1 00:00:00,089 --> 00:00:01,016 Erin Austin: Hello ladies. 2 00:00:01,106 --> 00:00:04,136 Welcome to the Hourly to Exit podcast. 3 00:00:04,398 --> 00:00:08,994 I'm very excited to answer the question why IP matters to your 4 00:00:08,994 --> 00:00:10,584 professional services business. 5 00:00:10,940 --> 00:00:16,850 So in a recent LinkedIn Live, I shared what I call a big number, 70% 6 00:00:16,850 --> 00:00:18,980 of the US gross domestic product. 7 00:00:19,908 --> 00:00:22,717 I think you can guess intellectual property. 8 00:00:23,125 --> 00:00:28,080 Despite this, I had a recent pitch to talk to a group of consultants about 9 00:00:28,085 --> 00:00:33,366 IP creation and protection, and was rejected with this response quote. 10 00:00:33,667 --> 00:00:37,700 The common perception of services businesses is that they deliver 11 00:00:37,700 --> 00:00:41,579 services, not that they create IP that needs to be protected. 12 00:00:41,950 --> 00:00:43,264 Well, yeah. 13 00:00:43,613 --> 00:00:44,927 That's what I'm here for. 14 00:00:45,335 --> 00:00:49,205 As an expert, you are creating intellectual property every day. 15 00:00:49,684 --> 00:00:53,614 Intellectual property is created every time you use your intellect or pay 16 00:00:53,619 --> 00:00:57,787 someone to use theirs, whether it is the custom advertising campaign that 17 00:00:57,792 --> 00:01:02,122 you create for your client or the d e I training material that you use 18 00:01:02,122 --> 00:01:06,205 with your clients, or the logo that the guy on fiber designs for you. 19 00:01:06,482 --> 00:01:07,525 It's all I. 20 00:01:08,482 --> 00:01:12,532 Share your expertise is in your head, and no one can take what's in your head 21 00:01:12,532 --> 00:01:18,962 away from you, but they can take what you produce away from you as a business owner. 22 00:01:19,242 --> 00:01:22,425 as opposed to a freelancer, which we'll talk about later. 23 00:01:22,845 --> 00:01:30,563 As a business owner, your job is to make sure that you own and control the extent 24 00:01:30,563 --> 00:01:34,439 feasible, the intellectual property that you create with your expertise. 25 00:01:34,768 --> 00:01:38,119 Of course there will be intellectual property that you create specifically 26 00:01:38,119 --> 00:01:39,949 for your clients that they will own. 27 00:01:40,265 --> 00:01:44,973 And of course there will be people that you hire to create deliverables for you 28 00:01:44,973 --> 00:01:48,403 that will be based on their intellectual property, which you won't own. 29 00:01:48,801 --> 00:01:53,548 But when you're using your own, expertise to create new assets, we 30 00:01:53,548 --> 00:01:56,549 wanna make sure that you're owning and controlling them to the extent. 31 00:01:57,605 --> 00:02:02,664 So let's talk about a few really obvious places where you need to protect your ip. 32 00:02:03,100 --> 00:02:05,174 First content marketing. 33 00:02:05,550 --> 00:02:11,139 Whether publishing on LinkedIn or doing a webinar or a podcast or an article for 34 00:02:11,139 --> 00:02:15,846 an industry publication or some other original thinking for public consumption, 35 00:02:16,151 --> 00:02:21,290 your marketing content is worth protecting These materials demonstrate your thought 36 00:02:21,295 --> 00:02:26,655 leadership, your unique skillset, and other important characteristics that 37 00:02:26,655 --> 00:02:29,710 contribute to your ability to attract. 38 00:02:30,458 --> 00:02:31,898 Land clients. 39 00:02:32,397 --> 00:02:36,001 Of course, if you're hoping to be taken seriously, you must have a 40 00:02:36,001 --> 00:02:40,681 website because among other things, an A o L email simply won't do. 41 00:02:41,043 --> 00:02:45,237 Your website contains copyrightable material, and by the way, if it 42 00:02:45,237 --> 00:02:50,007 doesn't have that C in a circle with your name and the year of creation in 43 00:02:50,247 --> 00:02:52,117 the footer, put that in there today. 