Hey, guys. And welcome to On Your Terms.
So, in case you haven't heard, the Ultimate Bundle is on sale until this Thursday, September 30th.
Only you can get $400 off the Ultimate Bundle, plus snag a load of free bonuses.
So, if you're interested in getting the Ultimate Bundle, now is definitely the time.
You can use the link below in the show notes or on my blog.
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In case you don't know yet, the Ultimate Bundle is my signature program that gives you 10 DIY Legal Templates, plus over 35 on-demand video trainings, teaching you everything from how to
form your business to how to legally work with clients online, what to do if you need to get paid by a client who's not paying her bill, what did you do to protect
your online content, and so much more.
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I do keep those legal templates updated, and every time I do, you get those for free.
So with that, the Ultimate Bundle is on sale until this Thursday.
With that, let's hop in to this week's episode.
So, in case you're new to On Your Terms, I'm Sam Vander Wielen.
I'm an attorney-turned entrepreneur, and for the past four-plus years, I've been helping online coaches and service providers legally protect and grow their online businesses using my DIY
Legal Templates and the Ultimate Bundle.
So, on the show, each week, I bring you fresh tips on how to legally protect your business and grow that business on your terms, because it's really important to me that you do things your own
way. But while you're doing it, I need you to be legally protected because I know that that's what's going to help you sleep tight at night.
But it's also going to help you build a legit business because you're going to feel more comfortable and confident putting yourself out there.
So, today's episode is all dedicated to why your website needs legal protection and what three pieces of legal protection you need on that website to
protect it like a pro because part of the problem that I'm always dealing with is a bit of misinformation that you know you can't get sued or there can't be any legal problems
unless somebody pays you and they're your client.
And that's just not true.
So, I'm going to go over why that's the case, what you really need to know about this, and how your website comes into play because basically anybody can view your website at any time.
And I'm going to go over step by step exactly what you need on your website, where to put it, how to deal with it, how it works to actually legally protect you.
So, I hope you like this week's episode.
If you don't already, I would love for you to follow or subscribe to On Your Terms wherever you listen to podcasts.
Send me a DM after you listen to this episode.
Let me know what you thought of it.
And, of course, if you want to screenshot and tag me on Instagram, @samvaderwielen, so I can say hi and thank you for listening.
All right, let's hop in to why your website needs legal protection.
So, I feel like one of the most difficult parts when I became an attorney was that I was so let down and so heartbroken by what I was learning
about in how, in my case, like how the American legal system worked.
I guess as a doe-eyed, naive kid going into the law at a really young age, I graduated law school at 23 and started working as a corporate
attorney right away, I was just not aware at all, admittedly, at how things actually worked.
Law school is an amazing experience.
I thought it was the best education ever.
It was just, ah.
If you're somebody who is really intellectually curious or you like to read or you have lots of questions about things and you want to know how things work, law school is for you.
It was unbelievable.
I think it brought me a lot of compassion towards other people.
It made me a better writer.
It just made me a better person and a stronger person in many, many different ways.
Not to mention, like it was so grueling that it just made me kind of have to buck up.
But I thought that, you know, law school was this incredible education, but it certainly doesn't teach you how the law works.
I think like no matter what profession you go into, whatever profession you're in, you probably experience the same thing.
You learn one thing in school, but then you get on the job and it's like a totally different ballgame.
So, that's the same way it goes with the law.
And when I became a lawyer and I started practicing and started arguing these cases and writing things about these cases, I was just blown away by how
things actually worked in reality.
The fact that oftentimes people didn't even have proof for things, and we're just suing people anyway, or the fact that they had signed a contract saying that they wouldn't sue.
And then they did. And they were allowed, and everybody was always wiggling their way through things and, like, I don't know, finding an escape hatch somehow that they could use
to their advantage. And it felt slimy and gross.
And it was one of the very many things that I hated about being a lawyer.
But I feel like the positive part for you and the one that we're going to talk about today is that it did show me a little bit about how people tend to
think things go when it comes to the law or building their own business or whatever versus how things actually go in reality or in the courtroom.
And so, part of what I've tried to do in my business is, not scare anybody or anything like that, but just bring a certain sense of reality, because I think that it's really important that you just
know what you're dealing with, right?
With anything in life, it's like we can't really control.
Like, I can't control the way that the American legal system works or how litigious people are.
What I can control is giving you all of the information that you should know, I think that you should know upfront so that you can just be aware, and that awareness brings, for me, a lot of
comfort. So, I'm hoping that it'll bring you some comfort too, and just understanding how this stuff works.
