1 00:00:00,390 --> 00:00:03,670 Friends, I can't wait to share the big news with you next week. 2 00:00:03,670 --> 00:00:10,530 I'm going to give you a little teaser here, but I am hosting my last live legal workshop of the year very, very soon. 3 00:00:10,530 --> 00:00:14,220 And next week, I'm going to be sharing all the details with you about how to get signed up. 4 00:00:14,220 --> 00:00:15,960 It's going to be my free legal workshop. 5 00:00:15,960 --> 00:00:19,530 I'm going to teach you my Five Steps to Legally Protect and Grow Your Online Business. 6 00:00:19,980 --> 00:00:22,380 I've got a lot of free goodies coming for you. 7 00:00:22,410 --> 00:00:24,270 I cannot wait to see you there. 8 00:00:24,300 --> 00:00:26,700 So, get ready for next week's big announcement. 9 00:00:26,700 --> 00:00:30,720 If you don't follow me already on Instagram, I'm @samvanderwielen on Instagram. 10 00:00:30,720 --> 00:00:33,990 I'll be sharing a lot more with you over there as the week goes on. 11 00:00:33,990 --> 00:00:38,370 But with that, stay tuned and I can't wait to get into this episode. 12 00:00:41,400 --> 00:00:49,440 So before we start today's episode, 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. 13 00:00:49,920 --> 00:00:54,630 This episode and all of my episodes are informational and educational only. 14 00:00:54,630 --> 00:01:01,800 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. 15 00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:05,910 I don't ever offer any legal services, but I think I offer some pretty good information. 16 00:01:07,380 --> 00:01:13,080 One more thing before we get started, also remember that I am based in the United States, so that's what I'll focus on today. 17 00:01:13,110 --> 00:01:15,360 With that, let's actually get into it. 18 00:01:21,570 --> 00:01:23,960 Hey, there. And welcome to the On Your Terms podcast. 19 00:01:23,960 --> 00:01:25,310 I'm your host, Sam Vander Wielen. 20 00:01:25,320 --> 00:01:35,070 I'm an attorney-turned entrepreneur who helps online coaches and service providers legally protect and grow their online businesses using my DIY Legal Templates and my Ultimate 21 00:01:35,070 --> 00:01:43,320 Bundle program. So on the show, each week, I bring you fresh tips about how to legally protect your business and grow that business on your terms. 22 00:01:43,320 --> 00:01:48,030 And like I mentioned at the beginning of the episode next week, I have a huge announcement for you. 23 00:01:48,030 --> 00:01:54,150 I'll be hosting my last live legal workshops for the year, so have all the information about how to get signed up for those. 24 00:01:54,150 --> 00:01:55,620 I can't wait to see you there. 25 00:01:55,650 --> 00:02:00,030 I did it back in January and we had thousands and thousands of you join me live. 26 00:02:00,360 --> 00:02:02,780 It was so much fun, so I can't wait to do that again. 27 00:02:02,790 --> 00:02:05,730 It will be the last one for the year, so make sure you stay tuned for that. 28 00:02:06,150 --> 00:02:14,460 But before we get into next week's big announcement, in this episode I'm going to go over the three steps to legally protect and grow your online business. 29 00:02:14,460 --> 00:02:16,530 So, this episode is perfect for you. 30 00:02:16,560 --> 00:02:26,340 If you felt super overwhelmed in the past, if you've taken in way too much information, googled too much stuff and you're very confused about where to start and what to do to 31 00:02:26,340 --> 00:02:31,530 legally protect your business, then this episode is for you because it's not overly complicated. 32 00:02:31,530 --> 00:02:32,880 I keep it super simple. 33 00:02:32,910 --> 00:02:42,540 I tell you exactly just what you need to know in this episode and what the first three steps are that I would take if you haven't done any of the legal stuff yet or you haven't done very much for your 34 00:02:42,540 --> 00:02:50,420 business. So, this is both for you if you're just starting your business or if you're just starting to legally protect the one that you've already got. 35 00:02:50,420 --> 00:02:53,940 I'm going to keep it super basic, 30,000-foot view for you here, and nothing scary. 36 00:02:54,690 --> 00:02:56,220 Judgment-free zone. I swear. 37 00:02:56,850 --> 00:03:00,030 And with that, I can't wait to get into these three steps. 38 00:03:00,060 --> 00:03:10,050 Let's get into it. So, when I left the law firm and I started my own health coaching business back in 39 00:03:10,050 --> 00:03:19,620 2016, you know, I was very fortunate and actually registered and kind of did all the legal steps I'm going to teach you today before I left the law, when I dropped down to 40 00:03:19,620 --> 00:03:29,580 part-time for six months and started saving and cutting expenses and doing all the stuff, preparing to leave and start my own business, and I took these very first startup steps that we're going to go 41 00:03:29,580 --> 00:03:38,820 over today. But I remember thinking dealing with all the forms and the fees and doing things in the right order and having to call the state and deal with the people 42 00:03:39,300 --> 00:03:45,170 who are not always the most helpful, sometimes can be helpful, you never know, depends on who you get. 43 00:03:45,170 --> 00:03:52,290 But, you know, dealing with that whole process, I remember thinking if I wasn't an attorney, this would be extremely overwhelming, right? 44 00:03:52,320 --> 00:04:02,250 I probably would just ignore it entirely so I can really identify with you if you're someone who's just been like trying to figure out this legal stuff, trying to figure out where 45 00:04:02,250 --> 00:04:04,270 to get started, how to do things in the right order. 