Is your online business legally covered?

Are you sure about that?

Because…

If you’re like most online business owners, there’s a good chance you’ve got your head in the sand when it comes to all the “legal stuff” you absolutely must do in order to cover your ass(ets) online.

Business owners are not ostriches, but when they do that ostrich thing? They leave their ass(ets) exposed. It’s just not a good look. 

It can get you fined.

It can can you sued.

It can leave you frustrated and helpless when someone comes along and steals your stuff and you can’t do much about it but cry. And pay up. 

Time for a lawyer joke:

Did you hear the one about the lawyer who started an online business with a partner, only to end up in court fighting over the rights to the business?

I wish that was actually a joke.

Even lawyers act like ostriches sometimes.

Then there’s this one…

A health coach goes to great lengths to put up an amazing website promoting her brand new product. She spends 5-thousand dollars on the website alone. Soon after she launched she gets slapped with a cease and desist order because the name of her website and coaching program was already trademark protected. So long 5k.

I wish these were actual jokes, but they’re not. These things happen all the time. Countless entrepreneurs enter into partnerships without agreements. Others choose names for their businesses, products, and services that are already trademarked. These end up being very costly mistakes.

Here’s another one (last one, promise!)…

There’s this relationship coach, see, and she (wait, how does this go?). Oh yeah, she hires a website designer to build a website that includes so many lovely design elements and photos. She launches the website and starts gaining momentum and then, like, BOOM, the next thing you know, she receives some kind of demand letter in the mail from Shmgetty Images (or something like that) and the letters says–get this, this is priceless… “YOU OWE TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS for the unauthorized use of our images on your website.”

Is that a good one or what? *slaps knee*

I’m dyin’ here.

Ok, fine, not funny.

Why does this kind of stuff keep happening? (Oh yeah, you can bet your bottom bitcoin it happens, but you won’t see it coming if your head is in the sand.) 

Not.

Funny.

At.

All.

There’s actually a name for this; I call it “It’ll-never-happen-to-me” syndrome. Symptoms include, but are not limited to: denial, resistance, lawyer aversion, overwhelm, fear of wasting money, gagging (on sand).

I know, this legal stuff isn’t all that sexy. Especially when it involves baggy orange prison jumpsuits. But I digress–you’re not going to land yourself in jail (unless you’re involved in criminal activity-egads!)–but you could find yourself in a place I call The Land of WTF (baggy orange jumpsuits entirely optional) where you’re suddenly having to tap into your personal finances to pay for business mistakes you didn’t have to make.  

It’ll-Never-Happen-To-Me syndrome is dangerous. 

I want to keep you out of The Land of WTF.

Look, you go to the dentist, don’t you? Because you do not want to suffer through a root canal one day. You value your teeth. You want to reduce the risk of having a hole drilled into your head, because the last thing you need is a hole in your head.

Am I right?

YOU NEED A ROOT CANAL ABOUT AS MUCH AS YOU NEED TO GET SUED. 

Here’s the good news (you’ll need to get your head out of the sand to hear this): You don’t have to hire a lawyer in order to reduce your exposure. There are so many things you can do yourself to cover your assets online. Without the “legal fee aftertaste.”

Look, I may be a lawyer but I’m not that kind of lawyer–the kind that’s obsessed with billable hours while she sits in the corner office of her fancy shmancy law firm hating her job. 

Once I was able to figure out how I wanted to be a lawyer I was able to create a way for online business owners like you to get their legal ducks (and docs) in a row without having to hire a lawyer. 

Look ma, no lawyer. 

Maybe you can’t afford to hire a lawyer, but you also can’t afford to leave your assets exposed. There’s too much at stake–you could lose your home, your investments, and even your little dog kids’ college fund. Again, not a joke.

Cover up, business owner, cover up!

Read more about the Cover Your Assets Online DIY Legal Toolkit (for the business owner who wouldn’t be caught dead in an orange jumpsuit).