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About Scott F. Gibson
I am, first of all, a husband and father. Rebecca and I have been married 23 years; we have four children ages 21, 19, 18, and 15. My family is my greatest joy in life. For 24 years, I have practiced business law in Arizona, the past eleven as the managing partner of Gibson Ferrin, PLC. We help businesses and their owners meet their business and personal goals. My practice focuses on the intersection between intellectual property law and employment law. I help businesses prosper by properly managing their intangible assets.
Everybody Has a Brand: What's Yours?
Marketing experts talk about the need to develop your brand. The process often sounds daunting, and you may wonder whether you should spend the time and money to brand your business.
Wonder no more. You already have a brand.
Your brand may be "The Guys Who Do Lousy Work, Charge Too Much, And Won't Return Your Phone Calls." Or it may be "Over Promise and Under Deliver." Or perhaps "We Can't Think of a Single Reason Why You Should Give Us Your Money, But We Really Hope You Will."
But, you may say, no sane business owner would choose those brands for her ...<< MORE >>
Business Books You Need to Read
You must constantly learn and change to stay ahead of your competition.
Savvy business owners have a regular program to study and learn from the experts. Many wonderful business books will teach you principles that can help your business prosper. The books listed below — What Clients Love, World Wide Rave, and Made to Stick — are three of my favorites. I commend them to you.
Don't just read these books, incorporate their teachings into your business model. Study them with a highlighter, pen, and pad of paper close by. Highlight relevant sections and make copious notes. Look for ...<< MORE >>
Black Hats and White Hats: Tell Prospective Employees About Restrictive Covenants
(Part Seven in a Series)
You have an urgent need to protect the intangible assets of your business.
Your intangible assets make up 75 percent or more of the value of your business. Moreover, your employees take your intangible assets home at the end of each day, and you are left hoping that they bring them back the next morning. If you do not protect your intangible assets, you are leaving the health of your business to the whims of chance.
In your efforts to protect your intangible assets, however, you cannot forget that you are dealing with real people — ...<< MORE >>
Black Hats and White Hats: Tailor Restrictions Specifically for Your Business
(Part Six in a Series)
Your business is unique. No one does what you do the way you do it. You have developed a specialized niche for your services, and you serve your clients in your unique, individualized way.
Why, then, would you download a form agreement off the internet to try to protect your business?
One Size Does Not Fit All. Not only must you individualize your protections based on the duties and responsibilities of your specific employees, you also must tailor protections based on the nature of your business. Your efforts to protect your business must be as ...<< MORE >>
Black Hats and White Hats: Not Everything Is Confidential
(Part Five in a Series)
Remember the story about the boy who cried wolf? He tried to manipulate others by falsely claiming that a wolf threatened the town. Though the townspeople were fooled the first few times he raised the fraudulent alarm, they quickly became weary of his charade and began ignoring him. When he faced a true crisis, no one paid any attention to him.
Black Hats cry wolf relentlessly and incessantly. In the world of the Black Hats, everything about their business is Confidential (with a capital "C") and subject to protection. Give them a "Confidential" stamp and an ink ...<< MORE >>
Black Hats and White Hats: One Size Does Not Fit All
(Part Four is a Series)
Clothing stores have for years perpetrated the lie that, for at least some types of garments, one size fits all. Look around at the people you know, and you will agree the "one-size-fits-all" proposition is laughable.
People come in many different sizes and proportions: tall and short, lean and plump, and everything in between. My son and I are about the same height, but if I try to squeeze into a pair of his pants, I will burst the seams. My daughter is drowning in cloth if she puts on one of my shirts. One size does ...<< MORE >>
Black Hats and White Hats: Narrow Restrictions
(Part Three in a Series)
Although the color of your hat depends on the cumulative effect of your actions, one of the surest indicators of its color is the scope of any restrictive covenants you have with your employees.
White Hats have narrowly drafted restrictions, closely tailored to their legitimate business interests; Black Hats seek expansive restrictions. White Hats recognize that employees need to make a living after they leave; Black Hats are oblivious to anything except their own selfish interests. White Hats focus on unfair competition; Black Hats want to stifle competition per se.
If you want an enforceable restriction, you ...<< MORE >>
Black Hats and White Hats: Cumulative Effect
(Part Two in a Series)
If push comes to shove and you are forced to file suit to protect your intangible assets, be sure that you are Wearing a White Hat.*
No one thing determines whether you are wearing a black hat or a white hat. The color of your hat depends on the cumulative effect of your actions.
To increase the likelihood that you will be deemed a "White Hat," remember what you learned in Sunday School as a child: do unto others as you would them do unto you. Then behave consistently with that advice.
If you are a ...<< MORE >>
The World Does Not Revolve Around You
The world does not revolve around you.
Really, it doesn't . Your mother was right: if you want to make friends, you need to learn how to share and how to play nice with others.
Your mother's advice for making friends applies equally to gaining clients or customers for your business. We've already established that Nobody Cares About You. If you want your business to succeed, you must change the way you think. You must stop thinking about what you want and Think Like a Client.
Thinking Like a Client enables you to view your products or services from ...<< MORE >>
Ten Fatal Mistakes Business Owners Make - No. 10: Failure to Protect Intangible Assets
You do not leave wads of cash in random piles throughout your office. You work too hard for your money to treat it indiscriminately.
Consider, however, whether you are being haphazard with your most valuable business assets.
Ideas are the lifeblood of your business. If you develop and implement great ideas, your business will grow and prosper. Ideas differentiate your business and distinguish you from your competition. The quality of your ideas is directly proportional to the success of your business.
Did you know that << MORE >>