So, the reason that I'm talking about all of that is because one of the things that I guess I was surprised about as a young attorney and I see a lot of my customers get surprised about too,
is that people think that only clients can sue you.
So, they'll think you have to work with someone or pay someone in order to be, quote-unquote, fearful of any sort of legal repercussions.
And, the truth is that you should technically be fearful of anyone because people don't have to pay you in order for there to be a problem.
Now, granted, I always want to say like, I wish that there could be a big asterisk here that says that lawsuits are super rare.
People aren't running around suing people in our industry on the daily.
You know, it's not that this is a huge thing.
Again, it's just about knowing that you don't want to have a blind spot in your business.
And so, it's just knowing what the rules are in the game that you're playing, essentially.
And so, it's not true that only clients can sue you or only somebody who pays you can sue you.
Technically speaking, what you say or what you write could hurt you, too.
Right. So, that is why we have to pay attention to what we say and do on social media.
It's why we have to pay attention to what we say and do on our websites, in our programs, on our podcasts, or on our YouTube channel.
Like, whatever it is, you have to be aware, right?
And so, there's an easy way to learn, I think, what is safe to say and what are some things that you definitely shouldn't say, and I actually have all these trainings on
that, on safe copy and best practices, inside of the Ultimate Bundle.
But it's really important that you just know that what you say can be an issue so that you can be more aware when you're writing your content, planning your videos, planning
your podcast episodes, whatever.
So, sometimes you'll see this with food bloggers, for example, I think are a good - that's a good example because food blogger rarely, if ever, gets paid for something that they do, right?
You don't pay taxes to somebody's blog to read a recipe.
But if you went on somebody's website and then you tried some sort of recipe that they suggested and then this person had a reaction or some sort of allergy that came from it,
technically speaking, in America, they could get sued for that, right?
Or, like a fitness coach who hosts a free workout on Instagram, somebody gets injured.
That could be an issue, right?
They're not your client.
They just saw you online.
That could be an issue.
Or, a business coach who maybe hosts daily trainings on Instagram or on their podcast, and they suggest certain financial moves or business moves, and somebody
experiences some sort of financial loss or business failure as a result of that person's advice.
That business coach can get sued.
Right? So, there are all kinds of ways that we can put ourselves in trouble by accident.
And, I don't want to share this today to scare anyone.
The reason I want to talk about it is because I think people will sometimes talk a bit more brazenly online when they think that they can't get sued,
right? Because people will tell me, "Well, I hosted this, like, workout class for free.
But don't worry about it.
It's like it was free. No one paid for it, so they can't sue me." I'm like, "Wait.
No, they could sue you." What does it matter?
It doesn't - you don't have to pay, right?
So, there are - I think there's just sometimes a loosey-goosey ness that people think that they can do whatever, say whatever, because people don't pay them for something.
So, the reality is, as we now know, is that we are technically open to that.
However, this is not going to shut you down.
This is not going to slow you down.
You can still talk and teach and do videos and podcasts and tons of stuff.
There is so much that you can do.
You put the appropriate disclaimers on things and you learn a little bit about what you can and can't say for sure.
You know, I think there are some really buzzword-type things that you'll learn that you cannot say no matter what you do or how you're qualified.
But this is also why we protect our website.
Because our website is like the storefront.
It's like the digital storefront for our business, right?
So, we want to legally protect our website because we don't really know who's on our website.
We don't really control who comes to our website, either.
So, somebody could google something.
They could find something on Pinterest or whatever.
They click through on Instagram.
They end up on your website, right?
They might not know you. They might be following you.
There could also be a client.
Like, there's a wide range of people who come to your website.
And not only can you not control who lands on your website, you also don't know anything about the person who lands on your website.
So, when you're writing a blog post, for example, and you're suggesting 10 workouts or you're writing a recipe or you
tell people some tip about how to run their business or make a career move or spend their money, you really don't know what that person situation is.
So when you're giving out this advice, it's kind of generalized info, generalized - I would tell you not to call it advice but it's generalized information you're teaching and you're kind of
teaching to the middle because there's always going to be nuances with these things.
So, for example, if I had a blog post about why LLCs are amazing and I gave you all these tips and tricks
about LLCs and taught you about why they're great.
Well, there definitely is somebody who's reading that article for whom the LLC is not a good idea, right?
So, I'm teaching to this middle, but I'm constantly thinking about these nuances, so I have to think about that of like, okay, when I write this, somebody could be reading it who's
not - who this doesn't work for.
But this can lead to some sort of analysis paralysis where you just end up not putting out anything.
I went through that phase in the beginning of the business, and you're nervous to say or do anything because you're like, "Well, someone could take it this way.