46 00:04:04,270 --> 00:04:06,540 You've heard maybe a million different things. 47 00:04:06,540 --> 00:04:14,280 You don't know what is true, what's not, what applies to you, the way you have to do things because of the kind of business that you have or where you live. 48 00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:21,510 And all of that confusion and overwhelm and anxiety leads to sometimes inaction. 49 00:04:22,550 --> 00:04:24,570 And I get that. I don't judge you for it. 50 00:04:24,570 --> 00:04:25,890 I'm not shaming you for it. 51 00:04:26,040 --> 00:04:27,840 That is not at all part of my business. 52 00:04:27,840 --> 00:04:29,580 It's definitely not part of this podcast. 53 00:04:29,580 --> 00:04:39,360 So, I wanted to record this episode for you today as a real like 30,000-foot view of what are these three steps, the 54 00:04:39,360 --> 00:04:49,050 first three steps to actually legally protecting or legitimizing your business whether that's because you're actually just starting your business now or soon, or 55 00:04:49,680 --> 00:04:52,770 you've maybe started your business but you haven't legally started it. 56 00:04:52,770 --> 00:04:54,510 You haven't done any of the legal stuff yet. 57 00:04:54,510 --> 00:04:57,300 Then essentially, you guys are in the same boat. 58 00:04:57,300 --> 00:04:59,400 And so, today, this episode is for you. 59 00:04:59,430 --> 00:05:09,300 It's about the three most basic things, the three essential things that I would love to see you have done for yourself so that we can protect you personally, protect your money, protect 60 00:05:09,300 --> 00:05:11,810 your business, your clients, everything. 61 00:05:11,820 --> 00:05:17,880 So with that, I know that there is so much bad information out there online. 62 00:05:17,880 --> 00:05:27,660 I talked about that in episode 4 of the podcast when I went over the worst myths that you see online, the most dangerous legal myths when it comes to running your own online or your 63 00:05:27,660 --> 00:05:30,960 online business. So, definitely check that out if you want to learn more about that. 64 00:05:31,140 --> 00:05:39,360 But there is so much bad information online, and there's also so much information online that doesn't really apply to you and what you do like. 65 00:05:39,360 --> 00:05:49,260 It's really outdated or maybe you find stuff that applies to like a brick and mortar business or you find things that apply to your professional license 66 00:05:49,260 --> 00:05:57,210 . Like, if you're a nurse but you're trying to start a coaching business, you'll find the stuff about creating your own practice, but not about creating your own coaching practice. 67 00:05:57,210 --> 00:06:04,140 So, there are a lot of things you can find online but that aren't necessarily helpful and relevant to you. 68 00:06:04,710 --> 00:06:14,670 And so, what I have found in my last four years of having this business and I'm working now with thousands and thousands of people all over the world is that what ends up happening is that 69 00:06:14,670 --> 00:06:22,590 you wait and you spin your wheels and you go into that in action mode because you're kind of like stuck in place. 70 00:06:22,590 --> 00:06:23,880 You're not really sure where to go. 71 00:06:23,880 --> 00:06:24,960 It's like you're frozen. 72 00:06:25,320 --> 00:06:35,190 So, what I see often is that people stick their head in the sand and they're like, "Well, if I just like keep ignoring this, then I don't have to worry about it." Or, sometimes what I 73 00:06:35,190 --> 00:06:45,090 see, and this part makes me sad, is that, you know, people will say, "Well, if I keep the business kind of small, then I don't really have to worry about all this legal stuff because, like, who's going to sue me if 74 00:06:45,090 --> 00:06:49,690 I only have five clients or if I only make $5000," or something like this. 75 00:06:49,690 --> 00:06:53,040 But it's like why would you want to stay in that place. 76 00:06:53,040 --> 00:06:54,960 I don't think you truly want to stay in that place. 77 00:06:54,960 --> 00:07:04,840 I don't want you to stay in that place if you don't want to, especially if the only reason that you're keeping your business small or quiet kind of hidden is because you're afraid that you don't have legal stuff in place, like 78 00:07:04,860 --> 00:07:05,970 there's no reason for that. 79 00:07:05,970 --> 00:07:07,770 We can fix that really easily. 80 00:07:07,770 --> 00:07:12,120 So, today's episode is all about just the basics. 81 00:07:12,120 --> 00:07:15,430 We're keeping it simple so it isn't going to be a super long episode. 82 00:07:15,430 --> 00:07:25,320 And, a lot of times people come to me having done these out of order, and because they've done them out of order or they've skipped a certain step, you actually end up spending more time and 83 00:07:25,320 --> 00:07:35,310 money in the long run fixing it, or what I also see is that people will pay a service or like some kind of big online platform, a ton of money to do some of these things for them 84 00:07:35,310 --> 00:07:39,300 or to do things that we're not going to talk about today because they're not actually necessary. 85 00:07:39,450 --> 00:07:44,880 And then, it's like they're not even done right or they weren't even required in the first place. 86 00:07:44,880 --> 00:07:52,740 So, what I really want you to walk away with today is just a basic understanding of what I call my legally legit trifecta method. 87 00:07:52,740 --> 00:07:56,440 So, I talk a lot about protecting yourself holistically. 88 00:07:56,460 --> 00:08:04,540 Maybe this is the, I don't know, preventative person in me or the still like health coach that I used to be in me or something. 