Hey there. Welcome back to On Your Terms.
Speaker:I'm your host, Sam Vander Wielen, an attorney turned entrepreneur who helps
Speaker:coaches and service providers legally protect and grow their online businesses
Speaker:using my legal templates and my Ultimate Bundle.
Speaker:I am so excited because this week I sat down and did a little myth busters online business
Speaker:edition, which was so fun because we asked people on Instagram, what was the biggest
Speaker:myth you believed about starting an online business?
Speaker:And it was really cool because as you're going to hear me share, people shared myths
Speaker:from both sides of the coin.
Speaker:Like, for example, that starting an online business would be easy.
Speaker:And then another person said starting an online business would be hard.
Speaker:So, it was really fun to dive into these.
Speaker:I did a little split of business myths and legal myths, talking about LLCs and business
Speaker:insurance and your scope of practice.
Speaker:Whether if somebody signs one of your contracts, if they can still sue you, all
Speaker:kinds of stuff. So, I think it was a really good set of myths that everybody submitted.
Speaker:Now, before we hop into those myths, I have to tell you the Ultimate Bundle will be on
Speaker:sale from January 29th to February 6th only.
Speaker:So, I am so excited because this is going to be the best financial deal of the entire
Speaker:year. It's going to have a brand-new pay in full price and the best payment plan I've
Speaker:ever offered. I've never offered this before.
Speaker:I don't know if I will ever offer it again.
Speaker:And I'm kicking things off for this little Ultimate Bundle sale with an all-new live
Speaker:legal training that you can take for free on January 29th and January 30th.
Speaker:There are multiple times available, so make sure you get on my email list to get an
Speaker:invite or click the link to sign up for the free training below in the show notes.
Speaker:If you can't make the training live for any of those times, make sure you sign up for the
Speaker:first training and then you'll just get the replay as soon as it's over so you can watch
Speaker:it at your leisure.
Speaker:All right. So, thank you so, so much.
Speaker:I am so appreciative for you being here.
Speaker:Let's hop in and talk about myth busters, online business edition.
Speaker:So, I always say it's so great on the one hand how easy it is to start an online
Speaker:business. And that also kind of leads it to being a little too easy for some people to
Speaker:start an online business or to be able to just give out information and kind of like
Speaker:hold themselves out as a business about things that they're not actually
Speaker:knowledgeable about or maybe not super qualified or you're not seeing the full truth
Speaker:of what they're sharing, the full context.
Speaker:So, we have to keep in mind that all of us, myself, you, everybody included, people are
Speaker:motivated reasoners usually, right?
Speaker:So, we, like for example, if somebody is selling a course on Instagram, like how to
Speaker:grow your Instagram following, they might say like forget the legal stuff because they
Speaker:want you to buy their Instagram course instead, right?
Speaker:They're being like, no, no, I know for a fact that if you build your following first, you
Speaker:can do legal later. Like they're motivated to tell you that.
Speaker:Just like I might say, like, don't worry about like taking a course on Pinterest right
Speaker:now, you need to get legal stuff first, right?
Speaker:But I can see an argument for other people being like, but don't have to build an
Speaker:audience or have some clients first, right?
Speaker:So, we all have our motivations for saying it both consciously and subconsciously.
Speaker:We're all motivated to put our work first and think like our stuff has to be done
Speaker:first. And at the same time that we're dealing with motivated reasoners, we're also
Speaker:operating with confirmation bias, which is like where we're motivated to accept what
Speaker:sounds best and easiest for us, right?
Speaker:Like the lowest obstacle, essentially.
Speaker:So, if you hear somebody online or say in a Facebook group, be like, oh, hey, you don't
Speaker:have to worry about legal stuff, you don't need that, you don't need that till it gets
Speaker:more serious, then that part of you that doesn't really feel probably rightfully so
Speaker:like doing legal stuff for your online business is going to be like, cool, they told
Speaker:me, right? This person's successful.
Speaker:I look up to this person or this person has a business, they know what they're talking
Speaker:about. And then we take that, and we move on .
Speaker:what so many of these things do is just lead to like all these different myths around what
Speaker:we do and don't have to do, and at what point, and at what stage in our business and
Speaker:how it actually works to protect us.
Speaker:And what I see so often is that, like these myths seem to snowball and they roll downhill
Speaker:and they get bigger and bigger and bigger until there's like an avalanche essentially
Speaker:of people being like, wait, I heard from this person that I really respect, that I
Speaker:didn't need to do this, this and this, or I heard it's fine to use other people's
Speaker:contracts.
