How to legally protect you and your business: Interview with a lawyer
I've talked about how important the design of your website is but the legal aspect of your website or online store is crucial for keeping you in business.
Do you know if your website is legal?
I had the chance to interview lawyer and blogger, Amira Irfan from ASelfGuru.com.
She shares her knowledge on how to protect yourself and your business.
INTERVIEW WITH AMIRA IRFAN
Can you tell everyone about what you do and your background?
Sure, I'm a business lawyer, six-figure blogger, and coach from Florida.
I blog over at ASelfGuru where I teach entrepreneurs how to protect their online business legally and how to gain the business skills they need to become their own boss. I've had the honor of helping over 10,000 bloggers and entrepreneurs with my affordable legal templates and coaching services.
Blogging is my side hustle that I started with my full-time job as a lawyer because I wanted to create a business that allowed me to help entrepreneurs around the world while providing me the autonomy to work from home.
When and why did you decide to become a blogger?
It all started when one day, I stumbled upon a YouTube video of two six-figure bloggers. That’s when I realized that blogging could be a viable way of making money online. I decided to start blogging the next day because it was a low-cost investment and something I could pursue with my full-time job as a lawyer. But one of the big reasons I decided to become a blogger was that I wanted to teach and help entrepreneurs how to protect their businesses legally.
This desire to help others stems from the time when my dad got sued for $90,000 as an entrepreneur. So I know exactly how painful, devastating and expensive lawsuits can be! As a lawyer, I could only help one client at a time, but as a blogger, I can help thousands of entrepreneurs at a time with my affordable legal templates and services. That’s huge and this kind of global impact could only be achieved with an online business!
Blogging gives purpose to my life.
It allows me to help other entrepreneurs avoid making the legal mistakes that leave them financially and emotionally broken because we experienced that with my dad’s lawsuit, and I’d not want anyone else to go through that.
What have you learned through blogging that you didn’t know before?
Omg, everything! I didn’t know a thing about blogging when I started. We are constantly learning and improving things as bloggers. Fortunately, I invested in the right tools and resources from the beginning to learn the ins and outs of blogging quickly.
Otherwise, I’d have been completely lost and frustrated.
What advice do you have for bloggers and entrepreneurs?
I’ll share 3 critical pieces of advice if you are blogging to make money:
Don’t be a perfectionist.
Take off your perfectionist hat and just put yourself out there. Produce quality content that serves others and give more than you receive. This will truly make you and your business memorable, which in turn will increase your growth.
No man is an island.
Don’t try to figure out everything on your own and waste valuable time! Instead, learn from the best bloggers and entrepreneurs out there who have achieved the success you desire.
Protect your business legally.
This goes without saying that all your hard work goes to waste if you get sued! I see thousands of businesses being sued every day for non-compliance with the law and for legal mistakes that could have been easily avoided with the right legal documents and contracts.
So any business you start (whether online or offline), you must take action to cover yourself legally and protect your valuable assets.
How should entrepreneurs legally protect themselves and their businesses?
Great question!
The easiest way entrepreneurs can legally protect themselves and their business is by having the RIGHT lawyer drafted legal documents and contracts in place.
Don’t think you can grab any free generic legal template and it will protect you in the long run. I have personally audited tons of free legal templates in the last 10 years and have found them to be missing key legal provisions exposing you to risk and lawsuits.
Hire a lawyer to protect your business or invest in paid legal templates drafted by a lawyer that offers you the same protections without the hefty price tag.
Can you share what type of legal information should be on an entrepreneur’s website?
When you start an online business, you need to have 3 legal pages on your website to comply with the laws and protect yourself legally.
Here are the 3 legal pages you must have on your website before you launch:
A Privacy Policy
A privacy policy is a legal statement that informs the person using your website how you collect and use their personal information. You are required to disclose this information by law. A privacy policy is legally required on every website no matter where you reside because you are collecting personal information of other people such as their name and email address. More and more online businesses are being sued for violations of people’s privacy such as Facebook, Yahoo, Snapchat, Target, and others.
See different examples here.
So it’s crucial to have a proper comprehensive Privacy policy page on your website that shows your compliance with the different laws and protects you. I see bloggers and entrepreneurs often wondering how to write a Privacy Policy themselves?