89 00:08:04,540 --> 00:08:14,310 But I like to think about a well-rounded approach to legally protecting yourself and your business because a lot of times what you will see are 90 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:20,940 things being thrown at you just to protect one part or another, like have a contract, you know, and it's like, that's great. 91 00:08:20,940 --> 00:08:30,230 But if you don't have your business formed properly, you personally can be liable for whatever happens out of that contract, or, like, have insurance but don't worry about an LLC. 92 00:08:30,240 --> 00:08:33,680 It's like, well, great, but your personal assets are still at risk. 93 00:08:33,690 --> 00:08:42,480 So, it's really kind of complicated in the sense that these things all work together to protect you all around. 94 00:08:42,480 --> 00:08:43,860 And that's really my approach. 95 00:08:43,860 --> 00:08:45,780 It's nothing scary. 96 00:08:45,810 --> 00:08:49,080 I'm not going to yell at you or judge you if you haven't done these things yet . 97 00:08:49,150 --> 00:08:51,270 It's okay. No time like the present. 98 00:08:51,600 --> 00:09:00,480 So with that, let's go over the three things, the three steps, that you should take to legally protect your online business. 99 00:09:00,480 --> 00:09:09,540 And, when I'm talking online businesses today, I'm primarily talking to those of you in the service industry online, so coaches, creatives that provide services, 100 00:09:10,290 --> 00:09:13,920 consultants, other service providers in the online industry. 101 00:09:13,950 --> 00:09:21,510 So, the very first thing that we do in our legally legit trifecta is to actually form our business. 102 00:09:21,510 --> 00:09:24,410 Because without forming our business, we don't really have a business. 103 00:09:24,410 --> 00:09:33,030 We kind of have like an idea or a hobby or a website or a social media presence, but you don't have a full-fledged business until you've registered it. 104 00:09:33,720 --> 00:09:42,020 Now, for those of you who are in America and that's I'm, you know, an American attorney and licensed in America, that is what I am familiar with. 105 00:09:42,030 --> 00:09:44,280 It's really the only place I'm familiar with. 106 00:09:44,280 --> 00:09:48,870 In America, you form your business in the state where you live and work. 107 00:09:48,900 --> 00:09:53,190 So, every state has its own business registration process. 108 00:09:53,430 --> 00:10:02,170 They all have different kinds of business entities that you can register your business as in that state, but that is on its most basic level, how you form your business. 109 00:10:02,170 --> 00:10:03,240 You go to the state. 110 00:10:03,720 --> 00:10:13,680 What I always recommend when you're starting out is that you literally Google, like, Pennsylvania business registration and the only website that you go to - if you hear nothing else for me today here, 111 00:10:13,680 --> 00:10:23,520 please hear this. The only website you go to is the website that's associated with every state calls it's something different but essentially the website that's like the official state 112 00:10:23,520 --> 00:10:27,690 website. Don't go to all these blogs and legal services, websites, and all of that. 113 00:10:28,140 --> 00:10:34,740 Just go to - like if you type in Pennsylvania business registration, just go to Pennsylvania's website. 114 00:10:34,740 --> 00:10:38,220 Just for now, we're just doing some research, some figuring some stuff out. 115 00:10:38,760 --> 00:10:44,010 And, I want you to look at whatever your state is, so Google your state name and business registration. 116 00:10:44,610 --> 00:10:52,620 I want you to look at what all the different entity options are, that your business, that your state offers you to register your business. 117 00:10:52,740 --> 00:11:02,340 And so, that might look like sole proprietorship, an LLC corporation partnership, all these different kinds of business entities 118 00:11:02,730 --> 00:11:10,040 . All of those are, those things that I just named, LLC, sole proprietor, corporation, those are just all different kinds of business entities. 119 00:11:10,050 --> 00:11:13,680 Essentially, there are different types of businesses that you can register in your state. 120 00:11:13,680 --> 00:11:14,730 Every state has them. 121 00:11:15,120 --> 00:11:21,450 Every state might have a couple of different pros and cons because states have passed different laws regarding those different entity types. 122 00:11:21,450 --> 00:11:27,240 Like, for example, not to get too dorky and granular, but LLCs are what they call state-created entities. 123 00:11:27,240 --> 00:11:37,170 So, every state has an LLC law, which means that the laws are a little bit different for LLCs and what it means to be an LLC and what the privileges are, the benefits, the 124 00:11:37,170 --> 00:11:44,940 responsibilities, what the member's responsibilities and privileges are, which you're a member of your LLC if you register one. 125 00:11:45,240 --> 00:11:54,930 So, it's important that we kind of start off with this step number one of Googling state name business registration, because what is important is not what Becky's told you 126 00:11:54,930 --> 00:11:57,470 on the Facebook group about her LLC. 127 00:11:57,480 --> 00:12:07,170 What is important is what your state offers and what your state says that the pros and cons are, what your state says that the registration process looks like, what the fees 128 00:12:07,170 --> 00:12:10,950 are, what the pros and cons benefits, responsibilities, all of that kind of stuff. 