7 Smart Steps to Protect Your Startup Business

There are many risks in business and it is vital that you take steps to protect your startup so that you have protection in place from day one. So, what are the best ways to protect your new business venture? Read on for 7 smart steps to take to protect your business against various threats.

1. Choose the Right Structure

First, you want to choose the right business structure whether this is a sole proprietorship, partnership, Limited Liability Company (LLP), corporation or S corporation. These all have different levels of liability and tax obligations. An LLC is common as this separates your personal assets from your business assets.

2. Obtain Insurance

You will want to have sufficient insurance in place from the very start to provide financial protection in case you encounter any legal issues. The type of insurance that you have will depend on your business. You can often find small business insurance for specific industries, which will provide all of the coverage that you need for protection against the general and industry-specific risks.

3. Protect Intellectual Property

You do not want anyone else to benefit from your ideas, creativity and hard work, which is why you need to protect your intellectual property in the form of trademarks, patents and copyrights. Additionally, be careful to avoid stealing the intellectual property of competitors (this can be easy to do subconsciously).

4. Cybersecurity

Businesses of all sizes and in all industries need to take cybersecurity seriously as it is a major and growing issue. You can do this by investing in quality cybersecurity products, staff training, and backing up important data externally. Globalscape defines secure file transfer as a protocol to provide one of the highest levels of protection for data in transit.

5. Contracts

You must also have contracts in place for all agreements that you have, which will include employee contracts, supplier contracts and client contracts. These will provide important legal protection if there is ever a dispute and can be helpful for outlining what is expected from the agreement.

6. Protect Employees

You also need to make sure that you protect your employees and provide a safe working environment. You can do this by conducting a risk assessment, providing sufficient training, PPE and developing emergency response plans.

7. Physical Security

Cybersecurity is vital, but you should not forget about physical security either. CCTV cameras, intruder alarms, security gates and key code/fob entry can also provide important protection against criminals and peace of mind.

These are the 7 best steps to take to protect your small business against various threats that all businesses face in today’s day and age. You do not want your business to suffer a setback due to a risk that was not managed, so you need to be smart and ensure that you have sufficient protection in place from the very start for peace of mind.

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Dan Dunn

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Editor and Admin at MarkMeets since Nov 2012. Columnist, reviewer and entertainment writer and oversees all of the section's news, features and interviews. During his career, he has written for numerous magazines.

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