Today on The Legalpreneur Podcast, I am clearing up some confusion around what defines a business owner. Unfortunately, many freelancers and entrepreneurs are operating without the legal protection they deserve, simply because they aren’t aware of their status as a business owner.
If you are working towards earning income from the goods or services you provide then you are characterized as a business owner. Even if you haven’t officially launched a company or you aren’t making money from your enterprise yet; it is the pursuit of profit that legitimizes you. In this episode, I help you determine if you are a business owner and what legal steps you should take to protect yourself in your venture.
Key Takeaways:
[0:55] The Legalpreneur book is now available
[2:23] Are you a business owner?
[4:05] If you operate a business and aim to profit from its success, you are a business owner
[6:10] Legally protecting yourself with education, written contracts and an LLC
[7:54] A brand is a name, design or feature that distinguishes you from another business
[8:40] You can have a business without having a brand
THE LEGALPRENEUR BOOK IS FINALLY HERE!
It’s available at the following online retailers:
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Walmart
Get Legally Protected!
Want to legally protect your business without the seemingly over-complicated approach? We have THE solution for you, the Legal Protection Playbook! Get started here.
Links:
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Disclaimer:
The Legalpreneur Podcast is advertising/marketing material. It is not legal advice. Please consult with your attorney on these topics. Copyright Legalpreneur Inc 2022
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Legalprenuer transcript:
Andrea Sager 00:03
Welcome to the Legalprenuer podcast. I’m your host Andrea Sager founder and CEO of Legalprenuer Inc. As a serial entrepreneur and someone that works exclusively with small business owners legally protecting their business. I’m dedicated to covering common legal issues faced by business owners, providing you with the business knowledge you need to catapult your business’s growth, and showing you just how some of the world’s most elite entrepreneurs have handled these legal and business issues themselves. In true attorney fashion, the information in this episode is not legal advice. This is for informational purposes only. And you should always consult with your attorney before implementing any of the information in the show. Hey there, welcome back to The Legalprenuer podcast. Today’s episode, we’re covering businesses. Are you a business owner? This is a question that often surprises me when people aren’t quite sure. And so I want to answer it very thoroughly. Because there’s a very clean answer to know whether you’re a business owner, and I want to make sure that you’re aware, because if you think you’re not a business owner, that might be why you haven’t protected yourself legally or done certain things to make sure you’re legally set up. And that’s what often gets business owners in trouble is they don’t realize they’re actually a business owner. So that’s what we’re gonna cover. But first, you guys, y’all, my lady’s Oh, my gosh, the Legalprenuer book is finally here. I cannot believe it. I am so excited. Look at this, if you’re watching YouTube, look at this. It is here, you can get it on Amazon, Barnes and Noble. And we will actually go to the Legalprenuer.com We will have a version that you can purchase signed, you can buy a signed copy of the Legalprenuer.com. But I am so honored that it’s finally here. And I’m so honored that so many people have actually bought it already. Like that’s my biggest thing. i It’s so funny that I was in my own way for so long. Because I thought who’s gonna want to buy this. It’s a book about legal protection. everybody’s scared of it, everybody making up the stories in my head, just like we all do. Everybody does it. But I finally realized, oh, I want to be the mom that doesn’t just tell my kids, they can do anything I want to show them they can do anything. And by not writing this book, I’m not showing my kids, they can do anything. So I finally realize, Okay, it’s time, it’s time to write the damn book. And so it started out on this journey over a year ago. And here it is. It’s finally here. So if you’re able to get your hands on it, I would be so honored if you purchased it. If you shared it with a friend, anything you can do to help get the word out around the book, I would be so honored. Okay, anyways, are you a business owner, I didn’t realize this was a thing that people didn’t realize they might be a business owner until I think a year year and a half ago, I had somebody that came to me and she said, Oh, I you know, I, I can’t remember she quit her job or she got laid off. And basically, she said, You know, I’ve been freelancing on the side. And you know, I have these contracts right now. But I really want to own my own business and to learn bah, bah, bah, bah, I was like, girlfriend, if you want in these contracts, you’re the one performing the work. You’re a business owner. And where I think the confusion comes is the difference between a brand and a business, which I’ll cover very briefly, I’m going to do a more in depth episode. But first, I want to make sure you realize that you