129 00:12:11,460 --> 00:12:17,820 That is what you need to get familiar with first because that is step number one is forming your business in your state. 130 00:12:17,970 --> 00:12:22,080 And by doing so, you have to choose what kind of business you want to be. 131 00:12:22,110 --> 00:12:23,730 Do you want to be a sole proprietor? 132 00:12:23,730 --> 00:12:24,750 Do you want to be a corporation? 133 00:12:24,750 --> 00:12:26,250 Do you want to be an LLC? 134 00:12:26,280 --> 00:12:27,600 There are pros and cons. 135 00:12:27,600 --> 00:12:31,620 I could do whole episodes on all of those kinds of things and everything. 136 00:12:31,620 --> 00:12:41,490 But, really, today I just wanted to speak with you about the most basic startup steps, which are to, you know, get into this research phase and figure 137 00:12:41,490 --> 00:12:43,780 out what are the options available to you. 138 00:12:43,800 --> 00:12:44,840 What are the pros and cons? 139 00:12:44,850 --> 00:12:45,910 How does that work for you? 140 00:12:45,930 --> 00:12:47,850 What does that look like cost-wise? 141 00:12:48,030 --> 00:12:49,050 What are the benefits? 142 00:12:49,050 --> 00:12:51,820 All of that kind of stuff. 143 00:12:51,820 --> 00:13:01,120 Now, in our industry and the online business industry, sole proprietorships and LLC tend to be the most popular and the most commonly registered business entity types, 144 00:13:01,660 --> 00:13:04,150 and so that's for many different reasons. 145 00:13:04,150 --> 00:13:14,020 One, they're like the most accessible and easy to register but it's also because we've heard probably over and over again how many other people in our industry have registered similar 146 00:13:14,230 --> 00:13:15,750 kinds of businesses, too. 147 00:13:15,750 --> 00:13:24,220 So, you'll sometimes just see people saying like, "Well, go get a sole proprietorship because that's what I got," and then I kind of see that snowball in a Facebook group or something like that. 148 00:13:24,220 --> 00:13:30,000 And so, that's why I really want you to get clear on what's best for you and not just like what works for everybody else 149 00:13:35,850 --> 00:13:40,510 . Okay? Have you ever felt lost about where to begin with the legal side of protecting your online business? 150 00:13:40,530 --> 00:13:44,040 Some people say you can just wing it at the beginning and get officially set up later. 151 00:13:44,670 --> 00:13:46,290 Not a good idea, by the way. 152 00:13:46,590 --> 00:13:56,370 Whether you're afraid to even start working with clients because you don't want to do something wrong legally and then get in trouble or your business is growing and you sort of forgot to take care of the legal 153 00:13:56,370 --> 00:13:58,170 pieces, I've got you. 154 00:13:58,200 --> 00:14:07,980 I don't want you to live in fear of the internet police coming after you and your business, but you do have to do certain things and get certain things in place in order to legally and safely run your business 155 00:14:07,980 --> 00:14:15,120 online. As much as it just feels like an unregulated wild wild west online, that is very much not the case. 156 00:14:15,120 --> 00:14:20,470 As an attorney-turned entrepreneur and former corporate litigator, I can assure you that there are rules. 157 00:14:20,470 --> 00:14:25,380 There are real steps that everybody who runs or starts an online business needs to take. 158 00:14:25,680 --> 00:14:27,510 And you're not behind at all. 159 00:14:27,510 --> 00:14:29,900 We can get you set up in following the rules right away. 160 00:14:29,910 --> 00:14:31,770 In fact, we can even do it today. 161 00:14:31,800 --> 00:14:37,020 I want to teach you the five very simple steps to take to legally protect and grow your online business. 162 00:14:37,050 --> 00:14:46,260 You don't need an MBA to be a successful entrepreneur and stay out of legal hot water, but you do need to dot your legal i's and cross your t's in a few key areas that can't be skipped. 163 00:14:46,290 --> 00:14:52,740 That's exactly what I'll teach you in my free one-hour legal workshop called Five Steps To Legally Protect and Grow Your Online Business. 164 00:14:52,770 --> 00:15:01,020 Just head to mylegalworkshop.com, drop in your email address, pick the time, and I'll send you a link to watch the workshop video whenever you have time. 165 00:15:01,320 --> 00:15:11,040 This is the best place to begin if you're just getting started legally legitimizing your business, so head on over to mylegalworkshop.com and sign up to watch, Five Steps to Legally Protect and Grow Your 166 00:15:11,040 --> 00:15:12,270 Online Business now. 167 00:15:19,550 --> 00:15:22,370 Stepping into step number two. 168 00:15:22,370 --> 00:15:24,680 We're going to look at them getting business insurance. 169 00:15:24,680 --> 00:15:34,340 So once you've formed your business, you've registered yourself as a sole proprietorship or you've registered an LLC or whatever it is that you've gone ahead and done, we want to get business insurance because what 170 00:15:34,340 --> 00:15:38,270 business insurance does is protect you financially. 171 00:15:38,270 --> 00:15:47,930 So in step number one, when we're talking about forming your business, the purpose of forming your business is actually not only to legitimize your business, but it's also to protect you personally. 172 00:15:47,930 --> 00:15:57,830 So, we wanted to kind of separate you as a person from your business because we don't want you, as a person, to be responsible for the actions of your business or any 173 00:15:57,830 --> 00:16:01,320 liabilities, debts, things that come from your business. 