Starting a wedding business | The Wedding Lawyer

In Supplier

6 reasons why you should engage a specialised wedding industry lawyer?

January 24, 2017 No Comments

There is heaps of money to be made in the wedding industry and there is a reason why the most successful suppliers have engaged a specialist lawyer to assist them with meeting their commercial, regulatory and legal objectives.

The UK wedding industry can be competitive, tight knit and sometimes ruthless. Therefore, having a lawyer on your side can assist you in protecting your business and financial interests while allowing you to focus on progressing your business.

Knowing the most effective structure for your business

Choices, choices choices! Should you be a sole trader, partnership or limited company. There are choices to be made and implications that follow from your choices. A lawyer can assist you in making recommendations about the most appropriate business structure that would be of most benefit to you and your business. Whatever option you choose, a lawyer can assist you in making an informed choice during the decision making process. A specialist lawyer can also assist you with drafting partnership agreements or articles association that suit you and your business.

Having legally compliant and enforceable business terms and conditions

When dealing with consumers or other suppliers, it is essential that you have air tight and legally binding terms and conditions. These may need to comply with the latest consumer and business related legislation or reflect ethical or good practice. Having unambiguous and clearly written terms and conditions can assist in safeguarding you from potential disputes in the future. It will also ensure all parties are clear on their responsibilities and liabilities.

Dealing with consumer complaints amicably, professionally and quickly

Lawyers appreciate how time consuming and draining it can be for business owners to deal with disputes. Further, any supplier will be aware of how quickly bad news can spread in the wedding industry. Therefore, being able to deal with complaints amicably, professionally and as quickly as possible will distinguish a good supplier from an excellent supplier. A specialist lawyer can assist you in resolving complaints by looking for compromises and negotiated settlements. In the event, of complaints escalating, a lawyer can ensure your business responds swiftly and robustly to any legal action that may arise.

Ensuring you get paid

A lawyer can assist you in making sure you get paid on time and chase any debts in a professional manner from your customer. This will ensure your business can continue to operate with minimum disruption.

Protecting your brand and creativity

With a rapidly growing wedding industry, protecting your brand has never been so important. If you are a business, it is within your best interests to ensure your branding remains unique and identifiable by the consumer. Having a specialist lawyer can help you create and file trademark and patent applications that are worth considerably more than the fee you will ever pay the lawyer.

For example, if you are a photographer you may wish to ensure your copyright in your work is protected so you can freely exploit your images in a way that you choose. Inventors and designers may also find it useful to engage a lawyer to ensure their unique designs and inventions are protected from copying.

Knowing your employment obligations

Recruiting and retaining talent for your business comes with its own set of challenges. Understanding and applying the rapidly evolving employment legislations to your workforce is crucial. Businesses within the wedding industry often rely on casual working and freelance arrangements that come with their own set of peculiarities. Having a lawyer who can assist you establish work place protocols, create employee agreements and provide advice in the event of an employee dispute is crucial to keeping your business on track.

The Wedding Lawyer is a platform that can assist you with all the above and as well as the following areas of law:

Commercial and Corporate work
Dispute Resolution
Real Estate
Intellectual Property
Business and spouse immigration
Employment

For more information contact: info@theweddinglawywer.co.uk

In Supplier

The Wedding Entrepreneur’s Business Plan – 5 Tips

January 24, 2017 No Comments

Business plans can make or break your wedding industry business and therefore it is worth taking time out to make one.

Sums

Know your sums! One of the most important aspects of a business plan is ensuring the sums add up in the financials section. This is particularly important if you intend to pitch to investors, as they will be interested in understanding your calculations and projections for the business before they take a leap of faith and invest in you. Even if you are not looking for investment, knowing your sums will allow you to plan your financials better when starting out a new business.

Succinct

A common misconception is that business plans have to be huge documents with hundreds of pages. An investor will want to understand your business from a quick glance and how it will make money. Therefore, keep your structure and language simple. It maybe worth having an executive summary to provide an overview of the business plan covering What the business does? How it will operate? Why it should thrive in a competitive wedding industry? Whether the sums add up?

Suppliers

Know your wedding supplier competitors and your target market. Ensure your plan highlights how you are different to other suppliers in the wedding industry and who your business is targeting.

Specific

Be as specific as possible about your business idea, how it will operate and how you intend to delivery your business plan.

Style

A well-presented business plan could also influence whether someone may wish to invest in your business idea. Therefore, focusing on the style of your business plan can be just as important as the content.

For further advice about setting up your wedding supplier business contact: info@theweddinglawyer.co.uk

In Supplier

6 steps to becoming a wedding industry entrepreneur

January 24, 2017 No Comments

The UK wedding industry is worth over £10 billion a year and it is encouraging to see so many independent start-ups being established along side the larger more established businesses. Every year, wedding exhibitions provide a platform for new businesses looking to exhibit the goods and services.

The wedding industry is becoming more competitive but there is scope for new businesses, particularly those businesses which are creative or looking to provide a common service in a more personal way. We believe competition in the wedding industry is healthy as it assists in raising the standard of service provided to consumers.

Therefore, if you have an idea, here is our six-step guide to becoming a wedding industry entrepreneur.

Step 1 – What is your big idea?

What are your key skills or services that you can offer to the wedding industry?

It is particularly important to think about this if you are planning on bringing a new service to the wedding industry rather than buying into a franchise or buying an existing wedding business. The clearer you are about what your offering is, the easier it will be to explain to potential investors and consumers.

Put together an ‘offering statement’ or ‘elevator pitch’ about your offering. This will encourage you to think about your business idea in a concise and effective way.

Step 2 – Market Research

More and more businesses enter the wedding industry every year. It is interesting to see how many businesses enter the industry without fully completing their market research. Consider the following questions:

Who are your potential competitors?
What is the geographical remit of your potential competitors?
Can you offer something different from your competitors?
What do you consider as your Unique Selling Point?
Why would a consumer or investor want show interest in you rather than your competitor?
Why would a consumer hire you for their wedding day?

Step 3 – Creating a business plan

Getting a business plan done early on will allow you to think realistically and objectively about your business, encourage you to set out your objectives, gain an understanding of the income and expenditure and assist you in checking whether you can run a profitable business.

A business plan doesn’t have to be overly complicated but should sufficiently convey the market research, financials and operations of the business that you are looking to set up.

Step 4 – Creating synergy

The wedding industry is full of suppliers and this means there may scope for your business to partner up with either a similar business or complementary business. Therefore, networking with other wedding related businesses with the view of partnering up could assist you in cross referral of services and access to a wider customer base.

Step 5 – Know the law

Before your start trading, ensure you obtain professional advice to ensure you conduct your business affairs in a legally compliant manner. In particular, you may wish to obtain advice on the following: tax, trademarks, patents, liability, VAT, business formation, employment rights and drafting of business terms. Read this blog for more information about engaging a wedding industry lawyer.

Step 6 – Test your product or service

You may think you have a wonderful business idea but good business ideas are not enough. The aim to turn your ideas into income. Testing your business over a limited amount of time will allow you to determine the consumer demand. If you are selling goods, you may wish to try selling them on an online market place. If you are providing a service, you may wish to publicise your services (e.g. through social media) before investing in any equipment or major overheads to see how the consumer responds. Be open to making changes if necessary to operate your business as effectively as possible.

Good luck in starting up your business.

Should you require any further information or guidance contact info@theweddinglawyer.co.uk