Gift biz unwrapped episode 227 I didn't have a plan.
I didn't know if it was even going to work.
I didn't know my audience.
I didn't even know what I was going to offer to
people. Attention gifters,
bakers, crafters,
and makers pursuing your dream can be fun.
Whether you have an established business or looking to start one
now you are in the right place.
This is gift to biz unwrapped,
helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.
Join us for an episode packed full of invaluable guidance,
resources, and the support you need to grow your gift biz.
Here is your host gift biz gal,
Sue moon Heights.
Hi there,
it's Sue And as always,
I'm so glad to have you here with me today.
Before we get into the show,
I have a question for you.
How'd your day go yesterday?
Maybe a crazy question.
I know and yes,
you heard me right?
If you were to rate yesterday,
how much did you get done?
How far did you advance toward your goal or maybe in
your mind you're saying what goal?
Many of you have told me you aren't sure whether what
you're doing is the right thing for your business.
You're confused that you may be focusing on the wrong things
and wasting time and money and you compare yourself to others
and feel like you're just not keeping up.
Sound familiar?
Maybe you find that you're busy all day long,
but when you finish up,
you haven't accomplished much of anything at all.
I've been there too until I started working with what I
now call the power of purpose.
I made a free video for you that explains how to
boost your productivity and get results using the power of your
purpose. Isn't it time to make all the effort that you
put into your business and your life do for you what
you've intended.
Now full disclosure,
this video does lead into showing you my brand new inspired
daily planner.
But listen,
you don't need the inspired planner to get all the advantages
out of the power of purpose that I show you in
this video.
So if you're interested in discovering a new way to work
through your days so your time is intentional and your results
are real,
I encourage you to go over and watch this video and
you can find it at gift biz,
unwrapped.com forward slash planner that's gift biz unwrapped.com
forward slash.
Planner I never take it lightly that you take time out
of your day to listen to the show and I always
think about that when booking guests or drawing out information during
our talks because I want to make sure that there's learning
and inspiration for you in exchange for the time that you're
spending here with me today.
I have a mix of both learning and inspiration Because my
guest shares her intense story of survival and then we get
into some serious business talk.
Let's dive right in.
I have the pleasure of introducing you to regain Richmond of
search for her existence when women are finally ready to put
on their big girl panties and protect their business assets.
There is only one woman in the world that they can
call and her name is Richmond and acclaimed business and legal
strategist. Rigid is empowering women to embrace their true power bossiness
turning their businesses into empires by taking the complexity out of
the legal side of business.
Her clients soon realized that the Epic ideas and extraordinary skills
in their heads and hands today will be worth millions in
their bank accounts tomorrow from rock solid business structures to impenetrable
contracts. She shows them how to get legit legal and profitable
rigid. Welcome to the gift biz on repped podcast.
Thank you.
Thank you for having me.
I'm excited.
Me too.
This is one of those topics that I know a lot
of us don't like to chat about,
but I really think that our conversation is going to be
inspiring and you know,
share some things that a lot of people aren't thinking about
in relation to their business.
But before we dive into that,
I have a tradition here on the show and that is
to have you share with us who you are and a
little bit of a different way and that is through describing
a motivational candle.
So if you were to create your own candle that really
speaks you,
what color would it be and what would be a quote
or some type of sane on that candle?
That is such a good question.
I'm always thinking about what motivates me,
what lights me up.
So my color would have to be orange and I choose
orange because orange symbolizes fire in is my favorite color anyway.
And then the quote will be,
and this is my personal quote,
will be the fire in my eyes will ignite the world.
And the reason why I would put that on the candle
is because everything I do is motivated by something.
Like there's some driving force behind it and I don't think
I will be where I am today if I didn't have
that fire in me.
There you go.
The passion and I like what you're saying.
There's intention behind all your actions is what I'm hearing you
say. Correct.
Got it and that makes a lot of sense.
Now I've gotten to know a little bit of your story
and I was,
we were talking in the pre chat a little bit that
I think everything that you bring,
there's such power behind your story because you are not going
to be knocked down,
that's for sure.
I don't even know you that well,
but I already know that that's true just by your story.
Life is funny.
You have this dream right that it's supposed to look one
way but then something happens and everything gets detour and I
was just always,
I am still am because I have a person that I'm
not going to let the curve balls determine me for what
I really want to deal in life.
Share with us a little bit about how you've gotten to
where you are today.
It was not an easy road.
Entrepreneurship for me was never an option.
I always had this dream of being this hot shot attorney
and when I got sick with my daughter,
everything changed or I had no choice but to start a
business and it was definitely something very hard because I'm a
type a personality so I need structure.
I mean a list and when you're an entrepreneurs kind of
like up and down,
up and down,
you don't know about your money or anything like that.
So the journey has actually really just been motivated because we
had to live and then when my health started failing,
I know we will probably talk about that a little later,
but when my health started filming I really realized that I
had to make something happen.
But you did have that high power.
I mean you were on the ladder going up,
so you had experienced that first.
Why don't you start and share with us the story so
we can all ground everybody in what was going on?
Yeah, absolutely.