44 00:02:52,602 --> 00:02:55,062 that content is part of your common card. 45 00:02:55,348 --> 00:02:59,895 It's a chance to lay out your expertise to potential clients and 46 00:02:59,955 --> 00:03:03,149 others who might wanna know more about you, whether they wanna make a 47 00:03:03,149 --> 00:03:08,613 referral or invite you to be on their podcast or to collaborate with you. 48 00:03:08,969 --> 00:03:13,923 what would it say about you if the same exact materials that appear on 49 00:03:13,923 --> 00:03:16,593 your website pop up on somebody else's? 50 00:03:17,504 --> 00:03:20,589 Even if you aren't planning on scaling your business, although I'm 51 00:03:20,589 --> 00:03:23,940 sure you are, if you're listening to the Hourly Exit Podcast, even if 52 00:03:23,940 --> 00:03:27,675 you aren't planning to scale your business, you don't want your materials 53 00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:30,015 copied wholesale by your competition. 54 00:03:30,469 --> 00:03:34,459 Another area are methodologies, processes, and procedures. 55 00:03:35,439 --> 00:03:39,609 To replicate successful work with clients, it's neither efficient nor 56 00:03:39,609 --> 00:03:41,469 necessary to recreate the wheel. 57 00:03:41,945 --> 00:03:45,485 As an expert, you are amassing important ip. 58 00:03:45,839 --> 00:03:52,350 That could be modules or formulas or templates or frameworks, and every 59 00:03:52,350 --> 00:03:57,576 time you use them with a new client, You're probably improving them, adding 60 00:03:57,576 --> 00:04:02,677 tweaks based on whatever additional information that you receive with every 61 00:04:02,682 --> 00:04:08,216 new engagement that's part of developing your expertise and these methodologies 62 00:04:08,216 --> 00:04:12,883 and processes and procedures, they're part of your accumulated wisdom. 63 00:04:13,473 --> 00:04:18,318 and there is major value in this, and it is intellectual property 64 00:04:18,358 --> 00:04:19,708 and you want to protect it. 65 00:04:20,136 --> 00:04:24,188 So this affects how you pitch your clients, the types of offerings that 66 00:04:24,193 --> 00:04:28,333 you have, how you approach a project once you receive the work, how you 67 00:04:28,333 --> 00:04:30,613 track the value of your services. 68 00:04:30,905 --> 00:04:35,102 The list of reasons that you are successful due to your 69 00:04:35,802 --> 00:04:37,882 original thinking is extensive. 70 00:04:38,454 --> 00:04:41,873 Now some of us learn our craft from other experts. 71 00:04:42,119 --> 00:04:47,070 We might take a course or we might get certified, but that just proves 72 00:04:47,070 --> 00:04:53,283 the value of a methodology, of a framework because we are paying third 73 00:04:53,283 --> 00:04:55,293 parties to get access to theirs. 74 00:04:55,611 --> 00:05:01,817 So as you grow and your expertise grows, you wanna be the one who's creating 75 00:05:01,857 --> 00:05:04,583 those frameworks, those methodologies. 76 00:05:04,928 --> 00:05:05,888 Secret sauce. 77 00:05:06,119 --> 00:05:11,302 You wanna develop all that stuff in-house that is unique to you and to your work. 78 00:05:11,672 --> 00:05:16,306 the reason we love having niches is that, let's say you have that 79 00:05:16,306 --> 00:05:18,679 certification from a generalist. 80 00:05:19,191 --> 00:05:23,026 . But then as you work in your niche, there'll be very specific patterns 81 00:05:23,026 --> 00:05:26,801 that emerge that and you add that to your base of knowledge until you 82 00:05:26,801 --> 00:05:31,765 get something that's really unique to you, and that would be your own 83 00:05:31,932 --> 00:05:33,677 protectable intellectual property. 84 00:05:36,147 --> 00:05:41,453 So Whether it positions you better to serve your clients, or it is an IP 85 00:05:41,453 --> 00:05:47,920 asset that you eventually sell as a standalone product, or that you sell as 86 00:05:47,925 --> 00:05:53,017 part of an exit from your business, it is important to take protective measures. 