Recently there has been a surge in people starting their own businesses, as more people were put out of jobs or had more time to explore their passions while working from home. But starting a business isn’t easy, and there are lots of rules and regulations you have to follow in order to be doing it lawfully, and to avoid running into any issues. One of the things you need to worry about when starting a business is how to protect your assets, otherwise you could lose a lot of money.

What are assets and do you need them?

Assets are something of value that a company or business owns, that has monetary value (but is not necessarily money itself). An idea of assets that an individual may own are things such as houses, cars, or even investments. For your business, these assets can be the machinery you may use, or a patent to a design you came up with or bought from someone else. And assets can be used to generate value or for future financial gain, and these can also be split into current assets or fixed assets. Long-term investments like machinery of furniture are fixed assets, as they are something which helps you to generate money over a long period of time, meanwhile things such as equity or your inventory, as these are things that can generate money in one fiscal year.

What does protecting them do?

Protecting your assets insures them against any financial loss. For instance, if you have a patent which you bought or created yourself, and you have someone who is going to sue your company for use of this patent, protecting it could deter the claimant, or prevent the loss of this asset after judgement. There are other risks that you may have to deal with as well, which include claims for damages from your employees (such as if they get injured using your machinery), and also customer protection issues (if someone is hurt or injured from a product you sold). Asset protection is basically just protection against lawsuits and claimants, as although these can be paid out in monetary value, they can also direct the claims directly at your assets, which will cause your company a big loss.

How do you protect them?

There are several different ways to protect assets, with varying degrees of liability as well. One way to do it is through becoming a corporation. A corporation removes the personal liability from claims, so instead of you as an individual being responsible for the accident, it will be the corporation itself. This means that your assets such as machinery can be included as the corporation’s assets, and they can not be seized as a result of the claim. Another way to protect them is to create a Trust, of which there are two types. There is the revocable trust, which still places you in control of the assets, and reintroduces the idea of personal liability, as this means you can be sued for the assets. Or there is irrevocable trust, in which after the trust is created you can not change or revoke it, which means you can’t be sued for the assets as you are no longer the one who owns or is in control of them.

Which protection plan is the best?

Which plan is the best for you will depend on your company and what assets you are protecting. If you have any assets that can be considered ‘dangerous assets’ (machinery, a workplace, or business property) then it is best to get a plan that moves the responsibility of these assets out of your hands, such as the Trust or corporation. It also helps to get insurance against these types of claims, as then if someone is injured in your workplace or by using your product, the insurance should cover the claims and pay out for you, so that your assets remain untouched. Although this doesn’t protect your assets themselves, it is an extra layer of protection against them. And there are many different companies that provide insurance, and can be extended to protect any assets you need to protect overseas, so if you want to know if this company provides business insurance in Ontario and the place that you live, it is best to check so you only need to take out one claim, and not multiple. Fortunately, if you are the only worker and handler of your business, then you won’t need to go for the protection plan with the biggest coverage, as you won’t have workers that could put claims in against you, but consumers still can.

If you are thinking of starting a business or already have, then this is one of the first things you’ll want to think about, and something you will have to keep considering as you gain more assets and/or as your company continues to grow. The last thing you want is for someone to get injured and be able to directly sue you for it, or to be able to have your assets seized if you lose a claim. There are also other ways for protecting your assets which may be more beneficial to your business than the ones listed, and you can get an advisor to help on these matters too. Just make sure you do it, or your business will suffer for it.

As your business begins to grow in terms of the amount of revenue you’re bringing in every year your need for quality legal time on your side also grows, many small business owners would admit that having access to a company lawyer of some sort from the very start of your business dealings would be advisable. However, it is also understandable that not every business can afford to pay lawyers fees until they have grown from their early stages. As you begin to become more successful as a business owner you will have to deal with serious things like retail deals and contracts, having a lawyer allows you to be able to make sure that everything is as it should be in terms of offering a fair deal.  

If you are a business owner and you do not have a company lawyer then continue reading for more information on when to bring a lawyer into your team and how to find someone that is well versed in the laws that are relevant to your company.  

When to Invest in a Company Lawyer

When you initially introduce your business to the world and begin to gradually grow a base of loyal customers it can be easy to become wrapped up in making sure that everything is perfect and you forget about important milestones. If you do not already have a company lawyer I would say that a good time to get one would be once you have started bringing in enough money to comfortably cover the expenses and you begin to progress onto contracted brand deals or retail contracts. If you are not well versed in the law and the proper way to conduct a business then it is important that you have a lawyer onside to help and advise you and make sure you are doing everything you can to protect yourself and your business in legal respect.  