Speaker:Until something happens in someone's business, and then they realize that this
Speaker:myth that they had bought into all along, either because the person who told them the
Speaker:information was motivated to do so, or because you were using your own confirmation
Speaker:bias to be like, cool, I don't need that.
Speaker:This person said I didn't have to do it, it becomes an issue.
Speaker:So, there are so many myths when it comes to running an online business, when it comes to
Speaker:legally protecting your business that I wanted to make sure that I talked directly to
Speaker:your myths.
Speaker:Maybe some of the things that you've heard before, some of the things that some people
Speaker:shared with me that they had once believed in but have since like broken through.
Speaker:So, back in November, I posted a little Q&A on Instagram and I asked, what's the biggest
Speaker:myth you believed about starting an online business?
Speaker:And I got some really good business ones and some really good legal ones, so I'm going to
Speaker:share a little bit of both.
Speaker:So, let's get started with these awesome myths.
Speaker:So, the first business myth that I got that I want to break down for you is that it's
Speaker:hard to get clients online.
Speaker:This one really stood out to me because specifically the word online because I think
Speaker:that this is a commonly held belief and it's something that can really get in your way
Speaker:when you're early on in your business.
Speaker:Right. So, I think that people -- I don't know if what people are thinking about this
Speaker:is like, oh, if I had like a physical business, people would just be like
Speaker:automatically coming in.
Speaker:Whereas an online business, that doesn't happen.
Speaker:So, I think part of this myth is rooted in the other myth, a sub myth if you will, like
Speaker:that if you start an online business and especially if you put up a website and you
Speaker:start posting online that somehow people will just kind of automatically start
Speaker:filtering in.
Speaker:So, I think sometimes what's baked into this myth is that people don't know or fully
Speaker:appreciate how much hard work and effort and hustle goes into finding clients online, just
Speaker:like you would, by the way, if you had a brick and mortar.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:not the case either.
Speaker:Right. For so many businesses, especially those that are now fighting like everybody
Speaker:buying everything on Amazon and not coming into their local store and this kind of
Speaker:stuff. So, we have to work to get clients online, that is for sure, but I personally
Speaker:don't think it's any harder.
Speaker:In fact, I would say it's easier in the sense that you have a much bigger opportunity
Speaker:to reach a much larger swath of people.
Speaker:I think what makes it "hard" is when people aren't putting out the right kind of content.
Speaker:So, you're not putting out content that would necessarily attract or speak to the
Speaker:person that you're trying to work with.
Speaker:You're maybe being too generic and not enough yourself.
Speaker:So, I've said this many times on the podcast, but whenever people say the space is
Speaker:too crowded or there are too many people doing what I'm doing, I say, no, I don't
Speaker:think that's the case. I think there are too many people doing the same thing the same
Speaker:way. And I think that's why you're still able to see people come in later in the game
Speaker:and still build like super successful businesses.
Speaker:Like one of my Ultimate Bundle members, Maya Nichol, for example.
Speaker:I think she's a really good example of this, where she's an Instagram educator, social
Speaker:media educator.
Speaker:And Maya started more recently and has built a really incredible and huge and successful
Speaker:business, has a really large following, and she really loves what she does and she's very
Speaker:good at it. And Maya, at least from my perspective, came in so much later that, I
Speaker:mean there have been people who have been teaching about social media tactics and
Speaker:strategies and Instagram specifically for many, many more years.
Speaker:Right. But there's a reason why somebody like that can come in and can build a
Speaker:business later on.
Speaker:So, I don't want to hear about like, oh, it's too late or oh, there are too many people.
Speaker:No, it's just too late.
Speaker:There are too many people doing the same thing the same way.
Speaker:And I think people are tired of that and that stands out.
Speaker:And that's why I think there's always room for innovation.
Speaker:There is always room for people to come in and be like, I'm going to shake things up.
Speaker:I'm going to do things a little differently.
Speaker:Here's this part of my personality.
Speaker:Let's cut to the chase or cut through like the stuff that people don't like about all
Speaker:those people in your industry who are doing things the same way, cut through that and get
Speaker:right to the good stuff, right?
Speaker:That's my opinion.
Speaker:So, when we say it's hard to get clients online, that's how I would shift that instead
Speaker:is like it's work to get clients online the same way it's work to get clients anywhere
Speaker:else. It can be done.
Speaker:In fact, it's an incredible opportunity.
Speaker:Am I really taking advantage of this opportunity in the way that will best serve
Speaker:me in my business? That's how I flip that around.
Speaker:All right. So, I'm going to flip flop between business myths and legal myths.
