Don't Get Stuck By What You Know

I've had two people who read my new book make a similar comment: it's already out of date because of what Trump is doing to federal agencies. Not at all true. That is taking a myopic view of things.

All businesses have to deal with regulatory bodies. At base and most common, these bodies define how businesses incorporate and pay taxes. But what are regulations? Do they have the same standing and effect as a law? One thing I know - from being a lawyer - is about regulations and laws.

The boring bit:

Laws are written by the legislative branch of government. Remember basic government is three levels (not branches): federal, state, and local, which is why we have federal laws and state laws. Regulations are written by the executive branch agencies (states have an executive branch and agencies - not just the federal government) to clarify and implement the laws passed by legislation (states have a senate, too, that legislates for the state). Regulations cannot be less stringent than the laws they relate to, but they can be more stringent (like vehicle emissions standards in California).

1) Even if there is no federal law, there can be a state law/regulation. Think about how differently the states have legislated abortion access and rights since Roe v Wade was overturned.

2) Laws and regulations are different (read: more stringent) in Europe than they are in the US. If your business is international, you need to comply with international privacy laws or food labeling laws, for example.

3) Whatever the Trump administration is doing has no impact on you needing a license to run a hotdog cart in New York City.

Do not think that regulatory compliance doesn't matter anymore - or won't matter much any time soon. If anything, what the Trump administration is doing is making compliance even more difficult. If federal regulations are gone, there will be no baseline for states to follow at a minimum. If you're worried about who's going to be around to make sure you're complying with federal regulations - that's a different question.

Compliance may be a PITA, but the rules exist for a reason. They protect both you and your customers. You can always do more than is required but doing less means you either found a way for it to legally not apply (I "need" a poster spelling out federal protections for employees in my place of work. Legally - as the only member of EaaS - I am a member of my company, not an "employee." It doesn't apply to me), or you elect to do less...and be less protected...and risk being shut down.