Confidentiality Agreements: How To Use Them In Your Internet Business
When you’re dealing with trade secrets and other sensitive Internet business information, you’re going to want your employees and independent contractors to sign binding confidentiality agreements. This type of contract, also known as a nondisclosure agreement (NDA), is used to identify what information you’re sharing constitutes confidential information, the other party to the agreement acknowledges that he will not be disclosing the information to anyone, and the agreement provides you with legal remedies in case the agreement is breached by unauthorized disclosure.
A confidentiality agreement can be its own contract or it can be part of another agreement, such as a non-compete agreement or a customer non-solicitation agreement. Whether you’ll incorporate it into another contract or have it as a separate agreement, the nondisclosure agreement is essential to protecting your e-commerce company’s important data.
Your Internet lawyer can help you determine the best way to protect your Internet business’ trade secrets.
Outsourcing: Delegate Does Not Mean Abdicate
If work can be assigned to someone else who will do it for less than the value of your time, I’m a big supporter of delegating that work. Ideally, you’ll want it done on an independent contractor basis. In rare instances, an employee will be necessary. You can then use your time to generate more money doing higher value activities.
The big mistake that I see business owners making these days is mistaking delegation for a total abdication of oversight responsibility. When you assign a project, do so with clear specific objectives and deadlines. Periodically check to ensure what you’ve assigned is actually being done. This isn’t micromanagement. It is protecting your business.
Where does delegation go bad? Here are some common examples.
• You feel overwhelmed so you dump a project on someone else to sort out and hope that it gets done. Hope is not a business strategy.
• Because “everyone is doing it,” you hire a personal assistant…but you don’t prescreen candidates or train your new employee. Most people who apply to work as your personal assistant are completely unqualified to do so.
• After putting in years of hard work, your business is running smoothly, you feel you’re entitled to kick back, and let someone else take the reins. Chances are you’ll hire a technician (not an entrepreneur or manager) who will ‘competently’ run your business into the ground because of an inability to see the big picture. If the technician had your talents, he would have his own successful business.
