Having the right professional service people by your side can go a long way to contributing to the success of your business. Our company and any detailing business are no different. These are the services that I find invaluable to our business at Detailed Image. In their areas of expertise, they help navigate the ever-changing business climate to help your business.
Accountant
We have an accountant that we’ve been working with from almost the beginning. We started with a much bigger firm but quickly found out they weren’t the right fit for us. We eventually found a smaller firm that we’ve been with ever since. Our accountant’s son was even our very first employee. He has been hugely important to us in helping us understand current and new tax laws at the federal and state level. This has surely helped us save money in so many ways. It’s great to know he has our best interest at hand when it comes to complicated tax laws that keep on changing. Lastly, no one wants to be audited and there’s comfort knowing you have the right professional on your side.
Lawyer
From the date of incorporation, we’ve been with working with the same lawyer. There can be some overlap in tax law with an accountant but your lawyer is there in the event of a lawsuit and protects you from legal mistakes. A lawyer can provide knowledge in many areas and if not they can probably give you a referral to someone in that specific area like a trademark lawyer.
Business Insurance Agent
This might not be one you immediately consider a key service. Our agent has helped us tremendously in getting the right insurances to protect our company. They shop our insurance needs every year to find the best value and coverage to save us money. We started early on in the e-commerce world and things have changed quite a bit but they have kept up with the times to get us insurances we need. Here is a list of the insurances that we carry and there are definitely ones that would not have crossed my mind.
- General Liability – helps cover claims on bodily injury or property damage to others.
- Workers Comp – is the safety net for work-related accidents or illnesses to help aid for medical care, rehab, and lost wages.
- Commercial Property – your business’ physical assets.
- Employment Practices – is protection against lawsuits against the employer like wrongful termination, discrimination, etc.
- Disability – are payments to employees that are incapacitated by illness or disability that is non-occupational.
- Cyber – is insurance that covers breaches and cyber security issues.
I know that may seem like a lot but there’s peace of mind if anything happens we should be covered. Employment practices and cyber are relatively new but how many times have you heard of an employee suing their employer or a cyber attack on a business? The cost is so worth it in my mind and I’ve heard numerous horror stories.
Final Thoughts
Here my final thoughts on these services. I know these services are not free but not having the right professional guidance can lead to costly mistakes for your business that outweigh the expense of them. Examples that could cost you include; IRS tax audit, tax penalties, legal compliance issues, lawsuits, website breaches, and so many more. From my personal business experiences we’ve had a flood, frivolous lawsuits, and audits just to name a few. Knowing I have the right team of professionals in place and that we’re in good hands, I can focus on the company’s success.