New Jersey Enterpreneur - Small Business, Entrepreneurs and Venture Capital

One of the common shortcuts of business building is the avoidance of creating documentation, whether it is legal forms, performance reviews or even archived letters to customers. Computers have made it easier to store documents and many services now provide standardized documentation on line for small businesses. This is a start, but still there must be a commitment to record important information about the business for the business to have sustained growth.

Very often in entrepreneurkial stage companies there is a revolving door of employees as a result of first time job descriptions and the stress of working in a new and unstructured environment. As a result the knowledge base of the company often walks out the door with each employee, thus breaking momentum. Losing a possible valuable employee is one heartache, but the absence of training documentation compounds a difficult situation and further placing the business in a hole of sustaining a forward direction. It takes a special investment to create the appropriate supporting information and in the most extreme situation for companies that have survived the first five years, if this issue has never been addressed it becomes one of many limiting factors impacting the company's potential size.

Another area that falls behind is the legal documentation of the company, whether it is compliance with incorporation laws within the State or failing to record and submit timely information to regulatory agencies such as quarterly sales reports, document employees properly or have well written contracts. Again a business can only go so far as informational requirements made by law eventually implode the business as the company falls further and further behind. Or customers void contracts knowing compliance can not be enforced due to poor documentation.

A company that regularly finds itself in adverse situations due to there being no documentation, no reference material, or missing government compliance reports is a reflection of the leadership of the business and no where else. This is usually a skill base issue that should be promptly addressed at the executive leadership level and issues such as indecisiveness, possible attention problems, chronic procrastination and even outright arrogance needs to be corrected for there to be hope that the true potential of the company may be realized over time, especially in cases where excellent talent has come on board but legacy issues undermine performance and morale.