Welcome to the System Save Me podcast.

I'm your usual host, Jordan Gill, and today we are talking about something that every online business owner needs but often avoids.

Legal protection.

So I know contracts and trademarks aren't the most thrilling of topics, but trust me, getting this right means fewer headaches, zero panic, and more actual freedom in your business.

So to break it all down in a way that's simple and, dare I say, empowering, I've got the amazing Sarah Walbuser back on the podcast today.

She's a trademark attorney and the founder of Twist Law and Destination Legal, where she helps coaches, consultants, and course creators legally protect their business.

So Sarah's going to be walking us on through three key ways to legally protect your business in 2025 and beyond.

Whether you're just starting out or scaling to new heights, this episode is going to help you feel confident that your business is covered, because the last thing you want to deal with is legal drama when it could have been all avoided.

So grab a coffee notebook because this one's super packed with gems.

So let's get into it.

Hey, System Saved Me podcast listeners.

My name is Sarah Walbuser.

I am a trademark attorney, owner of twist law and destinationlegal.com.

i help coaches and other online business owners, consultants, course creators, legally protect their businesses through registered trademarks and contracts.

And I have another episode, so definitely don't miss that one out all about trademarks.

Today we're going to be diving more into protecting your business with contracts as well is other things, including.

We'll talk about trademarks a bit again.

I have been in this business for over 10 years now.

Like so many of you, I was unfulfilled in my legal career.

I didn't love being a lawyer at a law firm.

And once I heard, you know, back in 2012, 2013, that people were running businesses from their laptops and traveling, I knew it was my future.

And so I've been lucky enough to have this business.

I spent a couple years as a digital nomad traveling, now have settled down a bit more.

I got two little kiddos.

But the freedom and flexibility that comes from having my own businesses is unmatched.

Right?

That's why we do what we do.

I absolutely love helping other people legally protect their businesses so that they can do what they love and feel secured and empowered and confident in growing their business because they have their legal in place.

And so we really do that in two ways.

Twist Law is a boutique trademark law firm that helps business owners legally protect their brands with registered trademarks and destination Legal is a template shop with downloadable, done for you, customizable contracts for coaches and online business owners.

So there you'll find client contracts, terms of purchase for group programs and courses and, you know, hosting retreats, basically anything you need to legally protect your business.

And we're going to dive into that more today when we're talking about three, three ways to legally protect your business in 2025 and beyond.

And so I'm really excited to talk about this topic today.

We're going to hit on a lot.

You know, it's my job as an attorney to help make things as easy as possible for you.

I don't want to scare you.

I know legal can be kind of this intimidating black hole, and it's really my job for you to walk away not thinking that into actually think that Legal is a toolbox for you.

It's empowering.

It's exciting to be able to have these things in our business that allow us to grow on a strong foundation.

And I know as business owners, that's what we all want.

Nobody wants to end up in lawsuits.

Nobody wants cease and desist letters.

Nobody, you know, wants to be paying fines and things like that.

So that's what we're gonna be diving into today.

And it's my hope that you walk away from this episode just feeling more confident and what you need and when.

And so if you're just starting out in your business, you're going to need different things than if you've been in business for a few years.

And again, that's why I want you to think of Legal as a toolbox that you're going to be adding onto as you continue to grow in your business.

And so let's start number one, right?

We're going to talk about three important things today, but number one, you never hear anything in the rest of the episode.

I want you to remember this.

Having contracts in your business is the number one thing that can help you be legally protected now.

And moving forward, contracts are so important.

I often get asked the question, you know, what's more, you know, should I start my llc?

Do I need my client agreement?

What about my privacy policy?

Your client agreement is the number one thing, the first thing you need in your business.

I always say to start a business, the only thing you need is, is a way to get paid in a contract, right?

Done.

Are the days of just sending PayPal links totally unprotected, no terms, no contracts, anything like that.

These days, people are a little bit less trusting.

There's, you know, A lot of whatever going around the Internet, right?

And people want to know that when they're signing on to work with a coach or a consultant or a service provider, that they are working with someone legitimate.

And legitimate means you have a contract in place.

And so again, your client contract, your client agreement is the most important thing you can have in your business when you're just starting out.

Not just for you as a business owner, but a client agreement also is an amazing way to create expectations and boundaries with your client.

