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Making Sure Your Startup Is Protected

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Making Sure Your Startup Is Protected

Everyone is going into business for themselves these days, and the competition between similar products and services is high. When you’re building a business from the ground up you’re not just finding a way to make money on your own schedule, you’re building a brand and a reputation. Established big-name brands like Apple, Virgin, or even Facebook, are well-protected by teams of lawyers, firewalls, and patents. What’s protecting your small business? Here are a few steps you should take to protect your startup and make sure it doesn’t fail.

Register your trademark

Depending on the kind of business you want to establish, you might consider registering your trademark. A trademark gives you the right to exclude others from using similar marks in the marketplace that might confuse consumers. It’s best to do this before anything else, as this will help you avoid infringement if your business name, logo or slogan has already been taken. A licensed trademark attorney can conduct a Comprehensive Trademark Search for you to make sure that your chosen company name is not infringing on an existing brand, file a trademark application to register your business, and help you protect your brand and ideas by giving you copyright protection.

Get insurance

At the very least, all businesses should obtain liability insurance in case (for example), a customer was to slip and fall in your place of business. However, depending on the kind of service you offer, you might want to consider professional indemnity insurance; this will protect you if a client accuses you of providing  inadequate advice, services or designs that resulted in a financial loss. You can get professional indemnity insurance from £159, and this will cover both defence costs and any liability found owing in the event of a claim up to the limit of indemnity. There are different kinds of insurance for different services, so make sure you do your research to ensure you’re properly covered.

Build your reputation

Reputation is everything to a startup business because you need it to build up a client base, and therefore a source of income. The easiest way to do this is to establish an online presence. A company website is the most effective way to tell people what your business is offering, and why they should come to you for that service. The point is to establish yourself as an expert with better methods than your competition. If possible, include positive testimonials from previous clients to give others a sense of what kind of business partner you will make. Once you’ve built a reputation, protect it and nurture it fiercely.

Protect from cyber attacks

The internet is a convenient place to store all your company data, because it means you’ll never lose anything. Unfortunately, this does leave it vulnerable to cyber attacks. Whether it’s bank routing digits, credit card accounts or employee social security numbers, hackers will use the data available to steal money. Encrypt your data, lock your network, and secure your hardware to protect your work.

I am the founder of Startup Today. I am the main writer and have put in many hours of work into creating this blog. If you want to find out more about me then lets get in contact.

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