174 00:16:01,340 --> 00:16:10,370 So, a sole proprietorship, for example, we were talking about in number one, in step number one, that does not provide you any of that personal liability protection. 175 00:16:11,510 --> 00:16:16,940 There is really no separation between you and the business when you register your business as a sole proprietor. 176 00:16:17,510 --> 00:16:24,380 The reason that LLCs are so popular is because LLCs do provide what's called limited personal liability protection. 177 00:16:24,680 --> 00:16:34,610 Now, in some states in America, some of them get a little finicky and they say, like, "Well, if you have an LLC and you own it by yourself, you don't get as much of that separation others do provide it." So, it's 178 00:16:34,610 --> 00:16:36,380 really a state-by-state basis. 179 00:16:36,380 --> 00:16:45,650 I can't obviously offer you that guidance, but you can look into it to see what your state offers in terms of protection for an LLC, what's called a single-member LLC. 180 00:16:45,650 --> 00:16:55,340 But essentially with step number one, we were most interested in providing you that kind of wall between you as a person and your business so that if your business got sued or owed 181 00:16:55,340 --> 00:17:00,530 money, had liabilities, you personally wouldn't be on the hook for that money. 182 00:17:01,400 --> 00:17:10,790 In step number two, though, the reason that we then have to get business insurance is because, even if you got sued and you set up the business, you formed the business properly so that you're not 183 00:17:10,790 --> 00:17:18,590 personally responsible for the debts or liabilities of your business, you really don't still want your business to be financially responsible for it, either. 184 00:17:18,860 --> 00:17:28,660 It's kind of like we don't want anybody to be financially responsible because there aren't very many businesses out there that I know of that could sustain a lawsuit. 185 00:17:28,790 --> 00:17:30,850 Extremely, there are hundreds of thousands of dollars. 186 00:17:30,860 --> 00:17:34,310 Attorneys are super expensive, hundreds of dollars an hour, and the bills never end. 187 00:17:34,790 --> 00:17:39,560 So with business insurance, our real goal here is to protect your business financially. 188 00:17:40,670 --> 00:17:42,700 So how do we do that with business insurance? 189 00:17:42,710 --> 00:17:49,330 Well, just like any other kind of insurance, you get business insurance that covers the kind of work that you do. 190 00:17:49,330 --> 00:17:59,270 So, now if you're like a coach or a consultant of some sort, usually we have what's called professional liability insurance and that provides insurance for the work that you do, things that 191 00:17:59,270 --> 00:18:01,250 come as a result of the work that you do. 192 00:18:01,250 --> 00:18:05,000 So, you suggest that somebody goes off and does something, try something. 193 00:18:05,180 --> 00:18:06,560 They have a bad experience. 194 00:18:06,560 --> 00:18:07,980 They have some negative reaction. 195 00:18:07,980 --> 00:18:10,160 They have a bad - you know, they lose money. 196 00:18:10,160 --> 00:18:11,870 They - I don't know whatever happens. 197 00:18:11,900 --> 00:18:13,700 Then, they come back and sue you for it. 198 00:18:13,700 --> 00:18:17,630 That's the kind of thing that professional liability insurance typically covers . 199 00:18:18,170 --> 00:18:20,390 So in the coaching industry, that's really popular. 200 00:18:20,390 --> 00:18:26,090 Another form of business insurance that some of us have is commercial general liability insurance. 201 00:18:26,090 --> 00:18:29,000 So, it's really about figuring out which kinds you need. 202 00:18:29,030 --> 00:18:38,930 Obviously, that is best left to a business insurance agent to tell you, not for me to tell you, because somebody really needs to look at what you do, how you do it, how you deliver it, how you work with 203 00:18:38,930 --> 00:18:45,570 people, where you work with people, if you see people in person, if you see people in an office, if it's all virtual, if you do exercise. 204 00:18:45,570 --> 00:18:47,060 It's all different. 205 00:18:47,300 --> 00:18:57,260 But the point with business insurance is that it would financially protect you should you ever get sued or threatened to be sued because your business insurance would provide you with a business 206 00:18:57,260 --> 00:19:06,910 defense attorney and then cover any settlement or judgment that's found against your business for anything that you got sued for, that's covered by your policy . 207 00:19:07,260 --> 00:19:09,110 So, it's just like any other form of insurance. 208 00:19:09,110 --> 00:19:12,910 You actually have to have insurance that covers the thing that you're sued for or that happens. 209 00:19:12,910 --> 00:19:17,270 As long as that happens, they will pay for this stuff minus your deductible. 210 00:19:17,270 --> 00:19:25,690 So we always want to know, just like you do with your car insurance or something, you want to know your deductible because the deductible is the part that you are responsible for. 211 00:19:25,700 --> 00:19:27,080 So, they pay over that. 212 00:19:27,080 --> 00:19:28,850 So, it's a thousand-dollar deductible. 213 00:19:28,940 --> 00:19:36,260 That means you have to pay a thousand dollars if something say you got sued in order for your coverage to kick in and for them to pay anything over that. 214 00:19:36,410 --> 00:19:39,050 So, it's really important that you know your deductible. 