What I know about "Intending to do no harm", and protecting your business.

As your business changes, so do you.

Each day, you become more experienced, and new challenges to overcome arise. It’s true for new entrepreneurs as much as it is for seasoned entrepreneurs. So, how can you build the resilience and the skills to be prepared for anything?

You want to ready yourself for challenges you have read about, or fear will arise. All the things that have not happened yet, the things you cannot see yet. You may worry that you won’t know what to do when you are expected to make a decision. But there is one guideline you can always follow when considering making a decision.

One of the best pieces of advice I received when starting out was, “intend to do no harm”. It will guide you when you are faced with the unknown. Intent is powerful, so intend to not do someone else wrong, intend to build a business of fairness, intend to grow.

Acclimating to owning a business and leading your team requires having many things, some big some small, to think about. Some of your considerations will be complicated or overwhelming or uninteresting. Maybe you will want to freeze, to defer to someone else, or maybe you will want to research more, survey and ask everyone their opinion.

My advice:
Just stop worrying. Do the work. Get your business and/or leadership going. And intend to do no harm.

Having said that, others may not follow the same principle. Meaning they don’t honor the “handshake”. In this instance, the way we protect our business and/or leadership position is to have the information documented. Clearly laying out what is being offered, bought or sold, the structures and formalities. This way everyone will have a point of reference available should something need to be discussed or resolved.

Remember, you are the advocate for your business. Do the “paperwork”, and intend to do no harm.