The 5 Legal Steps I Took Before Making $10M Online

[00:00:00] **Sam Vander Wielen:** Maybe you’re about to start your online business and you wanna do it right from day one, or maybe you’ve been at it for a while, and if you’re honest, your business is held together with duct tape, string, hope, and a prayer. Either way, you want the same thing, your legal ducks in a row so you can stop wondering whether you missed something and finally put yourself out there with confidence.

The problem is you don’t know what you don’t know. You know the legal stuff matters, but you’re not sure where to start or what order to do it all in, so it’s quietly holding you back. That’s exactly what today’s episode is for, because I recently hosted a live legal class for thousands of people called How to Legally Protect and Grow Your Online Business Before 2026 Ends, and I’m sharing the whole thing with you here today.

I’ll walk you through the legal steps to take in what order, including all of the legal updates you need to know about AI, those pesky ADA lawsuits that are going around, and how to protect your personal privacy, and it’ll help you whether you’re just starting or catching up on what you skipped. So grab a notebook.

This one is meant to be acted on. And at the end, I’ll tell you about The Ultimate Bundle and how it’s on sale this week only. The Ultimate Bundle is my signature program that walks you step by step through setting your business up legally, and then gives you over 10 fill-in-the-blank legal templates to do it with.

It’s on sale right now for over $850 off, which is the biggest discount I’ll offer for the rest of this year, and a whole suite of bonuses. But the sale ends this Friday, October 23rd, so click the link in the show notes to join The Ultimate Bundle before Friday, or listen to this free training first and decide at the end if it’s right for you.

All right, let’s go get your legal ducks in a row. I’ll see you on the other side

Well, welcome everybody. Yes, yes, yes. Okay, so you can see all this good. Good. Okay, cool. Welcome. I am Sam Vander Wielen, and you are here, in case you, uh, forgot, you’re here from h- for how to legally protect and grow your online business before 2026 ends. Okay? So a couple of things to help you out most from this workshop.

I wanna make sure you get the most from this workshop. Okay, now, I’ve got a favor to ask you real quick, all right? I know we’re new friends, but I need a favor already. So we’ve got a- at least 14 tabs open, if we’re being honest with each other. I had way more than that before you guys all… I had to like…

It- it’s like when you have to clean your house before people come over. That’s what I had to do before you guys got on here. So bonus points, let’s get focused, let’s put all this stuff down, silence your phone, get off social media, put everybody away. Do what you gotta do because you’ve made this commitment to yourself, and honestly, we can just, like, knock this out in the next 90 minutes, so let’s do it.

You’re also gonna wanna stick around all the way until the end because I’ll show you how you could save $850 off the Ultimate Bundle, plus get free access to four additional legal templates, a live Q&A call with me in December, which I don’t even do these anymore, so I’m gonna host one for all of you in December.

Uh, a copy of my book. Here she is. When I Start My Business, I’ll Be Happy. Oh, thanks, Chanel. Um, yeah, so I’ll give you a copy of my book and then also access to my exclusive Ultimate Email List Starter Kit. It’s a course I created that I don’t even sell to teach people how to get at least their first thousand, uh, subscribers, if not their next thousand subscribers.

So, um, I also promised you that n- whether you purchase anything or not, I wanna give you something for free for coming to this webinar, so at the end, I will give you access to my Online Business Owner’s Legal Guide to AI, where I give you my AI disclosure statement and what to look for in a contract, all that fun stuff.

So I’ll give you all that at the end. Um, hey to everybody coming in. Hi, hi, hi. Say hi in the comments. Thanks so much for coming. Okay, quick disclaimer so I can practice what I preach. I am an attorney. I just don’t practice law, which means I never establish a client-attorney relationship with anybody. I don’t do legal work or services anymore.

Um, and this workshop is informational and educational only. It’s not a substitute for you seeking advice if you have a problem or a big question. Um, and I can clarify things as you’ll learn in the Q&A, but I cannot advise you what to do. Same goes for if you join the Ultimate Bundle, uh, my bestselling program.

Okay, now, get your typing fingers ready ’cause I got some questions for you. So before we get started, I wanna make sure that you showed up to the right workshop. So can you tell me if this sounds like you? Okay, give me yeses in the comments. You’re type A and about to start a business, and you want all your Ts crossed and all your dies, I- Is dotted, like seven times, before you do it.

Yeah. Okay. All my hands are up, too. I’m, I’m right there with you. Okay. You’re also in the right place if you’ve been googling answers to legal questions and it’s totally freaking you out. Like, every time you go to look for something, it’s like opening up a closet that, like, springs out a bunch of stuff at you.

You’re also in the right place if you wish you could get the legal piece taken care of so you could just focus on doing the work you love, which I’m seeing lots of yeses, um, which I imagine is not writing contracts and figuring out LLCs, I can imagine. You’re also in the right place if you’re about to start a new business or if you don’t know what you don’t know about the legal stuff.

I heard s- from so many of you, for all of those of you who sent me videos and voice notes and texts beforehand, um, yes, as so many of you said, “I just don’t know what I don’t know, and that’s what’s freaking me out.” You’re also in the right place if you wanna make sure that you do it right from the start so you don’t accidentally mess up or do something wrong, or if your business is growing and you just wanna make sure it’s legit because you know you’re not protected right now and it’s holding you back from showing up as you need to, or maybe even taking it to the next level, right?

For sure. Yes. Lisa, I see you. Angela, Debbie, thank you. Judy, she hears what I’m saying. Okay. You’re also in the right place if you run or plan to run an online business of any kind, like an online coaching business, courses, memberships, digital products, masterminds, selling things through, like, an e-commerce site.

If you’re a service provider, like a copywriter, a web designer, graphic designer, a YouTuber, a blogger, a podcaster, a content creator, or if you’re offering an online product for your in-person business. I have a lot of people who come here who are therapists who wanna start selling a course, or a doctor who wants to be a health coach on the side.

Really anyone with an online business. So if that’s you, you’re in the right place. Okay. Now, here’s the bad news. You’re not in the right place if you’re looking for a way to skirt the laws. I don’t help you do that. No lawyer should. Or if you feel 100% confident that you’re legally protected and you never worry about legal stuff, like, congrats, you don’t need to be here, ’cause that seems like a waste of your time.

You’re also in the wrong place if you just wanna hire me to represent you, ’cause like I said, I don’t do that. Or if you’re going to get annoyed when I invite you to my paid program, The Ultimate Bundle, at the end of today’s very value-packed training. Now, believe me, I only want it if it’s right for both of us, for you and for me.

Um, but also you can just come to this class and take what you need. So just don’t get annoyed at the end when I do talk about what I sell, which is hopefully what you are all going to be doing in your businesses. Okay. So let’s just… I’ll introduce myself. Oh, hey, Katie Garrison. Um, I’ll just introduce myself really quickly.

I’m Sam Vander Wielen, for anybody who’s new to my world. Am I new to anybody here? Give me a yes in the chat. Are you new? Like, did you just find me? Oh, cool. Am I old to anybody here? Have I been around? Yeah. I see some nopes and some yeses. Oh, referral. Cool. Okay, cool. Old, yay. Okay, cool. Thanks so much. Okay, so I’m an attorney turned entrepreneur.

I was a corporate litigator for about five years in Philadelphia, where I was born and raised. In 2016, I left to start my own health coaching business online. I really wanted to teach people how to cook, ’cause that’s what I do in, like, all of my spare time. But apparently, the universe had other plans for me, because when I started that online health coaching business and waited for all my little health coaching clients to call, instead my online phone rang off the hook with questions about legal stuff for online businesses.

And I was just like, “Guys, why are you asking me this? I’m not a, I don’t wanna do lawyer stuff anymore.” But eventually, I learned to take the hint, and at the end of the day, I’m a good businesswoman. And in early 2017, I shut down my health coaching business and I launched Sam Vander Wielen LLC to help you legally protect your online business.

And six- since 2017, I’ve become the leading legal educator specifically focused on helping online business owners. I’ve helped over 350,000 online business owners, um, learn how to get paid Get legit contracts in place, form their businesses, protect themselves from content, all of that good stuff. So I’ve done, I’ve done a lot in the last almost 10 years that I’ve been running this business.

You may have seen me in Forbes or heard me on, um, Financial Feminist with Tori Dunlap, or, uh, seen me through Kit or Cubicle to CEO with my friend Ellen Yin. Um, all the places. So I’ve, I’ve been around. I’m also the host of the On Your Terms® podcast. It’s my podcast with over 300,000 downloads. I’m the author of When I Start My Business, I’ll Be Happy, uh, through Hachette, one of the big five publishers, that came out last year.

