3 Legal Processes That Will Legitimize Your Online Business
Ready to take your business to the next level and make it LEGIT? Yay! We are glad you are here and want to make it really simple for you. We are going to lay down the 3 legal processes that will help your business-baby become protected, legitimate and off to a successful start.
1. Business Registration: Tell the Gov!
First things first, you need to tell the government what you are doing. Sounds simple enough, right? Well, exactly how you ‘tell the government’, and how you set it up is based on the type of “business structure” you select.
There are several different options out there. Depending on what country you are in, the size of your business, how you operate, what kind of revenue you are bringing in, (and the list goes on…) will determine what type of business structure is best suited to you.
In Canada, common structures include Sole Proprietor, Partnership, Corporation or Professional Corporation. Living In the US, you might also fall amongst those mentioned or an LLC or S Corporation.
It is VERY important you do your research to determine what will work best for you or speak with a lawyer who is able to assist you!
2. Contracts are King 👑 (No… Queen!)
Trust us when I tell you this… without contracts you are naked. Like butt-naked, out in the wind, vulnerable and exposed! If that doesn’t make you cringe enough already; when clients ask us “do I really need contracts?” we tell them, “listen, you can drive without a seat belt, but do you really want to?”.
You need Contracts from Day 1. With your very first clients – even if they are beta clients! Properly drafted contracts are the surest way to protect your intellectual property, outline your payment and refund policies and notify the client of your “business rules” so you can manage expectations like the BOSS that you are. Once you have these in place, you can rest easy knowing you have clearly outlined the scope of the project/work to be done, in turn, avoiding messy misunderstandings down the road when ‘Karen*‘ thought she purchased the goose and the golden eggs when in actual fact, she barely paid for the yolk.
A common reason small business owners don’t have the correct contracts in their arsenal is because of pricing. We hear you! But you actually don’t have to pay thousands of dollars to get the right contracts drafted for your business in your start-up phase. You might not even know where to start, and for that, we’ve got you covered. Shops like ours, Contracts for Entrepreneurs, offer you template style Agreements that are specific to your industry! Each contract template is accompanied by a User Guide, to help you understand exactly what it is you are asking people to sign, and priced at a fraction of what you might expect.
VISIT OUR SHOP HERE: www.contractsforentrepreneurs.com
*No Karens were harmed while writing this blog, and no explicit Karen was being referenced.
3. Trademarks
Time to protect your brand and take everything to the next level. You’ve registered your business, built and grown with the protection of commanding contracts, it may be time to consider trademarking!
Nobody likes a copycat, and Trademarks are the way to protect your business identity by stopping competitors from imitating your brand. You may be small now but as your business grows, becomes more reputable and widely known, your brand identity becomes more valuable, increasing the risk of those copycats. Trademarks don’t have to be words either, take the Nike “swoosh” or Apple’s, well, apple. Both of those are protected under trademarks therefore no one can imitate them. It is your way of ensuring only your brand can legally use that logo, slogan, design, symbol etc…
So go forth, Business-Bosses! Don’t leave your online-business-baby butt naked and unprotected. Legitimize your business with these three processes and let us know how you get on. We want to see you flourish and grow, and avoid the setbacks so easily caused by lack of planning.
If you want more tips, go ahead and follow our Instagram page for legal tips and tricks @contractsforentrepreneurs
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