Speaker:This one's a legal myth someone submitted.
Speaker:They said, I don't need to register my business until it makes money or makes a
Speaker:certain amount of money.
Speaker:So, this myth is a very, very common one.
Speaker:And it's one that I've talked about many times on the podcast here because it doesn't
Speaker:really make sense or it doesn't stand, doesn't really hold from a legal perspective.
Speaker:So, we register our businesses to give ourselves personal liability protection.
Speaker:We register our businesses to personally protect ourselves.
Speaker:And so, the amount of money that you make doesn't really mean anything because you
Speaker:could work with one client, your first client, and that could become a legal issue.
Speaker:And you need and want to be legally personally protected, right?
Speaker:So, the amount of money you make isn't going to really make a difference.
Speaker:Now, when we're talking about budget, right, I think that's maybe something that maybe
Speaker:people are talking about when they say this.
Speaker:When we're talking about budget, the amount of money, the few hundred dollars or
Speaker:depending on where you live, it might be like $100, $150, the amount of money that you
Speaker:have to pay to actually register your business or let's say you're doing an LLC in
Speaker:your state, that has to be part of your startup cost, your budget, right?
Speaker:And so, this is something I always feel a little like the Philly girl in me comes out
Speaker:and it's just a little bit of like, come on, guys, this is part of the start up budget.
Speaker:This is not an option.
Speaker:We're not choosing, right, here.
Speaker:This is it.
Speaker:And so, if you want to start a business, you have to do it legitimately because you need
Speaker:to protect yourself and in part of that is paying to register it.
Speaker:So, before we go and buy all these courses from big name people and do all this other
Speaker:stuff, that is just part of the budgeting for startup along with probably purchasing
Speaker:your domain name, getting a business account set up, getting some business insurance once
Speaker:you're ready to work with people, those are your startup expenses.
Speaker:It's super, super important.
Speaker:So, that's why we don't wait to register our businesses until it makes more money.
Speaker:The other thing is we want to start capturing business expenses, so that's really great.
Speaker:You can capture some startup expenses for a certain period of time before you register
Speaker:your business, and all is not lost because obviously, you're going to have startup
Speaker:expenses like getting your LLC.
Speaker:You have to pay for your LLC before you have it.
Speaker:So, that's one.
Speaker:A lot of people purchase my Ultimate Bundle, for example, is like part of that process
Speaker:because they get into the Ultimate Bundle and then they learn how to form an LLC.
Speaker:So, that's a startup expense that you can count, but so we can do some of that, but we
Speaker:want to get things rolling.
Speaker:And if part of your concern is that you're not "making enough money" or that you're
Speaker:going to be operating at a loss, that from a tax perspective is not a concern because for
Speaker:one, if you have another job or you file your taxes with a spouse or partner and they
Speaker:have income, then it's going to reduce your taxable income either for you if it's just
Speaker:you and you have another source of income or for you as a couple.
Speaker:So that's one.
Speaker:The other thing was that even if you have a loss and you don't have any other income,
Speaker:you're going to be able to carry over that loss to a future tax year when you do have
Speaker:profit and it's going to reduce your taxable income in the future.
Speaker:So, I know it always sounds weird, but like it's a good thing, even if the first year you
Speaker:spent more money than you made, you want to capture that and start to get this ball
Speaker:rolling. Obviously, talk with your accountant, get that stuff set up but that's
Speaker:just my two cents.
Speaker:The next business myth that someone submitted.
Speaker:It was so funny. So, actually two different myths, but I got it from both angles.
Speaker:Somebody said that one myth that they believed in when they started their business
Speaker:was that it would be easy.
Speaker:And another person submitted that a myth they believed in was that it would be hard.
Speaker:So, I thought that this was so interesting for so many different reasons.
Speaker:So obviously, it makes sense to me that, like I said before, I can understand why.
Speaker:And I remember feeling the same way that thinking like, oh, you start a website, and I
Speaker:don't know where in my mind I picked this up or how and why I thought this.
Speaker:But I really did think like, oh, you start a website and then just like traffic floods in
Speaker:and then my inbox is going to be flooding in with inquiries or I'm going to post something
Speaker:on Instagram and then everyone's going to be writing to me asking me, how do I get this
Speaker:thing?
Speaker:having had the health coaching business first and kind of making those mistakes and
Speaker:thinking through all that stuff so that when I started the legal business, I really did it
Speaker:right so that I knew how to drive traffic.
Speaker:I knew what action steps I needed to take to drive traffic, right?
Speaker:So, I can understand why you would think it would be easy in that respect.