So I was a celebrity attorney here in the Detroit Metro
area. I was working with a lot of great celebrities such
as the late Aretha Franklin.
I assisted with Rosa parks being on the us postal stamp.
I got to work with Malcolm X's airs and Alex Haley's
airs. So I did a lot of great things,
but I actually was not going up the ladder.
All those things sounds wonderful and great,
but I was stagnant.
I was already at the height of my career.
There was nowhere else for me to go.
Okay, so stop.
Let me ask you a question there because that doesn't make
sense. Like all those people,
that sounds like such great causes,
obviously. Were you stagnant because there was nowhere else to go
from there or you'd reach the peak of what that could
be for you?
Yeah, so it was really the peak that's the law firm.
Really. The peak of it was nowhere,
literally, literally nowhere else to go.
That was it.
When you are an attorney,
you are at the top of the firm and everything.
There was nowhere else for me to go unless I wanted
to be a partner or something like that and that wasn't
my goal.
My goal was to work with people,
helping them protect their business assets.
So again,
there was nowhere else for me to go.
There was no increase in my salary year after year at
the year.
I was literally,
I came in pretty much at the top from law school.
Okay. So then you were unfulfilled even with all of that
and that client list that you just rattled off,
which sounds to a lot of us as outsiders as you
made it,
there's the financial aspect of course,
but then you've gotta be fulfilled with what your mission is
and what you want to be doing with your life.
And it sounds like that apart from the finances,
so they understand what you said,
that financially you couldn't rise any further.
But it's also that inside part.
Absolutely. Okay.
So then what happened?
I got sick when my daughter,
me and my husband,
we found out we were pregnant and to back up a
little bit,
I have Lucas.
And so we always knew that if we wanted to have
children, we would have to plan for it to prevent any
complications with my health and the baby's health.
Well, we weren't trying to have children.
I was on birth control.
But unfortunately we ended up pregnant in my,
Lucas started to flare really bad and my daughter started to
get sick.
She wasn't getting enough nutrients while she was inside of me.
So what we ended up doing,
I had to be hospitalized.
So the day we found out the gender,
they wouldn't let me leave the doctor's office.
I had to literally be admitted into the hospital because my
lupus was flaring really bad and my blood pressure was so
high. They said they were afraid I was going to have
a heart attack.
I want to say it was like two 20 over like
one 80 in the normals.
I one 20 over 80 Oh my gosh.
Yes. And the crazy thing about all of this,
they're telling me like the doctors are spasming out,
but I feel fine.
I'm like,
I feel fine.
Like I feel fine.
Nothing was bothering me.
I didn't even feel like I was having a lupus flare.
Everything felt normal to me so that now I know the
gender of my child,
so I'm hospitalized and they tell me they're like this is
like a really liking this type of situation.
So really the doctors wanted me to have a DNC procedure
and what that is really simply,
it's just having an abortion cause they were so afraid that
they were going to lose me.
But because I felt fine and I believe in God and
I'm like,
well I feel fine,
so I'm not do.
I'm like,
so what's the next procedure to get this baby delivered?
And also it's important to know at this time,
the day I found out my gender,
I was only 23 weeks pregnant,
so I'm not even really halfway through the pregnancy by then.
Right. So it's not a viable pregnancy yet.
Yep, absolutely.
So in order to make it viable,
we had to wait two more weeks and get her at
least to one pound.
They won't deliver by C-section if the child is not,
at least one pounds is considered an abortion if they're not
at least a one pound.
So I said,
I'll wait in the hospital.
So they pumped me with a whole bunch of fluids,
medications and everything,
and about a week and a half later,
my daughter was born at 24 weeks in three days.
She was one pound,
three ounces,
born at 24 weeks and three days.
Please, I know you all are probably wondering how is she
doing? She's here today.
She's five years old and she's almost bigger than me now.
Oh, that gives me goosebumps.
I'm so happy to hear and thank you for sharing without
me having to ask,
but that's a wonderful story.
But then how was your health then?
Yep, so surely after,
of course they monitored me back at the C-section,
but one thing that started to happen is that I started
to swell really bad all over my face,
my hands,
my ankles,
my legs.
It was to the point where I couldn't walk.
I can't use the bathroom by myself.
It was just really bad and they were saying that this
is common when you have a Csection and he thought the
C-section possibly flared up.
My loop is because this was such a traumatic experience for
my body.
And so they were kind of just trying to wait it
out, get everything calm.
So then let me go home.
During this time,
my daughter was in the NICU so they let me go
home, but I started to get really worse and then I
had this terrible cough and this was in the,
around the winter time too,
here at Michigan.
So he was like,
you probably should just go into the ER,
urgent care.
They get something for that cough.
So when the baby comes home,
you're not passing anything around and we want to make sure
you don't have the flu.
Well, I can go to urgent care and they let me
know. Well,
Ms. Richmond,
you have ammonia and by the way,
your kidneys are failing.
We have to admit you to the hospital and you have
to start emergency dialysis because the amount of potassium in your
body, in toxins in your body right now can kill you.
Meanwhile, you have a baby that is super tiny.
