hello there my name is Terry Gauri I'm a solicitor and I have started on run many
small businesses over the course of about 27 years since 1986 in fact I just
made this short video to let you know about three critical areas that you need
to get right when you're starting your own business there are other areas
clearly over and above these three but these three are absolutely vital to
ensure the success of your business the first thing is choosing the correct
legal structure of your business the correct legal structure for your
business there are essentially three common ways to structure your business
one is to trade as a sole trader two is to be involved in a partnership and tree
is to set up a limited company the situation being a sole trader is that
you have unlimited liability in other words you are solely responsible for all
of the debts of your business even if it's sales and you know your house or
any assets that you may have could well be at risk if you trade as a sole trader
and your business goes wrong second common method of structuring a business
is through a partnership this is very popular method however a written
partnership agreement is strongly strongly advisable if you don't have
written partnership agreement well then the relationship between you and your
partner will be governed by by a very old piece of legislation the partnership
Act from the 1800's in a partnership each partner is jointly and severally
liable for all of the debts of the partnership this essentially means that
if you for example conduct your affairs in a very proper manner but your partner
doesn't it's quite possible that your partner can run up serious debts and
caused you significant problems and you will still be on the hook being a
partner in that partnership even though you've not done anything wrong and
you've been entirely blameless the third structure that you might look
at is a limited company Private Limited company this Limerick company has a
separate legal identity from your identity it offers limited liability
that means that your liability if the business goes belly-up is limited to a
certain amount of money to do with the share capital it will involve statutory
filing obligations with the company's registration office that's that can be
found at sea or older hiyee the question though of limited liability is to a
certain extent illusory because in many situations for example from the bank or
perhaps from suppliers like cigarette companies and so on you will be asked
for a personal guarantee so even if the company does go belly-up you may still
be on the hook for the debts of the company on foot of the personal
guarantees that you have given you the second critical thing that you need to
look at and consider is professional advisors choosing a good accountant and
solicitor is essential they will really repay their their value as it were many
times over over the period of your business because to be quite frank they
will allow you to get on with what you do best that is run your business and
you can do so then secure the knowledge that you are compliant with the revenue
commissioners with your legal obligations with your employer employee
legislation and so on and so forth the third thing that you must be very
very wary of in a start-up is cashflow many startups fail to appreciate the
unforeseen expenses and obligations which crop up and which can blow a
massive hole in your budget a good robust cash flow projection which allows
for these type of contingencies will help you to avoid falling early in the
life of your business I said at the outset
starting in your business can be exhilarating it can be a bit of a
white-knuckle ride it can be very fulfilling and very rewarding
but you do need to take precautions and plan properly let's say my name is Terry
Gauri of Terry Gauri and company solicitors I've been starting up and
running and turning over and selling small businesses since 1986 in Ireland I
have a good degree of experience in this whole area if you want to arrange a free
consultation with me you can call me on the number you see on the screen or
simply email Terry a business and legal that IE alternatively you can just visit
my website business and legal IIE and use a contact form thanks for
watching