Speaker:And I also think that so many of you are being sold this idea that it's easy, that
Speaker:anyone can do it, that results are consistently duplicatable.
Speaker:And I just think that so much of that marketing messaging does you such a big
Speaker:disservice because there's so much context left out of it.
Speaker:There's so much lack of transparency, a lack of discussion around privilege, There are
Speaker:just so many different things, right?
Speaker:And so, I get really upset when I see big people in the space, marketing people, other
Speaker:types sharing stuff about I did this, so now I teach other people how to do it, so
Speaker:therefore you'll have the same result.
Speaker:And I'm like, oh, I mean, first of all, from a legal perspective, that's a huge issue
Speaker:because it brings up all sorts of like guarantees and warranties issues and maybe
Speaker:some consumer deception issues as well.
Speaker:But even just like the idea and I think something, if you've listened to my podcast
Speaker:before, you know that something I talk about a lot is that I believe in consumer awareness
Speaker:and like us being better consumers, right, because I don't believe in just like blaming
Speaker:everybody else in our space for everything.
Speaker:I want to empower ourselves to say I can make a good, informed decision.
Speaker:But it's really hard when you're in the beginning and you see people sharing that
Speaker:kind of information and you're just like, I remember telling Ryan back in the day like,
Speaker:hey, I found this like woman online and she did this, and then all she did was take this
Speaker:course or do this thing or pop open a Facebook group and boom, now she's making
Speaker:$100,000 a month.
Speaker:Like, I remember just thinking it was as easy as that.
Speaker:Right? And it's not with, I think just some more experience and some time.
Speaker:And really, I think then actually having built, I always say this to my team like it's
Speaker:funny for me now to see a lot of these claims because I'm like, now I'm running the
Speaker:business that's like the same size is what these people are saying and I know that
Speaker:nothing that they're saying could be true.
Speaker:It can't be that way, and that it's so much more work than they think and that there's
Speaker:just so much more to it.
Speaker:So, I would just say that like when you see people sharing things that say it's easy
Speaker:because they did it, therefore they're just going to teach you how to replicate it.
Speaker:Unless something is truly a scientific process, it's not replicable in that way,
Speaker:right? So, if you were a lawyer and you called me and this happens to me every once
Speaker:in a while, right? Like people contact me and are like, I just want to have one meeting
Speaker:with you so that you could tell me what to do so that I can start the business that you
Speaker:started. I can tell you right now, having sitting on this side of a multi-seven figure
Speaker:business, there is no game plan that I could sit down and give somebody to replicate
Speaker:exactly what I have done.
Speaker:And I'm not saying that because I'm saying like, oh, what I've done is so amazing or I'm
Speaker:so incredible or I'm so unique.
Speaker:I'm saying, first of all, I've stumbled and learned and gotten up again and then learned
Speaker:again. And it's been like a whole thing, but there's also been a whole set of
Speaker:circumstances through like I started a long time ago and I had the privilege of of having
Speaker:a spouse who was able to provide me healthcare so I could gamble a little bit
Speaker:more nthe beginning.
Speaker:There's just too many factors of like and I don't even know that I could necessarily
Speaker:quantify all those factors and make that magic happen again.
Speaker:There are certain little things that have just happened along the way where I got lucky
Speaker:or my privilege provided me with some sort of experience or whatever, right?
Speaker:And so, I'm telling you from my perspective, I would not sell you that kind of thing.
Speaker:And so, you have to be careful when you see that from other people.
Speaker:And that might be why we have this myth of like, oh, online business would be so easy.
Speaker:Now, on the flip side, there can be the myth that things are so hard.
Speaker:And I think that that's something that we fall into as online business owners from time
Speaker:to time of making things hard, first of all.
Speaker:So I'm a big believer in simplifying.
Speaker:You don't need to be on every platform.
Speaker:I was thinking about this today.
Speaker:'m recording this on a Sunday because we have a lot of construction going on at my
Speaker:house because we were building a space for my dad, like a private suite for my dad, and
Speaker:obviously he is now passed away, so he won't be able to use it but there's a lot happening
Speaker:here. It's very loud. And so, Sunday's the only day that contractors are never here so I
Speaker:sit down, and I record a couple of things on Sundays now.
Speaker:And it does not feel like work.
Speaker:I was thinking about this this morning as I was thinking about sitting down and doing
Speaker:this on a Sunday. I was like, do I feel any sort of resentment around this?
Speaker:And I was like, no, actually I don't because I love podcasting.
Speaker:I don't know if I'm any good at it, but I really, really love it and I wish we focused
Speaker:more on that of like, what's the thing that you would be excited about?