Um, that book, by the way, is about how to, like set up your, the marketing engine of your business, has nothing to do with legal, and you have a chance to get it, uh, for free if you’re, since you’re here, in case you’re interested in the bundle. So hang on for that. Um, but I also am, am proud to tell you that I got that big five book deal, um, while running my multi-seven-figure business.

This business has been a multi-seven-figure business every single year repeating since 2019. Um, but it was also the same year that I was grieving the loss of both of my parents in that same year. Uh, and really just trying to be a good dog mom and keep Hudson, my dog, alive. Um, as you can see, there’s been some kind words from our, our friends Amy Porterfield and Pat Flynn and Nathan Barry, the, the founder of Kit.

Um, so basically, long story short, I’ve been doing this a little bit. Okay. So when I started my online business, I almost had a heart attack at what I saw online. First of all, I saw people just doing wild stuff that wasn’t okay. I still see that. Uh, I see a lot of copy and pasted policies or really poorly put together contracts that you got from a friend that you don’t really know what they say, so you throw like everything in it.

Who here is secretly guilty of that? I’ve seen it. It’s okay, and no judgment. This is a judgment-free zone. Um, and I’ve also, also obviously seen a lot of people just not set their businesses up correctly. I hear people say things all the time on social media that I’m just like, “Ugh, you shouldn’t say that,” or, “You’re, you’re not allowed to say that.”

And every day, it, people are in my DMs asking me about, uh, AI changes and like lawsuits that are the trending with like the ADA lawsuits. Um, people are asking me how to protect their content from copycats, and how to make sure that they can start their businesses the right way. So I knew it was urgent and that I had to help you learn how to set up your online business the right way, how to get contracts that actually cover you given what you do and, like, the way you do it, and also to help you confidently operate a business so that you could just go on and focus on the other stuff that matters to you.

Because if you wanna focus on what you love, you need the relief that comes with legally being up to snuff, right? Like, you’re not going to be able to grow this business if you’re constantly sitting there, like, death-gripping the wheel of it, right? So with that, we have to get a little scary story out of the way.

You know, it’s almost Halloween, so you can thank me later. This is a scary story, legal edition. So you have to know about one of the worst moments that I ever had as an entrepreneur. I was sitting in WeWork in Philadelphia. You have to remember, this was, like, late 20- or whatever we’re calling that, 2010s, I guess.

Yeah, so I was sitting in a WeWork in Philadelphia, and I was on an SEO meeting, you know, back when SEO still mattered a whole lot. It still does, but, like, a lot more. And my SEO contractor, Melissa, said, “You know, you’re getting all this traffic from this website,” and she tells me the name of the website, and it just sounded like a cute website.

Like, I thought it was a business coach or something. So I figured, “Hey, I wanna know who this person is. They’re sending me referrals.” So I go, I punch the website in, and can you imagine my surprise when I open it and it is literally my website with all of my customer testimonials, my literal customer pictures.

Back then, I didn’t have nearly as many customers, so I knew every person and what they looked like and all that. I had all my products, all my blog posts, every single word that I had paid probably tens of thousands of dollars at that point to invest in myself and others to create, plus all the time and energy and all that, all on her website.

Well, my website that she was pitching as hers Even, get this, there was a link and a call to action encouraging people to join my very own Facebook community, ’cause she didn’t even remove the URL from the, the link, right? Remember, thieves are lazy, right? You can always catch them somehow. Isn’t this crazy?

So it turns out that another lawyer who was trying to start a business selling legal templates like I do stole my entire website. And the entire story of how and, like, all the tech on the back end is boring. It’s not the point. The point is that when this happened, my attorney pants kicked in fast and I got to work, right?

I got the thing taken down in hours. And I know what you’re thinking. Like, you’re like, “Well, okay, you’re an attorney. That’s why you knew what to do, but, like, what the heck would I do besides just sitting there freaking out,” right? Well, that’s why in that moment it became my mission to teach you exactly how to legally protect your business.

I felt so, like… Oh, my gosh. Like, I can still remember what it felt like at the moment when I saw that, and I felt this, like, mama bear protective part of me come out and being like, “Nope. Not happening on my watch. I’m gonna teach people exactly how to make sure this doesn’t happen to them.” Because if anything bad’s ever happened to you but, like, you’ve known what to do about it, c- do you know that feeling when you’re like, “Okay, but the only reason I was able to get out of that was ’cause of me.

If, if you didn’t have my background, you wouldn’t.” So I just felt so angry on your behalf. Yes, Deborah, I felt so violated, but I was so mad on your behalf. The thing is, unfortunately, I know now, like, almost 10 years later of doing this stuff, this stuff definitely doesn’t just happen to me, even though it does still happen to me as a lawyer.

It’s crazy. But yeah, as Saral said, like, theft is so common, unfortunately, in this, in this industry. But Annie Miller, one of my friends and, and one of the Ultimate Bundle members here, she was done with clients pushing boundaries, asking for refunds, and then worrying that they were just, like, getting inspired by her content and that’s why she was buy- they were buying her course.

Chloe from Deeper Than Money had… When she came to me, she had really grown her money business quickly, but then she realized that she actually wasn’t confidence that… confident that what she had built was protected, so she couldn’t take it to the next level. Christina Galbato watched somebody that she was actually friendly with online steal parts of her signature course and then sell it as their own.

These are all real situations that have happened to me, to my customers, my colleagues and friends, but tell me in the chat, are you worried about any of these things happening to you, too? Probably this and some other stuff. Yeah, me too, Caitlin. Yeah, me too, Paula. Mm-hmm. Yes, same. Okay, so honestly, I’m from Philly, as I started out by telling you, so you’re gonna get a lot of like, honestly, honestly.

But everything I say is just that’s… You’ll learn very quickly this is how I am. But honestly, copycats are, like, only the beginning of what you should be, quote-unquote, worried about because… I put worried in quotes because y- I’m not really here to make you worried about anything. I’m here to make you aware, and then I’m a take action person, so we’re gonna like, “Okay, that’s some stuff.

We’re gonna go forward,” right? So, I say… That’s why I put, uh, worried in quotes. I’m not gonna really make you worried. Luckily for you, though, the five steps that I’m gonna be teaching you today will help you build a business that’s legally compliant. And so today, we are focused on what you must know, and you cannot afford to skip any of these.

So let me tell you real quick what five we’re gonna go over, and tell me which one you’re most excited about. Step one, I’m gonna teach you, um, how to know when the right time is to actually legally protect your business. Step two, I’ll teach you the, how to register the right business entity and learn how to protect your personal assets.

Step three, I’ll teach you the one thing that you have to get in place now so that you never worry about getting sued again. Step four is I’ll teach you the right contracts to have in place so that they actually say what they need to say in order to protect you. And step five, I’ll teach you how to stay in bounds, how to only teach, sell, and talk about what’s legally allowed.

Um, and as a bonus, if you stick around, I will also give you all the legal updates you need to know regarding AI, the ADA lawsuit trend, and privacy concerns. So, yeah, that’s what we’re gonna go over today. Okay, this is very important. People always find this to be, like, a really reflective part of the class.

I need you to tell me in the chat, how would your life change if you knew that your content and your business were legally protected? What would be different for you? Tell me in the chat. How fantastic would it feel to have the confidence that this stuff is just taken care of? What could you focus on instead?

I wanna hear some specific examples from people of what you would be able to do if you didn’t have to worry about this stuff. Yeah, you would be more confident, relaxed. I see tons of peace of mind, confident, focus on… Yeah, sleeping better. That’s super important. Without sleep, we don’t have anything. Being able to breathe.

Okay, well, between breathing and sleeping, these seem pretty important. Yeah, more confident. Yep, you can enjoy your, your business. Yeah, it’s really hard to enjoy your business if you’re constantly worried about everything, you know? Yeah, Tracy says you would actually be able to start your business. I see a lot of people saying, “I would be able to start,” right?

Like, if this is a thing that’s holding you back, that’s why this class is so important. Yeah. Okay, so you’re probably wondering, like, how do we jump into this? Let’s do it. So step number one is knowing when the right time is to actually… to, to legally protect your business actually is, okay? So, I have a little story.

Has anybody here ever watched Married at First Sight, the show? Okay. I’m not a huge, uh, um, reality fan, but I used to watch that. Okay. No biggie if you haven’t seen it. The gist of Married at First Sight is that two people get married who have never met before. Uh, that’s all you need to know. And on the show years ago, there was this one couple that wasn’t connecting with each other.

