Startups

4 Lessons That Could Save Your Business and Lead to Success

Published

9 years ago

Mar 7, 2017

It’s been a grueling six years since I embarked upon a business idea that I had of owning my Counseling practice. I had been an employee in a non-profit organization for about twenty-one years. I had not actually owned my own business before but having read many business books, listened to tons of audios – podcasts and online courses and participated in countless webinars and seminars.

Having devoured as much information as I possibly could, I felt the time was right for me to resign from my career and start my own business. I did so in 2008. After a series of health issues and other challenges, I hobbled financially through the next couple of years. The business leveled off and I felt positive about the future.

Over the next couple of years, the business began to feel like another job. This wasn’t what I had envisioned. Having time freedom was high on the list of why I left my job of twenty-one years. But now, here I was feeling exhausted and not seeming to break the financial “glass ceiling” that I had set for myself.

The excitement of going to the office began to wear off. My client load began to decrease. This I chalked up to be seasonal, which at times was so. But, I began to question whether I had just exchanged one job for another or indeed, had a business.

I wanted a business and not a job. I hired another coach who provoked me with some deep questions. This energized me and has created a new approach that has already led to some very promising results.

The following four lessons were critical to this turnaround:

1. Be honest with ourselves

Coming to a place where we admit that what we’re doing isn’t working is difficult. It is quite humbling. This is the last thing that we want to do. We may feel like a failure doing so. But we can easily keep doing the same thing over and over again, but as we know, the results will remain the same.

Albert Einstein is broadly credited with this definition of insanity, “doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.” Being honest with ourselves and admitting that what we’re doing isn’t working, is the place to start. This is what I had to do, which began the turnaround process.

“Accept everything about yourself-I mean everything, You are you and that is the beginning and the end. No apologies, no regrets.” – Clark Moustakas

2. Reach out for help

Reaching out for help is humbling. It says we don’t know what we thought we did. It conveys the fact that someone else knows something we don’t, which is the last thing that we want to admit at this point in our business and life.

Choosing the right place and person for this, is important. You want to choose someone who will not sit in the seat of judgment on your case. You want someone who will be objective, experienced and willing to tell you the truth in love.

The safest place for me to have done this was to hire a coach. I had friends and family members who could possibly have given me some very helpful advice and save me a few thousand dollars. However, a part of me didn’t want them to know what was really going on. I felt safer speaking to someone “outside.”

Finding someone who we can trust with this very important pivoting decision is critical. Utilizing our current network of associates is a great place to start. Whether we start here or not, the point is to get some help.

3. Remind ourselves of why we began

This is such an important aspect to one’s success especially as an entrepreneur. It’s so easy to get so far removed from why we started our business as growth and other demands take over our every waking moments.

My desire to impact the masses through speaking and writing, was swallowed up by me just trying to keep my clients happy. The administrative aspects to the business also became a consuming part of the job. Not having the help that the business needed, only made my work more demanding and frustrating.

By me reminding myself of my “WHY”, it helped me decide what I had to give up doing even though I enjoyed them.

This will be true of you as well. You have to get back to the reason you started this business in the first place. You might even want to explore if that reason is big enough. This might be a good time to do some modifications to your why.

“He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

4. Do what we do best

By reminding ourselves of our “WHY” will lead us back to what we do best. We will be able to recall what it was like when we first started. Most times what got us to where we are, is what is forgotten as we get more and more involved in the mundane but necessary aspects of our business.

However, when we can find a way to return to our “first love,” it infuses energy, drive and passion back into our business.

These four lessons will be pivotal in saving your business as it has done mine. Which of these do you most relate to and why? Comment below!

Image courtesy of Twenty20.com

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Kingsley Grant

Kingsley Grant is a Professional Speaker, Corporate Trainer, Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist, Certified Mindset & Communication Coach, Host of the Midlife Launch On-Demand Online Radio (Podcast), and a published Author. He focuses primarily on helping midlife professionals leverage their experience and expertise to financially support the lifestyle they want for themselves. Kingsley writes for the Huffington Post and The Goodmen Project and is a national and international speaker. He is a proud dad, husband, a man of faith and an entrepreneur at heart.

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Startups

How an LLC Can Help Shield Your Personal Assets

Published

2 days ago

Aug 1, 2026

Addicted2Success Editor

Image Credit: Addicted2success

You are a freelance designer, and your client sued you over a trademark mistake. If you believe that your personal savings are safe, then you may be wrong. You are operating as a default sole proprietor. You and your business are the exact same person. As a result, your personal bank account, your car, and even your home are legally up for grabs.

However, if you start an LLC, you can build a legal shield between your business liabilities and your personal life. These days, you can easily form an LLC online.

How Does This Legal Shield Work

When you start an LLC, your business gets a distinct legal identity. Now, your LLC can open its own bank accounts, sign contracts, take out loans, buy equipment, and be held responsible for its own actions. You are not liable. This boundary between you and your business is called the “corporate veil.”

Visualizing the Separation

Inside the Shield (Business Assets)

Everything your company owns is included in this shield. If your business faces a debt collector or a lawsuit, only your business assets are at risk, such as:

Money in the business bank account
Inventory and raw materials
Office equipment, computers, and company vehicles
Business intellectual property

Outside the Shield (Your Personal Assets)

You don’t have to worry about your personal assets, such as:

Your personal checking and savings accounts
Your home and personal real estate
Your family vehicles
Your retirement funds (401k, IRA) and personal investments

What LLC Protection Covers

Business Debts and Contracts

When your LLC signs a commercial lease, hires a contractor, or buys inventory on credit, these are the obligations of the LLC. Your creditors will come after the assets of the LLC if your business can’t pay.