The good news is that you don’t have to because I’ve created a Privacy Policy template that includes all the legalese you need! So just grab the Privacy Policy template here and ensure your compliance with the law in the next 15 minutes! Plus save yourself the time and hassle of trying to put together this important legal document on your own and making mistakes.
Disclaimer page
The second legal document you must have on your website is a proper Disclaimer that includes your affiliate disclosures as well.
A disclaimer on your website is a statement that serves to limit your legal liability for the content you publish. It also informs your website visitors that all information on your website is for informational and educational purposes only. This way, you protect yourself from anyone relying on this information and later suing you. I’m sure you have seen medical/health disclaimers all the time when someone is talking about health or giving some sort of medical information.
Another example is my legal disclaimer on my website that states:
Although I am a lawyer, I am not YOUR lawyer and that the information on my website does not constitute legal advice and does not establish any kind of attorney-client relationship.
It serves the same purpose to limit my legal liability for the content I publish on my website. So depending on your niche, you would need a proper disclaimer that serves to protect you and your business from lawsuits.
A disclaimer is also very important because on this page of your website, you would disclose your affiliate relationships to your readers. This is required under the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) rules. If you are using affiliate links on your website then you must disclose that to your readers otherwise you could be fined by the FTC.
There are tons of different disclaimers and limitations of legal liability language you’d need to have on your website to cover yourself legally. Obviously, this is not something you should skimp on! If you don’t have this legal page on your website then grab my affordable Disclaimer template here to protect yourself legally.
Terms and Conditions
The last legal page on your website is called the Terms and Conditions. It’s also referred to as the “Terms of Use” or “Terms of Service.” These are basically your website rules… what you permit on your website and how you want to run your business.
It includes many important legal provisions such as:
Where you would like to resolve legal disputes
and how?Your copyright legal provisions
Your refund and exchange policies for the products you sell on your website
Your right to terminate someone’s use of your website and/or content
Who does your website serve?
What’s the intended age of your visitors?
And much more! You get the point.
This is an important legal page that encompasses both your Privacy Policy and the Disclaimer pages to form a legally binding contract with your visitors. Some bloggers and entrepreneurs forget about the Terms and Conditions until they run into a legal dispute with a customer, for example. Then they realize they didn’t have any legal policy to protect them.
Don’t make that legal mistake! You can easily grab my Terms and Conditions template here.
Starter Legal Bundle
Better yet, grab my most popular Starter Legal Bundle here that includes all 3 legal pages I discussed above at a huge discount! With this Legal Bundle, you not only save tons of money but also get the satisfaction of knowing your legal pages are comprehensive enough to protect you.
This is a common response from my customers after they grab any of my Legal Bundle packages:
“I can sleep better at night, thanks to your legal templates. My website is now in legal compliance.”
“Your Legal Bundle took my blog from being just a blog to an actual protected business.
You rock!”
“I was so lost and overwhelmed and none of the free legal templates addressed my blogging needs. I’m so happy I purchased your legal templates and I was able to customize and start using them within minutes.”
“Legal policies and contracts are so expensive but your legal bundles are so affordable and perfect for entrepreneurs. I was on a budget and your legal templates saved me so much time and money. They are so easy to read and customize.”
If you are ready to ditch the overwhelm and feel instant relief and peace of mind knowing your online business is protected legally then grab any one of my affordable legal bundles here.
What types of services and products do you offer?
There are two things I offer:
DONE FOR YOU LEGAL TEMPLATES
If you visit my legal store, you will see tons of legal templates that entrepreneurs need depending on their business. All these legal templates were created because so many entrepreneurs requested them. So these legal templates are quite popular, and I’ll share 9 of them here.
I already talked about the 3 legal templates you need for your website above. Then after that, you will need additional legal contract templates depending on what you are doing with your business.
Some of those popular templates include:
Freelance Contract Template
If you are a freelancer or hiring a freelancer to help you with your business then obviously, you’d need a freelance contract template for that here. Legal contracts should be your best friend in business because they protect you and your valuable business and personal assets.
Sponsored Posts Contract Template
Sponsored posts are where brands pay you to write a blog post, post on your social media or create a video, for example. They are a great way to make money as a blogger, influencer, or freelancer. But often bloggers end up in a pickle when they diligently perform their end of the bargain, but the other party doesn’t live up to their promise.
For example, you work for days writing and publishing a sponsored blog post and then imagine not receiving payment for your work on time or not receiving payment at all. This happens a lot! If you are creating any kind of sponsored content to collaborate with brands then you’d need my Sponsored Posts Contract template here.