Speaker:We don't need to make this so hard.
Speaker:What is the channel?
Speaker:What's the like, I don't know, the vehicle in which you could produce content that you
Speaker:would look forward to doing on a Sunday and wouldn't feel like work to you.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:on my face talking about this because I love talking about what I do.
Speaker:I love talking about online business, I love talking about marketing, email marketing, so
Speaker:many things. So, I would say that like if things feel very hard, I would step back
Speaker:personally and look at simplifying.
Speaker:I would ask myself, why am I making it hard when the whole point of building my own
Speaker:business is that I can like, do things my own way on, on your terms, shout out, but
Speaker:also because you can also choose things that feel like you would do them on a Sunday,
Speaker:right? We don't need to make it so hard on ourselves.
Speaker:All right. The next legal myth is that I don't need business insurance and an LLC.
Speaker:I can just do one or the other.
Speaker:So, I actually have a whole episode dedicated to this concept, which I'll make
Speaker:sure that we link to down below.
Speaker:But the idea here and the reason this is a dangerous myth is because business insurance
Speaker:and LLCs do two completely different things to protect you, and they work together like
Speaker:PB&J, but they are not either or.
Speaker:So, you're not picking peanut butter or jelly.
Speaker:We always have peanut butter and jelly, right?
Speaker:So that is how business insurance and LLCs work.
Speaker:So, we just talked about LLC a couple of minutes ago.
Speaker:LLCs are, is just a form of business entity and it's what personally protects you as a
Speaker:business owner. It separates you as a person from your business entity so that you're not
Speaker:personally liable for what happens in your business.
Speaker:Business insurance, on the other hand, which I will link to resources, we have lots and
Speaker:lots of resources specifically dedicated to business insurance.
Speaker:I'll link to those below.
Speaker:But business insurance is what pays for your business to get a lawyer, pays for that
Speaker:lawyer's hourly fees and pays any judgment or settlement found against your business.
Speaker:If you're sued for something or threatened to be sued for something, that's covered by
Speaker:your business insurance policy.
Speaker:So, it's two very different things.
Speaker:We need to first make sure you're not personally liable, which is what we do
Speaker:through the LLC. And then we need to make sure that your business isn't financially on
Speaker:the hook for a lawsuit because a lawsuit would be financially devastating to any small
Speaker:business if you didn't have insurance.
Speaker:So, that is why we do both and not one or the other.
Speaker:The next business myth is that, again this is so funny, I got two different myths from two
Speaker:different people from opposite sides of the coin.
Speaker:One saying that the biggest myth that they believed about starting an online business
Speaker:was that they needed a website.
Speaker:And the other person said the biggest myth they believed about starting an online
Speaker:business was that they didn't need a website.
Speaker:I just love this because, for one, I will preface this by saying I do not believe in
Speaker:general overall, that there is one way to build a business.
Speaker:I don't think that there is hard, objective information that's like you absolutely have
Speaker:to have a business or a website in order to have a successful business, right?
Speaker:We can all find examples of people who don't have websites.
Speaker:There are people who teach how to run everything off their Instagram or whatever,
Speaker:who have "successful businesses", whatever that means to them and to you.
Speaker:Right. So, there are these kind of outliers.
Speaker:I personally, though, would just say that this is not a right or wrong thing.
Speaker:And so, it's not saying that you can never have a successful business without a website.
Speaker:What I am saying is that having a website is a really smart idea.
Speaker:It's something that helps you build longevity in your business, which I'll talk
Speaker:about in a second.
Speaker:And I think that it is almost like insurance for your business because we never know
Speaker:what's going to happen with different platforms and social media and all of this
Speaker:kind of stuff.
Speaker:websites because looking through their Instagram and stuff is really not a
Speaker:convenient way to find a lot of information.
Speaker:I can tell you from somebody who follows people who like does a lot of food stuff,
Speaker:obviously, and I'm always like looking at recipes and watching reels of recipes, I find
Speaker:it really annoying.
Speaker:recipe that I really like to follow.
Speaker:And every time I go to look for it, I have to scroll for like ten or 15 minutes on her
Speaker:Instagram and I can never find it.
Speaker:And it doesn't have like a proper cover and all of these things.
Speaker:And I'm like, if she just had a website, you would literally just go to recipes, pizza, or
Speaker:I could type and search into her website, and it would be right there.
Speaker:And this would be driving traffic to her website all the time.
Speaker:So, like, nstead of just the miracle and the luck of finding her on Instagram, I would be
Speaker:able to find it through a Google search for like best sheet pan pizza recipe or something
Speaker:like this, right?