Lawsuits

If your business is sued over a contract dispute, faulty service, or an operational issue, lawsuits will be filed against your business. All your personal assets are safe.

What LLC Protection Does Not Cover

Personal Torts

The term “tort” refers to an act that causes harm or injury to someone else. The LLC shields you from the mistakes of your employees and general business liabilities. However, it never protects you from your own personal actions. For example, if you personally commit fraud, you can be sued personally.

Personal Guarantees

Vendors often hesitate to lend money to new, growing businesses. Such businesses don’t have long credit histories. Lenders often require you to sign a personal guarantee.

How Owners Accidentally Destroy Their Protection

The legal shield provided by forming an LLC only works when you run your business properly. The corporate veil can be pierced when a court decides that your LLC is not legitimate and strips away your protection in a lawsuit. This usually happens when you make one of the following three mistakes.

Commingling Funds

Many small business owners often mix their personal money with their business money. You are commingling funds when you use your business debit card to buy your personal groceries or you deposit a client’s payment directly into your personal checking account. The legal wall crumbles when you don’t treat your business and personal finances as completely separate.

Missing an Operating Agreement

An operating agreement is the legal document that outlines:

How your LLC is run
Who owns what percentage
How profits are handled

If the creditor’s lawyer finds out that an operating agreement is missing, they may argue that your LLC is just a shell.

Falling Out of “Good Standing”

When you start an LLC, you must file annual reports and pay franchise taxes to keep it active. The state will place your business in “Administrative Dissolution” or bad standing if you miss any of these deadlines. You could lose your limited liability protection if you operate a business under an inactive or dissolved LLC.

Startups

Move Fast without Breaking People: Product Safety Lessons for Ambitious Startups

Published

3 weeks ago

Jul 15, 2026

Addicted2Success Editor

Image Credit: Addicted2success

Fast growth can hide product risks until customers get hurt, especially when safety comes late in development. A software bug can be patched, but a chair, charger, or smart device can cause a burn, fall, cut, or crash.

For founders moving from a prototype to mass sales, the cases handled by Michael Kelly Injury Lawyers in Boston show why launch goals should not push testing, warnings, and foreseeable risks aside. A product claim can involve the design, how a unit was made, user instructions, or several firms in the supply chain.

Why Minimum Viable Should Never Mean Minimally Safe

A minimum viable product should test whether people want an idea, not how much danger they will accept. Teams can delay colors or premium finishes, but not guards, safe heat limits, sound wiring, or clear instructions.

Set Safety Rules Before the Build

The product brief should define who will use the item, where, and what could happen during setup, cleaning, storage, wear, or mistakes. It should also consider what a child, guest, tired worker, or first-time buyer might do.

Shared rules help teams move faster. Designers know which guards must remain. Engineers know which parts cannot fail. Suppliers know what cannot change without review.

Test How People Really Use It

A neat demo is not the real world. Users place products on wet counters, soft rugs, or rough ground. They skip a guide, use the wrong cable, or handle an item in unexpected ways.

Testing should cover misuse without predicting every extreme act. When a risk can be reduced through a guard, lock, stop switch, or clear signal, that design change is often greater than a warning alone.

How Design and Manufacturing Risks Differ

Some risks are built into the design. Others arise when production fails to match the approved plan. Teams need to identify the source before choosing a correction.

Design Problems Start with the Plan

A design problem can affect every unit. A base may tip, a blade may sit too close to a hand, a control may activate too easily, or a battery space may trap heat.

Final inspection cannot repair a flawed plan. The team may need a new shape, shield, limit, material, or control, followed by testing before more units ship.

Manufacturing Problems Break the Plan

A manufacturing problem occurs when a unit or batch does not match the approved design. A fastener may be missing, a weld may be weak, a wire may be damaged, or the wrong component may enter production.

Good records help define the scope. The team should know who made each part, which batch used it, what checks occurred, and where units went. Fast trace work can keep one fault from becoming a wider crisis.

When Customer Feedback Signals More Than Dissatisfaction

Support teams hear about delays, difficult setups, strange sounds, and refunds. Most reports are routine. Yet heat, smoke, sparks, breakage, sharp edges, sudden movement, falls, or failed guards require review.

Treat Complaints as Safety Data

One report may lack key facts, but similar reports can reveal a pattern. Staff should record the model, batch, date, use, photographs, and outcome, then alert someone who can pause sales or order testing.

Teams should not blame unusual use before asking whether another reasonable buyer could make the same choice. A support ticket can be the first sign of a hazard that lab testing missed.

Preserve the Product and the Record

After an injury, the product can help explain what failed. A repair, disposal, or undocumented test can remove evidence. The same applies to old labels, manuals, test files, customer messages, and design notes.

Startups should keep relevant items safely, record who examines them, and preserve earlier versions of instructions and warnings. This history can show what changed and why.

Why Warnings Must Reflect Real Use

A warning works only when a user notices it at the right time. Dense text at the back of a manual may not help during setup. The message should name the hazard, explain the harm, and state what reduces the risk.

Placement matters too. A charging risk belongs near the port. A weight limit belongs where weight is added. Even so, warnings should not replace a safer design when the hazard can reasonably be removed.

How Founders Can Preserve Speed without Cutting Safeguards

A delayed launch, redesign, or recall can feel like defeat. In practice, early action can prevent harm, protect trust, and give the team better facts for the next version. The strongest startups move quickly because their systems protect people.

When a product injures someone, legal guidance can help preserve the item, collect design and manufacturing records, identify responsible companies, and examine whether a defect or unsafe choice caused the harm.