As much as we don’t want to think about things going wrong in our business, calculating risk is part of being a responsible business owner.

So how can you set up your business when you’re just getting started to make sure your personal home, car, bank accounts, and other assets are protected if something happens later? What role does insurance play in managing risk and do you even need to form a corporate entity at all?

For many business owners, arriving at the point of needing to hire someone because you have more work than you can handle is an absolute dream come true. 

But loose hiring practices can lead you to make some extremely costly mistakes -- like hiring an independent contractor who really should be classified as an employee, or not using a contract to make sure you and your worker are on the same page.

The online space is its own unique ecosystem - no other industry does things quite the way we do them here. And never has that been more evident than over the last weeks and days as we have seen the outcry about the death of George Floyd unfold and the subsequent flood of activity calling out racism and police brutality (and each other) in online forums.

DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) consultant Erica Courdae joins this episode to share best practices for facilitating difficult conversations in places like Facebook groups and other online communities. We are grateful to Erica for lending her voice to help educate us and our listeners and to continue invaluable conversations like this one.

If you applied for a PPP loan, you need to know about the "Flex Act" that was signed into law on June 5, 2020. Watch to learn about changes in rules about when you need to spend your PPP loan, rehiring rules, and more.

You’ve started your business, created your products, and maybe even made a few sales.

Think you’re ready to scale? Not so fast…

Messaging and marketing expert Lisa Princic joins the podcast to talk about the importance of nailing down value proposition BEFORE you scale, the most common marketing mistakes she sees businesses make, and more.

Building a beautiful website and creating compelling content takes time and resources (financial or otherwise). And when you’re just getting started, you may be short on both. 

It’s tempting to just “borrow” a bit here and there and hope no one notices. 

But the consequences can be severe… not to mention potentially devastating to your business.

You’ve made the plans to take your business online, and decided on the basics we covered in part 1 of this series. Now what? 

Part of the beauty of starting an online business is that you can get up and running quickly, but there are still a few more things you need to tackle before you open your virtual doors.

From retail to restaurants, businesses in every industry are flocking to the online space.

Navigating the ins and outs of online business can add another layer of unclear rules and laws to sift through as you set up your business. So, how do you know where to begin?

Thinking about moving your business online? Watch PART 2 in this series to learn what you need to know to run an online business the right way, right from the start. What legal protections you MUST have in place before you "go live", contracts with your customers or students, online and email marketing legal rules, and more.

See part 1 of this series here.