Speaker:These social platforms are supplemental to me.
Speaker:They are not the foundation of your business.
Speaker:I really think your business should have a home.
Speaker:I think it's a mistake that people make who have an online business who don't think of
Speaker:where's your digital storefront?
Speaker:And if your digital storefront is on Instagram or TikTok or elsewhere, you know,
Speaker:you're leaving your digital storefront, your entire business in the hands of an algorithm
Speaker:and in the hands of a company who we don't know what they're doing, and we don't know
Speaker:who's seeing our stuff.
Speaker:And there are people out there every single day searching for exactly what you're talking
Speaker:about. Why would we not put this directly in front of them?
Speaker:I don't know. That's just me.
Speaker:Also, as you build your business, there are going to be reasons why you really want a
Speaker:website. Like, for example, when you go if and when you decide you want to run Facebook
Speaker:ads or Instagram ads or something like that, you need an audience.
Speaker:You have to have a pixel in order to run ads to.
Speaker:I think that so many people think that Facebook ads are just like this thing that
Speaker:you just like pick a couple attributions or characteristics of people and you set an
Speaker:audience and you just start showing it to them.
Speaker:I mean, yes, you can do that, but they don't work.
Speaker:And so, that's not really what you're going to want to do.
Speaker:What you're going to want to do is run a lot of ads to your warm audience and you capture
Speaker:your warm audience through people who visit your website, people who are on your email
Speaker:list, people who follow you on social media.
Speaker:That's definitely included, right?
Speaker:People who purchased your products, people who look like people who have purchased your
Speaker:products. So, you're going to want to start capturing this data early, as early as
Speaker:possible. Right.
Speaker:And so, I had obviously my website and I really paid a lot of attention to driving a
Speaker:lot of traffic to my website.
Speaker:And so, when I started running Facebook ads, we had a really strong, healthy, warm
Speaker:audience that was consistently visiting that website so then we were able to target them
Speaker:with Facebook ads. So, that's my, like I'll get off my soapbox now about websites, but
Speaker:that's my two cents about websites.
Speaker:Now, do I think you shouldn't start a business until you have a website?
Speaker:No, you can get started.
Speaker:You can do all this stuff. I never believe in like holding off, other than a couple of
Speaker:the very, very, very basic legal steps, I don't believe you should wait.
Speaker:It's just that I would prioritize this.
Speaker:And I do see so many people putting so much time and effort.
Speaker:And frankly, you have to start thinking about it as money because when you put your
Speaker:time into this stuff, it's money into things like social media.
Speaker:And I'm like, oh, man, if you wrote that as a blog post, you could have all these people
Speaker:who are already looking for it, finding it, and then post about it on Instagram because
Speaker:you've already created the content, but you've created the foundational content in
Speaker:your website, not on Instagram, right?
Speaker:That's how I look at it.
Speaker:Okay. The next legal myth was that it's best to register my business in another state
Speaker:where taxes are better.
Speaker:So, I've talked about this in the podcast before.
Speaker:This is something that big, big companies and corporations do in America.
Speaker:I know that there are huge benefits for them and honestly, the reasons why are generally
Speaker:above my pay grant. I mean, I know that there are no like income taxes and corporate
Speaker:taxes in certain states in America and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker:And that's all wonderful for them, I guess.
Speaker:But I don't think that small business owners tend to understand why this doesn't make a
Speaker:ton of sense. So, for one, wherever your business is actually operating out of, you
Speaker:have to be registered from that state legally, right?
Speaker:So, you could register in like Delaware, for example, if you don't live there.
Speaker:But if you live in Nebraska, you still have to register there because the business is
Speaker:being operated out of Nebraska.
Speaker:So that's one.
Speaker:Twoo, is that if to follow the same example, if you live in Nebraska and you register your
Speaker:business in Delaware for tax purposes, you still live in Nebraska.
Speaker:And so you still have to file your taxes in Nebraska.
Speaker:So, I think that oftentimes people get caught up in this like whole like scheming
Speaker:the government saving money thing.
Speaker:And then they're like, when they sit down with their accountant, they're like, it's
Speaker:actually not nearly as beneficial as I thought.
Speaker:I always think that this myth just in general tends to speak to something that I see a lot
Speaker:in our industry, and I wish I could just speak to you about, which is that we say we
Speaker:feel really overwhelmed about legal or we say we feel really overwhelmed about
Speaker:business. And then those same people will write to me being like, I'm thinking about
Speaker:registering my business in a foreign state so that I can make sure I save on taxes.