Right. What was your mental state at that point?
I mean you had to be all over the board.
It was very tough,
I think.
Yeah, it was just very tough.
Like I went through the phase of anger,
mad at God,
depressed. I went through all the nine.
I think even at one point I think I've suffered from
post traumatic stress disorder just with my daughter being told that
she has cerebral palsy and she may not have a good
quality of life just from all those different emotions to my
health, not knowing if I'm even going to be here to
see her.
It was very frustrating for sure.
Oh my gosh.
An understatement.
So how did you manage through what happened next?
So one of the things,
my daughter was in a NICU almost seven months.
So during the seven months period is when I started gaveling
into, well not dabbling.
I decided to start my business full time and there was
some other things going on at the law firm that I
was at that were suspected of integrity issues.
And that was one of the reasons why I was feeling
that pull of not being fulfilled as well.
Cause there were things going on that was not in alignment
with my character.
And so that was another issue.
So I always had a thoughts of starting entrepreneurship but never
had the intention of starting a full time.
But when I got sick in a hospital,
what ended up happening is that from,
let me go,
because in Michigan we are at will employees and so I
was LIGO.
Despite that I was in the hospital and I had a
medical reason they didn't care.
They moved on to the next person who can do my
job, which is understandable.
So during that time we needed money.
At the time I was the bread winner in my family
and so we needed money.
We had medical goals rolling in.
Also my employer at the time was paying my medical bills,
but when I was let,
we didn't have any medical bills.
So here I am with a half a million dollar bill
for my daughter who's in the NICU.
Then not to mention my medical bills.
And then when we try to like get government assistance we
couldn't because they were basing it on my income previously.
And of course I was will over the bar just to
at least get medical.
That's all.
We wanted to make sure that my daughter had medical and
I had medical.
And so when we were turned away for all these different
things, me and my husband made hard decisions such as letting
like credit cards go so we can pay these medical bills.
We both did bankruptcy,
we moved in with my mother in law just to cut
expenses and things like that.
So we lived,
a lot of things go on our credit just to survive.
And in that interim of things I built was building this
business. I'm like,
okay, my daughter's in the NICU,
I need to see if this is gonna work cause this
is, it's either do or die time.
Right. And so while I was sick and couldn't walk or
anything like that,
I'm in a bed with swollen ankles,
swollen ins on my laptop,
working, trying to build this business.
And so that's what happened.
It wasn't a choice.
It was kind of by forced to jump into entrepreneurship.
I didn't have a plan.
I didn't know if it was even going to work.
I didn't know my audience.
I didn't even know what I was going to offer to
people. Oh,
well I want to get into that,
but I just want to just make a statement right here
because I think a lot of our listeners are probably just
speechless. Your story is one of survival.
You had to do what you had to do,
but you didn't just say,
Oh, poor me.
It sounds like you took as much control as you possibly
could. I'm sure you had your days,
right? Yes.
No one could go through that without their days,
but the strength and the courage and just the fact that
you were just going to approach this head on and figure
it out is so commendable.
So I want to say that to you on behalf of
all our listeners because they can't tell you that right now.
So I'm saying it from everybody else.
Thank you.
So I would also,
the thought comes to me as you're telling the story is
I'm thinking that you having something else to focus your mind
on. You had your computer.
Luckily there were people taking care of you.
Right. So you weren't having to cook and all do all
of that.
I'm sure you would have preferred it the other way.
But this diversion in terms of your mind of trying to
figure out and build a business might have been helpful cause
it took your mind off all these other things.
I can agree to that.
Absolutely. I think he kept me busy.
It kept me in the mindset of productivity.
Like I was still moving forward no matter what my circumstance
was. So I can definitely agree.
I think if I just didn't do anything and I just
sat at home with my feet up watching TV,
watching the soaps,
I think I definitely will be depressed more than what I
was then.
Okay. But I think just feeding my mind,
listening to personal development and things like that.
Cause I also asked the partnership forces you to change your
mindset too.
We're so conditioned to the nine to five buy this house,
get the dog,
gave Mary,
have the baby.
But when life is not as rep pretty like that,
it becomes overwhelming.
So I had to change my mindset as well.
Right. I'm sure,
and I can tell you that some of our listeners are
probably not as dire as your situation,
but are encountering those types of things too.
Right now.
What would you say to them about adjusting your mindset or
what would you suggest that they do?
Like what were you listening to podcasts then?
Were you reading as well as all the research that you
were doing?
Yeah, I was reading,
I'm a reader.
I like the old traditional,
the smell of a book,
the syllable book,
write notes in the book.
I'm a book girl,
so I think the first book I read too was two
books like this coming to mind.
The one is the magic of thinking big.
Okay. And the second one was crushing it by Gary van.
Check. The first one.
I love Gary V for everything.
Yeah. Crush.
It's great.
Yeah, and the magic of thinking big.
I know both these books,
they're great.
Okay. You guys,
I'm going to connect these in the show notes in case
you haven't seen these before or you're not going to remember
them after we continue talking.
So check the show notes for links to these two books
for sure.
Let's continue just a little bit longer talking about your story
and how you built your business.