Like, they just… Like, they had a little something between them, but they really weren’t connecting, right? And so, uh, the… One of the relationship coaches comes, one of the therapists comes and sits down with this couple and is trying to figure out what’s going on, and the woman says of the couple, you know, “He’s just not opening up to me.”

And the, the husband responds back, “I’ll be vulnerable once we fall in love.” Does anybody remember what the therapist said in return? This was so brilliant, and I think, like, such a, such an important life lesson, let alone a relationship one. Then the therapist said, “You’ll fall in love once you’re vulnerable.”

And it was just such a huge mindset shift, right? Because this guy was holding out and wasn’t connecting with his now wife that he just met, uh, because he was waiting to be vulnerable with her. But he didn’t see how he was never gonna fall in love with her unless he was vulnerable first. Well, guess what?

Same goes with your business, right? The time that you should think about legally protecting your online business is when you decide to start one. A lot of people come to me, and they’re like, “I’ve started my online business, and I’m waiting until it becomes successful in order to protect it.” And it’s like, well, you’re not gonna be successful unless you legally protect it.

One, because it’s not gonna be a legitimate business, so other people aren’t gonna take it seriously. And I do think energetically it’s sending, like, a sign to the, the universe or the whatever, like, to say, like, “Hey, I’m in this. I’m invested. I take this seriously.” But also, you’re… If you’re… All the things that you all just told me, that you’re, you know, uh, nervous, that you’re, you need peace of mind, you want this confidence, how are you going to build a business if you don’t have that first, right?

So we don’t wait to build the business and then legally protect it. We legally protect it so that we can build it, right? We have to stop believing that this might not work out. Who’s here gonna be honest with themselves that you’re just, like, hedging your bets ’cause you’re like, “This whole thing, like, might not work,” right?

So we have to start actually planning for it to work out because your thoughts impact your actions, right? It’s very important. It’s very true. And you owe it to yourself to see how good this can go. I heard this the other day in my Peloton walk. Kirsten Ferguson said, “You owe it to yourself to see how good it can get.”

And I was thinking, like, very true. I believe in that with future-proofing in your business. You have to act like the business that you envision in order for it to become your reality. So I’m a big, big fan, if anybody’s been on my, uh, email list for a while, or you’ve ever listened to my podcast, you know I talk about future-proofing a lot as a mindset, and that this was really for me the thing that unlocked my business from being like a multiple six-figure business to being a multi-seven-figure business every year, was that I started thinking about, “Okay, this is the business I want to build, and this is what I want it to look like.

What things would that business owner do and not do in her day? What would the business in general do and not do?” And then like instead of waiting for my business to get there to start doing and not doing those things, why don’t I just do it now? And that’s what I did, and my business like like really fast, right?

So I think this is a really helpful mindset. When it comes to legally protecting your business, you’re protecting what you’re building, not necessarily what you have now, right? So that’s a big thing that you have to remember, is like so many people are thinking like, um, “Oh, my business isn’t big enough, you know, to- to-” right this second.

And that’s not what we’re legally protecting. We’re building. We’re protecting like what you’re building. You’re on the way up. Thank you. They’re all my quotes. I appreciate it. Most of them are actually quotes from my- my email newsletter that people wrote back and loved, and then I was like, “Oh, they should be in the workshop.”

Um, so my friend Caitlin here is a- a member of the Ultimate Bundle. She got the legal glow-up, as we say. Um, she was a copywriter turned coach for freelancers, and she refused to take on coaching clients until her copywriting business was legally sound. So she used the Ultimate Bundle to get legal, and she made $29,000 from her coaching practice and $32,000 from her online course.

In other words, she future-proofed her business. She got legal, and then it took off. So to get where you’re headed, long story short, you will need legal protection too. In fact, it is the first step that I think will help you get there because there are immediate benefits to getting legal stuff in place.

Like, like I mentioned earlier, you’re going to look and actually be professional to other people. You’re gonna get paid on time. How do you plan to actually get paid if you don’t have anything legitimate that you can actually enforce to force people to pay you for what they said they would, right, for what you’ve delivered, like all the hard work you’ve done?

You also need it to protect your content, um, to set clear boundaries with clients, and then to attract and work with the right clients. We don’t just wanna work with anyone. I know that can be a big mindset shift for people who are just starting out because you’re just kinda, you know, really wanna get some clients under your belt.

We don’t want just any client. We want the right clients. You deserve that. Now, Liz here said, “I feel a huge weight lifted off my shoulders knowing that I’m protecting myself and fine-tuning my scope of practice, um, with my online course. I didn’t realize how much it was holding me back until now.” Okay, now step two, we’re gonna talk about registering your business.

Who here has not registered their business yet, or doesn’t even know what that means, so therefore probably not? Yeah. Cool. Thanks, Aunt Sophie. Mm-hmm. Yep, not registered yet. Cool, cool. Okay. So the point of registering your business is that we want to separate you as a person, you as a human, you’ll hear me talk about in a sec, from your business so that if or when something is a problem, like there’s a lawsuit or a debt or some problem happens in your business, there’s a threat of some sort, that only the business’s assets are at risk, right?

In other words, in fancy lawyer talk, our goal is personal liability protection. That’s really what it means, right? So, but when I say personal liability protection, what that means is that we don’t want you to be responsible for whatever happens in your business, at least legally speaking, right? So first I’m gonna go over the general, like, what the general 30,000 foot view of registering your business is, and then we’ll go over LLCs and sole proprietor.

So to register your business, you register in the state where you live and work, right? That’s what you have to do, ’cause you have to pay taxes there if you live in America. If you live overseas, you typically do this in whatever state you still have a residence in, or if you have a driver’s license in, or at a family member’s house or something like that.

But you register your business in the state where you live and work, and you do that by choosing a business entity type first. So first you’re just choosing, like, what is the structure for my business? Like an LLC, sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, all that kind of stuff. And then you file it based on whatever your state says that the steps are to file an LLC, for example, in Indiana, right?

And then to register your business, you have to file those forms, pay those fees in, in your state, right? There’s no federal thing. That’s just in your state, wherever you live and work. And then as soon as you do it, in 99.9% of situations now, these are all an online form and fee that you pay, and you actually get everything typically immediately, if not within a day or so.

And then your business is, is registered. That’s really what overall the business registration process looks like. So then the question becomes, okay, but w- the big thing was, like, if I go back to the last slide, it was like you pick a business entity type. That pretty much is 99% of the time is just people deciding, like, which one of these things, and then it’s just filing it.

So people typically come down to a sole proprietorship or an LLC, right? A sole proprietorship is what a lot of people start with, but the question is, should they? Probably not. That’s, that’s the answer. So a sole proprietorship can only ever be owned by one person, so if you have a business partner, you can’t do that.

It also offers you what we call zero personal liability protection. So you get absolutely no protection as a human for whatever happens in your business. So if your business gets sued, it’s the same thing as you getting sued. So your house, your car, your boat, your partner’s, uh, bank account that your name is also on, everything is fair game.

So that’s not, no bueno, right? Not good. So that is typically why I don’t like sole proprietorships, um, why it’s not a great option for people if you want to be legally protected. Now, it’s also why a lot of people will choose an LLC, which stands for limited liability company, okay? It’s an alternative to a sole proprietorship.

An LLC can be owned by more than one person, so it can also be owned by yourself. That’s fine, too. And it offers you what’s called limited personal liability protection. Now, does anybody here already have an LLC? ‘Cause if so, I have a very important thing coming up with, for you in a second about… Yeah, okay, good, ’cause a lot of people get LLCs, but then they do it wrong, and it’s like as if they didn’t have one anyway, so you don’t actually have the protection that you think.

So we need to talk, okay? So we’re gonna talk in a second. But w- I want you to pay attention. This was your, come back to me, okay? But the LLC, um, offers you what’s called limited personal liability protection because with an LLC, you have to act like an LLC, first of all, and second of all, some states in America, uh, I’m not gonna go over all of them right now, but some states in America, if you own an LLC by yourself, they start to give you a little bit of trouble about allowing you to protect yourself personally.

There are lots of things you can do though to bump that, to, like, boost it essentially. Now, the point with an LLC is that if your business gets sued, only your company’s assets are fair game, so your business bank account or any assets, um, that your business owns, but not your personal bank account, not your personal joint bank account with your partner or your spouse, none of that stuff, right?

So that’s the point. That’s really what we wanna do to legally protect ourselves. Was that helpful to anybody? Did that help, like, clarify the kinda breakdown? Yeah. Thanks, Carrie. Okay, cool. So when you have an LLC, this is why I said earlier, if you have an LLC, I need you to come back to me. When you have an LLC, everything has to be between your LLC and your client.