87 00:05:53,558 --> 00:05:57,551 All of the assets that are created in connection with third parties, whether 88 00:05:57,551 --> 00:06:02,191 with clients, with collaborators, with contractors, even with employees, 89 00:06:02,506 --> 00:06:06,430 anytime a third party is involved with a creation of content, you want 90 00:06:06,430 --> 00:06:08,800 to have a written agreement in place. 91 00:06:09,043 --> 00:06:13,134 This will make sure that you're protecting your rights in your original. 92 00:06:13,839 --> 00:06:16,389 And it'll also make sure that you're receiving the rights that 93 00:06:16,659 --> 00:06:20,435 you're paying for when somebody else is creating them for you. 94 00:06:20,886 --> 00:06:24,426 So back to the question, why does IP matter? 95 00:06:24,803 --> 00:06:29,556 It matters because unless you're Tony Robbins, there's only so much 96 00:06:29,556 --> 00:06:31,836 you can charge for your services. 97 00:06:31,989 --> 00:06:35,851 There's only so much that Margaret will bare for day's training or 98 00:06:36,391 --> 00:06:38,428 coaching session or facilitation. 99 00:06:38,762 --> 00:06:42,932 It matters if you're exhausted by the feaster famine cycles of 100 00:06:42,932 --> 00:06:44,822 large one-on-one engagements. 101 00:06:45,251 --> 00:06:46,155 It matters. 102 00:06:46,155 --> 00:06:49,905 If you wanna stop being an implementer and start being a strategist, 103 00:06:50,301 --> 00:06:55,326 it matters, especially if you love what you do, but you don't 104 00:06:55,326 --> 00:06:57,314 wanna do it at this pace forever. 105 00:06:58,783 --> 00:07:03,991 IP is required to decouple your income from your time, and that's 106 00:07:03,991 --> 00:07:05,161 what we're talking about here. 107 00:07:05,549 --> 00:07:09,850 Building a scalable and saleable business requires the development 108 00:07:09,850 --> 00:07:11,830 and ownership of assets. 109 00:07:12,157 --> 00:07:16,927 And when you're in the expertise business, those assets are intellectual property. 110 00:07:17,455 --> 00:07:21,345 This applies whether you wanna grow through services or products 111 00:07:21,668 --> 00:07:23,772 to scale with your services. 112 00:07:23,974 --> 00:07:28,569 You need to develop methodologies and SOPs to ensure efficient, 113 00:07:28,569 --> 00:07:30,429 dependable results for your clients. 114 00:07:30,769 --> 00:07:35,345 Whether those services are provided by you or by your employees to scale with 115 00:07:35,345 --> 00:07:38,045 products such as courses or trainings. 116 00:07:38,293 --> 00:07:39,493 Oh, that's of course. 117 00:07:39,673 --> 00:07:39,973 Oh, I. 118 00:07:40,952 --> 00:07:46,088 The only expert who doesn't need to think about their IP is the hired hand. 119 00:07:46,118 --> 00:07:51,072 That freelancer, who simply executes the work assigned to you by the 120 00:07:51,072 --> 00:07:52,956 client and collects a check. 121 00:07:53,403 --> 00:07:57,688 If that's you, this is not your podcast, but since you're here, 122 00:07:57,858 --> 00:08:01,708 I'm going to assume that you don't fall into the hired hands bucket. 123 00:08:02,167 --> 00:08:03,997 In that case, you need to protect your. 124 00:08:04,776 --> 00:08:10,253 and your value and IP writes like many things that are legal are 125 00:08:10,253 --> 00:08:15,323 a little bit too complicated for unspoken and unwritten assumptions. 126 00:08:15,738 --> 00:08:21,304 There is that fine print in the client's contracts that you have to understand. 127 00:08:21,648 --> 00:08:28,355 Some of them can even restrict how and with whom you can use your expertise. 128 00:08:28,596 --> 00:08:30,578 You know, that makes me insane. 129 00:08:30,984 --> 00:08:34,395 and protecting your IP is not a one-time thing. 130 00:08:34,640 --> 00:08:38,898 It takes attention and care throughout all the cycles of your business. 