Okay, so in addition to outlining what's included in your package, how are you being paid, when are you being paid, it also includes things like how often are someone able to get ahold of you, what's your response time, can they call you on the phone?

Are, are you only in voxer Monday through Friday?

Those sorts of boundaries and expectations set from the beginning can just create a much better working relationship with your clients.

So I want you to think of contracts as a way to protect your business, but also as a way to just have a better relationship with your clients as well.

Okay, so you know, your one on one contract again outlines what's included in your package.

Also includes things like disclaimers, which are really important for coaches especially.

There are no guarantees to your package.

This is information education only.

This is not professional advice.

Right.

We could really dive into these nuances, but you know, you just need to remember some of these key points that need to be in your contract.

So along with disclaimers, dispute resolution, jurisdiction.

Where are you?

Where's your business located?

Now, in today's day and age where you might have clients everywhere in the world, your contract is likely ruled by the jurisdiction where you are or where your business is located.

So, you know, if you're a digital nomad in France, but your business is set up in Massachusetts, that's where your jurisdiction is going to be.

Okay.

And one thing that's great about the templates at Destination Legal is they come with directions on how to customize it for things like that.

So your client agreement number one, first things first.

And then as I mentioned, your, you know, your legal is a toolbox.

As you grow in your business, you're going to be adding on other contracts.

So after your one on one contract, you know, let's say you've been doing one on one, it's time to maybe add some other income streams.

You might add a membership or an online course or a group program.

For these you need terms of purchase.

So this is going to be similar to your one on one contract, but these are agreed to at the point of checkout.

Typically a one on one contract is going to be signed, whether it's through Dubsado Satori, you know, Dropbox Sign, hello sign, any of those things.

Whereas if you're, you know, selling a membership for hundred, you know, to hundreds of people, if you're running a large group program or course, you need something a little more automated.

That's where the check the box comes in.

By clicking here, you agree to our terms of purchase.

You link out to this document.

It's considered just as legally sound as if they had signed it, but it has to be right at that point of checkout.

Okay.

And your terms of purchase includes what's included in your course or membership.

What's not included?

What's the, you know, the payment policy, the refund policy, the cancellation policy.

If it's a subscription, is there any access to you?

Again, these disclaimers are very important information.

Education only.

If you are a health coach, you're doing anything in the health and wellness space, then these disclaimers are very important to protect you from liability.

There's intellectual property, copyright protection, and again those, you know, jurisdiction, dispute resolution, all of that kind of stuff.

So that's going to be another important one.

A good rule of thumb is anytime you are being paid or paying somebody else, you want to have a contract in place.

So if you're hiring team members, if you're hiring VAs social media managers, you need a service provider contract.

If you are hosting a retreat or live event, you absolutely need a retreat contract.

Right?

I could do a whole podcast episode just on liability from retreats and how important it is to have retreat contracts in place.

Because when you're doing anything in person, you know, the liability just goes through the roof in terms of what can happen on the ground, from allergic reactions to, you know, spraining ankles, to car accidents, to medical events that you know are just out of your control.

So again, if you're hosting any kind of retreat or live event, it's super important to have a rock solid retreat contract in place.

And then beyond that, you're going to want to think about a partnership agreement, affiliate agreement.

Again, any time that you are paying someone or being paid, you want to have those contracts in place.

Okay?

And so this is just the number one way that you can protect yourself moving forward in your business.

And again, you don't have to go out and buy all of these at once, although that's certainly an option.

And we do have bundles at destination Legal.

You Want to take what you need right now.

If you're just starting out, that client contract might be vital.

If hosting a retreat in 2025 is on your list, then that's the one you're going to think about.

So again, anytime money is exchanging hands, make sure you have a contract in place.

Okay.

Number two, how to legally protect your business in 2025 is becoming a business entity.

So if you haven't registered as a limited liability company yet or whatever is similar in your country, I highly suggest doing that for a couple of reasons.

Well, it's fine to be a sole proprietor in the beginning of your business.

If you've been in business for six months, a year or longer, it's time to think about registering as an llc.

And one of the main reasons for this is it allows you to separate your business assets from your personal assets.

So if there is a lawsuit, you know, worst case scenario, if there is a judgment against you.

Having an LLC in place means that the court cannot reach anything on the personal side.

They can't come after your house, they can't come after your shoes or your bags or your, you know, husband's bank account or your, your personal bank account.