So your contracts are by and between Sam Vander Wielen LLC and Sarah Smith, right? Your insurance policy has to be in your business’s name and then add you as a person as an additional insured. You have to have your website policies in your name. Your website itself should be in your name. Your little copyright symbol on the bottom of your webinars that 8,000 people sign up for have to have your LLC name, right?

‘Cause I’m doing this webinar on behalf of my LLC, not me personally, right? All your transactions, all your payments, everything, what you get paid, what you pay for, all has to be through your LLC. Now, if you already have an LLC, I need you to hang in here because I got another thing to add to this list, okay?

But by building a barrier between you the human, okay, that’s you, you’re the yellow human over here on the left, and then there’s a brick wall between you, and then there’s your business. We want to strengthen this brick wall. That is really the goal. That’s really what I’m here to help you do. It’s what the Ultimate Bundle helps you to do.

But I help you to build a barrier between you as a human and your business so that you keep yourself, the human, legally safe, right? Now, if you have an LLC, you need to act like an LLC in order to get the protection that you think you’re afforded from it. That means you need to maintain very clean, separate personal and business bank accounts.

You n- your charges every month, your credit card charges need to go on your business card for your business and your personal for your personal, right? You have to have contracts between your LLC and your client, like I said. You have to keep very detailed … These are requirements of having an LLC. You have to keep detailed and organized bookkeeping, right?

So you can have, like, a pile or a box of receipts somewhere. And you have to make it clear that you are an LLC. So you have to make it clear by having, like, what I have on the bottom of the screen, right? Like, this is my business. I’m doing this presentation on behalf of my business. Um, my website says it.

You know, it- you have to have it in all of the places. Now, just checking in over with Alexis here. Are you getting excited about how simple it can be to grow a legally protected business? You, can you see why just, like, getting this stuff in place would make you feel better? Maybe give me a yes. Thanks, Laura.

Yes. Thanks, Caroline.

Cool. Now, it’s usually this time that I start to see somebody say, “Yes, but I’m overwhelmed,” or, “Yes, but it’s complicated.” I saw somebody say that. Um, I hate to be the person that’s like, “Don’t be,” ’cause that doesn’t really help you when you’re overwhelmed, but honestly, this is just one of those things that, for me, this is like the laundry, where I talk about it more than what it actually requires.

So, like, it’s one of those things where we’re actually talking about it longer today than it will actually take you to get this done, if that helps you to feel any better. So Jessica, don’t be stressed. Okay. So yeah, just breathe. I, I swear, like, I got you covered, and honestly, I think I just break this down very easily and I have all the stuff for you, and it’s fine, but we are literally talking about it longer today than it will take you to just do it.

Uh, sometimes though, that’s how it is, right? Like, when you’re learning, like, this is all new. This is very, this is very new and it’s overwhelming. And I re- I heard a quote earlier that was talking about how most people, um, don’t quit because it, things were hard. They quit because they thought it was supposed to be easier.

And I was like, “Oh, that’s such an interesting way to think about even what we’re talking about today,” because it’s like people think this is all supposed to be so easy, but if, it’s like, if everybody… If this was all so easy, first of all, we’d have, like, nine billion businesses going around. And, like, do you know how hard it is to build a business as big as my business is now?

I never intended to, right? But I, looking back on it, I’m like, “Wow, I did so much work.” And I don’t think it’s other people can’t do it. It’s that other people thought it was supposed to be easy, and I just think that’s, like, a healthy mindset going into this on the front end, of being like, “Why would this be easy?”

Like, this is cool, and like, what a cool privilege and opportunity that we all get to do this together, right? And that I get to teach it. So, um, it’s amazing. Anywho, um, that’s my, my last inspirational quote for the day. Um, so for step three, getting… I’m gonna talk about the one thing to get in place now so that you never have to worry about getting sued again, all right?

That is business insurance. So business insurance is what financially protects you in a lawsuit by providing you with a lawyer, paying the lawyer’s bill, and then paying for the settlement or judgment that’s found against you in the end, right? So, um, that’s a huge, huge lift off your shoulders. Yeah. So what kind of business insurance do you need?

That’s typically the question. There are many different kinds of business insurance. The term business insurance, just like an umbrella term, is like a dozen different types. Don’t worry, you don’t need all of them. You probably only need one, if maybe two. But like, that’s it, right? Unless you have a really big, wild business, but that’s typically it.

So which one you need depends on what you do, how you do it, how much coverage you want. Now, the most popular kinds, the kind that most of you probably need, are professional liability insurance. That’s the one that you might also hear referred to as E&O or errors and omissions, right? That’s, um, the one that covers mistakes that are made in your services and offers.

Um, so that’s a really important kind of insurance because that’s the kind of insurance that kicks in when, let’s say, you’re a health coach and you’re working with a client, and then they have, like, a bad health, you know, effect from it, and then they blame you by suing you or threatening to sue you.

That’s the kind of insurance that kicks in. Um, to Eve’s point, this is typically the kind of insurance that people refer to as malpractice insurance. It’s not really malpractice insurance, uh, i- in the, like, typical sense, but it is, is essentially… it’s what people will refer to as. Malpractice insurance is for doctors and lawyers, um, typically to protect their license.

Uh, it’s a little bit different, but it’s essentially the same concept of, like, covering mistakes in your services and offers. Um, yes, and marketing coaches would need to have this kind of thing, too, because if a marketing coach recommended that you try some funnel tactic and then it costs the person a ton of money, they’re gonna sue you to say, “Hey, you told me to do this.

I did it. It cost me money.” And this is the kind of insurance that would kick in. The other kind of insurance that people will sometimes get in our industry is called commercial general liability. It covers bodily injury and property damage to someone else, so not to yourself, but to someone else. So, like, if you were hosting, like, a yoga class at…

or giving, like, a workshop somewhere and somebody slips and falls when they come in, that might be the kind of thing that covers it. Um, it can also cover things like libel and slander

So there may be different kinds of insurance that you need depending on your situation. Uh, you can always talk to a business insurance agent to be sure, and if you are in the bundle or end up joining the Ultimate Bundle, I’ve got tons of resources in there for you and some referrals, um, to who I recommend.

Okay, now, a little fact check that’s very important. Legal protection only works from now on, so now moving forward. You actually don’t get backdated protection for stuff that you’ve already done. Did you know that? So a lot of people come to me and they… One of the reasons why they wait to get legal stuff in place is because they’re like, “Oh, I’ll just get it later, and then, like, that’ll cover me for everything.”

But unfortunately, that’s not how it works. It only works from here, boop, moving forward Okay. Now, step number four, we need to get the right contracts in place so they actually say what they need to say in order to protect you. Attorney-prepared contracts and policies prevent the wrong kind of people from working with you in the first place.

That is the mindset that we need to have. Is anybody here thinking, like, “I don’t wanna use contracts because I’m too scared to scare people off,” right? A lot of people think that. I get that. Um, funny enough, fun story, I, for me at least, I always think it’s funny because people will, like, think that my contracts are gonna be really long, like my contract templates, but my contract templates are shorter than the ones I see people create on their own because people do this, like, kitchen sink thing where they, like, start throwing everything into a contract because they don’t know what it says.

So, like, my contracts are not that long and scary. And also, anybody who doesn’t want to sign a contract to work with you, I would seriously question, like, what they intend to do, or not pay you or something like that, right? So we need the right people, like Angela said. So contracts are really meant to send, uh, to set clear boundaries more than anything.

In my 10 years of doing this, I can tell you that at the end of the day, it’s really setting boundaries, like not having to offer more than what you said, not going longer than your time period that your contract allows, and just having a guide essentially that navigates a sticky situation. That’s really what you need.

And so with contracts, the terms of your work together are laid out nice and neat in an easy-to-read contract that’s just specific to what you do. Now, what you essentially need to do is make a list of any services or products that you offer and see, like, “Which contract do I need for this thing?”

Sometimes you can double-dip, like with a, a group program and a mastermind, for example, or with a membership and a digital product, you can use the same kind of contract. I would encourage you, uh, if you were in my program, to create two versions of it. But sometimes you can double-dip. Sometimes they’re different.

Like if, for example, you were coaching clients one-to-one, that’s a client contract. That’s very different. But if you were doing a membership or an online course, for example, that would be a terms of use contract. For one, the substance of the contract is really different because you need people in, uh, like a course, for example, to agree not to steal your content, right?

Um, but also, they might have, like, monthly payments in there, or, like, they might get access to other information about other people’s businesses in there or something like that. So there are other things we need to cover, and that’s why I have customized all these contract templates for you so that they essentially cover the different, like, scenarios that come up in each one, right?

