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85. The Worst Online Business Myths: Busted
Episode 85 • 16th January 2023 • On Your Terms® | Legal Tips Meets Marketing Strategies for Online Business • Sam Vander Wielen
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Have you ever heard advice that sounded too good to be true? You're not alone! In this episode, I'm sharing the real truth behind some of the most common online business myths.

I asked people on Instagram what was the biggest myth they believed about starting an online business and the answers were enlightening. From people who believed starting an online business would be easy to those who thought starting a business would be hard, the range of responses was fascinating. I'm also discussing legal myths such as LLCs, business insurance, scope of practice, and contracts. We'll be taking a look at why people believe myths, the truth behind them, and how to protect yourself and your online business.

In this episode, you’ll hear…

  • The danger of believing and spreading online business myths
  • Myth: You don’t need business insurance AND an LLC
  • Myth: You NEED a website for your online business (or you don’t)
  • Myth: It’s best to register your business in another state for tax purposes
  • … and more!

If you’d like a shoutout (and a chance to win a $20 gift card), just leave a review on Apple Podcasts and send a screenshot of it to me on Instagram via DMs!

Click here to find the full show notes and transcript for this episode.

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DISCLAIMER: Although Sam is an attorney she doesn’t practice law and can’t give you legal advice. All episodes of On Your Terms are educational and informational only. The information discussed here isn’t legal advice and isn’t intended to be. The info you hear here isn’t a substitute for seeking legal advice from your own attorney.

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Transcripts

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Hey there. Welcome back to On Your Terms.

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I'm your host, Sam Vander Wielen, an attorney turned entrepreneur who helps

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coaches and service providers legally protect and grow their online businesses

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using my legal templates and my Ultimate Bundle.

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I am so excited because this week I sat down and did a little myth busters online business

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edition, which was so fun because we asked people on Instagram, what was the biggest

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myth you believed about starting an online business?

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And it was really cool because as you're going to hear me share, people shared myths

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from both sides of the coin.

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Like, for example, that starting an online business would be easy.

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And then another person said starting an online business would be hard.

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So, it was really fun to dive into these.

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I did a little split of business myths and legal myths, talking about LLCs and business

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insurance and your scope of practice.

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Whether if somebody signs one of your contracts, if they can still sue you, all

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kinds of stuff. So, I think it was a really good set of myths that everybody submitted.

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Now, before we hop into those myths, I have to tell you the Ultimate Bundle will be on

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sale from January 29th to February 6th only.

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So, I am so excited because this is going to be the best financial deal of the entire

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year. It's going to have a brand-new pay in full price and the best payment plan I've

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ever offered. I've never offered this before.

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I don't know if I will ever offer it again.

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And I'm kicking things off for this little Ultimate Bundle sale with an all-new live

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legal training that you can take for free on January 29th and January 30th.

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There are multiple times available, so make sure you get on my email list to get an

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invite or click the link to sign up for the free training below in the show notes.

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If you can't make the training live for any of those times, make sure you sign up for the

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first training and then you'll just get the replay as soon as it's over so you can watch

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it at your leisure.

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All right. So, thank you so, so much.

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I am so appreciative for you being here.

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Let's hop in and talk about myth busters, online business edition.

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So, I always say it's so great on the one hand how easy it is to start an online

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business. And that also kind of leads it to being a little too easy for some people to

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start an online business or to be able to just give out information and kind of like

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hold themselves out as a business about things that they're not actually

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knowledgeable about or maybe not super qualified or you're not seeing the full truth

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of what they're sharing, the full context.

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So, we have to keep in mind that all of us, myself, you, everybody included, people are

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motivated reasoners usually, right?

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So, we, like for example, if somebody is selling a course on Instagram, like how to

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grow your Instagram following, they might say like forget the legal stuff because they

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want you to buy their Instagram course instead, right?

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They're being like, no, no, I know for a fact that if you build your following first, you

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can do legal later. Like they're motivated to tell you that.

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Just like I might say, like, don't worry about like taking a course on Pinterest right

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now, you need to get legal stuff first, right?

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But I can see an argument for other people being like, but don't have to build an

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audience or have some clients first, right?

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So, we all have our motivations for saying it both consciously and subconsciously.

