Bobadilla v. Whack-a-Mole
On invisible crises, exhausted founders, and conversations worth having with a nerd you know.
A recent survey by Intentionalist found that only 12% of Seattle-area small businesses are earning enough to cover their expenses. Business owners reported more financial stress in early 2026 than they experienced during the height of COVID-19. They're taking on debt, putting off bills, and laying off staff while trying to figure out which problem to solve first.
That last part is the one I keep thinking about.
Running a business right now feels like whack-a-mole. You get one thing under control and three new issues surface. The tariff situation shifts your supply costs. A new Washington State tax makes your pricing feel suddenly wrong. An employee situation you've been managing informally suddenly feels less manageable. The millionaire's tax adds a layer of confusion that's hard to even articulate when you're already maxed out.
People are tired. They're also still showing up, which says something very cool about the founders in this community. They don’t call Tacoma Grit City for nothing.
Personally, I’m inspired. Professionally? I’m concerned. Exhausted founders make some of their most consequential legal and operational decisions in the worst possible conditions. The stress narrows thinking, bandwidth disappears, and the only conversations that happen are the ones that can't be avoided anymore. You call your lawyer when you’re already neck-deep in the quicksand - by then our options have narrowed considerably.
But some of the most useful conversations you’ll ever have with your lawyer happen when nothing is on fire and you actually have room to think. You don’t have to wait.
Here's a short version of what those conversations cover.
Entity Structure and Personal Liability Protection Does your current business structure still match the size, risk profile, and complexity of the business you're actually running today? LLC versus S-Corp is a question worth revisiting as your revenue grows, and piercing the corporate veil is a real risk for founders who are starting a business from home, commingling funds, or operating without a current operating agreement. Ask yourself: If someone sued my business tomorrow, am I personally exposed, and do I actually know the answer to that question?
Contract Review and Management Do you know what your current contracts say, not just what you think they say when you signed them? This includes vendor agreements, client agreements, and any supply contracts with pricing, volume commitments, or termination provisions that may not reflect current market conditions. Ask yourself: Could I find my five most important contracts right now, and do I know what each one requires of me and what it allows me to do if I need to exit?
Employment Practices and Independent Contractor Classification Washington State has specific employment requirements that differ from federal standards, and worker misclassification is one of the most consistently expensive mistakes founder-led businesses make. If you have people working for you who aren't on payroll, the classification is worth a review before someone else questions it. Ask yourself: If a state auditor looked at how I've classified the people who work for me, would I feel confident explaining the basis for each classification?
Intellectual Property Documentation Do you know what IP your business actually owns, what's registered, what's protectable, and who created what? IP assignment clauses in contractor agreements are one of the most consistently missed issues in founder-led businesses, and the work product your designer or developer created may not legally belong to you without the right language in the agreement. Ask yourself: If I needed to prove I own my brand assets, my website content, and my proprietary processes, could I?
Data Privacy and Cybersecurity Compliance Washington State has its own data breach notification requirements with tight timelines. If your business collects customer data, employee data, or any personal information, you have compliance obligations that exist whether or not you've thought about them. A breach response plan doesn't have to be complicated but it does have to exist. Ask yourself: If something happened to my customer data tomorrow, would I know what I'm legally required to do and within what timeframe?
Corporate Governance and Succession Planning Good corporate governance for a small business doesn't mean quarterly board meetings and formal resolutions for everything. It means knowing who has authority to make decisions, having basic policies documented, and having some framework for what happens to the business if something happens to you. Buy-sell agreements and succession planning feel abstract until they're urgently necessary. Ask yourself: If I couldn't run this business for six months, does anyone know what to do, and does the legal structure support that?
When To Call a Small Business Attorney
When should you call a business attorney? More often. A flat fee or retainer relationship with a business attorney in Washington State means the clock isn't running every time you pick up the phone. The questions that feel too small to call about are often exactly the ones worth asking before they become large.
If you're a founder in Tacoma or anywhere in Washington State who has been managing the whack-a-mole on your own, the most useful thing I can offer is not a crisis response. It's a conversation when you have a few minutes to look at the whole board and make a plan for the long game.
Download the Guide
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