It may seem like another service you have to pay for but won’t actually need but in a scenario where you need legal representation of any kind it is always better to be prepared and not need it than left to defend yourself without professional guidance to make sure you are not being treated unfairly.  

What Does Having Legal Representation Do For Your Company?

Ensuring that you have professional legal representation and guidance in the form of a company lawyer means that your company will be able to navigate a variety of legal situations and contracts whilst making sure that every deal which is conducted results in a positive win for your business. If you were to go into these high-profile deals and contracts alone it is likely that you could miss a point in the small print that could limit your power and profits in the deal.  

Another great aspect of having a company lawyer would be that they will be able to assist you with effectively growing your business to the point where it is very successful and bringing in a  nice annual profit. Lawyers will be able to assist you with contacting influential industry figures by using their exclusive attorney leads to set up private meetings where you can discuss long-term contacts and secure a bright future for your business. All in all, having a lawyer onside in your company team provides a sense of security that no matter what situation you find yourself in with your business you will be able to make sure that you and your company assets are secure.  

How to Find a Quality Lawyer

Now that it has been made clear the sense of security that comes with having a company lawyer you should now be thinking about how to find a lawyer and company that you can trust to represent something as valuable as your personal business. The first thing that I would do is look for local offices in your area and I would say that sometimes the smaller companies with a select group of lawyers under their name are often the best, the smaller companies usually only take on a few clients so that they can make sure they are working with their customers closely and dedicating enough time to them on a weekly basis.  

You could hold interviews and advertise for the position which will give you the opportunity to have someone on one time to have a physical conversation with potential lawyer candidates, this will allow you to get a feel for their personality and judge whether or not they would be a good fit in your company. It is also always a good idea to request references from potential candidates to see how they have worked with previous customers and their success rate in the legal setting.  

Cadbury’s Chocolate

 Cadbury’s have had some great adverts over the years but their most iconic would have to be the advert featuring a gorilla playing the drums to the iconic song Phil Collins, In The Air Tonight. This advert has absolutely nothing to do with chocolate but the iconic scene with Cadbury’s recognizable shade of purple in the background makes for a very interesting advert that is still spoken about to this day. One of the best moments in this advert would have to be the huge drum solo in conjunction with the unique scene of a gorilla behind the drums making this advert even more memorable. The advert itself was released in 2007 and remained on our screens for most of the year before it was replaced.  

Shreddies Cereal

 It seems that the best way to advertise food these days is to come up with the most outrageously unique concept to sell more delicious products. Shreddies are no exception to this with their unique advert showing comedic old ladies knitting every square of cereal. This advert was actually well done with the classic netted design of this cereal fitting perfectly with the story that they were knitted by grandmas. These lovable characters were on our screens for many years with Shreddies actually bringing out many more adverts featuring the Shreddies grandmas after the success of the original broadcast.  

One of the biggest reasons why this advert was so successful was because it had the potential to become a strong brand for the cereal that hasn’t really been achieved by other competing companies, by bringing a story and some context to the product Shreddies are likely to have had a huge sales boost as a result.  

Dumb Ways to Die

An iconic advertisement not about food that did very well when it was released was the iconic Dumb Ways to Die campaign for metro. This animated scene was very simple in design featuring cute characters and a catchy song detailing many comedic ways to die, the point of the advert was to highlight how stupid it is to play around with trains and train tracks by comparing it to many other obscene ways that you could risk your life. The message behind this advert is actually very serious however by taking that message and placing it alongside such a funny and catchy music video I feel that the impact is much more long-lasting. The success of this advertisement led to a second video being created and their success has gone so far that there are now multiple online games that are free to play under the franchise.  

Netflix

Another great advertising campaign that brought the company that made it a lot of success would have to be Netflix’s 2019 advertisement which featured an ordinary couple watching television. One person enjoys the intro song for a show and the other doesn’t and switches it over, this enrages the person and they begin attacking in the style of some of the characters within Netflix’s most popular shows. This advert has a great balance of comedy as well as showing off some of the most successful shows and movies that are available to watch on Netflix. This advert was quite unique but fits the concept of the services that are offered by Netflix very well. Netflix would have to be one of the most iconic streaming platforms available so a great advert is to be expected from them, in other news about Netflix people have been complaining about their limitations on cross country use, remedying this issue by finding the VPN services that work best with Netflix. 

Coca-Cola

The Coca-Cola adverts have developed into the one true sign that Christmas is finally here, everyone loves a good Christmas advert but Coca-Cola’s would have to be the most recognized as one of the eBay Christmas advertisements to ever be made. They are very simple in concept usually involving the arrival of the Coca-Cola Christmas trucks, what many people don’t know is that these adverts are released at the same time as the Christmas truck tour that occurs within the UK every year. When you see this advert remember to check out the website to see when the trucks will be in your city, you can visit Santa, enter a competition as well as get yourself some free coke cans, so what’s not to love?  