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We're all motivated to put our work first and think like our stuff has to be done

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first. And at the same time that we're dealing with motivated reasoners, we're also

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operating with confirmation bias, which is like where we're motivated to accept what

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sounds best and easiest for us, right?

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Like the lowest obstacle, essentially.

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So, if you hear somebody online or say in a Facebook group, be like, oh, hey, you don't

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have to worry about legal stuff, you don't need that, you don't need that till it gets

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more serious, then that part of you that doesn't really feel probably rightfully so

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like doing legal stuff for your online business is going to be like, cool, they told

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me, right? This person's successful.

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I look up to this person or this person has a business, they know what they're talking

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about. And then we take that, and we move on .

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what so many of these things do is just lead to like all these different myths around what

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we do and don't have to do, and at what point, and at what stage in our business and

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how it actually works to protect us.

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And what I see so often is that, like these myths seem to snowball and they roll downhill

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and they get bigger and bigger and bigger until there's like an avalanche essentially

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of people being like, wait, I heard from this person that I really respect, that I

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didn't need to do this, this and this, or I heard it's fine to use other people's

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contracts.

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Until something happens in someone's business, and then they realize that this

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myth that they had bought into all along, either because the person who told them the

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information was motivated to do so, or because you were using your own confirmation

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bias to be like, cool, I don't need that.

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This person said I didn't have to do it, it becomes an issue.

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So, there are so many myths when it comes to running an online business, when it comes to

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legally protecting your business that I wanted to make sure that I talked directly to

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your myths.

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Maybe some of the things that you've heard before, some of the things that some people

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shared with me that they had once believed in but have since like broken through.

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So, back in November, I posted a little Q&A on Instagram and I asked, what's the biggest

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myth you believed about starting an online business?

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And I got some really good business ones and some really good legal ones, so I'm going to

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share a little bit of both.

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So, let's get started with these awesome myths.

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So, the first business myth that I got that I want to break down for you is that it's

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hard to get clients online.

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This one really stood out to me because specifically the word online because I think

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that this is a commonly held belief and it's something that can really get in your way

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when you're early on in your business.

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Right. So, I think that people -- I don't know if what people are thinking about this

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is like, oh, if I had like a physical business, people would just be like

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automatically coming in.

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Whereas an online business, that doesn't happen.

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So, I think part of this myth is rooted in the other myth, a sub myth if you will, like

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that if you start an online business and especially if you put up a website and you

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start posting online that somehow people will just kind of automatically start

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filtering in.

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So, I think sometimes what's baked into this myth is that people don't know or fully

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appreciate how much hard work and effort and hustle goes into finding clients online, just

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like you would, by the way, if you had a brick and mortar.

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Right.

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not the case either.

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Right. For so many businesses, especially those that are now fighting like everybody

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buying everything on Amazon and not coming into their local store and this kind of

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stuff. So, we have to work to get clients online, that is for sure, but I personally

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don't think it's any harder.

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In fact, I would say it's easier in the sense that you have a much bigger opportunity

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to reach a much larger swath of people.

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I think what makes it "hard" is when people aren't putting out the right kind of content.

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So, you're not putting out content that would necessarily attract or speak to the

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person that you're trying to work with.

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You're maybe being too generic and not enough yourself.

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So, I've said this many times on the podcast, but whenever people say the space is

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too crowded or there are too many people doing what I'm doing, I say, no, I don't

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think that's the case. I think there are too many people doing the same thing the same

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way. And I think that's why you're still able to see people come in later in the game

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and still build like super successful businesses.

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Like one of my Ultimate Bundle members, Maya Nichol, for example.

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I think she's a really good example of this, where she's an Instagram educator, social

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media educator.

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And Maya started more recently and has built a really incredible and huge and successful

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business, has a really large following, and she really loves what she does and she's very

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good at it. And Maya, at least from my perspective, came in so much later that, I

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mean there have been people who have been teaching about social media tactics and

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strategies and Instagram specifically for many, many more years.

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Right. But there's a reason why somebody like that can come in and can build a

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business later on.

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So, I don't want to hear about like, oh, it's too late or oh, there are too many people.

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No, it's just too late.

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There are too many people doing the same thing the same way.

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And I think people are tired of that and that stands out.

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And that's why I think there's always room for innovation.

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There is always room for people to come in and be like, I'm going to shake things up.

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I'm going to do things a little differently.

