1 00:00:10,280 --> 00:00:14,960 Welcome back to another episode of Sam's Sidebar, where I tackle your essential legal 2 00:00:14,960 --> 00:00:19,130 questions about starting and growing a legally protected online business in ten minutes 3 00:00:19,130 --> 00:00:24,500 or less. This week, you'll get legal tips all about how to use a disclaimer as a service 4 00:00:24,500 --> 00:00:28,150 provider. This week's question came from our listener, Tish. 5 00:00:28,150 --> 00:00:34,250 And Tish asked, "If I'm a web designer/SEO expert and I sell a course, how would I go 6 00:00:34,250 --> 00:00:40,520 about the legal disclaimer?" It seems similar to the whole I'm a doctor but not your 7 00:00:40,520 --> 00:00:44,240 doctor, but for web SEO design stuff. 8 00:00:44,270 --> 00:00:45,830 Is that the right way to go about it? 9 00:00:45,830 --> 00:00:49,910 I want to share knowledge, but not be liable if someone doesn't follow instructions or if 10 00:00:49,910 --> 00:00:53,620 it just doesn't work out for someone's site for whatever reason. 11 00:00:53,620 --> 00:00:55,610 This is such a good question, Tish. The 12 00:00:55,610 --> 00:00:59,240 first thing I love about your question is that you recognize that disclaimers are not 13 00:00:59,240 --> 00:01:03,010 just for those in the health and wellness or food industries. 14 00:01:03,020 --> 00:01:07,970 Everybody who has a business, who offers services, sells programs, or creates content 15 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:11,740 needs to be "worried" about disclaimers. 16 00:01:11,740 --> 00:01:16,400 Worried meaning aware, not losing any sleep. So, 17 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:20,150 disclaimers are something that we have in many different places in our businesses for 18 00:01:20,150 --> 00:01:21,350 different reasons. 19 00:01:21,350 --> 00:01:27,140 You should have disclaimer language in your contracts, on your website through a website 20 00:01:27,140 --> 00:01:33,380 disclaimer, even maybe in your content on a blog post or something, in your terms of use 21 00:01:33,620 --> 00:01:36,860 like the contract that you would use at checkout for online courses and memberships. 22 00:01:36,860 --> 00:01:41,000 There are so many different places to use a disclaimer, maybe even in the beginning of a 23 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:43,190 webinar or a live training. The 24 00:01:43,190 --> 00:01:47,480 part of the disclaimer language that you seem to be interested in, though, is the part 25 00:01:47,480 --> 00:01:52,040 that I build into all of my client contract templates and my terms of use - the one that 26 00:01:52,040 --> 00:01:57,680 you use for courses and memberships - regarding guarantees and warranties. 27 00:01:57,680 --> 00:02:00,890 That is just one provision of a disclaimer. 28 00:02:01,220 --> 00:02:05,150 It's really important that your clients, no matter what you do, understand that you're 29 00:02:05,150 --> 00:02:10,490 not guaranteeing a certain outcome or result through working with you, or through taking 30 00:02:10,490 --> 00:02:13,130 your course, or buying your program. So, 31 00:02:13,130 --> 00:02:17,570 for Tish, that might mean like not guaranteeing that the client's website traffic will 32 00:02:17,570 --> 00:02:20,300 improve if they use Tish's SEO services. 33 00:02:20,300 --> 00:02:21,770 We can't control that. 34 00:02:21,800 --> 00:02:24,260 What if the client doesn't ever post on their site? 35 00:02:24,380 --> 00:02:27,810 What if they're a bad writer? Or what if they don't follow your directions? 36 00:02:27,810 --> 00:02:32,630 Or, for you, this might mean you're not guaranteeing any certain body result, a mindset 37 00:02:32,630 --> 00:02:37,550 achievement, a business result, a career outcome. But 38 00:02:37,640 --> 00:02:41,010 as I always say, we have to be consistent across the board. 39 00:02:41,030 --> 00:02:45,350 We don't want to make any of those kinds of promises or representations and then just 40 00:02:45,380 --> 00:02:50,930 sneak in a "but I didn't promise you anything" kind of policy into our contracts. 