You’re probably thinking to yourself that things have been going pretty good until this point and so why would you want to change something that works perfectly. The old saying that ‘if it isn’t broke then you don’t need to fix it’ might come into the equation here, but this is poor advice because it doesn’t provide protection for you and everything that you have worked hard for, up until this point. You set up your own business so that you could enjoy the spoils of all of your hard work and so it doesn’t make any sense to put all of this in jeopardy because you insist on continuing to be a sole trader.
Being a sole trader doesn’t provide you with any real protection at all and should your business run into difficulties further down the line and a judge awards costs to someone you all money to, then the courts have the power to sell your house right from under you and your car as well. This is not a situation that anyone wants to find themselves in and so this is why company registration makes such good business sense. By not registering your business, you’re missing out on so many different kinds of opportunities, and being registered just makes life easier for everyone. The following are just some of the ways that registering your company can help your business to be more efficient.
- For your employees – Registering your company provides you with the protection that we talked about before and the same protection passes on to your employees because now they know that their jobs are secure and that your business will be afforded protection in the event that it runs into trouble. When it comes to hiring new employees who can multitask, having a registered business means that you will be able to pay salaries because you will have the necessary registration numbers that all members of staff need to have for payments into the social security scheme as well as other benefits.
- For your expansion plans – If you remember back to when you applied for your first mortgage and the amount of paperwork and stress that you had to go through to get that, then double it when it comes to trying to borrow money for your business. Any lending institution whether it is a bank or building society will want you to prove that you are actually a real legal entity and so providing them with your company registration number will put their minds at ease.
Then there are the many aspects of dealing with suppliers like wholesalers because they will be somewhat reluctant to do business with you because you are not a registered entity. You will also miss out on certain promotions that are only available to customers who have a company registration number. If you’re just starting off, then it can be incredibly difficult just setting up a business bank account if you don’t have a company registration number. For the strongest possible start in any new business enterprise, it is sound business advice to have your enterprise registered.