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Here's this part of my personality.

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Let's cut to the chase or cut through like the stuff that people don't like about all

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those people in your industry who are doing things the same way, cut through that and get

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right to the good stuff, right?

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That's my opinion.

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So, when we say it's hard to get clients online, that's how I would shift that instead

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is like it's work to get clients online the same way it's work to get clients anywhere

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else. It can be done.

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In fact, it's an incredible opportunity.

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Am I really taking advantage of this opportunity in the way that will best serve

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me in my business? That's how I flip that around.

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All right. So, I'm going to flip flop between business myths and legal myths.

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This one's a legal myth someone submitted.

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They said, I don't need to register my business until it makes money or makes a

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certain amount of money.

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So, this myth is a very, very common one.

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And it's one that I've talked about many times on the podcast here because it doesn't

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really make sense or it doesn't stand, doesn't really hold from a legal perspective.

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So, we register our businesses to give ourselves personal liability protection.

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We register our businesses to personally protect ourselves.

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And so, the amount of money that you make doesn't really mean anything because you

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could work with one client, your first client, and that could become a legal issue.

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And you need and want to be legally personally protected, right?

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So, the amount of money you make isn't going to really make a difference.

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Now, when we're talking about budget, right, I think that's maybe something that maybe

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people are talking about when they say this.

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When we're talking about budget, the amount of money, the few hundred dollars or

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depending on where you live, it might be like $100, $150, the amount of money that you

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have to pay to actually register your business or let's say you're doing an LLC in

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your state, that has to be part of your startup cost, your budget, right?

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And so, this is something I always feel a little like the Philly girl in me comes out

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and it's just a little bit of like, come on, guys, this is part of the start up budget.

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This is not an option.

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We're not choosing, right, here.

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This is it.

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And so, if you want to start a business, you have to do it legitimately because you need

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to protect yourself and in part of that is paying to register it.

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So, before we go and buy all these courses from big name people and do all this other

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stuff, that is just part of the budgeting for startup along with probably purchasing

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your domain name, getting a business account set up, getting some business insurance once

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you're ready to work with people, those are your startup expenses.

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It's super, super important.

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So, that's why we don't wait to register our businesses until it makes more money.

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The other thing is we want to start capturing business expenses, so that's really great.

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You can capture some startup expenses for a certain period of time before you register

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your business, and all is not lost because obviously, you're going to have startup

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expenses like getting your LLC.

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You have to pay for your LLC before you have it.

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So, that's one.

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A lot of people purchase my Ultimate Bundle, for example, is like part of that process

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because they get into the Ultimate Bundle and then they learn how to form an LLC.

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So, that's a startup expense that you can count, but so we can do some of that, but we

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want to get things rolling.

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And if part of your concern is that you're not "making enough money" or that you're

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going to be operating at a loss, that from a tax perspective is not a concern because for

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one, if you have another job or you file your taxes with a spouse or partner and they

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have income, then it's going to reduce your taxable income either for you if it's just

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you and you have another source of income or for you as a couple.

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So that's one.

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The other thing was that even if you have a loss and you don't have any other income,

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you're going to be able to carry over that loss to a future tax year when you do have

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profit and it's going to reduce your taxable income in the future.

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So, I know it always sounds weird, but like it's a good thing, even if the first year you

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spent more money than you made, you want to capture that and start to get this ball

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rolling. Obviously, talk with your accountant, get that stuff set up but that's

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just my two cents.

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The next business myth that someone submitted.

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It was so funny. So, actually two different myths, but I got it from both angles.

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Somebody said that one myth that they believed in when they started their business

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was that it would be easy.

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And another person submitted that a myth they believed in was that it would be hard.

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So, I thought that this was so interesting for so many different reasons.

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So obviously, it makes sense to me that, like I said before, I can understand why.

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And I remember feeling the same way that thinking like, oh, you start a website, and I

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don't know where in my mind I picked this up or how and why I thought this.

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But I really did think like, oh, you start a website and then just like traffic floods in

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and then my inbox is going to be flooding in with inquiries or I'm going to post something

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on Instagram and then everyone's going to be writing to me asking me, how do I get this

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thing?

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having had the health coaching business first and kind of making those mistakes and

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thinking through all that stuff so that when I started the legal business, I really did it

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right so that I knew how to drive traffic.