And then I want to tap into your expertise and some
guidance and thoughts that you have for our audience.
Okay? Okay,
sounds good.
Okay, so you're thinking you're going to start your business and
I get that it's a way different business than a lot
of our listeners because a lot of us are makers of
some sort.
And yours was more intellectual property and services that you'd provide
your clients,
but what steps did you take and how did you start
to build your business?
And two part question,
where did you see that then?
It was going to work.
Okay. I guess I need to backtrack just a little bit.
So when I initially started this business,
it's always been searched for her existence,
so that's always been the name.
But when I first started it,
I was so done with law.
So the initial statement behind the business wasn't even focused on
intellectual property.
It was more so a woman empowerment and leading women because
I felt like when I was at the law firm being
the only African American woman and woman in general,
as if law firm,
there was no mentorship,
no guidance,
especially in the corporate space.
And so I saw that that was a common theme amongst
my colleagues was there was lacking leadership development and mentorship for
us women who are high performers in the corporate workspace.
When was that year wise?
How far back My daughter is?
So that's 2014 2014 okay.
So not long ago at all.
Really? No,
but as I was,
because entrepreneurship is all about failing and trying and seeing what
works. And so I thought when I started this leadership development
company that that was going to fill me up and motivate
me. And part of it is.
So one of the things that I did learn from that
first phase of the business was that I enjoyed helping woman
and it just lit a fire in me.
It was my happy space.
I'll wake up,
I didn't care who called me at two 3:00 AM.
It just gave me so much fulfillment and purpose just to
help another woman get by and help them get to their
next step in their journey for as their goals.
And so that was really exciting for me.
So I had turned a portion of that search for her
existence into a nonprofit called leadership for women.
I have since sold it cause my focus has switched from
women empowerment to more so helping women to protect the business.
Now how we get to intellectual property today in 2019 is
that a lot of women,
they knew who I was based on my previous work.
They knew I worked with celebrities,
they knew who I was and what I did and they
were like,
why I'm starting this business.
I need help with this.
I would get so many questions on social media.
In my Facebook games,
I was like,
okay, this is what I need to focus on cause these
are the questions that I'm getting.
No one is asking me about how to empower another woman.
No one is asking me how to lead another woman.
These women are asking me how do I trademark,
how do I copyright?
Is this contract good enough?
Is this business idea viable?
How do I make it profitable?
So those were the common questions I got.
And so I had to go back to the drawing board
and completely restructure my business in.
That happened in about 2016 when I restructure everything.
Well kudos to you for recognizing that that was a need
because you could have kept pushing what you initially thought,
what you wanted to do.
Right. Super smart with that.
Okay. And so let's fast track it and just talk about
where you are today and then get into some of your
knowledge and recommendations and thoughts.
Cause I do have a bunch of questions for you.
Okay. Not a problem.
So today my focus is still women entrepreneurs.
Those women's still likes me if you all.
And so what I do is I work on business and
legal strategy to help entrepreneurs protect their assets,
do business formation,
trademarks, copyrights and or events protection,
which is licensing your franchise and when you want to get
more profitable with your business after you have protected it properly.
Got it.
Do you work with people all remotely or do you do
like face to face classes or how is it all set
up that way?
Yes, So I work with people all over the world so
I'm not limited to just the U S I do do
international work as well and currently we are online digital boutique.
We are getting into the this year actually because a lot
of people want that face to face interaction and so what
we're going to be doing is having private weekends and masterminds
for those who want that one on one assistance with their
legal need,
getting their legal and business taken care of in a weekend,
Getting their whole biz like a brand new business coming in
and getting it just all figured out in one weekend.
Well, you don't have to be a brand new business.
We typically work with entrepreneurs who have already been in business
for at least two years because though we have the basic
groundwork and then we go in and review what you have
currently done on what's missing,
you fill in the gaps.
Now We do work with startups as well,
but primarily it's women entrepreneurs who have been in business for
a couple of years because we do have a target audience
that typically they make generally about $50,000
a year.
Okay, perfect.
Perfect. And honestly,
I know this isn't the right way to do it,
but reality is that most people will start their business without
having all the legal protection in place.
Correct. And I don't know that I,
I can't say that I endorse it,
but I understand it because you want to see if your
concept's working first before you go too far when spend too
much money.
Absolutely. And especially our group,
the audience we have here,
because they have a lot of costs associated since it's not
a service,
it's a product.
There's all of the elements and the ingredients that go into
making their product and all the things that other startup businesses
have to.
So I get it.
So if you're listening and you don't have anything legal in
place, now's the time to perk up your ears.
But it's okay.
We get it.
We get that.
That's where you started In just a second.
We're going to dive into rigids legal expertise.
But first a quick word from our sponsor.
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I do have One quick startup question for you,
rigid and that is if someone is just thinking about this,
is that product validation time.
Okay, so they make,
I'm going to stick with candles cause it's my favorite thing.
I bet you couldn't guess from that first question,
but they're really still testing the market.
So they're going maybe to a craft show to see if
their product will sell or a church bizarre how they'll have
those in the basement.
Especially around the holidays and such.
