CONTINUATION OF PREVIOUS LESSON

Topic: CONTINUATION OF PREVIOUS LESSON


6. Insurance
The insurance you will require depends on the type of
business you have, and the legal requirements in your
region.
Most businesses should have general liability
insurance to cover against legal issues relating to
accident, injuries and claims of negligence.
If you have employees, you may need employer’s
liability insurance.
If your Business is selling products, you may need
product liability insurance; if you are selling services,
you may need professional liability insurance.
If the business owns property, you may need
commercial property insurance.
If you work from home, you may need additional
home-based business insurance if your normal home
insurance policies do not cover business use.
7. Recruiting Staff
This is a big step, so be sure you really need to
employ someone and that the business can support the
expense of payroll, and additional responsibilities of
ensuring you meet minimum wage level requirement,
Employers Liability insurance, complying with current
health and safety requirements in the work place ,
employment contracts, registering with the tax
authorities as an employer….etc.
Consider hiring freelancers or agencies to do the work
for you. This may look more expensive, but be less of
a risk and problem, and avoids long-term commitment.
8. Business Premises
Depending on your business, you might be able to
work from home, and this can be very helpful in
keeping overheads low initially,
It could affect your mortgage and insurance policies,
and you may need to take additional home-based
business insurance.
If you need an office or business premises then
consider location carefully. Think about whether you
want it furnished and serviced. This will be more
expensive but will leave you free to concentrate on
the business.
9. Trademark Protection and
intellectual rights
Registering a limited company name prevents other
people being able to set up a company using the
same, or similar, name. It does not give you any
trademark rights on that name. A trademark is a sign
that distinguishes goods or services
If you do protect your name or logo as a trademark,
this will prevent anyone else from being able to use it
without your permission. Registering the company
name as a trademark can be a lengthy and costly
process, and varies according to your region.
Intellectual Property
Intellectual property (IP) refers to something
developed using human intelligence, such as
inventions, literary and artistic works, designs and
symbols, names and images used in commerce.
IP is protected in law
by patents, copyright and trademarks. This ensure that
the creator of the IP can be recognised as such, and
can derive income from their inventions or creations.
Copyright
Copyright describes the rights that creators have over
their literary and artistic works. Works covered by
copyright could include music, film, video, books,
paintings, sculpture, computer programs, websites
databases, advertisements.
A patent is an exclusive right granted for an
invention. If a product is patented, then the patent
owner has the right to decide how, or even if, the
invention can be used by others, and they have the
right to charge for that use.
A downside of this process is that the patent owner
must make technical information about the invention
publicly available in the published patent document, as
they have to specify exactly what aspect of the
product is protected by the patent.
This can lead to copycat versions, as the patent will
only apply to a specific part of the invention or
process, and variations will not be covered by the
same patent. For this reason many are reluctant to
use patents.
10. The Future of your business
Before starting a business, you should have
investigated your business idea to ensure it is
sustainable in the long-term. However market and
economic conditions do change, and nothing is
certain. Many businesses need to evolve to survive.
A limited company can be dealt with in your Will,
allowing you to state what you would like to happen
to your business when you pass away. If you are a
sole trader the situation is more difficult, because
there is no registered business as a legal entity to
pass on to heirs. A lawyer or accountant can help you
with this.