If you wanna run a group program, use something like a group program con- uh, contract. I have things like an affiliate agreement if you wanna start an affiliate contra- or affiliate program, all kinds of things. Now, there are also four policies that your website needs, which sounds a lot more intimidating than it actually is.

These are very easy, um, and some of them are legally required, so it’s not like we really have a choice. Um, I’ll go through all of them in turn really quickly so that you know what they all are and where they go. So the first one is the terms and conditions. So terms and conditions go on the bottom of your website, uh, like all of these policies do.

They go in the footer of your website as an independent link. So like terms and conditions says on the bottom, and you click that, right? So terms and conditions really outline, uh, the, the term- the terms and conditions of using your website. So it’s like, what is your content sharing policy? Who do they contact if they have an issue?

Are there refunds and returns, right? Like, um, do you use third-party links and attribution? Do you have an Amazon affiliate policy? Any of those kinds of things, boop, all go in here. Obviously, they’re all built in to my template, so you don’t need to guess as to what goes into any of these. It’s just there for you.

But I’m explaining what they do and what the purpose is. Two is the website disclaimer. This is the one that lets people know who you are, what you do, and what you don’t. Because the point of doing that is that you need to say like, “Hey, I’m Katie, I’m a fitness coach, but I’m not your doctor.” So that’s really important because then you need to know that if you read something here, check with your doctor first, you know?

So something like that. The privacy policy, the third, third website policy, is actually legally required to be on your website. I would say number two is the legally smart one to be on your website, but three is legally required, okay? So we are required to have this on our website, thanks to a number of federal privacy laws, as well as a d- bunch of state laws in America that apply to all of us, regardless of where we live.

Like California, but for example, has privacy laws that apply to everyone, everywhere, as long as people from California can access your website, which, like, of course they can. But the privacy policy lets people know how you take in people’s personal information. So like, do you have a contact me form? Are you building an email list, right?

Uh, do you have a form that s- people fill out that asks for their birthdate and their phone number? Anything like that. Even just the person’s first name and email address can be enough to trigger the legal requirement for a privacy policy Now, the fourth and relatively new thing that you need to consider is that you need to have a website accessibility statement, okay?

This is a short statement that, again, goes on the footer of your website that lets people know with disabilities how they can access your site, what steps you have taken in order to make it more accessible, and if they have any issues, who to contact and how, right? Really, really important because, uh, obviously we want our websites to be accessible to everyone.

This is also important and will come up a number of times today because this is also at the heart of the, uh, ADA website lawsuit trend that’s going around right now, where a lot of small business owners are getting hit with web- uh, website lawsuits for not having this statement, but obviously also not having their website actually be accessible, which is the most important thing to me, right?

But it, it… this is one part of the part that has to be, uh, that has to make your website compliant, right, and accessible. Now, the other thing is that it typically is helpful to have a tool to use on your website, I have one on mine, that allows the user to make it more accessible. These two things are very helpful.

They are not necessarily the end of the story. They don’t necessarily solve all accessibility problems for all people, unfortunately. But today I am teaching about kind of what we can do generally speaking, especially for the beginner. I don’t want you to get too bogged down in the details, but of course we wanna make our websites accessible and we want to generally comply with the law.

So it’s really mixed on, like, is this enough? Is it not enough? I can’t tell you. I will never tell you because I’m also not your lawyer and I, I can’t give you legal advice, but, uh, my goal is to first and foremost make websites accessible and to help you to be legally compliant the best you can within reason of being a new business owner.

Okay. Now, contracts are the written proof that you will absolutely need in order to get paid on time, ’cause there’s no getting paid on time if you don’t have a contract, to defend yourself if you’re accused of doing or not doing something. So if a client says like, “Hey, she never sent me the eighth, uh, version of my book,” and then you go back and look at the client, it’s like, or the contract, and it’s like six.

Like, okay, well then you didn’t violate it, right? So that’s very important, so you have to have a contract for that. It’s also the thing you need to set clear boundaries with your clients when they ask for something that wasn’t promised at the outset, which happens all the time. You need to make sure that your contracts are enforceable.

So having contracts is not enough. Having a ChatGPT or a Claude contract is not enough because it’s probably not very good. You probably didn’t send or sign it correctly, which will then make it not enforceable, so it doesn’t really matter, right? It’s not about just having one. You need one that’s actually legally enforceable and been drafted by a lawyer.

Copy and pasted contracts usually aren’t because they’re missing so much stuff, but also because people are not sending and signing them properly, which is what I teach people how to do. Now, just checking in, are you seeing how having these simple legal pieces in place would make you feel so much more clear, protected, and confident?

‘Cause you told me earlier that that’s what you were going for. I just took a little guess with this. Yes, I see a lot of yeses. Mm-hmm. Perfect. Okay. Good, good. Glad to hear it. Cool. All right. Good. Okay. So I wanna move on to step number five ’cause I’ve also got the, all these legal updates for you. Um, yes, for sure.

Okay, so step number five, we’re gonna talk about staying in bounds, okay? Only selling, teaching, and talking about what you’re legally allowed to talk about or teach or sell, right? Uh, Jennifer, I think you might be surprised, plus I got a deal for you today, um, so just hang in there. Okay, we’re gonna talk about scope of practice.

What you’re legally allowed to do and talk about is, is, uh, essentially referred to as your scope of practice, right? So that’s what you do, you can and can’t do, teach, sell, et cetera, but that’s all based on how you’re qualified, educated, certified, or licensed, right? So it kind of depends on you and also where you live, right?

Every state controls its definition of what a lawyer can do or what a nutritionist can do and what a physical therapist can do and how they have to become qualified, right? If your state doesn’t define exactly what you do, like your state probably doesn’t define health coach, then you have to look what I- to what I call your hover professions.

These are the professions that are right around you, next to you, that hover over what you do so that you make sure you’re not doing those things as to not violate, like, the unauthorized practice of medicine or unauthorized practice of therapy, right? So that’s the way that I typically recommend people.

So if you were a health coach, for example, or somebody wanna give me an example of what kind of online service provider you are or coach you are, something like that in the chat and I’ll, I’ll give you a specific. Okay, so I see Sydney’s a health coach. So in that case, right, you’re looking at what, like, a doctor and a therapist and a physical therapist and a nutritionist, an RD can do, right?

A life coach or a psychic coach I think somebody said here might be looking at what a therapist and a doctor can do. So you’re kind of looking to those hover professions because you need to make sure that nothing that you do ever falls within those bounds, right? What is most important about scope of practice in general is that you are doing what you say and then saying what you do and nothing else.

So you’re not saying, like, “I’m a health coach and not a doctor, so here’s some medical advice.” That’s not what I’m talking about, right? A lot of people come to me and they say, like, “Oh, don’t worry about it. I have something in my contracts that says that they understand I’m not a doctor.” And then I’m like, “But you’re offering lab reviews online.

You can’t do that because you’re not a doctor.” “Oh, but I have it in my contract that I’m not a doctor.” It’s like, no, no, now you’re just telling… You’re just, like, putting yourself on blast that you’re not a doctor. That’s not the same thing, right? So it is not about just, like, covering yourself with legal language.

It’s about actually making sure you learn what you can and can’t do. That is a l- a, like, in the end what will allow you to sleep tight at night because you will know that what you’re doing is within bounds and it’s okay, but also you’re not gonna hurt anybody, right? That’s really, that’s really the goal here.

And that you’re not gonna be doing anything that is outside of your comfort zone, um, based on your licensure or your educational experience or anything else, right? In other words, legal documents will not get you out of legal trouble if you do things outside your scope of practice. You have to be consistent.

If you say you’re not a doctor, you can’t do doctor stuff. If you say you’re not a lawyer, you can’t give legal advice, right? Very important. Now, who here has a professional license? Is anybody here, um, a therapist, a, maybe a physical therapist, um, a doctor, a lawyer? Yeah. Cool. So I always have a lot of therapists here, OTs, RNs, doctors.

Yes, cool. Very cool. Lots of lawyers I’m seeing. Oh, no. Um, so very cool. Okay. So if you are here and you have a professional license, I’m assuming that you’re here, let me know, because you’re also trying to start something else, right? Like a coaching business or sell a course or a digital product, a, a membership, something like that, I’m assuming.

So if you wanna start something online but you’ve got a license, you essentially have the scope of practice of whatever you’re trying to start. So, like, for example, if you were a doctor and then you were trying to sell an online course about something related to health stuff, you’re not a scope… Your scope of practice is not a doctor selling stuff online, it is a health coach essentially, because now you’re trying to work with everybody everywhere, plus you’re trying to protect your doctor license.