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I knew what action steps I needed to take to drive traffic, right?

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So, I can understand why you would think it would be easy in that respect.

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And I also think that so many of you are being sold this idea that it's easy, that

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anyone can do it, that results are consistently duplicatable.

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And I just think that so much of that marketing messaging does you such a big

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disservice because there's so much context left out of it.

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There's so much lack of transparency, a lack of discussion around privilege, There are

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just so many different things, right?

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And so, I get really upset when I see big people in the space, marketing people, other

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types sharing stuff about I did this, so now I teach other people how to do it, so

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therefore you'll have the same result.

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And I'm like, oh, I mean, first of all, from a legal perspective, that's a huge issue

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because it brings up all sorts of like guarantees and warranties issues and maybe

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some consumer deception issues as well.

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But even just like the idea and I think something, if you've listened to my podcast

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before, you know that something I talk about a lot is that I believe in consumer awareness

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and like us being better consumers, right, because I don't believe in just like blaming

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everybody else in our space for everything.

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I want to empower ourselves to say I can make a good, informed decision.

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But it's really hard when you're in the beginning and you see people sharing that

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kind of information and you're just like, I remember telling Ryan back in the day like,

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hey, I found this like woman online and she did this, and then all she did was take this

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course or do this thing or pop open a Facebook group and boom, now she's making

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$100,000 a month.

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Like, I remember just thinking it was as easy as that.

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Right? And it's not with, I think just some more experience and some time.

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And really, I think then actually having built, I always say this to my team like it's

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funny for me now to see a lot of these claims because I'm like, now I'm running the

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business that's like the same size is what these people are saying and I know that

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nothing that they're saying could be true.

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It can't be that way, and that it's so much more work than they think and that there's

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just so much more to it.

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So, I would just say that like when you see people sharing things that say it's easy

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because they did it, therefore they're just going to teach you how to replicate it.

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Unless something is truly a scientific process, it's not replicable in that way,

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right? So, if you were a lawyer and you called me and this happens to me every once

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in a while, right? Like people contact me and are like, I just want to have one meeting

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with you so that you could tell me what to do so that I can start the business that you

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started. I can tell you right now, having sitting on this side of a multi-seven figure

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business, there is no game plan that I could sit down and give somebody to replicate

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exactly what I have done.

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And I'm not saying that because I'm saying like, oh, what I've done is so amazing or I'm

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so incredible or I'm so unique.

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I'm saying, first of all, I've stumbled and learned and gotten up again and then learned

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again. And it's been like a whole thing, but there's also been a whole set of

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circumstances through like I started a long time ago and I had the privilege of of having

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a spouse who was able to provide me healthcare so I could gamble a little bit

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more nthe beginning.

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There's just too many factors of like and I don't even know that I could necessarily

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quantify all those factors and make that magic happen again.

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There are certain little things that have just happened along the way where I got lucky

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or my privilege provided me with some sort of experience or whatever, right?

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And so, I'm telling you from my perspective, I would not sell you that kind of thing.

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And so, you have to be careful when you see that from other people.

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And that might be why we have this myth of like, oh, online business would be so easy.

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Now, on the flip side, there can be the myth that things are so hard.

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And I think that that's something that we fall into as online business owners from time

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to time of making things hard, first of all.

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So I'm a big believer in simplifying.

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You don't need to be on every platform.

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I was thinking about this today.

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'm recording this on a Sunday because we have a lot of construction going on at my

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house because we were building a space for my dad, like a private suite for my dad, and

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obviously he is now passed away, so he won't be able to use it but there's a lot happening

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here. It's very loud. And so, Sunday's the only day that contractors are never here so I

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sit down, and I record a couple of things on Sundays now.

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And it does not feel like work.

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I was thinking about this this morning as I was thinking about sitting down and doing

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this on a Sunday. I was like, do I feel any sort of resentment around this?

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And I was like, no, actually I don't because I love podcasting.

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I don't know if I'm any good at it, but I really, really love it and I wish we focused

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more on that of like, what's the thing that you would be excited about?

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We don't need to make this so hard.

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What is the channel?

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What's the like, I don't know, the vehicle in which you could produce content that you

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would look forward to doing on a Sunday and wouldn't feel like work to you.

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Right?

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on my face talking about this because I love talking about what I do.

