How many times have you thought about setting-up your own enterprise, whether it is to develop a good idea, a new product or to take advantage of a niche service?

We believe that there are three factors that hold back entrepreneurs from getting their business off the ground:

• lack of focus
• lack of confidence
• lack of support.

Lack of focus:

Successful entrepreneurs seem to take the bull by the horns and just go for it. They know what they are trying to achieve and they have a plan of action. They have taken time to think about their strategy, market and business plan. They don’t prevaricate and they have spent time researching their market and the competition.
What successful entrepreneurs have in common is the determination to succeed.

Lack of confidence:

There are many talented people out there, and many innovative ideas. What makes an entrepreneur succeed with their idea is that no matter how scared they are of failure, or of looking foolish, they carry on regardless in the pursuit of their dream. If you imagine the participants in Dragon’s Den on TV, they are certain that their product or service will succeed and this confidence is required because it will help you to overcome the hurdles you will face along the way. Confidence is an essential business tool.

Lack of support:

Once you have decided on your business plan, you’ll need people alongside to help to give you important expertise at strategic times. This could be for emotional encouragement, someone to listen to the problems, financial know-how, general business advice as well as independent observation for sensible review and even critical evaluation.

Starting a company can be a lonely activity. You need to believe in your company and its products and yet be realistic that your best laid plans might not work.

To help your business get off the ground, you will need advice from a bank or lender about finance and a business bank account, an accountant or bookkeeper about the accounts and tax implications, and a lawyer, to ensure your business is legal and protected.

If you want to ensure your business has the best start in life, remember:

Focus, Confidence and Support.

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At www.LawSense.co.uk you will find several start-up legal documents that you can create yourself, using Solicitors Regulation Authority-approved templates that have been created by law firm Brethertons LLP. The basic legal documents that you are likely to need for your start-up include:

www.LawSense.co.uk is a new website that is a revolutionary way for you to purchase quality legal documents and legal advice over the internet, with ease-of-use, cost-certainty and value for money.

You can go online and see a lot of free legal advice about how to choose the most appropriate business structure for your start-up and the advantages and disadvantages of being a sole trader, and how to protect your business ideas from fraud. Many of the legal documents you will need are also listed, at very affordable prices.

Following on from the recent change in employment law to embrace Carers’ rights for equality in bringing discrimination claims based on their duties and responsibilities for caring for disabled people, the depth of the impact of employment law is, by its nature, always changing and this means that it is hard for employers to keep abreast of the changes. It is hard for employers to interpret the implications of not only changing employment legislation, but wider equality and discrimination laws and EU directives, which ultimately affect them and their employees. Understanding one’s employer responsibilities and doing the right thing has never been harder.

There are numerous forms and procedures which employers have to adopt when dealing with employees and these can be very confusing. As current employment law changes fast, employers run the risk of being out-of-step with the law and subsequently their employment contracts and disciplinary procedures may fall foul of changing legislation especially when disputes occur, and their employee documentation is found to be inadequate for purpose and simply does not protect them from penalty, loss or embarrassment, not to mention the potential of high costs in defending disputes through the courts.

What’s required is an easy to understand solution that’s cost-effective, yet 100% protective. At www.lawsense.co.uk there are over 150 legal documents and documents that an employer can purchase easily over the internet at very little cost compared to instructing a solicitor. Lawsense.co.uk is a website where an employer can choose a specific legal document online, change and adapt it on screen to meet their specific requirements, and then purchase it with little hassle, just by using a credit card payment.

LawSense.co.uk has documents that are legally up-to-date and have been verified by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and it is brought to employers by Brethertons LLP solicitors who have been around for 200 years. All the documents and contracts have easy-to-understand explanations and full guidance is given on how to create the documents. For those requiring the security and comfort of a full legal review of what has been created, this too can be provided online by Brethertons’ solicitors and the costs of a review are much less than you’d expect.

LawSense provides peace of mind and employment documents include: employee contracts, employment procedures, discipline and dismissal, sickness and absence and recruitment. You can download simple letters, more complex contracts and even a whole ‘pack’ of employment documents which contains all that you are likely to need for a particular issue or area of employment law, with the confidence of knowing that they are compliant with current legislation and contain helpful explanations.

A small sample of the LawSense.co.uk employment legal document library includes:

• Sickness Self-Certification
• Work experience agreement
• Criminal convictions declaration form for job applicants
• Agreement to opt-out of the working time directive
• Employee suspension letter pending investigation of allegations
• Employee dismissal letter for gross misconduct

Have you ever considered why it is that the UK divorce rate soars during the months immediately after Christmas? It is a true fact that solicitor divorce lawyers have their busiest time in the months from January to April, the months immediately after the Christmas and New Year holidays.

Sadly, what starts off as a happy annual festive time often ends up as an event that can ignite deep-felt resentment and highlight unfulfilled emotions.

So, why is it that the Christmas holiday period can result in such finality for people’s relationships? The reasons are more varied than you’d think:

• For some, the meeting of family and putting a ‘brave face’ on what is already a patchy relationship can mean long-festering issues are eclipsed, becoming huge concerns at a time when couples are off work and out of their normal routines, allowing them more time to reflect and see their relationships as they really are.
• For others, the Christmas period embodies the responsibility of being nice to family or step-families, that in other circumstances you would avoid. This creation of false emotions can put additional pressure on individuals to behave in specific ways that are outside of their true comfort zone. This additional pressure can result in breaking-point within some partnerships.
• For others, Christmas holidays mark the end of a year and having to face a whole new year with the same person, sometimes with unresolved resentment having been left over from the previous 12 months. You just can’t face being in that relationship any longer due to an insurmountable difference, desertion, domestic violence, unreasonable behaviour or an adulterous betrayal.
• Christmas time can also eclipse the emotions that you have for others and make you realise that you should be with someone else as your life-long partner. You have significant doubts that your existing partner is right for you and you might have found Miss or Mr Right elsewhere.

Divorce is about being true to yourself and your feelings and if you simply can’t ‘love the one you’re with’, then a separation agreement can be seen as an escape route, and divorce proceedings, a permanent solution.

You can read about divorce documentation at www.LawSense.co.uk, the online legal document library, where you can learn about the required legal steps to leave your partner and what’s involved in doing so. www.LawSense.co.uk is a new website that Brethertons LLP solicitors has recently developed, as a revolutionary way for you to purchase quality legal documents and legal advice over the internet, with ease-of-use, cost-certainty and value for money.

LawSense.co.uk legal divorce documents that you can visit and learn more about include:

• Divorce Pack – all the standard legal documents in divorce
• Dissolution of Civil Partnerships
• Affidavit for divorce on the grounds of a two-year separation
• Affidavit for divorce on the grounds of a five-year separation
• Statement of arrangements for children

Divorce is often a difficult and emotional experience, which is why you want the process to be handled quickly and efficiently, and you need to know what the different options are that are available to you, and the impact on your children/step children, so that you don’t rush into divorce as the only option and that you have considered Collaborative Law solutions as well as other avenues.

If children are involved in divorce, you will need to plan ahead for the contact you’d expect to have if or when your relationship breaks down.

Brethertons LLP is staying open between Christmas and New Year in 2010, and we are here to offer detailed family legal advice and support should you need it. Our offices reopen on the 30th December 2010, please do contact us (confidentially) on (01295) 270999 (Banbury) or (01788) 579579 (Rugby) if your relationship is at breaking-point. Alternatively, please arrange an initial consultation online at www.brethertons.co.uk.