If you’re a therapist and you’re trying to create a course, we’re not creating a course with you being like, um, you know, you’re a therapist, but then you’re creating a, a course about therapy or s- trying to be their therapist, right? Like, you’re trying to separate it. So essentially, your scope of practice becomes the same as everybody else’s, and your job essentially becomes like mine, my job, which is like, yeah, I’m a lawyer, but I don’t do any legal stuff for anybody, and I make it super clear to, like, a painstaking point.

Probably to the point where I hurt myself, right, and I, I sacrifice sales, which is fine by me, because I’d rather be safe and clear, right? And I don’t want anyone’s money. I don’t want anybody being confused that I’m gonna offer them legal advice. So you’re going to be in the same position That you just have to be very clear about it.

And protecting your license means not relying on it, right? So, that’s the important thing. Okay. So now, let’s hop into our legal update. I know so many of you signed up today because you were curious about, like, what’s going on with AI and privacy and all the things. So as I mentioned earlier, there are these pesky ADA lawsuits.

Now, I, I wanna make it clear from the outset that accessibility is of utmost priority to me, and it is something that I respect and desire and all of these things. Like, th- this is not about that and the validity of making your website accessible. That is a non-negotiable step for me, okay? So I’ll make that very clear.

What we are talking about, though, are predatory lawsuits. So these are coming from usually a single plaintiff filing thousands and thousands of lawsuits against businesses they had no intention of ever shopping with, right? That’s what’s going on. This is happening a lot. I’ve had it happen to many, many of my friends.

And although there are not monetary damages available to people for getting sued for this, what is happening is that they are hiring lawyers, the lawyers are sending scary letters, and then people are settling. I have one friend who settled for tens and tens of thousands of dollars, another friend who settled for $10,000, one that settled for a little under.

So it is expensive, right? And though this is probably not covered by business insurance, ’cause it’s not the kind of thing that business insurance covers, right? So that is going on. Then we’ve got AI. AI. So much to say. Um, but for today I will just say that it’s very important that you know that you may not own the w- the work that you’re creating with AI tools.

There was recently a Supreme Court case that basically ca- the court came down and said it kind of depends on how much human involvement there is with the tool, right? So if you are literally, like, asking… You’re putting in a prompt and it’s just generating a bunch of random, like, text for you, then that’s not the kind of thing that you own, right?

Um, to Lara’s point, I think if you’re putting your own work in there, asking it to edit it, and then taking it out, you still own that. My bigger concern for you, Lara, or for anybody doing that, as a lawyer, is that when you go to put your stuff in the AI… So let’s say you’ve written something yourself, you put it in and ask it to edit it for you.

Well, what you’ve put in there now becomes part of the universe. S- so now it has access to it and can give it to other people, and then give… Make it part of the output for other people. Right? So I have a lot of legal concerns as to that part of it. Does that make sense, Lara? So there’s that With AI, we also have the issue of that y- the fact that you might have to label things that you’ve used AI in the process for.

So this could be like creating, uh, Canva slides but using AI-generated images. Um, some states like New York, for example, have a rule that if you have any sort of advertisement or content and you’ve used people, like, uh, AI-generated people or images of people, you have to let people know about that, right?

So very important, um, that the… to know about these new labeling laws, um, one of which actually goes into effect, uh, on January 1st. Then we’ve got the matter of personal privacy. So this is keeping your personal privacy protected. This is becoming more and more important. Um, there are a lot of things you can do.

One thing to know is that, like, the, the address that you use on the bottom of your emails, for example, it doesn’t have to be the same address that you use to register your business. It can be a PO box or a virtual mailbox or anything else. So you don’t have to use that. There are many ways to go around, um, and try to, like, clean up the internet in that, in that sense And also, there are tools that you can use that go around the internet and essentially gobble up your personal information, which might be a smart thing for you to do if you’re creating a content-oriented business, right?

Now, the last thing I want to say about AI is that, and Toby, obviously, we can talk about this more in the live Q&A, but your output might actually infringe on someone else’s intellectual property. So you have to remember that when it gives you output, it could be relying on books and written, uh, text from other people.

That is their intellectual property, and now you don’t know what part of what you’re doing is, uh, is actually infringing on somebody else’s. So it’s very complicated. I just think it’s something to keep in mind with, like, what you’re putting in. Obviously, turning off training helps, but I don’t believe that that’s the end of the story.

Um, and I think it’s just really important to remember that also what you’re getting from there is also built upon the backs of artists, uh, and content creators’ work, right? So, uh, people s- like me who’ve written books and, and people who have done lots of things, uh, is very important just to understand that that is what’s going on.

So yeah, uh, to whoever just made a comment about Maddie, yeah, I, I agree with you. I just… It’s not really, not really, uh, the point of my training today. I c- you can hear plenty of my thoughts on my podcast about what I think about AI, but, uh, it’s just not the point. We just also need to know how to legally protect ourselves, but I hear you.

Okay, let’s review. So you’ve just learned to focus on where you’re headed and not where you are now when it comes to legal protection. You’ve also learned that registering the right business entity protects your personal assets and that the proper contracts and policies, uh, must say what they need to say in order to protect you.

We also learned what your website needs to be legally protected and how to know what you legally can do and teach. We talked about all those legal updates. And also what, that you need legal protection before you’re ready because you don’t get backdated protection. But also, we learned you need legal protection because you’re not gonna feel confident enough to move forward until you do.

Now, you told me earlier that you’re here today because you want to stop relying on ChatGPT and Google as your lawyers for information that you’re not even sure is right and get information that you can actually rely on. I know you’ve tried DIY-ing the legal and financial stuff for your business for yourself, but now you want a lawyer who knows online business s- stuff to tell you what you need.

And I know that you also wish you could get the legal piece taken care of, um, in one fell swoop because that way you can focus more on doing what you love. Do you guys all still stand by that response from earlier? Think so? Yes. Okay, good. Cool, cool. All right, good. Still in the right place. So you’re about to put all of that behind you, ’cause I got something for you, and say goodbye to those sleepless nights.

Somebody earlier said, said that they, uh, couldn’t sleep, so I’m about to resolve that for you. It’s your time to stop hoping that the universe will protect your business just because you have good intentions. It’s time to stop the Google and cross-my-fingers charade for good. It’s your time to get legally protected and stop looking over your shoulder, wondering if anybody else will notice that you stole somebody’s privacy policy.

Whoops. And it’s your time to get legally protected with a proven step-by-step system. Now, this is not just possible for an attorney like me. My customers don’t have a legal background or fancy legal skills, although I do have lots of lawyers in there who are not selling legal templates. Please do not buy this if you are selling legal templates.

Um, but they just used my foolproof legal templates and system to legitimize their businesses. And if they can do it, I fully believe that you can do it, too. The Ultimate Bundle is trusted by over 4,500 online business owners. And as Ashley said, “It’s the cheapest form of instant relief I have ever bought.”

I can open- Megan says, “I can openly talk about what I offer, knowing it is legally protected.” And guess what? In order to grow your business, you’ve gotta be able to openly talk about it. Karen said, “It already saved me from a bad situation.” Um, the con- Fueling Financial Freedom said, “The greatest investment I have made in my business so far.”

Today, I’m inviting you to download all the legal templates and the trainings that you need inside of the Ultimate Bundle. This is my baby, uh, almost nine years old now, because these are the templates and trainings that are your next step to growing a successful business. Okay? I’m gonna break down everything that’s inside.

Does anybody wanna see what’s inside of it? I feel like I wanna see. I recently renovated this thing. I re- completely redid it. Mm-hmm. Yeah, me too. I’m excited to show you, ’cause I feel very proud of it, um, and we should. So, this is the exact program that you need in order to legitimize your business, to stop stressing over legal, to know that you’re doing everything right.

You can stop worrying that you’re doing everything wrong. To take the next steps in your business, to get paid on time, and to boldly grow the business of your dreams, all with the support of a lawyer with instant relief. That sigh of relief, that peace of mind you mentioned earlier. Haley said, “I can’t tell you how much relief I feel having these contracts and not the pieced together ones I’ve had- I’ve thrown together, as well as the website disclaimer, terms and conditions, and privacy policy.

Thank you for creating this amazing resource for coaches and entrepreneurs.” Courtney said, “I bought the bundle and created my first legit coaching contract. Holy moly, the energy I had after this huge hurdle that I’d been avoiding became an easy step, and I felt like the coach I wanted to be. And wouldn’t you know it, I got two more clients later that day.”