What types of legal structure do they need to have when
they're thinking about the business?
Not really doing it yet.
Kind of dabbling.
They're jumping over the fence,
but they're really not yet.
What do they need at that point?
Yup. That's a great question.
It's twofold,
especially when it's a product based business because you don't want
to have this amazing idea and then you're sharing it and
someone like,
Oh, this is great and they go do what you're doing,
but maybe on a mass production level so it becomes very
tricky. One of the things I tell my clients when they're
testing out an idea from a legal perspective,
even from a business strategy perspective,
is that you can create a small focus group because right
now you want to see if what you have is working
in. A quick way to do that is you could create
your own private group like on Facebook or you can use
a separate platform and you can have it like a beta
group to test it out to see if this is something
that works.
Now after you beta it,
that's when I think you really should introduce it to the
public and to sell and go to trade shows and opportunities.
I think that's a great way to do,
to test your idea,
to keep costs down and from a legal perspective to be
mindful of who you're sharing your idea with.
Okay. So in my corporate world I did a ton of
focus groups by conducted focus groups.
I watched from behind the mirrors and submitted questions in on
behalf of my clients,
all that kind of thing.
And I've also done focus groups like you know how they
hire out and pay you to give your opinions for things.
Yes. And I forget if we had to sign something,
but I'm pretty sure we did like the ideas,
like you can't share some of the new concepts that might
be coming out,
that kind of thing.
Yes. Do you suggest that?
Let's pretend,
cause I also,
this is one way that I suggest for everybody to be
testing a product is through Facebook groups and Facebook groups.
Now you can ask the questions.
Yes. Could you put a linked nondisclosure that they have to
agree to to come into the group?
Like say you've read and accept this agreement because you're not
signing. If you're going into a Facebook group,
would that suffice?
Yeah and also you can link it to a contract platform
where they can be added before they administrative will add them
to the group.
They have to have their contract on file.
So you can use programs like DocuSign and the OB EchoSign
or HelloSign,
they give you so many free a month and I think
monthly the fee is like 10 $15 really inexpensive.
But that's what I do for my personal Facebook group.
And I always encourage other people who have Facebook groups that
when they're giving content or sharing ideas and concepts,
you definitely want something like that.
Cause like you said,
when you ask them to a Facebook group,
there's no disclosure.
There's none of this.
It doesn't say anything or it's protected and it's not enough
just to put in like the description that we were going
to operate on an honor code.
You need something more heavily that's going to,
that person agrees that they're finding themselves to the terms.
Okay, so how unique does your product need to be to
go through this process?
For example,
let's say we have someone who pours and makes handmade soaps.
Okay? There are lots of people across the country who make
handmade soaps and I talk with people about,
well how do you make yourself different?
How do you separate yourself,
et cetera.
But that aside,
you can't really protect the fact that you make handmade soaps,
but you can be testing the sizes,
the image,
the flavors,
the scent,
like all those different things for your unique market in that
type of a situation.
Do you also need a nondisclosure?
Okay, so I'm a backup cause you said a couple of
things that were red flags.
So the idea is not to protect the industry of handmade
soaps. The idea is to protect your specific idea.
There may be something unique about what you're doing.
Is it organic?
Is it V?
Is it special colors?
Do you put something inside of the soap?
The goal is to protect your specific idea.
Intervention. Not the concept.
So like for me,
I couldn't protect the idea of me doing legal intellectual property,
but I can protect my courses.
I can protect the books that come along with what I
do. And so the idea is to protect the things that
you do that generates income for your business.
So is that about you being the business?
Being unique is not about being creative or anything.
The idea is to protect what you create.
It protect your blood,
sweat and tears because this is your moneymaker or you intend
for it to be your money maker.
So when someone comes in,
you want a nondisclosure agreement regardless if the idea's unique or
something new.
Okay. So tell me if I'm following along with this properly.
So I'd stay with the soaps,
but this particular person has a soap that has,
this is going to be kind of crazy,
but it's the only thing I can think of.
Let's say lemon peel or lime peel or something with coconut
infused in the soap.
And then they have also branded it with some type of
a stamp on the top,
right. So it's a whole different design look that is specific
to them.
Is that what you mean?
It doesn't even have to have all those additional features could
just be a bar of soap.
The fact that the person created it,
is there a product so they will want to protect it
so it doesn't have to be unique or something.
I guess the point I'm trying to make is that,
and make the distinction so the audience understands is that something
does not have to be unique in order for you to
protect it.
It can just be as simple bar of soap.
It could just be shave butter.
So it could just be coconut soap,
it could be grass,
so it doesn't have to be,
Yuki can,
doesn't have to have a stamp on it.
It doesn't have to have something in it.
The point is that if it's your creation,
your product,
you want to protect that idea and that goes along with
the name of the company,
the name of the soap as well.
All of those things is important.
And is that part of then the protection because someone else
might also make soaps?
Yes. So where would somebody be contradicting the nondisclosure if they
also make soap?
It depends on how your nondisclosure agreement is written.
So the whole purpose of a nondisclosure agreement is confidentiality.
Oh, okay.