probably already are a business owner. Okay, so the actual definition of a business owner, if you Google like business owner terms or business owner definition, there’s a bunch of different definitions that come up. But I liked this one the most from business terms.org. The actual definition of a business owner is an individual who owns and operates a business small or large with the aim of deriving profit from its successful operation. And I think that is the most important distinguisher when figuring out am I a business owner. And this of course, some people will be like, Oh, I’m gonna have nonprofit, like, let’s take that out of the equation for this episode. When it comes to being a business owner, even if you had not have not yet made money, but you’re branding yourself, you’re posting on social media, you’re getting the word out, you’re building buzz, and your aim is to derive profit from that operation. You are a business owner. It doesn’t matter if you haven’t yet made a dime. You are a business owner. And that’s what I want you to truly truly understand. You may not be profitable yet you may not have officially launched your offer Yeah, your business yet. But if you’re doing things in the background, you’re preparing this, you’re preparing that. Maybe you even have clients, you are a business owner. And I want you to feel that like because I so many people are like, Oh, I dream of being a business owner, and they dream of the, you know, one day doing this or that. And it’s like, Hey, you actually already are a business owner. And you should own that. And feel into that, and know that, hey, even if you’re not yet profitable, you are on your way to being profitable. So because the question comes up a lot of times with freelancers, consultants, or people that haven’t yet launched their business, they haven’t yet sold anything. They think, Oh, I’m not yet there to protect myself, I’m not yet there to actually having a business, you actually are. Even if you think, Oh, I’m just a freelancer, I’m just a consultant, oh, I’m just this, I’m just that if you are doing something with the aim of deriving profit from that thing, you are a business owner. And that means you should be doing all the things that a business owner does, which is legally protecting yourself. And I, it doesn’t mean, oh, you have to go and file all these trademarks. That’s not it at all. It is making sure that you’re number one, you’re educated around the legal stuff. So if you’re listening to this, you’re well on your way, you’re doing a great job so far, and you’re putting those protections in place, you’re getting that LLC as quickly as possible, you’re prepared to use written contracts, when you do have clients, you are aware of what intellectual property you have, and you’re aware of when you’re going to actually file for those registrations. So the whole goal of this episode for me is to make sure that you understand, hey, you may already be a business owner, because so many times I just get people that don’t think they are already a business owner, and then it ends up hurting them in the long run because they didn’t realize they could have been doing these things necessary to protect themselves. Okay, now the difference between a business and a brand. As we know, the definition of a business owner is somebody who operates a business small or large, with the aim of deriving profit from that thing from that business. Now, a brand is a name term design symbol, any other feature that distinguishes one sellers good or service from those of other sellers, and this is basically a trademark definition. Trademarks distinguish one business one brand from the other. So a business is one that is there to derive profit, a brand is one that tries to distinguish itself from another so you can have a business and not have a brand. A business is one that is aiming for profit, a brand that is really trying to make a name for itself so people know there’s a difference between them and the next person. Now, I don’t want to go into too many details here because I like to keep these episodes short, sweet and only like one digestible concept. So we’ll leave it there. You most likely already are a business owner. And next week, next Friday, I will dive into the difference between a business owner and a brand. I hope this is helpful. If you have any topics that you would like me to cover on an upcoming episode, DM me on Instagram, let me know. And don’t forget to get your hands on the Legalprenuer. But I will see you. Here at Legalprenuer we’re committed to providing a supportive legal community for all business owners. I know how scary the legal stuff can be. If you found this information helpful, I would be so grateful if you could share it with a fellow business owner. And quite frankly, it doesn’t cost anything to rate review or subscribe to the show. Your support helps me reach more listeners which allows me to support more business owners in their entrepreneurial journey. Have any questions or comments about the show? Feel free to drop me a line on Instagram I promise I read all of the messages and comments. And if you want to be a guest on the show or know someone that would make a great guest simply fill out our application form and a team member will reach out if we think it’s a good fit. I’ll see you in the next episode.
