Jerry West on Protecting Your Business (Stompernet Atlanta June 2007)

I admit that I’m not much of an affiliate marketer. My main source of affiliate revenue comes from Amazon.com’s affiliate program, and that’s less than $100/month – not very exciting. So I was curious to hear Jerry West’s presentation on affiliate marketing.

Jerry’s talk was more about how to protect your business than the nitty gritty of affiliate marketing, so I thought I’d share some of the points he made that are valuable to any business.

1. Get an attorney – As small business owners, we tend not to want to think about legal issues we might have. I’m fortunate enough to have a lawyer in my family, but for those of you not so lucky, find a business attorney that you trust who can answer various legal issues that come up from time to time.
   
   
2. Incorporate – You’ll probably want a way to reduce some of the liability you undertake by starting a business, so consider incorporating or starting an LLC. Talk with your attorney about the best ways to protect your assets.
   
   
3. Disaster Prevention – You should have anti-virus software (I use Avast) and Spyware protection (like Ad Aware or Zone Alarm). Also, be sure to back up your computer every so often – like 1-2 times per month, preferably. You can now buy 100GB external hard drives for about $100, so there’s no excuse not to back up your data. You should also keep a copy of your data at a location other than your main location in case something happens (fire, flooding, natural disaster, etc).
   
   
4. Anticipate the worst – Do you have a backup plan in place in case your largest account stops buying from you, a supplier goes out of business, or you are sued? Most of us don’t want to think about these things, but they are important to plan for just in case.
   
   
5. Focus – When running a business, it’s easy to become distracted, start lots of projects, and never quite finish anything you start. The key to business is to focus on one thing (preferably something that’s profitable and will help your business in the future), finish it, and move on to the next project.
   
   
6. Learn to say no – This is great advice for anything from taking on less-than-ideal clients to expanding into areas you aren’t so good in to negotiating partnerships with vendors. It’s ok to say no.
   
   
7. Relationships are extremely important – People still do business with people, not computers or mailings, so it’s important to network and meet the right people who can help you grow your business.

All of these tips are great advice for any business – especially the disaster recovery stuff. It seems like every month or so I hear yet another horror story from someone who didn’t backup their computer and then had a hardware malfunction. Preparation is key!

Random Posts