Elton John – John Lewis Christmas Advert

The final advert on this list would have to be the 2018 Elton John advertisement for John lewis, everyone waits for the John Lewis Christmas advert for so long and with so much anticipation that when this one was released there was a lot of controversies initially. The advert basically goes through a montage of Elton John’s life ending with the moment that he got his first piano for Christmas as a child, the idea that his family worked so hard to get him their shift that set up his future as a world-famous musician was a really touching moment that appealed to many people all over the world.  

 In my opinion, this would have to be one of the best John Lewis Christmas adverts as it combines a number of truly wonderful things, it has a gentle storyline, an iconic figurehead who already has a strong following, and some truly brilliant music to really bring the advert together.  

There is an endless list of differences between the USA and Europe. In fact, the two are extremely dissimilar in almost all walks of life, down to culture, fashion, food- nothing remains the same. This may seem peculiar, as the USA is basically a product of all those that have immigrated from Europe and other places around the world.

One of the main places that Europe and the USA differ tremendously is when it comes to business priorities. This is mainly down to the differing laws that each one has and current events occurring in each. Here is why Europe’s business priorities are so different from the USA.

Brexit

It had to be talked about so we may as well get it out of the way first. One of the main business priorities of Europe right now is amending its business laws in accordance with the difference that Brexit will make to how the business will operate. Once Brexit is completely settled and put into action, businesses with links to Britain will no longer be able to operate like it used to. Businesses that trade products in Britain will now have new taxes that they will have to deal with. There will also be an import tax for any products that are made in Britain and are sold in Europe. Because of this, one of the main focuses of Europe right now is finding new connections that they can exchange with within Europe. Doing this will mean that they won’t have to deal with mass inflation when trading and will alleviate a lot of the stress that businesses have been feeling over the last few years.

Something that European businesses are trying to do is create more homegrown produce, which will be much more sustainable than their regular trade deals. However, there is a slight problem that they have faced when trying to do this, which is an infestation of parasites in colder regions which is making it harder to grow local produce. However, they are working on overcoming this and there are plenty of sites such as apofraxeis24-antoniou.gr/symvoules-antimetwpisete-skoulhkia-sto-spiti/ that are offering tips on how to deal with these parasite issues.

Though the USA will experience minor changes because of Brexit, they will not be affected as much and will not have to make as many changes as Europe will. This means their priorities will be much different and they will be worrying about other things.

Cultural Events

Following on from the effects of Brexit. It would be impossible to ignore all the cultural changes that are happening in the USA right now that are changing the priorities of the USA. Every day, dozens of riots are occurring all over the country. These riots are creating a gap for looting to occur, which it has. Because of this, many businesses are losing out on vast amounts of profit and are having to spend what profits they do have on repairs or additional security to protect their businesses.

Due to recent race movements along with a lot of political scandals, businesses are now cutting off distributors and other businesses that they had previously worked with, favoring their moral obligation to causes they believe in. Once again, this has left a lot of businesses that remain on the wrong side of history struggling to find custom, meaning that a lot of businesses have found themselves worried that their own businesses may suffer because of this.

Pandemic

This may seem like a confusing topic to conclude as both the USA and Europe are currently dealing with the pandemic as part of everyday life. However, the way in which The USA and Europe are addressing the pandemic are completely different and so their business priorities are much different.

In the USA there has been no formal lockdown and citizens have been informed that they can isolate if they wish, but they are free to go about their daily lives as long as they stay precocious and wear masks. Because of this, though some businesses have been hit by fewer customers, most are still working at the same rate that they usually do. This means that a lot of businesses are still flourishing and reaching sales goals that they have set out to reach. However, some businesses have chosen to close for their protection and will remain closed until the pressure of the pandemic subsides.

Struggling

Businesses in Europe have been hit a lot worse than those in the USA. This is because there have been country-wide lockdowns put in place which means a lot of businesses have had no choice but to close. Because of this, they have lost out on a vast amount of profit and a lot of businesses have been forced to close permanently.  Fortunately, many local governments have made donations to businesses that seem to be suffering most, but for smaller businesses, this financial aid has not been provided and so they are finding themselves in positions where they have had to close.

The main focus for European businesses right now is survival, which can arguably be said to be the priority of all businesses. However, European businesses are under a lot of strain caused by several culminating issues.  Because of this, the priorities of businesses in Europe are very different when comparing the priorities of businesses in the USA right now.