Sorry. Now, what’s inside the program? Okay, so there are 10 core legal templates. I’m gonna talk about that in a second. I’m gonna show you all of the, uh, templates that are included. I’ll also share the 10 legal template video tutorials that are there. There are 35 video lessons, which I will break down, um, for you to show you what’s inside.

You get lifetime of the program access. You get updated templates and trainings at no additional cost. So I keep the templates updated, I add additional trainings, and I don’t charge you any more You get a private member only community. Uh, you get support from me inside of that community as well as Leanne, who’s here right now, Monday through Friday.

And then exclusive access to additional workshops and Q&A sessions, a monthly member only newsletter, and a big discount and bonuses which are incoming. Okay, cool. So the 10 legal templates that are inside, which are all written for you, all the legal language by the way, is written for you. All you’re doing is filling in the blanks of like your personal info.

So you’re just p- you’re just putting like your name, your address, or your, the price that you’re charging. It’s just your personal stuff. I’ve written all the legal stuff for you. So there’s the client contract, your terms of use, which can be used with courses, memberships, or digital products, the website disclaimer, the privacy policy, the terms and conditions.

Those are the three major website policies. Um, the independent contractor agreement, the group coaching contract in case you offer c- uh, groups, a mini disclaimer, which is what goes on your content, your affiliate agreement if you wanna start an affiliate program, uh, the shop policy, so if you sell on places like Etsy or you have e-commerce things on your site, that’s what you can use that for.

And then I’ve added in there as a bonus, which you have more bonus templates coming for you, but I’ve added in as a bonus, a testimonial release. That’s what you can send to your clients when you get a testimonial or the webs- uh, oh, and, sorry, and the website accessibility statement. So the one I told you earlier that you have to have on your website now, that I am including for you as a bonus.

Now, with every single legal contract template, you get a how to video tutorial with each and every one that helps you to fill it out in 15 minutes or less. So let’s break down what’s inside all of those, um, ultimate bundle video training libraries. Okay? Now, I have completely revamped the Ultimate Bundle.

I have filmed it from top to bottom. I have compressed it, made it much more snackable for you so that you could go through what I’ve just showed you, those, those 10 DIY legal templates, and then the videos that go along. That’s considered part four. But right now, I wanna break down these first three parts because that’s where all of those 35 videos live that I was talking about.

So that’s where you’re going to find the how to start a business videos. Let’s look at it right now, okay? So yes, Cora, you have access to this, uh, as long as you need. You have access to the videos and the, um, templates themselves. Okay. So part one of the Ultimate Bundle is about how to start a business.

This is a 10-step short video series that I created just recently, completely revamped, all filmed at Kit Studios. They look beautiful. Um, literally walking you through step-by-step how to start a business. So it’s registering your business, forming it, getting business insurance, setting up your business bank account, learning how to pay yourself, getting your contracts, setting up your website policies, figuring out how to legally protect your email list, going over your scope of practice in much more detail than we could obviously dive into today, and then learning how to protect your content, right?

Now, part two is the part I know nobody wants to talk about, but we gotta put it in there. It’s when you hit those legal bumps in the road, right? So these were the videos I created for, like, when this thing happens, go and watch this video. By the way, this is not a course. This is not meant for you to, like, sit down and go through.

This is meant for, like, you go and you, you snack on what you need at the moment, right? We don’t eat the whole pantry. So for right now, uh, if you would go into this, like, if somebody didn’t pay you, for example, you would go into this, and you would, um, you would, uh, if somebody didn’t pay you, you would watch that video.

If somebody asked for a refund, then you would watch that video, right? If somebody stole your content, you’d watch that one, and so on. So I’ve gotten… I’ve got all of that, um, settled for you. Um, by the way, please, just as a reminder, don’t… no sharing other links in the chat. We’ll remove the link, and if you do it again, we’ll remove you, just so you know.

Okay. So, uh, anyway, th-this is the part that you come to if you really need any help in the moment. The third part I’ve included for you are kind of all the things that come up in the course of running a business. Like, I saw somebody in here ask about, like, moving, right? Like, what if you live in California now and then you move to Florida?

What do you do with your business? So I have that covered. I have a whole section on how to protect your privacy online. I have a section on how to have an AI disclosure, right? How to get testimonials from your clients, all of this kind of stuff that just comes up in the everyday running of your business.

Yes. So I do also cover trademarks. Um, that’s in- included in step 10 of protecting your content in this part one. I talk about trademarks and copyrights. So I teach you how to do both. Okay. Now, after getting the Ultimate Bundle, you will be able to quickly complete your contracts and website policies on the fly.

You’ll be able to confidently promote new products knowing that you’re protected. You’ll be able to scale your business without fear, bi- big deal, and you’ll be able to breathe easy knowing you’ve got legal help in your business’ corner. Now, I know what you’ve all been waiting for, the bonuses, and to find out how much this is, and, like, what it comes with and how to join.

So let’s do that quickly and then get into the Q&A. Now, I am offering you, as a thank you for signing up for this training, $850 off the Ultimate Bundle. That’s $850 off if you pay in full. You get $720 off if you choose the payment plan. Um, the price of the Ultimate Bundle goes up to $2,800 after this week, so you only have this week to take advantage.

Let’s break down the bonuses that are available to you, okay? So you can see here, on the purchase on training, you get everything if you purchase now, right? So you get the $850 off, or you can do a 12 payment plan of $189. We’ll go over that in a second. Um, you also get the website accessibility statement that I threw in there for you.

You get the business owner’s guide to taxes, a how to file a copyright and how to file a trademark video training. Those are actually t- two video trainings where I walked through and filed one in real time, and you get to watch me do it, so you could do it on your own if you want. You’re also gonna get a live Q&A support call with me.

Um, that’s gonna happen in December. You’re going to get four additional bonus, uh, templates, the NDA, that’s a non-disclosure agreement, a podcast guest contract, a retreat contract, and a speaker contract. All right? So you’re gonna get all of those. If you purchase by Friday, you lose the live call with me and you lose the four templates, and then you obviously lose the book and the email list builder course.

Okay? So- I also wanted to throw in a pay-in-full bonus. People always ask me for this. If you choose to pay in full today, I’ll also send you the How to Launch Your First Facebook Ads campaign. Um, this was actually a mini course that was built by my Facebook ads people that I used for years, and it’s a, a really valuable $600 training that I’ll give you for free.

Okay. Leon just dropped the link in the chat. If you know you wanna join the Ultimate Bundle already and you wanna make sure you get my book and you get the, um, email list builder course, go ahead and hop on it. I’m also gonna ask you, if you end up buying it, please let me know in the chat so I can thank you personally while you’re here.

Um, but if you purchase during this class, um, then I will, uh, I just wanna make sure that I can thank you. Um, okay. So let’s hop in and go over the pricing and all that good stuff. If you asked your attorney to draft all this from scratch and cover all the hours of training that I spend inside the bundle teaching you all this, it would be well over $12,000.

The actual retail value, I think, of all of this is well over $12,000. But today, I’m offering it for $850 off pay in full, um, which makes it a one-time payment of $1949, or you can take 12 payments of $189, okay? So you just pay those 12 payments of $189, and then you’re done. There’s no additional money after that.

Now, tell me which one sounds better for you to pay. So there’s two payment options. The one-time payment of $1949, it’s normally $2,800. That’s how much it will go back up to, uh, after this week. Um, or the 12 payment plan, which is 12 payments of $189 per month, okay? So there are monthly payments you make for the next…

You pay one today, and then 11 more payments of $189. Normally, it’s 12 payments of $249, okay? Now, all 12 of those payments are required. It’s not a subscription. It’s not cancelable. It’s just us allowing you to pay it over time. And yes, you do get access to everything right away Now, how to enroll. You just click the link in the chat that Leanne’s gonna drop right here.

You can enroll right now, and then you type in your, um, details on the checkout page, and you get instant access to the Ultimate Bundle and everything that’s inside. This is what it looks like. Like I told you, the videos are beautiful. They look so nice. Uh, perfect lighting, perfect audio. It’s all, it’s all in there.

Um, but by tonight you could easily have a legit cli- client contract, you could learn how to form your business, or tackle any other question that you have in a jiffy. Um, the lifetime access refers to your access of these videos and the legal templates themselves. They are downloadable. So yes, you get lifetime of the access, lifetime of the program access to all this stuff, uh, in there.

I can’t promise you that when I’m 98 years old I will be, uh, on Facebook or answering anyone’s questions, but you have access to this, and I’ve done this for a very long time. Okay. Now, you can join today. The total value, as I mentioned, of the Ultimate Bundle, uh, and the bonuses, well over $12,000. If you choose the payment plan, you can start today just for $189.

