Hello, its nice to be back. I’ve been busy the last couple of months giving some presentations about legal issues affecting small business, particularly coaching businesses, and preparing a few legal products and publications to assist people in small business, (particularly those running a business on their own) which should be available for purchase in the New Year. You can guess what I’ll be doing these holidays!
Somewhat discouragingly, (or should that be encouragingly?) I received a message today from a gentleman in his 60s who has been running his business for many years, has a full time staff equivalent of 6 people and turns over on average $4m per year. He said that as a small business person you gain experience about what to worry about in contracts, do a lot of business on shaken hands and trust and learn from experience when to be wary. He said that he doesn’t use legal advice at all!
It is great to hear that people are able to continue to do business on trust. As a lawyer, we rarely get to see that side of business because people come to us generally after they need assistance, rather than for prevention.
If we look at prevention for a moment, what are the areas of your business that could do with a quick review?
Anyone dealing with the public in the sale of goods or services for personal, domestic or household use (eg, not for business or trade purposes) is obliged to comply with the requirements of the Fair Trading Act relevant to their state or territory. The Fair Trading Acts are pretty similar across the country and any complaints or issues regarding Fair Trading matters are usually managed by Consumer Affairs in that state or territory. I’ve listed all of the Consumer Affairs websites in an earlier post, so that you can find them without too much trouble.
I’m going to write a series of blogs over the next month or so covering some of the key areas of consumer protection law that you, as a business person supplying goods or services, should be aware of. If you know about it, you can do something about it. If you don’t know about it, you might be surprised when someone from Consumer Affairs gives you a call and asks you about your legal compliance issues. In the first one, I’ll talk about describing your goods or services and making sure that you are only making promises that you know you can keep.
Until then, I wish you all the best for your holidays and hope that you get to spend them with the people you cherish.
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