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I love talking about online business, I love talking about marketing, email marketing, so

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many things. So, I would say that like if things feel very hard, I would step back

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personally and look at simplifying.

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I would ask myself, why am I making it hard when the whole point of building my own

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business is that I can like, do things my own way on, on your terms, shout out, but

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also because you can also choose things that feel like you would do them on a Sunday,

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right? We don't need to make it so hard on ourselves.

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All right. The next legal myth is that I don't need business insurance and an LLC.

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I can just do one or the other.

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So, I actually have a whole episode dedicated to this concept, which I'll make

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sure that we link to down below.

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But the idea here and the reason this is a dangerous myth is because business insurance

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and LLCs do two completely different things to protect you, and they work together like

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PB&J, but they are not either or.

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So, you're not picking peanut butter or jelly.

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We always have peanut butter and jelly, right?

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So that is how business insurance and LLCs work.

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So, we just talked about LLC a couple of minutes ago.

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LLCs are, is just a form of business entity and it's what personally protects you as a

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business owner. It separates you as a person from your business entity so that you're not

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personally liable for what happens in your business.

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Business insurance, on the other hand, which I will link to resources, we have lots and

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lots of resources specifically dedicated to business insurance.

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I'll link to those below.

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But business insurance is what pays for your business to get a lawyer, pays for that

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lawyer's hourly fees and pays any judgment or settlement found against your business.

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If you're sued for something or threatened to be sued for something, that's covered by

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your business insurance policy.

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So, it's two very different things.

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We need to first make sure you're not personally liable, which is what we do

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through the LLC. And then we need to make sure that your business isn't financially on

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the hook for a lawsuit because a lawsuit would be financially devastating to any small

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business if you didn't have insurance.

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So, that is why we do both and not one or the other.

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The next business myth is that, again this is so funny, I got two different myths from two

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different people from opposite sides of the coin.

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One saying that the biggest myth that they believed about starting an online business

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was that they needed a website.

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And the other person said the biggest myth they believed about starting an online

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business was that they didn't need a website.

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I just love this because, for one, I will preface this by saying I do not believe in

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general overall, that there is one way to build a business.

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I don't think that there is hard, objective information that's like you absolutely have

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to have a business or a website in order to have a successful business, right?

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We can all find examples of people who don't have websites.

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There are people who teach how to run everything off their Instagram or whatever,

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who have "successful businesses", whatever that means to them and to you.

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Right. So, there are these kind of outliers.

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I personally, though, would just say that this is not a right or wrong thing.

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And so, it's not saying that you can never have a successful business without a website.

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What I am saying is that having a website is a really smart idea.

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It's something that helps you build longevity in your business, which I'll talk

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about in a second.

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And I think that it is almost like insurance for your business because we never know

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what's going to happen with different platforms and social media and all of this

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kind of stuff.

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websites because looking through their Instagram and stuff is really not a

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convenient way to find a lot of information.

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I can tell you from somebody who follows people who like does a lot of food stuff,

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obviously, and I'm always like looking at recipes and watching reels of recipes, I find

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it really annoying.

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recipe that I really like to follow.

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And every time I go to look for it, I have to scroll for like ten or 15 minutes on her

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Instagram and I can never find it.

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And it doesn't have like a proper cover and all of these things.

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And I'm like, if she just had a website, you would literally just go to recipes, pizza, or

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I could type and search into her website, and it would be right there.

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And this would be driving traffic to her website all the time.

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So, like, nstead of just the miracle and the luck of finding her on Instagram, I would be

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able to find it through a Google search for like best sheet pan pizza recipe or something

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like this, right?

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These social platforms are supplemental to me.

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They are not the foundation of your business.

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I really think your business should have a home.

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I think it's a mistake that people make who have an online business who don't think of

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where's your digital storefront?

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And if your digital storefront is on Instagram or TikTok or elsewhere, you know,

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you're leaving your digital storefront, your entire business in the hands of an algorithm

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and in the hands of a company who we don't know what they're doing, and we don't know

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who's seeing our stuff.

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And there are people out there every single day searching for exactly what you're talking

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about. Why would we not put this directly in front of them?

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I don't know. That's just me.

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Also, as you build your business, there are going to be reasons why you really want a

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website. Like, for example, when you go if and when you decide you want to run Facebook

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ads or Instagram ads or something like that, you need an audience.

