I always consider myself lucky to find myself in PEI in the summertime.

One of my favorite things to do in PEI (besides eating seafood and going to the lovely beaches) is to watch the long running musical, Anne of Green Gables: The Musical™ at The Charlottetown Festival. If you are fuzzy on the details of the storyline, here is a recap here – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_of_Green_Gables.

As I watched this production with my daughter this summer, there were two things that struck me:

#1 – Anne Shirley (aka Anne of Green Gables) is a badass.

#2 – The whole story is based on a contract gone wrong.

#1 – Ann(with an E) is a badass

The word “badass” is thrown around these days in entrepreneurial circles as a call to action. Anne Shirley was certainly a badass way ahead of her time.

Anne clearly knew WHO she was, WHAT she wanted and was NOT AFRAID to go after it.

Anne(with an E) did not get discouraged by meddling neighbours, her early...

Contracts 101

When you operate a business, contracts are as common as the air that you breathe.

You enter contracts by clicking “I Agree” buttons on websites, and by selling products and services to your customers.

A contract is a legally binding agreement between two or more persons for a particular purpose.

Contracts can be done verbally or in writing.  The problem for a business owner with a verbal contract is that if is more difficult to enforce because you may not remember or be able to prove all of the terms that were agreed to.

What if a supplier presents you with a “standard” contract that they routinely use with companies they deal with. Does this mean that you should just sign it?

At the very least, you should understand what you is agreeing to in the contract. At best, you can find a few important items in the contract and improve your business’ position through proper drafting and negotiation.

What to look for:

• Parties...

Has anyone ever told you that as a business owner that you NEED to have a shareholders’ agreement?  Did you wonder what it was?

This article sets out some of the basics.

Why?

• Without a SA, shareholders can have difficulty resolving disagreements.
• Unlike publicly traded shares, shares of a private company are difficult to sell or transfer.
• The founder and majority shareholder usually wants to maintain a certain degree of control over who can become a shareholder.
• A minority shareholder who does not have voting control of the company, will be concerned about having a mechanism to transfer his or her shares if he or she wants to.

Who?

• If a company has one shareholder only, a SA is not required.
• If a company is incorporated with more than one shareholder or where additional shareholders are added, a SA is recommended.
• If the business is a partnership, the equivalent of a SA is a partnership agreement.
• If current shareholders are considering transferring shares, they may...