131 00:08:39,208 --> 00:08:43,193 Having the right contracts, doing appropriate due diligence and 132 00:08:43,193 --> 00:08:47,748 memorializing your IP in a manner that establishes your ownership are 133 00:08:47,753 --> 00:08:50,336 essential tasks for any service-based. 134 00:08:51,287 --> 00:08:54,898 and beyond that, if you do decide you wanna expand your business by 135 00:08:54,898 --> 00:08:58,158 offering courses, or if you wanna sell your business when you're ready 136 00:08:58,158 --> 00:09:02,649 to move on to the next chapter or any other way, you wanna maximize 137 00:09:02,649 --> 00:09:06,459 the value of your work, you need to make sure your IP ducks are in a row. 138 00:09:06,942 --> 00:09:11,450 That might sound a little overwhelming, but it doesn't have to be like all 139 00:09:11,450 --> 00:09:13,580 areas of our business achieving goals. 140 00:09:13,820 --> 00:09:14,750 It's all about having a. 141 00:09:15,750 --> 00:09:19,035 with the goal of building a scalable and scalable business. 142 00:09:19,328 --> 00:09:24,038 Again, that's simply building a business that decouples your income from your time. 143 00:09:24,438 --> 00:09:28,084 The path in the hourly to exit world is clear. 144 00:09:28,516 --> 00:09:34,410 There are three steps, IP inventory, IP protection, and IP deployment. 145 00:09:35,071 --> 00:09:37,893 So first IP Inventory. 146 00:09:38,292 --> 00:09:39,412 I have that as the first step. 147 00:09:39,808 --> 00:09:43,265 You may wonder why isn't IP creation the first step? 148 00:09:43,265 --> 00:09:45,873 You're all about creating IP and then protecting it. 149 00:09:46,337 --> 00:09:52,620 Well, it simply isn't necessary for me to make a step because you're creating IP all 150 00:09:52,620 --> 00:09:54,960 day every day as you use your intellect. 151 00:09:55,410 --> 00:09:58,110 Creation is not your challenge. 152 00:09:58,394 --> 00:10:03,741 Your challenge is making sure that you're tracking your IP like inventory, because 153 00:10:04,097 --> 00:10:09,320 when you're in the expertise business, your inventory is intellectual property. 154 00:10:09,838 --> 00:10:12,521 So I create a ton of content. 155 00:10:12,521 --> 00:10:17,492 My content is here, there, it's all over the place, but having a central 156 00:10:17,492 --> 00:10:25,203 location for tracking and storing your IP inventory is the first essential step. 157 00:10:25,735 --> 00:10:30,602 You can't protect what you aren't tracking, so acknowledging the importance 158 00:10:30,602 --> 00:10:33,268 of this step and the resistance to it. 159 00:10:33,639 --> 00:10:37,703 I created an IP journal to help you. 160 00:10:38,157 --> 00:10:42,841 The idea behind the IP journal is to make a regular habit, whether it's 161 00:10:42,841 --> 00:10:48,543 daily or weekly, depending on your content creation cycles, to make sure 162 00:10:48,543 --> 00:10:51,192 you're tracking what you're creating. 163 00:10:51,601 --> 00:10:55,824 and because you probably have some IP inventory that you haven't tracked 164 00:10:55,824 --> 00:10:59,087 before to also go back and, catalog it. 165 00:10:59,593 --> 00:11:03,558 So the IP Journal has a number of things that it does for you. 166 00:11:03,991 --> 00:11:08,817 It helps you identify what IP you own and what you use, cuz sometimes we use 167 00:11:08,817 --> 00:11:11,378 IP that we don't own, like software. 168 00:11:11,778 --> 00:11:16,945 create a timely record of the IP as it's created by you or for you so you 169 00:11:16,945 --> 00:11:19,225 don't lose track of ownership rights. 170 00:11:19,699 --> 00:11:24,298 Determine your IP usefulness, whether it's enforceable and whether it 171 00:11:24,798 --> 00:11:26,500 conflicts with any third party ip. 172 00:11:27,291 --> 00:11:30,620 You can access its relative value to your business. 173 00:11:30,625 --> 00:11:33,975 You may have some IP in your business where you couldn't operate without, 174 00:11:34,103 --> 00:11:36,622 and some third party software where there's always gonna be 175 00:11:36,622 --> 00:11:38,122 another software provider, right? 