Starting your own Business while being employed.

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TheGuy

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Hi Guys

I have a question regarding the legal implications of starting your own business while being employed.

What we have done is to create a website that provides a certain type of information. This information is articles that are written
by us that can assist people to accomplish certain things. Initially we will not be making money from it but eventually
we might want to start allowing advertising on the site.

The problem is that out current job requirement is to accomplish these things. The company that we work at doesn't currently have
this type of information available so we are creating all of this through experience.

Can anyone provide some insight into how to handle this or who we can go and see to assist with something like this?
 
If it conflicts with your day job then morally you shouldn't be starting your own business.

It's like a Telkom employee giving you free uncapped 10 mb and line and all you have to do is pay him R100 a month personally
 
TheGuy said:
The problem is that out current job requirement is to accomplish these things. The company that we work at doesn't currently have
this type of information available so we are creating all of this through experience.
Click to expand...
^This - I'd say it's a definite no-no to make money from it while still employed at the company and there could well be restraint of trade / intellectual property considerations should you leave.
 
Speak to your current employer. I know of a couple of people who did similar things and actually had their employers as their first clients (paying for tools/fomalised docs etc).
 
Frikkenator said:
Speak to your current employer. I know of a couple of people who did similar things and actually had their employers as their first clients (paying for tools/fomalised docs etc).
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This is only applicable when, what you did, wasn't in your job description or expected of you at all from the get go.

From what it sounds like, they already pay him a salary to accomplish these things. He wants to turn this into his own business while the company (most likely) is dragging their feet.
 
Is there a way to split it then because their is a huge gap in the market for what we are trying to do and our company does not provide this service.
 
AcidRaZor said:
This is only applicable when, what you did, wasn't in your job description or expected of you at all from the get go.

From what it sounds like, they already pay him a salary to accomplish these things. He wants to turn this into his own business while the company (most likely) is dragging their feet.
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Yea for sure. From what I gathered though, all they want to do is document what they do, not actually do it, but I might be wrong.

These situations are always tricky.
 
TheGuy said:
Is there a way to split it then because their is a huge gap in the market for what we are trying to do and our company does not provide this service.
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Discuss it with your employer and get everything in writing. Just because the company does not provide the service now, does not exclude it from doing it in future. And by not talking to your employer about it could land you in serious trouble. So rather do the right thing :)
 
all depends on what you signed in your employment contract, be it Restraint of Trade or Moonlighting... I know its standard terms in a employment contact in the IT industry that what ever you develop or "make" while employed with your current employer belongs, the intellectual property belongs to them. So even if you coded it outside normal working hours of the company, it still belongs to them. So thats one negitive of informing your employer that you have started your own business as they can start charging you for using their intellectual property if they wanted to get down and dirty!

But if there is nothing to that sort in your employment contract and you keep everything outside of working hours then its more just a moral issue than anything else!

Goodluck!
 
Something else to consider.

You mention that you want to publish similar information to that which your employer is providing/is planning on providing. Is your employer currently charging for this information? If so then you can be sued for damages and or loss of income when you make this information available free of charge. If this is the main form of business for your employer then it becomes even more serious as your actions could be the direct result of him having to scale down, get rid of people and or even possibly close down due to your 'competition'. In such a case other employees who lost their jobs would be able to institute claims against you for their losses. A bit of a long shot but just trying to give you an idea of how quickly something innocent can turn into a living and breathing nightmare.

If you earned revenue through advertising you can also face charges of self enrichment through the use of your employers 'products' for own personal gain. What does your company policy state in regards to the ownership of the material i.e. intellectual property etc.? In most cases your employer is the owner of anything and everything you 'create' while working for them.

From what I can read here I will say that you are on dangerous grounds and it will be very difficult to justify your actions. Your employer can take you on from various angles and I personally think that you will have one hell of a hard time to defend yourself.


With all that said... if your current employer is the government then all is fine and well. Its being done everyday without a problem. You might even get a promotion if all goes well.
 
Thanks Guys

I see your point. Problem is when talking to my employer they would want us to do the work and then keep it all for themselves. What type of person can we talk to that we can discuss this in person with that can then help us find a way to make this possible?
 
Frikkenator said:
Yea for sure. From what I gathered though, all they want to do is document what they do, not actually do it, but I might be wrong.

These situations are always tricky.
Click to expand...

This is it we want to create standards for doing these tasks as there doesn't seem to be any in the industry.
 
TheGuy said:
... What type of person can we talk to that we can discuss this in person with that can then help us find a way to make this possible?
Click to expand...
Draw up a business plan and look for investors. Make sure you explain the possible intellectual property problems to prospective investors.
 
TheGuy said:
Thanks Guys

I see your point. Problem is when talking to my employer they would want us to do the work and then keep it all for themselves. What type of person can we talk to that we can discuss this in person with that can then help us find a way to make this possible?
Click to expand...

All you have to do is show him how you doing this separately could grow his business.

The fact is that if it is not then you are more than likely stealing from him, ie you are letting him pay for something that you are going to sell to someone else.
 
TheGuy said:
Thanks Guys

I see your point. Problem is when talking to my employer they would want us to do the work and then keep it all for themselves. What type of person can we talk to that we can discuss this in person with that can then help us find a way to make this possible?
Click to expand...

What MickZA said. There are places that would work with you to set up your business. From marketing, working out how sales should work etc (at a fee of course) but we found it accelerated our business quite nicely. When you are a small company you dont always think of everything so it was super to have someone work through everything with you. We've been working with Aurik and I can recommend them.
 
Thanks guys we are going to go ahead with it but we are going to consult a lawyer first to make sure that we stay within the law.
 
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