All About Your Business: The Many Ways Meditation Can Benefit Your Company, Or Even Save It
Credit: @tfrants
Businesses literally live and die by the bottom line. One issue can easily turn into something that could put serious financial strain on any business, and in worst case scenarios, escalate and cause bankruptcy. In an ideal world, most issues are covered by some kind of insurance, but as we all know, insurance companies are built around the idea of covering less, not more. In addition, there are also things that aren’t easily insured and instances where business owners may lack coverage for one reason or another. That can leave businesses with a huge potential loss/expenses to cover if not adequately prepared or represented.
No matter the source of the problem, the potential for legal issues tends to go up significantly when there is a brick and mortar business front. Issues with the building or the lease, premises liability issues, local regulatory issues, etc. Premises liability tends to be higher value lawsuits—this is when a customer, or other person in your business slips and falls or otherwise sustains an injury, whether or not it involves an activity central to your business. As a general principle, businesses are much better served by avoiding litigation whenever possible, as legal costs can run rampant very quickly. This is particularly true if the opposing party has deep pockets and/or is using a large firm. Unless it is necessary to pursue a right to operate, or to defend against a party who has been completely unwilling to negotiate, there are few reasons why a business should go out of its way to involve itself in litigation.
If you own a business and intend to go after another business or party for money owed, damages, etc.—know that in the business litigation world, contingency work isn’t really a thing. This means you’ll be paying out of pocket. If there are damages or money owed, it would be wise to always keep a running cost-benefits analysis of how much it’ll really cost the business to go after what is owed before making decisions at every point along the way. Sometimes, the inconvenient truth is that even where there is merit, the potential to win at trial is outweighed by the exorbitant potential cost to get there, and the potential for a scenario where the defendant goes bankrupt or is otherwise difficult to get payment from. All of these problems can result in increased costs, as well as the potential for a non-result or a negative one.
At some point, you must also realize that if there’s a chance the other party doesn’t have very deep pockets, burying them in litigation and attorney bills is likely depleting the very resources they’re going to need to give you a settlement. Mediation is a great tool to try to cut all or most of the potential costs of litigation should legal problems arise. It’s better to deal with most things as early as possible, unless it's a situation with evolving injuries, unfinished repairs, or other types of instances where waiting until a certain point might make more sense. There's also a massive benefit in the confidentiality of mediation. For your business reputation, it’s really important not to have contractual issues, employment issues, and whatever else may come up as part of the public record unless necessary. Mediation allows you the opportunity to deal with your challenges early, quietly, and in a much more cost effective way.
This can’t be said enough when it comes to employee-related issues in particular. It’s important to note that it’s nearly impossible for the average business owner to truly understand and adhere to the employment laws, especially in a state like California. I have seen well-meaning people make some relatively innocent mistakes with wage and hour practices that actually had the potential for huge exposure in a class action setting. Many of these are losing battles for employers, and some are wise to only litigate where it makes sense, and otherwise try to offer a fair settlement to get through it as efficiently and with as little damage as possible. In addition to the financial trouble employers can expose themselves to when they litigate, there is always public perception and reputation to consider. Business owners and prominent community members have particularly high interest in their image and how ongoing legal issues with employees could make them look publicly. I think the mistake many make is litigating for too long before starting to attempt mediation or some type of negotiations. Mediation offers a confidential setting and the ability to design an agreement that helps put both parties in a better position, even if in different ways. For employers, this is a great opportunity to not only deal with something early on (before it becomes worse) and also to correct any policies and practices that could come back to bite them again. For more in-depth information on just this aspect of business, click here.
No matter the source of the issue, the difficult-at-times truth is that being a business owner is a constant learning process. You will inevitably make some mistakes, some other random stuff will happen to you, etc.—and rest assured, you’ll be paying for much of it—but that’s okay. It kind of is what it is sometimes. That’s honestly what everyone else is doing in their business, too—don’t be fooled by social media posts. You just have to take lessons as they come and try to use them to improve. If your business is worth it to you, you’ll be able to find some value in these lessons and pivot things to your business’ and staff’s benefit. Try to be wise, open and ready to learn!