2 Steps to Shatter-Proof Your Business Before Disputes Happen
Let's talk about two steps to shatterproof your business before disputes happen. How do you shatterproof your business? You put yourself in the best possible position so that when disputes happen, you just brush them off, keep on doing business without a ton of stress. It makes it so much easier to deal with conflict and disputes if you have these boxes checked in advance.
Step 1 - Conduct An Audit
The first thing that I want you to do in order to get your business in the best possible position before disputes happen is to do an audit. An audit means looking at how your business operates. Every single step, from creating content to how you market your services online to what you deliver to your clients or customers or audience in order to bring money (and how you deliver each step).
Step 2 - Protect What Can Be Protected
The second thing you need to do to shatterproof your business is protect each aspect of that map when there are no disputes going on. That means securing your rights to your creative content. Whether it's putting contracts in place with subcontractors, or people who are contributing to your content or registering the most important stuff with the copyright office. Whether that's a particular Reel, or TikTok, or YouTube video, or podcast episode, or photograph, or blog post, the most valuable content you have out there needs to be registered with the copyright office.
It also means protecting your brand names. If you haven't registered your trademark, yet, I have clients that can tell you that they would like to build a time machine so that they can go back register their trademark in a kind of more timely fashion before somebody else filed their application that was a little too close to my client’s application. That happens and it's like a punch to the gut (for everyone)! It sucks to get ready to file only to find out that somebody else has jumped ahead of your mind.
It also means getting everything you can in writing. If you're using subcontractors, if you're taking on one on one clients, please get your agreement in writing or a contract, something that's easy to understand. Remember, contracts are only there to make sure that everybody's on the same page.
Bonus Step - Play By The Rules
And then finally, make sure you're playing by the rules. A year ago, Clubhouse wasn't a thing and TikTok was just starting to explode. When something new pops up, make sure you understand the terms of those platforms, and play by the rules.
Want to figure out your legal blind spots? Head to spear-ip.com/quiz and take my free quiz that will diagnose your specific legal blind spots and one that's secretly killing your business and it will help you figure out how to fix it.