They can only come after what's in the business.

So that's a big reason that you would want to register as an llc.

You know, another reason is it's easier, you know, to get business bank accounts and kind of keep things separate and get a tax number and, and all of that kind of stuff.

Um, you know, I always suggest starting as an llc.

You don't.

You know, most of us are never gonna need to be a C Corp or a corporation or, you know, we don't need all of that extra paperwork and we're not doing shares and things like that.

So an LLC is really what covers you.

And what's great about an LLC is that once you're hitting six figures a year and it makes sense, you can be taxed as an S corp, which allows you some major tax savings when you hire yourself as a W2 employee.

Not a tax expert here.

Definitely talk to a tax attorney about that.

But I know a lot of my clients, that's how they are set up.

That's how I'm set up.

And it works really well for us.

And, you know, another reason to be an LLC is just an era of legitimacy.

I talked about that at the beginning.

People these days, you know, are purchasing based on trust, and when they see the LLC behind your company name again, it just adds that, you know, bit of legitimacy to who you are and what you're doing.

Okay, so that's number two.

Number three is to protect your brand with intellectual property.

And so we're going to talk about the types of intellectual property, trademark and copyright.

The third type is patent.

Not really relevant to what we're doing in the online space.

Okay, so copyright protects content.

This is your online course.

This is an ebook, a book, blog post.

Anything that you create, actual content is protected by copyright, which is automatic.

If you put something out into the world, whether you take a picture or you draw something, or you write a blog post, social media post, you own it.

Nobody else can take it, steal it, do anything with it.

That law is automatic in our society and in most countries around the world.

If someone does take it and steals it and sells it and does something with it, you can send them a cease and desist letter.

You can have, you know, the website take it down.

There are a couple of things you can do.

If you actually want to sue for copyright infringement, however, and get money because someone took something from you, you do need to register that copyright with the government.

And so what that means is submitting a copy of the work that you did, whether it's your course or your book, and you'll get a registration number.

This is a fairly straightforward process.

You don't necessarily need an attorney for it.

You go to copyright.gov and while their system is quite archaic, you know, they provide directions to walk you through it.

I only suggest registering copyright if you meet two criteria.

The first is whatever work you're trying to protect is in final form.

So whether it's a course, a book, you know, it should be in final form because if you update it six months from now, your, your registration is nullified.

Okay?

It has to be in a fixed form.

And two, if you would actually sue someone for copyright infringement.

So if someone took your course word for word, now this is not someone's taking your ideas.

We can't necessarily stop that from happening.

This is someone taking your course or your book word for word and just changing your name to theirs.

That's clear copyright infringement.

You could sue for that and get monetary damages.

So only register the copyright if you would actually take those two steps.

So again, if you do have a signature course or a book that you plan on selling for years to come, might be totally worth it for you to do that if you just have a social media post or some blog posts.

Probably not.

So that's a good way to think about it.

Okay, so again, copyright protection protects your content.

Now, trademark on the other hand, is what protects your brand.

A trademark registration protects your brand name.

It protects your logo, your slogan, your business name, the name of your podcast, what you're selling.

Okay.

And trademarks are a designation of goods and services and what you are selling.

Right.

And so I talked about this a bit in the other episode, but if you're walking down the street and holding a white cup of the green circle, I know that you went to Starbucks and you didn't go to Dunkin Donuts.

It's a way for consumers and clients to tell who is selling something.

Right.

So Marie Forleo has trademarked B School.

You might not know that B School also means business school, but we're not going to confuse the two.

Since we're in the online space, we're not at, you know, Georgetown Business School.

Okay.

So again, they're created as a way to know who's selling something.

You can even trademark a color.

Right?

So if I have a blue box that looks like there's some jewelry in it, you know that it is probably from Tiffany's.

Right.

If you see a brown truck driving by, you know it's UPS and not FedEx.

These are all trademarks.

They are very cool.

I love them.

Right?

They are.

These are business assets that can be bought and sold and traded.

You're ever thinking about selling your company, owning your name, owning that intellectual property.

Having a portfolio of trademarks is really, really important.

Okay?

So a couple things to keep in mind about trademarks.

You do have to be selling something under that name or thinking about it or, you know, have marketing related to it.

Right?

So you can definitely trademark a podcast.

