{"id":5182,"date":"2016-12-05T10:30:49","date_gmt":"2016-12-05T16:30:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bgs.com\/?p=5182"},"modified":"2016-12-05T10:30:49","modified_gmt":"2016-12-05T16:30:49","slug":"why-we-all-need-an-idiot-light-to-guide-our-way-at-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/2016\/12\/05\/why-we-all-need-an-idiot-light-to-guide-our-way-at-times\/","title":{"rendered":"Why we all need an \u201cIDIOT!\u201d light"},"content":{"rendered":"

My first car was a canary yellow 1964 Corvair coupe. I could tell stories about that car for hours! Learned a lot too \u2013 one my strongest memories is of my father\u2019s description of a dash feature. \u201cThis,” he said nicely, \u201cis commonly called the \u2018idiot light\u2019. If it goes on you need to pull over immediately, shut off the engine, go find a phone and call me!”\u00a0 That light is a warning that things are on the verge of going badly. IF you paid attention, he said, there was still time to save the day (and the engine block) by pulling over and calling for help.
\n\"carolecar\"
\nWhat (or who) is your \u201cidiot\u201d light? We all need one! For some of us, it\u2019s a spouse or other family member with enough distance from a situation to see that things are headed in the wrong direction. Your accountant and financial advisor may play this role as well, warning you when an investment isn\u2019t performing, the 529 is underfunded, or the 401k is weighted too heavily<\/a> in one fund. As parents we try to be the \u2018idiot light\u2019 for our kids. As attorneys we are sometimes in this position as well, a role that we take very seriously. I have been counseling business owners<\/a> for more than 25 years, and know that I see things a bit differently than they do. As an owner, you are looking at profit and loss calculations, checking cash flow, projecting sales, training employees, enhancing and marketing your product and more. My role is to guide you on applicable law<\/a> and make sure that not only are your contracts enforceable, they protect you and the business that you are working so very hard to build. My view can sometimes produce an \u2018idiot light\u2019 moment, enabling me to highlight issues you may not have known even existed. At the risk of sounding less than humble, YOU NEED ME! Did you know, for instance, that:
\n\u2022 If you hire a programmer to work on your software, and that programmer is not your employee \u2013 without a contract he likely owns what you just paid him to create! Worse than that? He may be able to sell it to your competitor\u2026
\n\u2022 If you sell part of your business you may have just defaulted under your financing, your insurance and your lease
\n\u2022 If you have an employee manual, and do not strictly follow it, firing that bad employee may have just become a lot more complicated (and costly)
\n\u2022 If you are using photos off the internet? You likely don\u2019t have the right to do that, and may get sued
\n\u2022 If you hand every employee the same non-compete? Hmm\u2026 some of those probably aren\u2019t going to be enforceable
\n\u2022 If you don\u2019t have a shareholder agreement (or similar document) your company may suffer greatly when one of the owners wants out, especially if there is an internal conflict
\n\u2022 If you don\u2019t review and negotiate the terms with outside investors, you may have just turned your company over to them to run (or dismantle)
\nEvery business will benefit from a legal review of its processes and contracts \u2013 lawyers have a different view and in some cases we are uniquely situated to take care of possible issues before they become a blown engine block.
\nCome spring, I\u2019m car shopping! Knowing my spouse is present to be my \u2018idiot light\u2019 means I won\u2019t be bringing home a Corvair.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My first car was a canary yellow 1964 Corvair coupe. I could tell stories about that car for hours! Learned a lot too \u2013 one my strongest memories is of my father\u2019s description of a dash feature. \u201cThis,” he said nicely, \u201cis commonly called the \u2018idiot light\u2019. If it goes on you need to pull over immediately, shut off the engine, go find a phone and call me!”\u00a0 That light is a warning that things are on the verge of going badly. IF you paid attention, he said, there was still time to save the day (and the engine block) by pulling over and calling for help. What (or who) is your \u201cidiot\u201d light? We all need one! For some of us, it\u2019s a spouse or other family member with enough distance from a situation to see that things are headed in the wrong direction. Your accountant and financial advisor may play this role as well, warning you when an investment isn\u2019t performing, the 529 is underfunded, or the 401k is weighted too heavily in one fund. As parents we try to be the \u2018idiot light\u2019 for our kids. As attorneys we are sometimes in this position as well, a role that we take very seriously. I have been counseling business owners for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[29,17],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy we all need an \u201cIDIOT!\u201d light - Barna, Guzy & Steffen, LTD.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/2016\/12\/05\/why-we-all-need-an-idiot-light-to-guide-our-way-at-times\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why we all need an \u201cIDIOT!\u201d light - Barna, Guzy & Steffen, LTD.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My first car was a canary yellow 1964 Corvair coupe. I could tell stories about that car for hours! Learned a lot too \u2013 one my strongest memories is of my father\u2019s description of a dash feature. \u201cThis,” he said nicely, \u201cis commonly called the \u2018idiot light\u2019. If it goes on you need to pull over immediately, shut off the engine, go find a phone and call me!”\u00a0 That light is a warning that things are on the verge of going badly. IF you paid attention, he said, there was still time to save the day (and the engine block) by pulling over and calling for help. What (or who) is your \u201cidiot\u201d light? We all need one! For some of us, it\u2019s a spouse or other family member with enough distance from a situation to see that things are headed in the wrong direction. Your accountant and financial advisor may play this role as well, warning you when an investment isn\u2019t performing, the 529 is underfunded, or the 401k is weighted too heavily in one fund. As parents we try to be the \u2018idiot light\u2019 for our kids. As attorneys we are sometimes in this position as well, a role that we take very seriously. I have been counseling business owners for...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/2016\/12\/05\/why-we-all-need-an-idiot-light-to-guide-our-way-at-times\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Barna, Guzy & Steffen, LTD.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-12-05T16:30:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/bgs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/carolecar-300x199.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Carole Clark Isakson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Carole Clark Isakson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/2016\/12\/05\/why-we-all-need-an-idiot-light-to-guide-our-way-at-times\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/2016\/12\/05\/why-we-all-need-an-idiot-light-to-guide-our-way-at-times\/\",\"name\":\"Why we all need an \u201cIDIOT!\u201d light - Barna, Guzy & Steffen, LTD.\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-12-05T16:30:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-12-05T16:30:49+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/cf578526284af48ebb41a289d9ac0be9\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/2016\/12\/05\/why-we-all-need-an-idiot-light-to-guide-our-way-at-times\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/2016\/12\/05\/why-we-all-need-an-idiot-light-to-guide-our-way-at-times\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/2016\/12\/05\/why-we-all-need-an-idiot-light-to-guide-our-way-at-times\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Why we all need an \u201cIDIOT!\u201d light\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Barna, Guzy & Steffen, LTD.\",\"description\":\"Attorneys at Law\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/cf578526284af48ebb41a289d9ac0be9\",\"name\":\"Carole Clark Isakson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/9ca7f6dc65e967327cdf64c06a921b7c\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f7756f9fb8a1d2dff6bdce502e9555e2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f7756f9fb8a1d2dff6bdce502e9555e2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Carole Clark Isakson\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/author\/carole-clark-isakson\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why we all need an \u201cIDIOT!\u201d light - Barna, Guzy & Steffen, LTD.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.bgs.com\/blog\/2016\/12\/05\/why-we-all-need-an-idiot-light-to-guide-our-way-at-times\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why we all need an \u201cIDIOT!\u201d light - Barna, Guzy & Steffen, LTD.","og_description":"My first car was a canary yellow 1964 Corvair coupe. 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