176 00:11:38,122 --> 00:11:42,172 And determine what additional resources are required to 177 00:11:42,172 --> 00:11:44,092 protect your most valuable ip. 178 00:11:44,371 --> 00:11:46,441 Some is more valuable than others. 179 00:11:46,766 --> 00:11:50,938 Every blog post, maybe you don't wanna protect that, but obviously if 180 00:11:50,938 --> 00:11:55,489 you have some sort of manifesto or major workbook or guide that's more 181 00:11:55,489 --> 00:11:57,109 valuable, then you wanna protect that. 182 00:11:57,704 --> 00:12:03,157 So that is the IP journal, and I do have a link to that in the show notes. 183 00:12:03,414 --> 00:12:07,201 So IP Journal, that is your, IP inventory step. 184 00:12:07,718 --> 00:12:10,501 The second step is IP protection. 185 00:12:10,800 --> 00:12:14,431 So once you understand what you have, then you can allocate the 186 00:12:14,431 --> 00:12:16,711 appropriate level of resources to. 187 00:12:17,679 --> 00:12:21,206 It might mean registration for some of it, as we spoke about 188 00:12:21,206 --> 00:12:25,280 earlier, whether that's copyright registration or trademark registration. 189 00:12:25,525 --> 00:12:29,799 For most of us who are listening to this podcast, patent is not, part 190 00:12:29,804 --> 00:12:31,119 of your business, but it might be. 191 00:12:31,385 --> 00:12:37,139 but or not registration is appropriate, , it will always mean having written 192 00:12:37,139 --> 00:12:41,009 agreements in place regarding its creation unless you personally made it. 193 00:12:41,377 --> 00:12:44,279 Again, whenever there's a third party involved in the creation, 194 00:12:44,552 --> 00:12:45,966 you want those written agreements. 195 00:12:46,258 --> 00:12:49,523 Intellectual property ownership rules can be confusing. 196 00:12:49,939 --> 00:12:53,842 Clients who believe they have full ownership of a deliverable, even 197 00:12:53,842 --> 00:12:57,139 when it includes your preexisting material because they paid for. 198 00:12:57,556 --> 00:13:01,952 Likewise, when you're paying for a subcontractor to do work for you, what 199 00:13:01,952 --> 00:13:04,442 rights do you have in their deliverables? 200 00:13:05,063 --> 00:13:10,572 In the absence of assigned contract, you may be very unpleasantly surprised 201 00:13:10,770 --> 00:13:14,348 by the default ownership rules under intellectual property laws. 202 00:13:15,438 --> 00:13:18,945 Regardless of your thoughts on contracts, I'm pro. 203 00:13:19,005 --> 00:13:20,205 I hope you are too. 204 00:13:20,497 --> 00:13:23,258 There is one agreement you simply can't avoid. 205 00:13:23,408 --> 00:13:24,668 I think you know what's coming. 206 00:13:24,892 --> 00:13:28,166 The old N D A Love 'em or Hate 'em. 207 00:13:28,427 --> 00:13:32,276 Confidentiality agreements, also known as non-disclosure agreements, 208 00:13:32,441 --> 00:13:33,971 NDAs, they're everywhere. 209 00:13:34,434 --> 00:13:39,578 these days, they're the entry ticket to almost every two-party interaction before 210 00:13:39,578 --> 00:13:42,338 pitch meetings in response to RFPs. 211 00:13:42,648 --> 00:13:46,057 even when you hire someone, that N D A tends to come out. 212 00:13:46,398 --> 00:13:52,755 So Because of the ubiquity of NDAs, I created an hourly to 213 00:13:52,755 --> 00:13:55,695 exit N d a negotiation package. 214 00:13:56,096 --> 00:13:58,636 It includes, An N D A template. 215 00:13:58,682 --> 00:14:02,306 This is a plug and play template that you can start using immediately. 216 00:14:02,702 --> 00:14:05,882 So when you're hiring contractors or anytime you're gonna share some 217 00:14:05,882 --> 00:14:09,803 of your, confidential information, you wanna have that n D A in place. 218 00:14:10,278 --> 00:14:12,756 There's the N D A annotation. 219 00:14:12,756 --> 00:14:18,502 This takes the template and fully annotates it, provision by provision 220 00:14:18,696 --> 00:14:22,224 to make sure that you actually understand what those provisions. 