You can trademark your retreat, you can trademark your course, your membership, your coaching services.

If you're a public speaker.

Those are the types of trademark classes that we see in the online space.

If you're selling products, yes, for sure, you know, you could trademark clothing, you can trademark microphones, you can trademark mugs.

Everything, you know, under the sun can have a trademark.

And you just have to be selling something or intend to sell something in the next three to five years.

So, you know, Nike started with one trademark.

Now they have hundreds and hundreds, including many for products they aren't even selling yet, but they're reserving the name for the future.

Right.

And so, you know, Sarah Blakely filed the trademark for sneaks a year and a half before she was ever on the market, especially for products.

It's really important to secure that name so that you don't spend a bunch of money on branding and marketing.

And then have a trademark issue, which can be a significant cost.

Right.

And so you want to make sure from the beginning that you have the ability to trademark it.

So how do you do that?

When you're thinking about naming a new program, your business, brand, anything, do a Google search, make sure that it's open, it's available, nobody else is really using it.

Check social media and you can always check on uspto.gov they have a public search.

If somebody else has a trademark in the process of trademarking and it's similar to your name, that's a big red flag for you.

You don't want to continue to use it because you do not want to end up on the other side of a cease and desist letter or a trademark infringement scenario.

Right.

The trademark registration process can take anywhere from 9 to 12 months or longer.

But the great news is, is the date of filing your application starts your legal protection.

And so, you know, once you get that application in, you can kind of relax a bit.

Nobody's going to be able to come in after you with a similar trademark.

It is a complicated process.

You do want to consult with a trademark attorney.

This is, you know, there's 45 different classes of goods and services.

You have to prepare an application, a specimen.

There's lots of nuances involved.

You know, this is just one of those things where you want to make it easier on yourself and do it right the first time.

Because owning your brand is a powerful thing to have.

Right.

So knowing that nobody else in your space can use a similar name is very powerful.

There's a lot of confidence that comes with that.

There's a lot of security that comes from that.

I know I have clients come to me and they've been kind of operating in this space of nervousness of like, I'm so worried someone's going to take my name or use my name.

We need to get this done tomorrow.

Right?

So, you know, that begs the question is when is the right time to trademark?

And you know, really it's any time, but it's at the moment where you are really, truly invested in the name and you're spending money on it.

You're building a brand.

You do not want to build a house on land you don't own.

Again, talked about some of this in the trademark episode.

So you're definitely want to catch that one.

But building a brand without any trademarks is like building a house on land you don't own.

Right.

So registering a trademark is an important part of building your business.

And again, These are business assets that can be bought, sold, traded down the line.

Okay, Meta.

Sold.

You know, Facebook bought the Meta trademark for, I think, $30 million, something like that.

So, you know, it might not be something you think about on day one, but again, if you are investing time and money and you are concerned that someone else could potentially use something similar, then you really want to think about it.

And, you know, just a tip, when you're naming your programs or podcast or, you know, services, you want to be as unique as possible.

You want to use unique words.

You can create new words, like, really use your creative brain here.

Do something that speaks to your soul, that speaks to your business, that speaks to your clients.

It can be a really fun process.

Similar, you know, if you're going to look at buying domains and things like that, so many of the basic ones are already taken and, you know, similar to trademark.

Right.

There's hundreds of thousands of trademarks filed every year.

So the more unique the better.

Okay.

If you want to learn more about trademarking or, you know, have questions on the process or what it's like to work with me at Twist Law, then I'm offering a free consultation call to listeners of the podcast.

Normally this is something that I charge for, but happy to offer it to you guys for free.

You just go to TwistLaw Co Systems for a 20 minute chat and I'd be happy to help out.

So I hope you enjoyed this episode.

I hope that, you know, it wasn't too overwhelming, but that you're walking away feeling a bit more confident heading into 2025, knowing how you need to think about legally protecting your business.

And if you want to learn more, head over to twistlaw Co on the trademark side.

And if you're interested in any of those templates, you can head to destinationlegal.com you can find me on YouTube and Instagram at trademarksbysarah.

Okay, take care.

So good, right?

Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the System Save Me Podcast.

If you loved this episode, I would so appreciate a review on whatever platform you're listening on.

But also go up on the guest host, connect with them on Instagram, LinkedIn or wherever they suggested to reach out.

I hope you're having a great day and I will see you on the next episode.