Speaker:And I'm like, didn't you just also say like I'm not making any money so I'm not sure if I
Speaker:even need an LLC yet?
Speaker:I wish we would focus more on just starting where we are a simple foundation.
Speaker:Let's just get it done.
Speaker:And if you start making like Apple money, then go consult like a fancy corporate lawyer
Speaker:and we can get your business moved to Delaware.
Speaker:You can always move your business to Delaware.
Speaker:Shout out to Delaware. I'm from Philly, so we spent a lot of time in Delaware.
Speaker:So, that's all.
Speaker:I'm just saying don't make it hard on yourself.
Speaker:This doesn't need to be super complicated.
Speaker:And while I hope and while I am very confident that you are building the next
Speaker:apple, I just feel like there's an easier way to start out and I don't want to use
Speaker:these things as hurdles to get started.
Speaker:We can register where you are for now.
Speaker:You only pay taxes on the amount of money, the profit that you make in your business.
Speaker:So, if you're not making a ton of money right now, it's not really going to make a
Speaker:dent. Right.
Speaker:Go talk to your own CPA.
Speaker:Maybe you have some specific unique financial or tax situation, or you might live
Speaker:in one of these states where that's the case.
Speaker:So, that's awesome for you, right?
Speaker:So, talk to your own accountant and see what like your personalized things.
Speaker:I don't know. But just generally speaking, when I get those kinds of inquiries, it tends
Speaker:to be from people who aren't making Apple money but are putting the cart before the
Speaker:horse and just not getting the business started.
Speaker:So that's my two cents.
Speaker:All right. The next myth was that if somebody signs my contract, they can't sue me.
Speaker:So, this is not true in America, because even when people sign contracts saying they
Speaker:can't sue you, they can sue you.
Speaker:Like one of the things I always talk about is that there's no preventative measure that
Speaker:like tops somebody from filing a lawsuit against you.
Speaker:So, having clauses in your contract saying people can't sue you will help you to dismiss
Speaker:it or will help you to win but it won't prevent people.
Speaker:We can't prevent people.
Speaker:People can just file lawsuits against us, which means that you have to answer it, you
Speaker:have to deal with it, Which is where that business insurance comes in.
Speaker:So, that's one.
Speaker:The other thing is that when I was a practicing attorney, I was a part of a number
Speaker:of different cases where people had signed contracts saying this, that and the other
Speaker:thing, and they still were able to do it.
Speaker:I was immensely disappointed in many different cases by the legal system and how
Speaker:things, even though people agreed to things and signed things, it just didn't hold up for
Speaker:whatever reason.
Speaker:And it was very frustrating.
Speaker:And so, it's why your contract has to have other important parts to it to cover you
Speaker:because somebody still might be able to sue you.
Speaker:It's why you need business insurance.
Speaker:It's why you need to know how to act like an LLC, as I talk about a lot in the bundle and
Speaker:with my members.
Speaker:And so, it's very important just to know that that is not true.
Speaker:Somebody else said, I don't need a business insurance if I have a contract in place.
Speaker:So, now we know, I think, I hope I'm going over the LLC and business insurance thing why
Speaker:that's not true. These are totally different.
Speaker:Even if you have a contract in place, if somebody sues you, you don't want to pay for
Speaker:it. So, that's where business insurance would provide you with a lawyer, pay the
Speaker:lawyers hourly fees, and then pay any sort of judgment or settlement found against your
Speaker:business for anything that's covered by your business insurance policy.
Speaker:So, that is not true.
Speaker:We know now.
Speaker:Last but not least, someone said the myth that they believed about starting an online
Speaker:business was that you need a degree or certification before you speak about
Speaker:something. That one is so interesting.
Speaker:So, I've talked about this a lot in my scope of practice episodes here on the podcast,
Speaker:which are episodes 2 and episode 69, which we'll link to below.
Speaker:But you don't need a degree or certification to speak about something in the sense that
Speaker:there's no online police that are going to shut you down.
Speaker:If however you speak about something in a certain way or offer advice or talk about
Speaker:certain things that you don't have a degree or certification in or you're not licensed
Speaker:in, then you could be violating outside of your scope of practice and your state could
Speaker:have an issue with that.
Speaker:Someone could file a complaint against you.
Speaker:It's not just like your client suing you for it.
Speaker:It's also, I think something that people don't know is that there are like licensing
Speaker:bodies, governing bodies in every single state for different, like for the nursing
Speaker:boards or whatever. And people have been reported to those boards because people see
Speaker:them on social media talking about certain things.