Yeah. Okay.
That's what a nondisclosure agreement.
That's all it is,
is a confidentiality agreement and it's when the person who,
let's say the soap maker invite you into the group before
you can be admitted into the group.
You are agreeing to the terms that you're not going to
copy this person's idea.
You're not going to use their strategies,
you're not going to compete with them and try to steal
their members from the group.
Now you stay.
If there's another soap picker in the group,
they can be in the group,
but they can't take the soap makers ideas in Adam as
their own,
implement those strategies unless they get written consent from the person.
Okay. I'm a hundred percent with you now because I was
starting to go over into the trademarking and like copywriting type
thing. But what you're talking about when you're doing a focus
group, as we were talking about,
you were saying if there's conversations there,
questions come up,
responses are given that lead to a direction of a strategy
that that business will take.
Another soap maker who happens to be part of that focus
group can not then go and use that information for their
own product.
Correct. Without written consent?
Correct. Yep.
Okay. I'm good.
Okay. Now I'm with you.
I was starting to confuse the whole legal part there,
so thank you for that clarification.
So now let's get to somebody who has done some product
validation. They're feeling good,
they're starting to see some traction with sales,
but they haven't really,
and again,
this happens,
we know it's reality,
although they probably shouldn't do it this way,
but now they're thinking,
okay, I need to legalize the company.
I know what my name is going to be of the
business and now I really want to get started.
I want to start building this into something bigger.
Where do they go?
Where do they start from here?
Well if they haven't set up the business structure,
when I mean by that is the formation like LLC or
corporation or a nonprofit,
they need to go ahead and do that.
Because what happens is when you're operating the business and you're
not under a business structure is face up and goes on,
say someone who uses your was use a lotion company.
This time you create lotions and you're selling it online such
as Shopify and someone buys it and they have a really
bad allergic reaction.
You can personally be sued because you don't have a business
structure protecting you.
So what that means is that any assets you may have
in your bank account,
your car,
your houses,
if you are a community property state,
this can impact your significant other.
So they can put liens on your property,
in your bank,
accounts into the judgment is fulfilled based on whatever damages you
potentially call from the product you created.
So that's why it's so important to really have at least
this part,
whether you know if your business is going to work or
not viable or not,
at least have this part handle prior to it still because
this gives you some type of protection in terms of if
something goes wrong with the business,
especially if you're a product based business.
So it gives you protection.
Right. Okay.
And it could be something as easy as someone gets a
paper cut when they're opening up the packaging of your product.
Absolutely. So you might think your product is so super safe,
but things can happen unfortunately.
And it's also unfortunate,
but your customer could come back to you with that.
So definitely that.
So let's talk about business structure and protection.
And I think you correct me if I'm wrong,
but I think if you're a sole proprietor,
which I know is like the very basic level of a
business structure,
you're still exposed for all those things you just talked about.
There's four main structure.
So I'm not Sure if we have enough time to go
through all of them that give them complete clarity.
But let's just summarize what they are.
Okay. Like here's the first one.
This is basically what it is.
Second one basically,
cause we haven't talked about this on the show before,
but let's just first people who are just listening,
this is one of their first shows that they've listened to.
So let's just,
obviously there's more to it,
but if you can just go through some of the basic
of it,
each of one.
Sure. So sole proprietorship is not a business structure is basically
a business designation to tell people that you are an individual
doing business,
you have no protection,
you're not under structure.
So what that means is that any income you receive for
your business,
you're responsible for the taxes is something happens if someone use
your product and they are injured,
you are responsible for the liability.
And so that's why sole proprietorship is not considered as a
business structure because it's not,
it's just you are leading the state.
Whatever state you're in,
because you have to have permission to do business in whatever
state or country you're in.
And so that's why they have that sole proprietor designation because
you're letting the government know,
Hey, I want to do business here,
but I'm not quite ready to be under a umbrella of
a company.
And so when it's like that,
you are considered an individual doing business and for all intensive
purposes, you're liable for any taxes and liability that arises from
you doing business.
Okay. And you do have to register for the state with
that, correct?
Yes, absolutely.
And is it an automatic default that that's what you fall
into if you don't register?
What do you mean automatic default for who?
Like let's say someone doesn't register but they're selling.
No, you're not.
You have to literally.
So you physically have to take an action.
Yes. Okay.
So this is really important.
And I know we don't want to spend a lot of
time on this,
but what happens if somebody is selling in the basement of
a church for Christmas?
They make whatever it is potholders they've never registered to be
anything, but they're making money.
A transaction is happening.
Yep. So the rule is with the IRS,
it doesn't matter if you're registered as a business is not
any income you received.
You have to report it to the IRS and pay taxes
on it.
So when you are,
I mean,
not a registered business,
you probably can't take certain tax deductions.
Also, depending upon your city,
state and County,
you have to generally,
here in Michigan we have something called home business license,
which means you can do business in your home if you
want to do business in your garage,
but you have to have that license.
But if you're doing business and someone has it registered in
someone's injured by a product or service that you are offering
and you haven't registered the liability issues,
I mean it's makes you pay a fine.
