefits and privileges going to the purchaser. The other side of the same coin is the ‘vendor’s contract’, which anyone who has read one all the way through (maybe 10 people in the world who aren’t vendors’ lawyers,) will tell you are 100% biased toward the vendor. Hitting an acceptable balance is all about being up-front on what risks you will run, what rewards you expect for your work and what risks you expect your client to accept.

I have, over the years, managed to develop a document that I like to title “Memorandum of agreement on what we will do if we disagree”, and make it a simple legal-stuff thing with a bit bigger definition of exactly what is being bought as an appendix. By wording the legal stuff in simple English, and offering it up as a balanced thing with ‘reasonableness’ as the key factor in decisions, I have usually avoided the deep legal hassles that some small businesses go through at the beginning or end of a relationship.

If you fancy a wine (or whine for that matter) sometime I’ll give you a walk through some of the salient bits. (I think Jim might vouch for my ‘safeness in meeting in very public places’ (-_-) lol