41 00:02:50,930 --> 00:02:54,860 So, we have to be cognizant of not making any of those kinds of statements or implying 42 00:02:54,860 --> 00:03:01,940 any sort of guaranteed outcome or result, even in our marketing, in our copy on our 43 00:03:01,940 --> 00:03:05,800 websites, and stuff we say on social media, anything like that. 44 00:03:05,800 --> 00:03:10,010 It can actually trigger some state's consumer protection and fraud laws, too, so it's 45 00:03:10,010 --> 00:03:13,700 really, really important that we take that pretty seriously. So, 46 00:03:13,700 --> 00:03:17,780 this element of your disclaimer and the disclaimer paragraphs that I sprinkled throughout 47 00:03:17,780 --> 00:03:22,280 your legal templates, like any single contract that you get from me, are just one part of 48 00:03:22,280 --> 00:03:23,950 what makes a solid disclaimer. 49 00:03:23,960 --> 00:03:28,160 So, instead of trying to write any of these yourself, how about you shop my DIY legal 50 00:03:28,160 --> 00:03:33,020 templates, download any of my contracts, or even my mini-disclaimer for your content and 51 00:03:33,020 --> 00:03:34,700 fill it out in 15 minutes or less. 52 00:03:34,700 --> 00:03:37,610 It's way easier than writing it yourself. So, 53 00:03:37,610 --> 00:03:42,920 each one of my DIY legal templates comes with an editable file of the template itself and 54 00:03:42,920 --> 00:03:47,360 a how-to video walkthrough, where I actually show you exactly how to fill it out so you 55 00:03:47,360 --> 00:03:49,460 know how to customize it and make it your own. 56 00:03:49,580 --> 00:03:53,570 Plus, if you purchase one of the templates that's included in my signature program, the 57 00:03:53,570 --> 00:03:57,860 Ultimate Bundle, you can receive a credit towards upgrading to the bundle when you're 58 00:03:57,860 --> 00:04:00,250 ready for the entire program. 59 00:04:00,250 --> 00:04:04,850 So, you can click the link below down in the show notes to shop all of my DIY legal 60 00:04:04,850 --> 00:04:07,970 templates or head to samvanderwielen.com/shop. Thank 61 00:04:07,970 --> 00:04:11,630 you so much for joining me this week on Sam's Sidebar. 62 00:04:11,660 --> 00:04:15,830 Check out the show notes below for blog posts and resources I got for you. 63 00:04:15,830 --> 00:04:18,650 Full episodes of On Your Terms air every single Monday. 64 00:04:18,650 --> 00:04:21,480 And then, my little Q&A sessions are here every single Thursday. 65 00:04:21,500 --> 00:04:25,280 If you have a question that you want me to answer on a future episode, please do me a 66 00:04:25,280 --> 00:04:29,120 favor and go ahead and click the link below to submit your legal question for an upcoming 67 00:04:29,120 --> 00:04:31,910 episode. I would love to answer it. Thank 68 00:04:31,910 --> 00:04:37,100 you so much for listening. I'll see you next week. Thanks 69 00:04:37,100 --> 00:04:39,580 so much for listening to the On Your Terms Podcast. 70 00:04:39,590 --> 00:04:43,490 Make sure to follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you like to listen to 71 00:04:43,490 --> 00:04:48,440 podcast. You can also check out all of our podcast episodes, show notes, links, and more 72 00:04:48,440 --> 00:04:51,230 at samvanderwielen.com/podcast. 73 00:04:51,260 --> 00:04:54,830 You can learn more about legally protecting your business and take my free legal 74 00:04:54,830 --> 00:04:58,280 workshop, Five Steps to Legally Protect and Grow Your Online Business, at 75 00:04:58,280 --> 00:05:03,240 samvanderwilen.com. And to stay connected and follow along, follow me on Instagram, 76 00:05:03,240 --> 00:05:05,420 @samvanderwielen, and send me a DM to say 77 00:05:05,420 --> 00:05:15,970 hi. Just 78 00:05:15,970 --> 00:05:20,890 remember that although I am a attorney, I am not your attorney and I am not offering you 79 00:05:20,890 --> 00:05:22,480 legal advice in today's episode. 80 00:05:22,480 --> 00:05:27,190 This episode and all of my episodes are informational and educational only. 81 00:05:27,190 --> 00:05:31,540 It is not a substitute for seeking out your own advice from your own lawyer. 82 00:05:31,540 --> 00:05:34,360 And please keep in mind that I can't offer you legal advice. 83 00:05:34,360 --> 00:05:36,420 I don't ever offer any legal services. 84 00:05:36,420 --> 00:05:39,370 But I think I offer some pretty good information.