Confidentiality Agreement Template (Non-disclosure Agreement or NDA)
An NDA stands for Non-disclosure Agreement. It’s also referred to as the Confidentiality Agreement between the parties. This legal contract is needed to protect your secret sauce, as they say, meaning protecting your business confidential and proprietary information, so others don’t steal your ideas, trade secrets, and become competitors.
If you are about to collaborate or work with someone where you’ll share your business information with them, then you’d need my confidentiality agreement template here to protect your business secrets and proprietary information from being stolen.
Media Release Agreement Template
A Media Release Agreement allows you to use someone’s name, likeness, photos, testimonials, videos, etc without getting into legal trouble! The other person gives you the legal right to use these on your website and in your business marketing with or without compensation.
With the Media Release Agreement, you can safely use other people’s personal intellectual property without worrying because that person has signed a contract to release you from legal liability. Without this legal contract, you can get sued for violating the other person’s right to privacy and publicity and you’ll end up owing them A LOT of money.
This template is a MUST for any entrepreneur and grab your Media Release Agreement template here.
Partnership Agreement Template
When two or more individuals want to operate and manage a business together to make money, they need a partnership agreement. A well-written partnership agreement covers all kinds of legal jargon, responsibilities of all partners, how the business will be run, each partner’s profit, etc. Without a partnership agreement, you run the risk of getting into all kinds of legal issues such as only one partner doing all the work while the other partner is still reaping the rewards and profits for free.
There are 100 different legal loopholes and problems that could arise without a partnership agreement in place. Protect your business with this 11-page Partnership agreement template that includes 30+ important legal provisions you must-have in your partnership agreement!
LLC Operating Agreement Template
If you have incorporated your business by forming an LLC then great job! You just took the first step to separate your business from your personal assets to protect yourself legally.
But do you know you need an LLC Operating Agreement?
This LLC Operating Agreement legitimizes your business and separates your business from your personal assets like your personal bank account, car, and house. Without this agreement, you cannot show to the court that your business is separate from you, so you will be personally held responsible for the business debts, losses and lawsuits. Even if your state doesn’t require you to file the LLC Operating Agreement, you still need this legal document for your records in case of legal disputes.
Make sure to grab your LLC Operating Agreement template here.
No matter which legal template you get from me, all of them are comprehensive enough to protect you but won’t cost you an arm or a leg or your firstborn. :) If you were to hire a lawyer (even me), it would cost you 5 times more to get the same legal protections for your business. So these legal templates are a great investment for your online business and for the peace of mind and security they provide.
Want to get instant access to all the legal templates above plus 10+ bonuses?
Then grab my Premium or VIP Legal Bundle here.
WORK WITH ME ONE-ON-ONE
Aside from my legal templates, I also offer legal services where you can work with me 1:1. One of those services is blog legal audits where I review your entire website and business to ensure your compliance with the laws. So if you are unsure about something, sign up for that service and even receive my Starter Legal Bundle (your 3 website legal page templates) for free as part of it!
Another way to work with me is by scheduling a coaching call.
This one is quite popular because I became a six-figure blogger in my first year of blogging (with my full-time job as a lawyer), so other bloggers want me to teach them my tips and tricks. If you have any questions about how to make money online or legalizing your business then I can give you personalized help over the phone to help you succeed quickly.
Lastly, if you need a custom contract or any other legal document for your business then you will love working with me! I write contracts and legal documents for a living! I have written ALL kinds of legal documents and contracts for over 10,000 entrepreneurs and clients that I’ve worked with as a lawyer for more than 9 years now.
So if you need a legal document tailored to your specific needs, just reach out to me.
You can also connect with me in my Facebook group here.
Is there anything else you’d like my readers to know?
Is your online business legal? Find out the 3 legal mistakes you could be making as an online entrepreneur and how to avoid them! This free legal guide shows you how to protect yourself and your business legally in just 30 minutes without pulling your hair out, losing your sleep or wasting hours upon hours. Thank you Amira for such great information on how to keep you and your business protected.
Amira Irfan is a business lawyer and six-figure blogger from Florida. She blogs at ASelfGuru.com where she teaches you how to protect your online business legally along with the business skills you need to become your own boss. You can connect with her on Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest | Twitter
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I believe can be an asset to your business. I hope you will find them useful!