So it's a lot of different ways to go with,
but in general you have to pay taxes on any income.
You may look at it like this when some people use
still things from Amazon,
affiliate links,
they'll share on LinkedIn a kickback off of whatever they shared
or someone buys.
You have to pay taxes on that,
right? Any income you receive,
you have to pay taxes on it.
That's why when you use cash app,
PayPal or Stripe,
you have to be careful because the government is looking at
how you are receiving this money,
how are you spending this money?
They're going to taking note of that and they're making a
fire whether you are a business or not.
And if based on what the records they get based as
either attached to your social security number or your tax ID.
If you haven't reported yet,
you have to pay taxes on it.
Okay. So really what we should be directing everybody is if
you're going to do any money exchange at the very least
register as a sole proprietor.
However you are still at risk if someone sues,
it's all of your personal assets that are at risk.
Right. But I still wouldn't recommend a sole proprietorship.
I agree cause it opens you up to so much liability.
Yep. I totally agree with you.
Okay, so let's move on to the four then.
Just real quick.
So the next one is limited liability company and this is
ideal for people who aren't really sure what's the proper business
structure and here's why I recommend this.
It's not the ever you always hear LOC is the way
to go,
but it just really depends on your business goals.
I couldn't tell you right now which one you should go
with, but I can't give you a general overview.
So with the limited liability company,
it actually helps you protect you for personal assets being taking
or a judgment lien being placed on it because you are
shooting yourself from personal liability.
So that's the difference between this and sole proprietorship is because
actually here with the limited liability company,
we are actually separating your personal assets from your business assets.
Now there are some rules,
some general rules is that you gotta have a business make
count. You can't call mingle your personal funds with your business
funds, meaning you can't be using your business card to go
to Walmart or target unless it's a business expense.
And then also having a set business structure allows you to
have certain tax deductions that you can take,
such as gas,
personal development,
things of that nature.
In terms of taxes,
it just depends on how much income that that LLC made
determines how much the percentages,
but for the most part there's a lot of deductions that
you can take with the taxes.
We can keep most of the money that you make with
your business.
But again,
that depends on your state taxes as well too because Texas
is one of the States that does it have state taxes.
So it just really depends on your state in terms of
how much tax liability that you will have based on your
business structure.
All right.
And just for the reason alone that your business then is
separated from your personal,
this would be what you would recommend at minimum for somebody?
Correct. All right.
Just to finish this conversation,
where does it go from here?
Just what are the other levels,
but we won't spend a lot of time on the other
levels. So yeah.
So the next one is an incorporation,
and this is when you have multiple owners in a company,
this is where you want to,
you see your business,
how many shares and different capex and things like that.
Like a global company listing Apple,
you want to go public eventually,
and so that's the next level.
And then after that level is the nonprofit.
If you have a charitable cause,
economic development is something that you're really passionate about and just
really serving the community for a public purpose.
Then the nonprofit route will be the route to go.
So those are the four,
right? Correct.
Sole proprietor,
LLC incorporation,
and then the nonprofit.
Correct. Got it.
Perfect. Okay.
If you were based on all the people that you've worked
with, if you were to say what one or two of
the biggest,
I don't know if you want to call them mistakes,
misconceptions, things that we should be cautionary of,
what would those be?
Oh goodness,
there's so many.
What do you see most frequently or what do you see
that would maybe apply to our listeners the most?
Yeah. So I think number one,
sharing your idea too early with people.
I've seen it time and time again,
people will share what they're working on,
they go to networking meetings and things like that,
and then someone literally takes the whole idea of recreates it.
Okay. And the wave around that is nondisclosure.
Yeah. And then we didn't even get into this and I
know we don't have time to do that now,
but you know,
trademarking or something.
It just depends on what stage you're in too.
When we talk about trademarks,
we're talking about protecting the brand.
The only way to get a trademark approved is to,
it has to be in the stream of commerce.
And what that means is that you have to be making
money with it because the whole idea behind trying Mars is
to protect what you create.
They generate income from you from being a French upon.
And so going to a networking meeting,
not necessarily a trademark trademark,
is there a string route to go for?
That shouldn't be the purpose,
but when you're sharing your idea,
the nondisclosure agreement will protect you.
Now once your brand is out there,
you're generating cells,
a lot of cells and things like that,
then you want to consider trademarking the brand name.
I would share with confidence when I have a nondisclosure agreement
site. Okay.
But if I'm going to,
I've started my business and I'm an LLC because I listen
to you and that's what you would recommend.
And now we're going to a chamber of commerce meeting.
Yes. Talking with people and we're introducing we're a new member
and we're introducing the fact that we have made these lotions.
Yes. Is that sharing too early?
Yes. Okay.
So what do we need to do before then?
We share,
you need to get a nondisclosure agreement signed,
but are you going to sign a nondisclosure agreement with the
whole every member of a chamber of commerce meeting?
I guess that's where my disconnect is.
So let's pause.
It was backtrack.
So prior,
if you're a new member,
and I do this all the time around here and I
go to other places who have chambers as well,
and they do this all the time.
So when prior to people signing up for the event,
they can sign the nondisclosure agreement.
