Paying for advice pays off sooner or later.
Canadian Startups should budget to hire professionals to supply them advice and services in the areas of law, accounting, finance and marketing.
I was recently reminded about the value of professional services. My accountant called to tell me that he found a receipt made to my company that was actually paid by me personally. He recommended that I contact the vendor and have them correct the billing information.
That advice saved me $6000 in personal taxes. The annual fees I pay to the accounting firm are $3500, so that piece of advice alone was profitable.
The value your business will receive from professional advisors won’t always be so clear and immediate. For example, you might never be called to court to dispute a customer contract, thanks to your lawyer’s smart work years earlier to design a protective document.
However, professional advisors aren’t miracle workers – you must help them to help you.
Do that by being clear about what you want their services to achieve. Allow the professional sufficient time to do their work. Communicate openly and honestly so there are no secrets or surprises. And, most importantly, trust them – second guessing their opinion or failing to execute on their work will simply waste your money.
You’ll grow a stronger, smarter, safer and more successful business by investing in professional services.
There’s a price tag for
- free advice
- advising oneself
- ignoring advice
Paying for professional advice and acting on it can easily provide the best outcome at the cheapest price (as your example shows).
Great advice. We spent 10k on legal fees back in 1991 to set us up for all the contracts we would need ranging from employment, contractors, engagement contracts, releases, etc. Best investment we ever made.