So the payment options are one payments of $1,949 and 12 payments of $189. Just, uh, it’s the payment plan option. Like I said, all 12 of those payments are required. It’s not a subscription you can’t cancel. Um, okay, let me know in the chat if you ended up purchasing… Oh, thanks, Ira. Thank you. Welcome to the bundle.

Oh, thanks, Heidi. Thank you so much. Um, so you can join today to save over, um, or almost $850. Again, it’s going to go up to $2,800, or 12 payments of $249. So, uh, very important. Um, I wanna also clarify, this is a business expense. Even if you haven’t registered your business yet, you can count this as a business expense online, okay?

So very important, just keep the receipt. It’s okay if you have to put it on your personal card today. I know I just taught you to put that all on there, but if you haven’t registered yet, that’s normal. You will have to purchase this, you’ll have to purchase your LLC, you’ll probably have to purchase a domain name before you have a business account.

So yes, you can use your personal card, keep the receipt, which we will send you, obviously, um, and just tell your accountant when you start your business, like, “Hey, I invested in this legal program and it’s gave me contracts and whatever, and that’s how I started my business,” and it counts as a business expense.

So very important, okay? Okay. I know you can grow a strong, stable business once you’ve got the legal foundation that the Ultimate Bundle will give you, but you might have some doubts, so I want to go over that quickly before we get into the Q&A. You might be thinking, “I don’t need… You know, I don’t think I need to invest in legal support yet.

It’s too early for me.” Well, I literally got this, uh, DM last week, or this comment on Instagram last week, saying, “Your contract saved me from a ridiculous chargeback situation. I’m so glad I got the Ultimate Bundle as soon as I started my business.” Now, chargebacks are a serious threat in our industry.

This is where people buy stuff from you, and then they issue a chargeback threat to their credit card saying they never got it, but they really, they did. It’s just that they don’t wanna pay for it. Um, it’s… If you don’t have the right things in place, they will always side with, uh, the customer. So very, very important.

Yes. Um, okay, cool. So let’s see. Simone said, “When I signed up for the bundle, which is worth every single penny, it was like a guiding light that would light my path and I was able to walk down it.” It was very important. Uh, Simone also says, “You cannot not afford to get Sam’s bundle. It has everything you need to get started in your business and protect yourself as your business grows.”

Um, oh, thank you so much, Kelly. Thanks, Carrie. Thanks, Nat. I appreciate it. Thanks, Sarah. Apparently you got it. That’s awesome. Okay, so now, uh, S- Stephanie, who’s a career coach, said, “At least once a month I refer to the Ultimate… I refer the Ultimate Bundle to someone. I’m super grateful I invested in it. The bundle is the best out there right now for anyone that has an online business.”

Um, thank you, Monique. Jeffrey said, “Do contracts still need attorney review?” So that’s up to you. If you choose to do that, you certainly can. I recommend it for your most important contract. So you don’t… I, I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily worth it for all of them, but, like, if you are primarily coaching, for example, and you’re primarily leaning on the one-to-one cl- uh, coaching contract, you could have that reviewed.

That would be a great one to invest in. But that will be a lot more affordable than having them draft it from scratch. So very important. Um, the chargeback copy, uh, is all built throughout all of my contract templates, and you need to have it not only in the contracts, but you need to have the contracts in the right place and have them signed in the right place, and that’s what I teach you how to do.

If you’re wondering if you could just do this on your own, Molly said she used the Ultimate Bundle to knock stuff out so easily. She was able to get her EIN, her LLC, and her mailing address all in the same day. Lynn said, “Cannot thank you enough for helping to greatly simplify this process. We feel super confident and empowered.”

If you’re wondering, can I just, can getting legal actually help me grow my business? Amy said, “When it came to starting my own business, I could not take the steps I needed to because fear of not following the right steps, not being legally protected, screwing up in something I did or said, or having someone know who I am.”

It felt like she should be hiding. Well, not anymore. She pur- purchased the Ultimate Bundle, followed the steps, and now she has her own business up and running. She feels at ease and has a sense of confidence that she hasn’t felt in a really long time. Now, what about two years from now when my business changes?

Will I still be legally covered then? I know so many of you ask me this. Now, remember, updates are included at no additional cost, and yes, you have lifetime of the program access to the legal templates and the trainings, right? So, Holly, if you have any questions about whether you need the bundle, just ask me here and we can go over it in the Q&A as well.

Now, Brittany says, “It’s everything you need and no question worth the startup cost, although the extended payment plan is incredibly helpful for a new business owner. I find myself referring back to it over and over again. No need to use Google when you have Sam and her community.” When we reached out to her to ask her if we could use this testimonial, she said, “This still rings true.

I’m about to launch a new course and have it set on my calendar to get it legal and refer to the Ultimate Bundle this week.” Now, if you’re wondering if my bundle is the best for you or whether you should shop around, I won’t take any offense to it, but Breen Gardening said, “I actually bought from another person previously, and the two don’t even compare.

I was never able to use hers because it was so boilerplate with no explanation of what anything meant. You’ve made the stuff I’ve been dreading so easy and understandable.” Jenna said, “I just met with a lawyer. She was stunned at how well set up I am. She said she’s never seen someone coming in to her already so well set up with disclaimers and knowledge about things.”

Whitney said, “This might be the best investment, aside from my business coach strategy session, that I made this year. Best legal bundle on the planet, \#nojoke. Thanks, Linda.” Okay, Lena said, “Investing in the Ultimate Bundle has been the best move that I’ve made. Having this community here to seek help and insight from is keeping me sane.”

Now, if it’s something you’re not really sure if your business needs, Nicole says, “It covers all the bases I was worried about in my small business, plus some. It saved me time and made me feel less anxious and worried.” Oh, thank you, W and Abba. Let me see. Oh, Gina, um, Wendy, thank you so much. I appreciate it.

Couple questions. Is the Ultimate Bundle for you if you haven’t started your business yet? Yes, because you’re actually going to use it to start your business. What if you’ve had a business for a while, but you don’t have legal protection? Is it too late? Um, no. There’s no better time than the present. How quickly can I get the templates set up and start using them?

Well, you get instant access, and they take about 15 minutes or, uh, less to fill out. Will the Ultimate Bundle teach you how to register an LLC? Yes. Read a contract you have to sign? Yes. Hire? Yes. Set up an affiliate program? Yes. And get business insurance? Yes. Question five: How is the Ultimate Bundle different from other legal template packs with training on the market?

Well, first, one, it’s the original, and everything else is kind of, uh, an iteration of it. But also, it includes access to me inside of the community. You’ve also got the support of, like, over 4,000 members at this point who all have had a lot of great experiences and, like, uh, have a lot of knowledge in, probably in your field even.

Um, so I think you’ve got the support of the whole community. Plus, I keep it updated, and that’s included for free. Plus, you have access to it, and that’s included for free. So, yeah, that’s all good. Uh, can I just learn this information for free on my own? No. There’s… No. That’s just no. Why should I join the Ultimate Bundle now instead of in a month or two?

Well, you’ll lose the live call with me in December. Uh, you’ll lose the four additional legal templates and also the email marketing class, plus everything else. Yeah. Oh, thanks, Lorna. Okay, so the Ultimate Bundle. Um, yes, you can pay off the payment plan early. You can also switch cards on the payment plan.

That’s a question a lot of people ask. So, like, if you sign up with your personal card today and you get your business card within a couple weeks or a month or whatever, you can switch it later. So we have all that is available for you. I would love for you to come inside if it’s right for you. Thank you, Annalisa.

I’m so grateful that you joined the bundle. Thanks, Deborah. Thanks, Melissa. Thanks, Dr. Monica. Thank you so much. Thanks, BJ. Appreciate it. Thanks so much for listening. If you wanna join the Ultimate Bundle with us during this promotion that ends Friday, October 23rd, click the link right now down in the show notes to get your discount and all of those sweet bonuses that I was just talking about.

Or you can head to samvanderwielen.com if you wanna learn more and join us today

Thanks so much for listening to the On Your Terms® podcast. Make sure to follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you like to listen to podcasts. You can also check out all of our podcast episodes, show notes, links, and more at samvanderwielen.com/podcast. You can learn more about legally protecting your business and take my free legal workshop, Five Steps to Legally Protect and Grow Your Online Business at samvanderwielen.com.

And to stay connected and follow along, follow me on Instagram @samvanderwielen and send me a DM to say hi

Just remember that although I am a attorney, I am not your attorney and I am not offering you legal advice in today’s episode. This episode and all of my episodes are informational and educational only. It is not a substitute for seeking out your own advice from your own lawyer. And please keep in mind that I can’t offer you legal advice.

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