My eyes still haven’t recovered…
One of my favorite spots on my recent trip to Greece was Naxos Island. Naxos was the perfect combo of coastal and rugged. This is where I saw the Grape Man, if you saw my post. Anyway, I was exploring as I love to do, just wandering around without an agenda. If you’ve seen my video on my About page, you know solivagant means solitary wanderer, so…on brand. 😉 Anyway, I stumbled on a gorgeous beach with a kiteboarding school. Walked around to get a better angle of the mountains for a good pic. All for the ‘gram or whatever Gen Z’ers say. Walked over a ridge and had just pulled out my phone to take a pic when a buck naked man, who had to be at least 80 years old (but understandably, I wasn’t lingering so I’m not sure), jumped up and stared me down. Not sure what he was doing or why he was there, but I hightailed it out of there.
Laughed all the way to my car. He was probably harmless, but as always, there are legal lessons here:
Surprises happen. Be prepared. Minimize risk.
In life and in business, expect the unexpected. Could I have reasonably anticipated a nude octogenarian? No. But I had a reasonable idea of where I was and how to escape if it had been a threatening situation.
Business surprises unfortunately happen. Clients may pay late or even ghost. Some might want refunds, even though you’ve delivered a killer service. Be prepared with strong contracts that protect you, with provisions you understand ahead of time, so you know your rights and remedies.
Millions of small business contract cases are litigated every year, and that’s just in the U.S. On average, it can cost over $50k to litigate one of these. The last thing you want is a legal surprise. I’d recommend an audit of your biz to identify any gaps and vulnerabilities to avoid any unwelcome surprises. Especially as you scale your business, you want to make sure you’ve protected your website and entire product suite with the right contracts, as well as ensured all of your other legal ducks are in a row.
Some things and situations are not what they seem. Trust your gut.
I thought I had stumbled on an idyllic, vacant beach. Any time I’ve ignored my gut I’ve regretted it. In business, I can point to at least $15k I invested at different points that didn’t feel completely aligned at the time, and of course, I ended up regretting it. One of the things I’m so grateful for with regard to all of the personal development work I’ve done is that it’s really honed my intuition. And listening to my intuition has helped me make more aligned choices in life and in business.
Not everyone operates the same way as you do.
I’ve seen this put differently: not everyone has your heart. Not everyone has the same work ethic, not everyone has the same intentions, not everyone has done their due diligence when it comes to law and their business and getting the right contracts. Just because you like someone and they seem trustworthy, doesn’t mean you should be signing their contract without having a lawyer review it first. They might have pulled the contract off the internet and it’s a piece of junk for all you know. It might have provisions that inhibit or penalize you that they don’t even know about. My advice is to always use your own contract wherever possible and if you have to sign theirs, have a lawyer review it first (I’d be happy to take a look in a Power Hour).