Someone could take it that way." Maybe you relate to this because I hear from so many of you that are feeling really frozen from putting out some sort of program
or your content online because you're thinking about it from every angle.
Right? My people tend to be smart and they're super smart and they're analytical and they think about everything and they want to do things the right way.
And they don't want to mess up and they're afraid of getting caught or afraid of accidentally doing something wrong, right?
So, if that's you, I totally get it, and I was there, too.
And so, I think it's about getting to this healthy place where, first of all, you remember that you're teaching to your ideal clients.
You put the appropriate language on what you need to and you cover yourself as best you possibly can and then you move on.
That's why, though this is not just a simple like why legal in general is not just a simple answer of just get a contract or just get an LLC.
It's so holistic. There are so many different things that you do, and I don't mean that to say that, like, you have to spend a lot of time, money, or energy, but there are many different phases to this, and you want to
protect yourself all the way around.
That's why I created the Ultimate Bundle.
That's why the Ultimate Bundle is so comprehensive because I really do attack this from all angles for you inside of the bundle.
So, I want to talk with you about what three website policies you need on your website to protect yourself.
Because that really, other than learning how to talk on your website, what not to say, what not to do, and then the scope of practice stuff which I taught you in
episode two, you want to make sure that you have these three policies on your website to protect yourself as much as possible.
And also because you'll need them, and I'll talk about this a little bit more, but you'll need them for certain things, too.
So, there are three website policies.
There are really only ever three.
Unless your business becomes so huge like, you know, Target or Nordstrom or something, you might need additional policies then.
But if that's the case, go you.
But in the meantime, you'll really only need three website policies.
So, those three website policies are a privacy policy, a website disclaimer, and terms and conditions.
I'm going to go over each one of those step by step.
So, a privacy policy.
I have that one first because that one is actually legally required to be on your website.
So that's not this like, should I or should I not get one?
Do I want one? Do I need one?
Yes, you have to have a privacy policy if you collect people's personal information on your website.
You're also required to have a privacy policy, if, like, for example, people from California can visit your website even if you don't work with them.
Again, we can't control who goes to our websites as far as I know.
Maybe, there's a tech person out there who will tell me otherwise.
But as long as someone from California can visit your website, or if somebody from the European Union can visit your website, there are all kinds of things.
So, long story short you need a privacy policy.
A privacy policy is what tells people how, when, where you collect their personal information, what you do with it, how you keep it safe,
what they can do to get it out of your hands, or even just edit it.
And you really just kind of laying out in a technical way where on your site and in your business you're collecting this information, what you're doing with it and why.
So, remember that sometimes people think that personal information is a little deeper than it is.
Personal information can just be something like their name and their email address or whatever they fill out to fill out your contact-me form.
Like, it doesn't have to be - you're not asking for their Social Security number .
So, I can pretty much guarantee you that you are collecting personal information.
Even if you think you're not, you probably are anyway.
One of the other things that would require it is if you're doing any sort of background tracking like Google Analytics, or even if you have certain plug-ins on your website like Jetpack or
one of these others that like tracks site behavior, you might not even know that you have it if you had somebody set up your website for you.
It's something I hear from customers a lot.
And then, they'll get the Ultimate Bundle and then they get into the Facebook community.
They start filling out the Privacy Policy template that comes with the bundle and then they'll say, "Oh, I don't think I track anything, but let me ask my web designer
or something like this." And they reach out to them and like, "Oh, I had like three things on my website that are actually tracking people's behavior, and I didn't even know."
So, oftentimes we are doing that.
We are collecting cookies because our website collects cookies.
They're like little data files that tracks people's behavior on your site and stores that information to use elsewhere.
There's a much more technical definition of them than that, but that's just my dumb understanding of what a cookie is other than the kinds of cookies that I truly like and enjoy.
You know, you probably are doing this stuff on your website.
Obviously, you can find out, but I don't see any real downside to having this anyway, even if you're not sure, even if you haven't started building an email list yet, which, by the way, I hope
you are or at least are thinking about starting it very soon.
Please do, for my sake.
I'd be happy to do an episode on starting an email list.
Let me know. DM me.
But it's really important that you have this privacy policy there.
Now, your privacy policy, in particular, can be used in so many other ways.
So, your privacy policy can also be used on your sales pages or your opt-in pages.
Many times it has to be.
So, to be GDPR compliant, which is the General Data Protection Regulation, which is a European Union data protection law that we are all subject to as long as
people from the European Union can access your website, which again, they can.
So, the GDPR actually requires that you have the privacy policy listed on any page in which you're collecting personal information.
So, if you have an opt-in box on some sort of landing page or something like that, or even if you have a checkout page through some other program, like I use Sam Card, you have
to have a link to your privacy policy there.