215 00:19:39,290 --> 00:19:46,010 It's really important that you know your policy limits because that's the amount of money that your insurance company will pay up to. 216 00:19:46,490 --> 00:19:56,360 And obviously, it's important that you know your premium because the premium is how much you're going to pay each year regardless of whether you get sued or not, or regardless of whether you get a nasty letter from a lawyer or 217 00:19:56,360 --> 00:20:02,600 something like that. So, business insurance is super important because that is what financially will pay the bills if anything happens. 218 00:20:03,700 --> 00:20:13,550 And so, I really encourage people to seek that out as soon as you're ready to work with people because, for me, I think business insurance is like the biggest sigh of relief because 219 00:20:13,550 --> 00:20:19,160 you're just like, "Well, I can't control," and I've talked about this in other episodes and in my content elsewhere. 220 00:20:19,160 --> 00:20:24,600 You can't really control whether or not people sue you or whether someone hires a lawyer and sends you a scary letter. 221 00:20:24,780 --> 00:20:34,680 But if you have the stuff in place that we're talking about already, like you have your business formed properly so that you're not personally responsible for it and then you 222 00:20:34,680 --> 00:20:44,370 have the right kind of business insurance so that you're not financially responsible for it and I don't mean to downplay getting sued or like how scary that is and definitely how stressful it 223 00:20:44,370 --> 00:20:49,410 is. But at the end of the day, my goal really is that it wouldn't impact you that much. 224 00:20:49,410 --> 00:20:55,000 You know, hopefully, you can see how if you have - if you're starting to see this take shape, like, "Okay. 225 00:20:55,000 --> 00:21:00,390 Like, I don't want to obviously ever get sued and I hope that nothing happens," and the truth is that probably it won't. 226 00:21:00,390 --> 00:21:04,260 It's not - lawsuits aren't flinging around in this space like crazy. 227 00:21:04,260 --> 00:21:13,700 But the point is that if it did, you've pretty much done what you can do to control the damage and make it so that it wouldn't ruin your life or your business. 228 00:21:13,710 --> 00:21:16,890 So, step number one, we are forming our business. 229 00:21:16,920 --> 00:21:24,050 Step number two, we're then protecting our business financially with the business insurance because business insurance is going to pay for our attorney. 230 00:21:24,060 --> 00:21:31,140 They're going to pay for the judgment or settlement found against us as long as we're sued for something that's covered by our policy, obviously. 231 00:21:31,680 --> 00:21:38,690 And then, in step number three, we're rounding out this protection with proof through a contract. 232 00:21:38,700 --> 00:21:45,870 We're rounding out protecting ourselves with written proof through a properly signed and sent contract. 233 00:21:45,990 --> 00:21:52,050 So, it kind of depends on what you're doing, but obviously, however you're working with people, you want to use a contract. 234 00:21:52,170 --> 00:22:02,070 If you're working with people in a one-to-one coaching or consulting capacity, then you want to use a coaching contract that you actually have people 235 00:22:02,070 --> 00:22:05,860 sign, not something that you have people check off a box to or anything like that. 236 00:22:05,860 --> 00:22:14,610 Any time we're offering actual information advice, we're working with people directly, I want you to get that stuff signed as much as possible. 237 00:22:14,610 --> 00:22:17,250 If you're offering a group program or a mastermind, same thing. 238 00:22:17,250 --> 00:22:23,910 You'd be offering a group program contract for people to sign, properly sign, not just check off a box. 239 00:22:24,270 --> 00:22:33,450 And then, if you're offering something that's more like a digital product or a course or something that people buy without you being involved, something that's maybe selling evergreen on 240 00:22:33,450 --> 00:22:43,380 autopilot and they can buy it when you're sleeping, as I always say, which is the goal, then you can use what's called terms of use, which is something that people 241 00:22:43,740 --> 00:22:49,950 agree to. So, it's a contract essentially that they agree to at checkout through a checkbox or something similar. 242 00:22:50,070 --> 00:22:54,690 And that is the best way to capture a contract when somebody is buying something on autopilot. 243 00:22:54,690 --> 00:22:59,580 But we do not want to use that method when we have the opportunity to have somebody sign something. 244 00:23:00,390 --> 00:23:07,180 The other thing that I need to tell you about getting people to sign contracts and that's so important is you can have the best contract in the world. 245 00:23:07,180 --> 00:23:10,920 But if you don't send and sign it properly, then it won't be enforceable. 246 00:23:10,920 --> 00:23:14,040 So, it's like you didn't have it anyway. 247 00:23:14,040 --> 00:23:16,770 So, you can send contracts for people to e-sign. 248 00:23:16,800 --> 00:23:23,810 Of course, e-sign, e-signatures are relatively pretty enforceable these days, and so you can do that. 249 00:23:23,820 --> 00:23:28,260 However, you do need to use what's called an E-Sign Act Compliant platform. 250 00:23:28,290 --> 00:23:34,200 So, you can't just send somebody a contract through Word and have them type in their name and call it a day. 251 00:23:34,290 --> 00:23:41,560 It does have to be through proper means, so something like HelloSign, Adobe Sign, whatever all the other sign companies are. 252 00:23:41,560 --> 00:23:51,420 Those are really great options because they provide the metadata behind someone's e-signature that you're required to have on file or have access to in order to prove 253 00:23:51,420 --> 00:23:53,760 that someone properly signed your contract. 