Speaker:And then they'll report them and say, like, this person's giving medical advice and
Speaker:they're not a doctor. Right?
Speaker:So that kind of stuff can happen too.
Speaker:That's why we have to learn our scope of practice.
Speaker:That's why we have to know what we can legally do and say and talk about.
Speaker:But yeah, I think kind of the scary thing is that people don't need to have any sort of
Speaker:degree or certification.
Speaker:And it's also really cool because that means you can get started and be like a health
Speaker:coach or a career coach or a life coach, for example.
Speaker:But you just have to make sure that when you're doing those things, you're just within
Speaker:your scope. And there's definitely a way to do that.
Speaker:That's a lot of what I focus on in the Ultimate Bundle is teaching people not only
Speaker:what their scope of practice is, but also teaching people how to still make a very
Speaker:successful business, even though you're within these confines of the scope of what
Speaker:you can talk about.
Speaker:So, I hope that these legal myths were helpful to bus through.
Speaker:It was fun to talk about.
Speaker:I hope that they were somewhat helpful to you.
Speaker:Make sure you send me a DM on Instagram at Sam Vander Wielen and let me know if these
Speaker:were helpful. Also, because of when you're listening to this episode, I have to make
Speaker:sure that you know that on January 29th and January 30th, I have a few times available
Speaker:for you to attend a live free legal workshop with me called How to Legally Protect Your
Speaker:Online Business.
Speaker:trainings I'm going to do this entire year.
Speaker:And the next one I do will not be for a very long time.
Speaker:So, if you want to get started on a lot of the things that we talked about today, dive
Speaker:in a little bit deeper and make sure that you can ask me questions live.
Speaker:You're going to want to make sure that you sign up for that live training that I'm
Speaker:hosting on January 29th, or if you want to make the one on the 30th, that would be
Speaker:awesome too. If you can attend any of the live times that we have, just sign up anyway
Speaker:because you'll get the replay.
Speaker:I always recommend people to sign up for the first one so that then you can get the replay
Speaker:as fast as possible.
Speaker:So, that's really exciting.
Speaker:We're also going to have a podcast replay available for people who sign up, so that's
Speaker:going to be really cool.
Speaker:And I also want to make sure that you get on my email list using the easy email list link
Speaker:below because you don't have to go through any marketing emails because you're going to
Speaker:be one of the first people to know about the best financial deal of the year on the
Speaker:Ultimate Bundle because my Ultimate Bundle sale starts January 29.
Speaker:It's only going to be open until February, oh gosh, I feel like 6th, I think.
Speaker:Yeah, February 6th, that's right.
Speaker:It's going to be the best financial deal of the year with a brand-new pay in full price
Speaker:and the best payment plan we've ever offered.
Speaker:So, you're going to want to make sure you keep your eyes peeled for that.
Speaker:It's going to be really fast sale.
Speaker:And we're kicking things off with that all new live legal training on January 29th and
Speaker:30th. So, make sure if you get my emails, you keep your eyes on your inbox or you can
Speaker:use the link below in the show notes to sign up for that free workshop.
Speaker:I can't wait to see you then.
Speaker:I'm also going to drop a link to a video walkthrough of the Ultimate Bundle below so
Speaker:you can see a little behind the scenes of what the Ultimate Bundle looks like.
Speaker:I do share at the end of my free legal training about the ultimate bundle, but you
Speaker:get a load of content before that, so it's valuable to you whether you need or want the
Speaker:bundle at all.
Speaker:So, I'm going to share that all below.
Speaker:So, with that, thank you so much for listening to this week's episode.
Speaker:I hope that you found it helpful.
Speaker:I can't wait to chat with you next week and I hope to see you at my live training on the
Speaker:29th or 30th.
Speaker:Thanks so much for listening to the On Your Terms podcast.
Speaker:Make sure to follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you like to listen to
Speaker:podcast.
Speaker:SamVanderWielen.com/podcast.
Speaker:You can learn more about legally protecting your business and take my free legal
Speaker:workshop, Five Steps to Legally Protect and Grow Your Online Business at
Speaker:SamVanderWielen.com. And to stay connected and follow along, follow me on Instagram,
Speaker:@SamVanderWielen and send me a DM to say hi.
Speaker:Just remember that although I am a attorney, I am not your attorney, and I am not offering
Speaker:you legal advice in today's episode.
Speaker:This episode and all of my episodes are informational and educational only.
Speaker:It is not a substitute for seeking out your own advice from your own lawyer.
Speaker:And please keep in mind that I can't offer you legal advice.
Speaker:I don't ever offer any legal services, but I think I offer some pretty good information.