Get a legal expert to walk you through the business minefield

I attended a conference recently where the speaker gave a talk on “Why entrepreneurs need coaching.”

From the talk I realised there were so many benefits of having a business coach. Firstly, a business coach helps an entrepreneur to clarify his goals and vision.

I came to learn that in so far as vision is concerned, the business owner should have his personal vision and the business should have its own vision as well.

Coaching helps entrepreneurs navigate through challenges. Entrepreneurship can be a challenging endeavour.

You may have heard of the old adage that entrepreneurship is a lonely journey full of hurdles.

I thought to myself that lack of guidance or counsel on how to go through the challenges could be a big contributing factor to this.

I believe that a big number of challenges that entrepreneurs face can be overcome with the right guidance and counsel.

A coach helps a business navigate through hard times and explore solutions.

A coach will help in growth and scaling up of the business.

They play a big role in helping a business attain their objectives and therefore grow. A coach provides a good accountability mechanism and a sounding board.

After the conference I was open to the idea of getting a coach. It also had me thinking about business legal coaching.

Traditionally, legal coaching has been interpreted to mean retaining a lawyer to guide you through self-representation in court.

Legal coaching in the traditional sense, has been considered much cheaper than hiring a full time lawyer to represent you.

The legal coach would basically train you on the legal aspects of your case and then you would attend court when necessary.

This helps you to cut costs while not compromising the quality.

Business legal coaching on the other hand is different.

A business legal coach is one that helps a business grow and attain their objectives by avoidance of legal risk and in the event of any legal challenges, then he would help you explore a solution.

The coach would help the business identify any legal related issues in the business strategy and help the business to grow.

For example, if your vision is to offer services in the entire Africa by 2030, then the legal coach will help you isolate the legal issues associated with this.

If this is the vision, will you then register a business in each country and what are the legal requirements in each country?

A business legal coach assists executives in legalising their businesses and helps them get through challenges.

One of the challenges many businesses faced is Covid- 19. Businesses faced liquidity issues which affected their ability to pay salaries, rent and other outgoings.

Many were not able to perform their end of contractual arrangements exposing them to legal risk.

A business legal coach would have come in very handy during this time by helping the business navigate the challenges.

A business legal coach will help refine key areas instrumental to growth. Issues such as the law and your strategy, business objectives, organisational policies, and business continuity.

A business legal coach is different from a practicing lawyer or a general counsel as a business legal coach has training in both law and also in coaching.

As a result, the business benefits from both ends where your lawyer is also a business coach.

Ms Mputhia is the founder of C Mputhia Advocates | [email protected]