What can I do to succeed in business?

Can you succeed in business if you are scared to ever sue anyone?

• I've worked with various people, who have a very timid approach to business. They are scared of upsetting customers, and they don't do anything when customers violate contracts. Can these people be successful? How do you do business with these kind of people?

• Answer:

  Sure, some people do just fine in business for years without ever suing or being sued.   On the other hand, a small number of people and companies are probably responsible for the vast majority of litigation, either being sue-happy, or being so incompetent, risky, or irresponsible that they are often sued.  If you do good work with reputable people, qualify your business partners, don't run out of money, don't have any calamities, know how to resolve things, etc., that greatly reduces the chance of litigation.  Still, problems can happen unexpectedly to anyone, and litigation is an appropriate and efficient way to resolve many types of disputes when negotiation breaks down.  There are some other ways to get reluctant people to behave - tough negotiation, arm twisting, having business allies, withholding paying / delivering until the other side performs, or just passionate conviction. As a former law partner, I'm not afraid at all of the words "my client shall be forced to consider his legal options".  Whatever that is supposed to mean, it means more work for us lawyers.  Litigation is just a bunch of word processing and reading of documents, possibly with a payout or court decree at the end but unlikely because few cases are litigated to their conclusion, so you're basically invoking a mountain of paperwork.  But back to the subject, for most normal businesses avoiding risk and litigation is a lot more important than litigating well.  You ought to be ready for that when the time comes.  If you never do that you can stay in business, you'll just be more frustrated and less profitable.