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Welcome back to another episode of Sam's
Sidebar, where I tackle your essential legal

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questions about starting and growing a
legally protected online business in 10

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minutes or less. So, this week, you'll hear
all about what you need to do, at least

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officially, to legally protect your online
business so you know ahead of time that

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you're all set.

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So, this question was submitted by our
listener, Nila.

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So, Nila says, have I done all the things I
need to do to legally protect my business?

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How do I know ahead of a stressful time that
I'm good?

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I totally get it, Nila, because I get that
feeling of like you just want to feel like

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you've done everything that you needed to do
so you can kind of put it to bed, right?

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So, I hear this a lot from your peers.

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So, let's go through this step by step.

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First things first.

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I believe in general, in life in general, in
case you were wondering, knowledge is power,

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right? Fun fact.

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That's actually why I went to law school,
because I actually wanted to do consumer

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advocacy law. I wanted to do food labeling.

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Sounds really boring, but I wanted people to
have access to information about their food.

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So, I believe knowledge is power.

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And one thing that I consistently see amongst
online entrepreneurs is that the not knowing

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what you don't know thing kind of keeps you
in this swirly place of how do I really know

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if I've really done everything I needed to do
to legally protect my business?

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And so, it kind of keeps you in this 
treadmill-like state.

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And that fear or anxiety of really never
knowing if it's enough, if you've done

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everything that you were supposed to do kind
of keeps you put and put businesses don't

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really grow, as I say, right?

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So, I like to think of this as what would
happen if I tried to build a car engine?

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I would have a million questions like, what
parts am I supposed to use?

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What part is that? Where do they go?

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How do they work? What orders should I put
them in?

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I would have no clue.

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And if somehow, some way, I even ended up
remotely putting together something that

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looked like an engine, I would never really
feel comfortable driving that car because I

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would never know if I did it right.

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So that's why I do what I do to help you know
what you need to know to legally protect your

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business. So, first things first.

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I just always recommend that you have a
resource in this area because of what we're

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going to talk about in a second.

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This will make more sense in a second.

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The second thing I want you to think of is
that I just want you to focus on the basics,

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because oftentimes the people who come to
me, the people who write me questions are

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super smart. They're smart cookies, as my
mom would have said.

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So, they would have -- you guys come to me
because you have really good questions and

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because you're smart and you're thinking
about this stuff, right.

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But sometimes I feel like was legal, it's
one of those things that we overcomplicate a

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little bit, especially when we don't know
what we don't know.

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It's one of those things in life that tends
to feel a lot bigger than it really is.

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Like putting away all of my groceries just
felt like to me now because the whole counter

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was piled up with groceries and I was like,
this is never going to work, it's not going

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to fit and I'm not going to make it.

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And then what do you know?

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I just chip away and it all worked out,
right?

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But we build stuff up in our head.

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I think that what's really important in
those times when legal feels really

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overwhelming, when it feels like there's a
million different strategies and policies and

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contracts and tactics and you need to be
thinking of every single thing from every

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single angle, what I like to do in that time
of overwhelm is check on my basics.

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So, if you were going to check on your
basics, here's what I would run through.

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I would think, did you properly register
your business so that you're not personally

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liable for your business?

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Do you have business insurance that covers
you financially for your work with clients?

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Do you have a legit lawyer drop a contract
that you can send your clients or include a

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check out if you sell courses or memberships
so that your boundaries and your sanity and

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your legal rights are covered?

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Right? 

If you have all three of those, you have a
really good start.

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And maybe it's all you need, maybe it's all
you need for a while.

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It really depends. Everybody's situation is
kind of different.

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But here's where number three comes in.

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It's so important for you also to keep in
mind there's no apex here.

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We're not reaching the top of a mountain.

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This goes, by the way, with online business
or with running a business, let alone with

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legally protecting your business or
financially establishing your business.

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There's no apex that we're going to get to,
to be like, oh, it's all over.

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I can just sit back, right?

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I've built a business that's way bigger than
I ever dreamed of, and I'm not in any sort of

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apex because with this sort of growth came
new issues, new questions, new concerns.

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So, we're not looking for that apex.

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It's really important to keep in mind.

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I'm as legally solid as you really can be at
this stage of business, right?

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I am a lawyer after all, but I still have
legal stuff that I'm constantly working at,

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not constantly, but that I'm working on
throughout the month.

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Things pop up.

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I'm going to create something new or I think
of a new policy that I want to cover in a new

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way. Like stuff comes up.

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And so, this isn't just something you always
like check out of and pass on to someone

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else. 

Maybe you want to apply for a trademark in
the future.

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Maybe you create a new course or program in
the future, and that requires a trademark at

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that point. Right? The whole point here is
just that it's not legal in general, it's not

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something that we check off.

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And I don't say that as something to be
like, oh, man, really, I have to think about

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it forever. It's more just like, this is
kind of part of running a business.

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And so as long as we have that foundation
part down, then we can kind of move forward

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and just deal with stuff as it comes, you
know what I mean?

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So, I want to embrace the fact that as long
as you have the basics down, the legal stuff

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is going to be an evolving, continued part
of building your very legitimate and

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successful business, right?

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So, the true value of getting your business
legally protected is really that piece of

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mind that you'll have knowing that once for
all you're legally as set as possible.

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Just like we just talked about, you've got
that legal foundation and then we can add on,

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we can layer on.

Over

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the next couple of weeks, I'm going to be
diving into what it means to legally protect

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your business and cap it off with my first
and one of maybe only two entirely live

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trainings this entire year.

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So, you can get on the invite list now by
signing up for my emails in the link below.

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The easy email link sign-up below is where
you can make sure you get my emails without

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going through any sort of marketing
sequence.

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You'll just start getting my weekly Q&A
emails, my Monday emails people really like.

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And I would love to see you there.

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Thank you so much for joining me for Sam's
Sidebar.

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Check out the show notes below for related
blog post resources and full episodes of On

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Your Terms. I post new episodes every single
Monday and Thursday.

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As always, if you have a question that you
want answered any future episode, you can

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submit it using a link in the show notes.

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Thank you so much. I'll see you next week.

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Thanks so much for listening to the On Your
Terms podcast.

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Make sure to follow on Apple Podcasts,
Spotify or wherever you like to listen to

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podcast. You can also check out all of our
podcast episodes, show notes, links and more

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at Samvanderwielen.com/podcast.

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You can learn more about legally protecting
your business and take my free legal Workshop

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Five Steps to Legally Protect and Grow Your
Online Business at Samvanderwielen.com.

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And to stay connected and follow along,
follow me on Instagram @SamVanderWielen and

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send me a DM to say hi.

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Just remember that although I am a attorney,
I am not your attorney, and I am not offering

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you legal advice in today's episode.

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This episode and all of my episodes are
informational and educational only.

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It is not a substitute for seeking out your
own advice from your own lawyer.

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And please keep in mind that I can't offer
you legal advice.

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I don't ever offer any legal services, but I
think I offer some pretty good information.