I want to put my serious hat on for this one. In The Den, we have a saying: CYA. Cover your a**.

It’s about protection. About looking after your school, your numbers, your money. Because things are not always what they seem in this world, or in business, and it is crucially important that you have the right things in place. I say that from experience.

There are two sides to CYA. The first is about protection. The second is about not covering it up. Both matter equally, so let’s take them one at a time.

Protection: Do Your Due Diligence

Say you’re running an event, a show, a competition, an award ceremony, and a sponsor comes on board. Brilliant. You’re thrilled, you’ve got support, extra money to help with expenses.

But have you actually done your due diligence on that sponsor? I don’t mean a quick search of Companies House and Google. I mean looking properly at who runs the company, what they stand for, what their values are, and whether those values genuinely align with yours. Because if a bad sponsor comes on board and something happens down the line, you can be tarnished by association, through no fault of your own. That’s exactly what due diligence protects you against.

The same goes for bringing in a guest teacher. I have a full checklist for this inside my membership, but at minimum, check their references and share your school’s values with them before they set foot in your building. I’ve said the word values twice now, and that’s deliberate, because it matters that much.

If you bring in a guest teacher who’s all about pushing hard, shouting, “get your leg higher, do it, do it, do it,” and your school’s ethos is “give it a try, if you can’t do it yet that’s fine, we’ll keep working on it,” those two approaches don’t align. The children will walk out of that class confused about what just happened. Get your alignment right before they arrive.

Contracts matter here too. Are you taking a deposit before they come on board? Are you paying after the class? Get it figured out in advance, so you’re never dealing with a guest teacher who doesn’t show, or one who turns up asking where their cash is. Clarity of process, and proper due diligence, protects you every time.

Your terms and conditions are another example. Are they actually legal? I strongly recommend Lucy Legal’s dance pack for this, and if you’re a member of The Den Business School, you get almost £200 off her legal pack as one of the included membership discounts. Getting the wording right on things like refund policies means you’re not accidentally breaking the law. If you are not a Den Member and want the pack, the link is HERE, (Affiliate link) 

And then there are the what ifs. Nobody wants to think about them, but you need to. I never once considered that the building I used for 14 years might burn down overnight. It did. Suddenly I was asking, now what? I found another venue, but it took two weeks. Was there anything in my terms and conditions covering that exact scenario, a refund, a hold over, anything? Thankfully, there was. Is it in yours? I know we’re all trusting by nature in this industry, but I urge you to think about these things before you need them.

Not Covering it Up: Deal With It, Don’t Bury It

Now let’s flip to the other side of CYA, not covering it up.

Say you get a complaint and you don’t deal with it. Here’s the thing: customers who complain can become your most loyal, raving fans, if you turn that complaint into action. They feel heard, and they stay with you through thick and thin. So don’t cover it up. Deal with it.

The same goes for a member of staff who isn’t doing something you’ve asked, especially after training, after a clear list of expectations, after reminders. Don’t sweep it under the carpet, because it will grow into a bigger problem. They’ll think they’re getting away with it and carry on. Eventually it bubbles up to the surface, and it will have to be dealt with either way. Deal with it early instead.

Then there’s what I call the “stuff it, that’ll do” scenario. Please, be diligent instead. If you ever ended up in a court of law, “I didn’t know” is not an excuse. As a business owner, you have to take that responsibility seriously.

The FWRD Framework

Here’s a simple way to remember all of this: FWRD.

Foresight. Think ahead. What if this happens? Consider your worst case and best case scenarios before you need to.

Warning signs. There are almost always small warning signs before something goes wrong. Don’t ignore them.

Reckon. “I reckon that’ll be alright.” Will it, though? Question the assumption before you rely on it.

Diligence. Do your due diligence, properly, every time.

Foresight, warning signs, reckon, diligence. Write it down. It’s all part of CYA, and it’s some of the most important, least glamorous work you’ll do in your business.

This is an important and not much talked about step. For more training on this, check out Fundamental Foundations