So, there are many, many places that you will use it.
Also, spoiler alert, if you don't already run Facebook ads but you think you might, Facebook ads require that you have a privacy policy not only in general you have to provide a
copy of the URL but in any page that your Facebook ads lead to has to have a privacy policy on it.
And if it doesn't, Facebook has a way of scanning the stuff and figuring that out, and then they will remove your Facebook ad.
So, you need to have a privacy policy, end of story.
So, they're very important.
Again, there are many elements to them that are just going over, like how you collect this information what you do with it, what steps you take to protect it.
Yada, yada, yada.
So, I have a super easy template for you for this.
You just fill in the blanks 15 minutes or less.
Boom. Done.
Legit privacy policy.
Okay. So, the second kind of website policy that you need to protect your site is a website disclaimer.
So, a website disclaimer is more robust than just what you might think of like just some disclaimer language, which is usually like one line saying talk to your
doctor first before trying this exercise or something like that.
That's a medical disclaimer.
So, that does not cover all kinds of disclaimers.
So, a lot of people will get this confused and they will think they only need a sentence on their website or they'll think, "I don't need a disclaimer because I'm a money coach or I'm a career coach or a
life coach." A disclaimer, actually, in reality, is not just about health.
It disclaims liability for the person who's going to interact with your site, read your site, or work with you eventually.
So, what that means is that it's kind of your one opportunity or chance to say to people like, "You can't sue me because I'm giving you all this information
upfront," or "You can't sue me for saying that you didn't know this about me or my work or my qualifications because I gave you all this information upfront." You're kind of giving
them the - like, you're saying to them you need to consider this information about me before you proceed and then do with this information what you want.
So, for example, maybe it would say like if you were a money coach, maybe your disclaimer would say something about part of your disclaimer, would say something about
how you're not a certified financial planner or you're not a financial advisor or an accountant or a CPA or something like this.
And so, then it allows the reader to say, "Okay.
Well, she's giving me this information, this money information.
But she is not a CPA, so she might not understand the tax implications," for example.
And in your disclaimer, you would say to them that they need to speak with their own accountant or lawyer or doctor or whatever it is that you do.
So, this is kind of giving the reader the opportunity to really have the truth and the reality of the situation so that they can assess the information the best for
themselves. Right?
So, that is one part of a disclaimer, but we also disclaim for a lot of other things and disclaimers.
We disclaim for third-party links, for example.
So, when you link to things on your website and you say, go try this hair straightener, and then that person buys the hair straightener.
You're disclaiming liability for anything that happens as a result of them buying that hair straightener.
Right? And by the way, I am rolling my eyes just along with you because I understand how ridiculous this sounds.
I'm just telling you this because I've been through this as an attorney.
I have seen these kinds of lawsuits come forward where you're like, "Really, you're suing the person who recommended the product to you.
Really?" Yes, everyone gets thrown into a lawsuit.
And so, these are the kinds of things that lawyers over time have learned to build out and protect you from.
So, that's just one example.
My disclaimer template, which also comes in the Ultimate Bundle, is two to three pages long.
So, we disclaim liability for a lot of different things.
Affiliates are another one.
Your affiliate links you're disclaiming.
You have to disclaim that, thanks to the FTC.
So, there are a lot of things that were disclaiming liability for, that we are just putting out there for people to know about us so that they can't come back later and say, "I didn't know." That's really
the point of a disclaimer.
So, it goes well beyond just the talk to your doctor first language.
That is literally one to two sentences of an entire disclaimer.
And it's only in a disclaimer if you do something related to health and wellness.
If you don't, there are plenty of other things to disclaim and other things in your disclaimer.
So, please don't think that you don't need one if you don't do something in the health and wellness sphere.
And, please, if you have tried to put this together on your own and it's like three sentences long, then it's not a full disclaimer.
That's just some disclaimer language.
That's all. Okay.
So, the third website policy is the terms and conditions.
So, this is kind of like a catch-all policy, I would say, where we talk about a lot of your different policies and rules that you've set as a business.
So, this is where we would talk about your refund policy or your content sharing policy.
This is where we give people information about how to contact you.
This is where we would talk about how they can go about paying for something on your site, if you, for example, sell some sort of digital product or download.
This is where we would protect your intellectual property and we would assert your intellectual property rights.
So, terms and conditions are more of a catch-all policy, but they're also the one policy out of the three of these that could be used at checkout if you sell simple
digital products.
So, make sure you heard me say simple digital products, not like big courses or really expensive products or something like this, but I'm talking
anywhere from a couple of bucks to several hundred dollar digital downloadable things.
