Welcome to a new year!  By now, you’ve eaten the last of the Christmas cookies, opened all of your presents, and rung in 2019.  Back to business, right?  The new year is always a good time to remind your employees, and yourself, that there are no shortcuts on the success train.

Sure, you can sometimes skate by for awhile, but karma has a way of catching up with you.

One thing to keep in mind is that if you practice in multiple states: be sure you are well aware of the rules and regulations concerning your license in each state.   Each state does things a little differently, and what may be perfectly acceptable in one state may not be in another state.

For example, I had an out of state professional design firm that was unaware of the supervision requirements of non-professional staff that is required under North Carolina law.  Another client had some North Carolina references on its website without an appropriate disclaimer as to who was, and who was not, licensed in North Carolina.  In both of those cases, I was able to help the professional firms get out from under the violations with minimal damage, but it cost time, money, and aggravation.

Do violations always get discovered?  Not always, but- like speeding– a violation is a violation is a violation, and at some point, your number may be up.

Save yourself the headache, bite the bullet, and make sure you retain competent professionals in *each* state that you are licensed in make sure that you are playing by that state’s rules before you work in that state.  (Obviously, if you have North Carolina questions, I’d love to work with you!)

You’ll thank me later.

Your turn.  Have you ever been surprised to learn about a state’s specific requirements after you’ve already violated those requirements?  Anonymous confessions encouraged– let’s learn from each other!  (or, drop me an email!)