Also, if you are just sharing,
if it's just a general networking meeting,
we have cell phones,
we have tablets.
You could just upload your contract on your phone and before
you have a conversation with someone,
because I had a,
you might have signed on my non disclosure agreement before we
discuss any further because of course people are pitching,
people are building relationships and things like that and as long
as I've been doing this,
no one has ever,
I've been to chambers,
I've been to conferences,
summits, and especially with high performing people who are six,
seven, eight figures.
They do this all the time.
I met her,
in fact,
I was just at a meeting last week with a potential
investor and I asked him kindly if he could sign my
nondisclosure agreement.
He wasn't offended,
he wasn't upset and he signed it.
All his team members signed it.
It was five other people with him.
So yes,
you need to have someone sign your nondisclosure agreement is one
of the processes of doing business.
And as your business expands and you can get higher up
in it,
this is how everyone operates with nondisclosure agreements.
It's not like it's no longer the handshake.
I'm gonna take your word for it,
especially because we are already in a digital space now and
people can copy and paste things at the blink of an
eye. So you can do this by simply,
you don't have to carry a bunch of paper with you,
You can just have it on your phone or your car.
Right. Okay.
So, but what do you do?
Like if I walked into a store and I'm seeing all
the products,
let's say the person who owns the shop made all the
products that are in the shop,
right? And so someone walks in and she's selling,
she doesn't have everyone make a sign,
a nondisclosure when they walk in the door to a shop.
Well, the shop doesn't have to have because there's a store
and it's a public place.
So when you are putting something out in the public domain,
it's public knowledge.
So if someone wants to go and see what's out there
on the shelves to see the competitive advantage,
you can't limit that because that's public knowledge.
But when something is yours,
your product to your creation,
you is your responsibility to ensure that someone is signing your
nondisclosure agreement.
And then also they're starting when people have,
there's so many different layers to this question,
but when we have products and it's on the shelves and
things like that,
there's a contract being signed in order to get stainless products
on the shelf.
There's certain rules that the story has to be bound by
and things like that.
But that's not the same thing for a nondisclosure agreement that
would even apply in this particular situation.
Okay. All right.
That's clear.
Okay, that makes sense.
So the one thing that you would see is sharing too
early. So major cautions on that from you.
For sure.
Can you give us one more?
I think we only have time for one more.
Yep. So the next one we are mindful of doing business
without having a business structure cause you want to have that
liability. Yeah,
I think that's a really big one for our group.
Very good.
I know I challenged you a little bit but it's interesting
to hear from you and your thinking and where you would
go with us.
So I really,
really appreciate that.
And just Jade,
just your whole story and the fact that you then were
empowering women,
then you made your switch in terms of what you were
doing with your career cause you saw the need.
Your story is one of courage and determination and I so
appreciate your sharing it with us.
And in exchange on behalf of myself and our listeners,
I would like to offer you a virtual gift.
So this is a magical box containing unlimited possibilities for your
future, your dream or your goal of almost unreachable Heights that
you would wish to obtain.
So please accept this gift from all of us and open
it in our presence.
What's inside your box?
Yes. Thank you.
So the first thing I see is health and health because
finally have my kidney transplant.
The second thing will be a healthy child to sure that
my daughter grows up healthy despite her diagnosis of cerebral palsy.
And the third thing that's in the box is having my
dream home built is my dream to have a chief shed
on my property.
Oh, love it.
And then one more thing is that I want to be
the woman known as the one who disrupted the legal industry.
I want everyone to think different about legal and not feel
afraid of it and to embrace it and to be educated
and empowered by it.
Love it.
Yeah. Not shy away from it,
which is what we all do.
And that's what you've identified and recognized for sure.
So where would our listeners come and learn more about what
you offer and share with us a little bit about that.
This is your promo spot right here.
Yeah, so I'm on all social media platforms besides Twitter.
So I'm on Instagram and Facebook and LinkedIn under my name.
Just Rashaid Richmond.
And you can go to my website if you are interested
in connecting or working more with me at dot com Beautiful
and all of that.
You guys is going to be in the show notes so
you can go and check all of that out.
Regina, thank you so much.
I really,
really appreciate all the information.
Like I said earlier,
you gave us awesome new approaches,
new ideas to think about and definitely some cautions that we
all really will heed for sure,
so thank you again.
It was a pleasure speaking with you today.
Yes ma'am.
Thank you so much.
My reaction to stories like this is always the same.
I describe it as being in awe of the strength women
can exhibit when facing such difficult challenges and pride in the
power of a woman's determination and spirit and then I'm humbled
wondering if I could have done the same.
I'm always left with a huge level of respect and also
energized by the story of another woman overcoming and going on
to greatness next week.
We're switching it all up.
Fall is quickly approaching and with it comes opportunity for holiday
sales. It's a perfect time to catch the eye of a
new corporate client or gain interest from that store manager of
that local boutique where you've been dreaming of seeing your product
displayed. The vision is great,
but how do you actually make these things happen?
Make sure to tune in next week for the answer.
I look forward to us being together again then.
Bye for now.
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