254 00:23:54,090 --> 00:23:57,570 Because otherwise, someone could just say like, "Oh, I never signed that," or something like this. 255 00:23:57,570 --> 00:24:06,560 And now these companies can actually go and say, "You signed it on this day at this time, in this location, on this computer, from this IP address." Like, they have a lot of data. 256 00:24:06,570 --> 00:24:12,810 So, that's what we need. So, that's about sending it properly or, sorry, about signing it properly. 257 00:24:12,810 --> 00:24:22,770 In terms of sending it properly, the thing that you need to know about properly sending contracts so that they actually are enforceable is that contracts have to be offered to someone at the 258 00:24:22,770 --> 00:24:26,580 time that they are making payment. 259 00:24:26,640 --> 00:24:32,160 So, you can't withhold a contract if and only if someone pays you. 260 00:24:32,310 --> 00:24:37,050 So, for example, one of the things I see in our industry law is that people will be like, "Here's your invoice. 261 00:24:37,050 --> 00:24:41,880 Once you pay that, then I'll sign you a contract." You can't do that. 262 00:24:41,880 --> 00:24:49,770 That is not going to make that contract very enforceable, or it could just make it so that someone could easily get out of that contract, which you don't want. 263 00:24:50,460 --> 00:24:55,710 The reason being is that you essentially need to know what the terms are of something when you're agreeing to it. 264 00:24:55,950 --> 00:25:02,760 So if you go to Nordstrom and you're going to buy a pair of jeans and those jeans are final sale, there will be a final sale sticker on those jeans. 265 00:25:02,760 --> 00:25:11,820 And then, when you go up to the checkout person, they will say to you, "Do you know that these jeans are final sale?" And you say yes or no or whatever, you pay. 266 00:25:12,640 --> 00:25:18,850 And your payment is considered acceptance of those terms, that's like an offer, a term that they gave you when they told you final sale. 267 00:25:19,120 --> 00:25:28,680 You paying is acceptance, and to get legally nerdy about this in order for there to be a proper offer, there's to be offer acceptance and consideration. 268 00:25:28,690 --> 00:25:33,820 So, the offer was them saying, here's these jeans but their final sale. 269 00:25:34,120 --> 00:25:40,940 The consideration is that you would get the jeans that means you receive something, so you actually get the jeans as consideration and your acceptance is you paying. 270 00:25:40,960 --> 00:25:45,720 So, that is a properly formed offer and acceptance of that offer. 271 00:25:45,720 --> 00:25:46,750 That's an agreement. 272 00:25:47,500 --> 00:25:55,210 The problem would be if you went to go buy those same jeans and they were final sale, but it never had a sticker and nobody ever said anything to you at checkout. 273 00:25:55,840 --> 00:25:57,370 And then, you paid for the jeans. 274 00:25:57,370 --> 00:26:01,660 And then as you were walking away, the checkout person said to you, "Oh, by the way, those were final sale. 275 00:26:01,670 --> 00:26:02,830 Ha ha." Right? 276 00:26:02,830 --> 00:26:04,180 That would not be okay. 277 00:26:04,210 --> 00:26:06,910 Same goes for the way that we do business online. 278 00:26:06,940 --> 00:26:12,090 You cannot do the ha-ha thing and you cannot have people pay for something and then afterwards be like, "Okay. 279 00:26:12,100 --> 00:26:15,130 Now here are your terms," in the form of a contract. 280 00:26:15,460 --> 00:26:20,140 So, all of that stuff has to be presented to them at the same time. 281 00:26:20,380 --> 00:26:30,040 So, you don't need to get too crazy about some people will start sending me messages and be like, "My email for the invoice goes out, you know, two minutes before in the contract." That's not what I'm 282 00:26:30,040 --> 00:26:31,090 talking about. 283 00:26:31,090 --> 00:26:33,880 Or, like people write to me and be like, "They go on separate emails. 284 00:26:33,880 --> 00:26:36,130 Is that okay?" That's not what I'm talking about. 285 00:26:36,160 --> 00:26:41,080 What I'm talking about is withholding a contract if and only until someone pays you. 286 00:26:41,440 --> 00:26:43,660 That is what you cannot do. 287 00:26:43,690 --> 00:26:50,770 So, you at least have to make the terms, the contract, whatever, available to the person when they can pay. 288 00:26:50,770 --> 00:26:54,350 If they choose to pay first and then sign, that's fine. 289 00:26:54,370 --> 00:26:57,630 It's just that you can't withhold the terms. 290 00:26:57,640 --> 00:27:02,780 So, whether you do this in one email or you do it in two separate emails, it doesn't really matter. 291 00:27:02,800 --> 00:27:08,560 The point is that they just have to have access to it and then they can kind of do with it what they want. 292 00:27:08,560 --> 00:27:18,370 I would encourage you to use a system that's streamlined, you know, if you can get it to like one email that says, you know, "Hey, Jess, here's a copy of your invoice to pay when you're 293 00:27:18,370 --> 00:27:21,820 ready and a copy of your contract to review and e-sign. 294 00:27:21,820 --> 00:27:24,250 Please take your time to review it, send it, and sign it back to me. 295 00:27:24,250 --> 00:27:30,360 I'll sign it, and then you'll have a completed copy for your records." Personally, that's the way that I would suggest doing it. 296 00:27:30,360 --> 00:27:35,050 If there's really some reason that you can't do it that way, you can send it separately or whatever. 297 00:27:35,050 --> 00:27:41,680 But just please, for the love of all things, don't withhold it from people until they pay. 298 00:27:41,970 --> 00:27:43,030 That is a no-no. 299 00:27:43,150 --> 00:27:45,810 And please, please do not take payment over the phone. 