You know, an e-book.
I just saw an e-book last night that one of my customers was selling that is like - it's like a Jewish Holidays e-book that you can print out and do activities with the family.
So, something like that is a great example where you can use terms and conditions at checkout for those simple things so that it just covers the way that someone pays, how you're
collecting their personal information with their credit card, and what the refund or return policy are, what the sharing policy is, what the intellectual property policy is so that they
can't sell it, resell it.
You give a statement about, like, a license of use.
You know, that it's like a limited license of use.
You just have the license to download it and use it for yourself, but not to use it to teach a class or use it to print out and give just 50 of your friends or something like that.
So, you go through all of that in your terms and conditions.
If you don't sell digital products on your site, you still need and should have the terms and conditions policy there.
It's just that you can also use it for those very simple, quick one-time downloads.
If you were doing something that was more along the lines of like a recurring payment or a course or something like that, something a bit more involved, I would use terms of use.
That's a contract template.
That terms of use is also in the Ultimate Bundle.
The terms and conditions website policy is also in the Ultimate Bundle.
The Ultimate Bundle really gives it all to you.
I'm only reminding you because the Ultimate Bundle is on sale right now, so I want to make sure you know that you can get this.
Okay. So, let's go over a little bit about how and where to use these policies.
So, you're going to put all three of these website policies on the footer of your website as individual links.
So, it shouldn't just say like legal and be one link, then lump them all together.
That can actually make it difficult for you to be able to enforce any of these.
So, what you want to do is actually have them as three separate links on the footer of your website.
One should say privacy or privacy policy.
One could say disclaimer, and the other could say terms and conditions or you could just put terms.
So, they should be three separate links and they should be available across your entire website.
Like, if I go to your blog page or contact me page, your home page, they should always be on the bottom of your website.
Of course, you could also use these on the bottom of landing pages, sales pages, opt-in pages, you know any of the other pages that you've had to create for your
business. You could use those, too.
A lot of times my customers will simply, like, house these on their website, and then they use the URL to link to on other pages.
If you use something like Kajabi or Kartra or ConvertKit, SAM Card, or any of those, you typically refer back to your URL so that makes it super easy.
You can also even use them inside of your own courses, right?
So, maybe you link to them inside of your courses or on the bottom of your student portal or something like that.
You could use them inside of your Facebook groups.
A lot of my customers will link to their disclaimer in their Facebook groups because they want to protect themselves for the things that they're teaching inside of those groups.
And then, of course, like I said with Facebook ads, you have to have a link to them for your privacy policy, for Facebook ads, in order to properly run those ads.
So, that's super important, too.
And last but not least, a checkout.
So, again, if you're selling those simple digital products, you could use the terms and conditions template at checkout with those simple digital products, and/or you could also
link to your privacy policy and disclaimer on those checkout pages at the bottom.
You don't need to make people agree to your privacy policy or your disclaimer.
But I think it would be a good idea to have it at the bottom of your checkout page.
So, all three of those website policies are inside of the Ultimate Bundle.
The Ultimate Bundle is currently on sale.
The Ultimate Bundle sale ends Thursday, September 30th, at the end of the day, so make sure if you're interested in the Ultimate Bundle, which is my signature program that gives you 10 DIY Legal
Templates and over 35 on-Demand video trainings, that you grab that by the September 30th.
If you listen to this later, let me know.
Send me a DM. If you're ready to get inside the Ultimate Bundle, I'll hook you up, I'll make sure you get what you need.
But with that, I hope that this was so helpful.
Send me a DM. Let me know what you thought about this episode, and if you haven't already, please give the show, On Your Terms, a follow or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.
And if you listen on Apple Podcasts, it would be awesome if you could rate and review the show.
Until next week. I hope that you keep building your business on your terms.
So, just remember that although I am a attorney, I am not your attorney, and I am not offering you legal advice in today's episode.
This episode and all of my episodes are informational and educational only.
It is not a substitute for seeking out your own advice from your own lawyer.
And please keep in mind that I can't offer you legal advice.
I don't ever offer any legal services, but I think I offer some pretty good information.
Also, remember that I am based in the United States, so that's what I'll focus on today.
Thanks so much for listening to the On Your Terms podcast.
Make sure to follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you like to listen to podcasts.
You can also check out all of our podcast episodes, show notes, links, and more at samvanderwielen.com/podcast.
You can learn more about legally protecting your business and take my free legal workshop, Five Steps to Legally Protect and Grow Your Online Business, at samvanderwielen.com.
And to stay connected and follow along, follow me on Instagram, @samvanderwielen, and send me a DM to say hi. ©
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