221 00:14:22,897 --> 00:14:26,437 It includes a sample client side, N D A. 222 00:14:26,662 --> 00:14:30,592 It's the typical N D A you might receive from your client that you're expected to 223 00:14:30,592 --> 00:14:36,958 sign, and it has been redlined by yours, truly, including detailed explanations 224 00:14:36,963 --> 00:14:39,748 for why I made each change that I made. 225 00:14:40,193 --> 00:14:43,673 And then finally, I have the hourly to exit. 226 00:14:43,799 --> 00:14:46,139 If this, then that chart. 227 00:14:46,585 --> 00:14:51,705 Now, while I recommend that all agreements be reviewed by a lawyer before you sign 228 00:14:51,710 --> 00:14:57,134 them, I understand that sometimes that review won't fit into your schedule 229 00:14:57,139 --> 00:15:00,739 if you need a very quick turnaround or it may not fit into your budget, if 230 00:15:00,739 --> 00:15:04,755 you're just at the talking stage and there's no revenue attached to that n. 231 00:15:05,621 --> 00:15:11,702 So this chart, which, is a companion piece to my N D A Hotspots LinkedIn Live. 232 00:15:11,911 --> 00:15:13,891 if you don't have that, I'm gonna include it in there. 233 00:15:13,891 --> 00:15:18,026 It's gonna be in your package, that gives you suggestions on how to 234 00:15:18,031 --> 00:15:22,375 deal with the most common issues that you'll come across in your nda. 235 00:15:23,200 --> 00:15:29,545 So a link to, get the N D A package will be in your show notes. 236 00:15:29,999 --> 00:15:33,029 The last step is IP deployment. 237 00:15:33,300 --> 00:15:37,447 So I've decided I'm going to use the word deployment instead of monetization, 238 00:15:37,447 --> 00:15:39,097 which I think you've heard me use before. 239 00:15:39,376 --> 00:15:43,010 I'm gonna use deployment from now on because too many people confuse 240 00:15:43,134 --> 00:15:45,258 monetization with creating product. 241 00:15:46,057 --> 00:15:50,195 Deployment means bringing resources into effective action. 242 00:15:50,438 --> 00:15:53,714 I like this better than monetization anyway, because we 243 00:15:53,714 --> 00:15:56,384 don't create IP for vanity's sake. 244 00:15:56,805 --> 00:16:01,439 We create it so that it works for us because it provides leverage. 245 00:16:01,778 --> 00:16:06,150 The reward of our investment in creating and protecting our IP is 246 00:16:06,150 --> 00:16:10,770 to use it as a leverage to make our businesses more profitable. 247 00:16:11,068 --> 00:16:14,235 This might be any number of IP offerings. 248 00:16:14,719 --> 00:16:18,714 Licensing courses and training might be through productized 249 00:16:18,719 --> 00:16:23,925 services, or it might be through a customizable signature solution. 250 00:16:24,315 --> 00:16:25,055 All of these. 251 00:16:25,595 --> 00:16:32,337 Are very different ways of deploying our ip, but they're all IP based, 252 00:16:32,586 --> 00:16:37,983 or I should say they're all more profitable when they are IP based. 253 00:16:38,417 --> 00:16:42,388 Through my one-on-one services side of the business, think beyond ip. 254 00:16:42,668 --> 00:16:47,535 I love to work with people to find that intersection between, what their IP 255 00:16:47,535 --> 00:16:52,416 is, what their goals for their business are, and the market that they're 256 00:16:52,421 --> 00:16:55,416 in to find the optimal deployment. 257 00:16:55,476 --> 00:16:56,526 Oh, that's such a good word. 258 00:16:57,143 --> 00:16:59,088 So I hope you found this helpful. 259 00:16:59,606 --> 00:17:04,314 I'll continue to beat the drum that all professional services providers can 260 00:17:04,314 --> 00:17:06,584 build scalable and saleable business. 261 00:17:07,203 --> 00:17:11,748 If you're interested in learning more about the offerings I, discussed today 262 00:17:11,967 --> 00:17:15,642 and any other questions about intellectual property, you know where to find me. 263 00:17:15,950 --> 00:17:16,519 Thanks.