300 00:27:45,820 --> 00:27:47,050 Do not take payment over the phone. 301 00:27:47,050 --> 00:27:49,140 Do not take payment over Zoom. 302 00:27:49,150 --> 00:27:53,710 You should not be in possession of people's financial credit card information, bank information. 303 00:27:54,010 --> 00:27:55,290 That is a huge no-no. 304 00:27:55,300 --> 00:27:58,570 So you let, you know, send them a link to an invoice, send them a link to a PayPal. 305 00:27:59,020 --> 00:28:00,130 I don't care what you do. 306 00:28:00,160 --> 00:28:04,270 Just don't personally take possession of their information. 307 00:28:04,930 --> 00:28:10,140 So, those really are the three startup steps to legally protecting yourself. 308 00:28:10,140 --> 00:28:19,630 To quickly review, we form our business in the state where we live and work by choosing a business entity type that works for us in our state, and then we follow the proper 309 00:28:19,630 --> 00:28:21,420 registration steps there. 310 00:28:21,420 --> 00:28:29,020 We get business insurance that covers the work that we do, and we find out what our deductible is, what our premiums are, obviously, and what our coverage limits are. 311 00:28:29,410 --> 00:28:37,780 And, we get a legit contract for the type of work that we're doing and we make sure we send and sign them properly so that they are actually enforceable. 312 00:28:38,410 --> 00:28:43,810 I think that this is like a really good start, you know, to this, but we do need to dive deeper when you're ready. 313 00:28:44,020 --> 00:28:45,910 So if you're ready, let me know. 314 00:28:46,150 --> 00:28:49,000 But especially with the formation step, I can help you a lot. 315 00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:50,740 If you're like, "Okay, now I've done the research. 316 00:28:50,740 --> 00:28:52,990 I don't understand. Should I get a sole proprietorship? 317 00:28:53,020 --> 00:29:02,860 Should I get an LLC?" Or, maybe you're like, "I want to go in the LLC route, but I'm not sure how." Then, I've got good news coming for you because I do have those live 318 00:29:02,860 --> 00:29:06,010 workshops coming up. They're going to be my last live legal workshops of the year. 319 00:29:06,850 --> 00:29:10,270 I'm going to share more with you about it in next week's episode. 320 00:29:10,270 --> 00:29:13,500 You'll also see me sharing all over about it on social media. 321 00:29:13,500 --> 00:29:19,890 But I'll be doing a live, free workshop for my Five Steps to Legally Protect and Grow Your Online Business. 322 00:29:19,900 --> 00:29:24,010 Thousands and thousands of online entrepreneurs have taken my workshop. 323 00:29:24,010 --> 00:29:25,930 I've only done it live one other time. 324 00:29:25,930 --> 00:29:31,210 This will be the last time for this year, so I'll be sharing more information with you about how to get signed up for that. 325 00:29:31,360 --> 00:29:34,690 But in order to dive deeper into forming your business, we need a little more time. 326 00:29:34,960 --> 00:29:39,110 We got to sit. We've got to have something to drink too, like tea or coffee, I mean. 327 00:29:39,110 --> 00:29:40,390 So, we have to have that. 328 00:29:40,420 --> 00:29:46,300 We also need to talk about your website and we have to talk about making sure that we protect your content as well. 329 00:29:46,330 --> 00:29:54,250 And I have got to talk with you about the biggest mindset shift that I need you to work on if we're going to not only legally protect this business, but grow it, too. 330 00:29:54,250 --> 00:30:01,810 And those are all things I'm going to go over in my free live legal workshop called Five Steps to Legally Protect and Grow Your Online Business. 331 00:30:01,840 --> 00:30:03,970 It's coming up in just a few short weeks. 332 00:30:03,970 --> 00:30:09,090 I'm going to be sharing more information with you about how to sign up for free both here and on social media. 333 00:30:09,100 --> 00:30:10,960 I can't wait to see you there. 334 00:30:11,140 --> 00:30:13,690 With that, if this episode was helpful, send me a DM. 335 00:30:13,690 --> 00:30:16,330 Let me know on Instagram, @samvanderwielen. 336 00:30:16,330 --> 00:30:21,550 You can share this episode by screenshotting it and tagging me in it @samvanderwielen. 337 00:30:21,580 --> 00:30:28,210 And if you haven't already, please love the show on wherever you listen to podcasts by following, leaving a review. 338 00:30:28,240 --> 00:30:31,010 It would mean so much to me and the rest of the community. 339 00:30:31,030 --> 00:30:36,130 With that, I can't wait to see you next week and share more news about the free live legal workshop coming up. 340 00:30:40,460 --> 00:30:43,230 Thanks so much for listening to the On Your Terms podcast. 341 00:30:43,250 --> 00:30:47,930 Make sure to follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you like to listen to podcasts. 342 00:30:47,960 --> 00:30:54,910 You can also check out all of our podcast episodes, show notes, links, and more at samvanderwielen.com/podcast. 343 00:30:54,950 --> 00:31:02,210 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. 344 00:31:03,800 --> 00:31:09,120 And to stay connected and follow along, follow me on Instagram @samvanderwielen, and send me a DM to say hi. © 345 00:31:09,120 --> 00:31:09,340 2022 Sam Vander Wielen LLC | All Rights Reserved | Any use of this intellectual property owned by Sam Vander Wielen LLC may not be used in connection with the sale or distribution of any content (free or paid, written or verbal), product, 346 00:31:09,340 --> 00:31:09,470 and/or service by you without prior written consent from Sam Vander Wielen LLC.