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You have to have a pixel in order to run ads to.

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I think that so many people think that Facebook ads are just like this thing that

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you just like pick a couple attributions or characteristics of people and you set an

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audience and you just start showing it to them.

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I mean, yes, you can do that, but they don't work.

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And so, that's not really what you're going to want to do.

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What you're going to want to do is run a lot of ads to your warm audience and you capture

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your warm audience through people who visit your website, people who are on your email

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list, people who follow you on social media.

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That's definitely included, right?

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People who purchased your products, people who look like people who have purchased your

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products. So, you're going to want to start capturing this data early, as early as

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possible. Right.

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And so, I had obviously my website and I really paid a lot of attention to driving a

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lot of traffic to my website.

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And so, when I started running Facebook ads, we had a really strong, healthy, warm

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audience that was consistently visiting that website so then we were able to target them

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with Facebook ads. So, that's my, like I'll get off my soapbox now about websites, but

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that's my two cents about websites.

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Now, do I think you shouldn't start a business until you have a website?

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No, you can get started.

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You can do all this stuff. I never believe in like holding off, other than a couple of

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the very, very, very basic legal steps, I don't believe you should wait.

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It's just that I would prioritize this.

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And I do see so many people putting so much time and effort.

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And frankly, you have to start thinking about it as money because when you put your

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time into this stuff, it's money into things like social media.

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And I'm like, oh, man, if you wrote that as a blog post, you could have all these people

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who are already looking for it, finding it, and then post about it on Instagram because

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you've already created the content, but you've created the foundational content in

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your website, not on Instagram, right?

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That's how I look at it.

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Okay. The next legal myth was that it's best to register my business in another state

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where taxes are better.

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So, I've talked about this in the podcast before.

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This is something that big, big companies and corporations do in America.

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I know that there are huge benefits for them and honestly, the reasons why are generally

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above my pay grant. I mean, I know that there are no like income taxes and corporate

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taxes in certain states in America and all that kind of stuff.

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And that's all wonderful for them, I guess.

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But I don't think that small business owners tend to understand why this doesn't make a

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ton of sense. So, for one, wherever your business is actually operating out of, you

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have to be registered from that state legally, right?

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So, you could register in like Delaware, for example, if you don't live there.

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But if you live in Nebraska, you still have to register there because the business is

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being operated out of Nebraska.

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So that's one.

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Twoo, is that if to follow the same example, if you live in Nebraska and you register your

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business in Delaware for tax purposes, you still live in Nebraska.

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And so you still have to file your taxes in Nebraska.

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So, I think that oftentimes people get caught up in this like whole like scheming

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the government saving money thing.

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And then they're like, when they sit down with their accountant, they're like, it's

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actually not nearly as beneficial as I thought.

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I always think that this myth just in general tends to speak to something that I see a lot

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in our industry, and I wish I could just speak to you about, which is that we say we

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feel really overwhelmed about legal or we say we feel really overwhelmed about

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business. And then those same people will write to me being like, I'm thinking about

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registering my business in a foreign state so that I can make sure I save on taxes.

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And I'm like, didn't you just also say like I'm not making any money so I'm not sure if I

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even need an LLC yet?

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I wish we would focus more on just starting where we are a simple foundation.

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Let's just get it done.

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And if you start making like Apple money, then go consult like a fancy corporate lawyer

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and we can get your business moved to Delaware.

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You can always move your business to Delaware.

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Shout out to Delaware. I'm from Philly, so we spent a lot of time in Delaware.

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So, that's all.

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I'm just saying don't make it hard on yourself.

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This doesn't need to be super complicated.

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And while I hope and while I am very confident that you are building the next

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apple, I just feel like there's an easier way to start out and I don't want to use

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these things as hurdles to get started.

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We can register where you are for now.

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You only pay taxes on the amount of money, the profit that you make in your business.

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So, if you're not making a ton of money right now, it's not really going to make a

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dent. Right.

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Go talk to your own CPA.

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Maybe you have some specific unique financial or tax situation, or you might live

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in one of these states where that's the case.

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So, that's awesome for you, right?

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So, talk to your own accountant and see what like your personalized things.

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I don't know. But just generally speaking, when I get those kinds of inquiries, it tends

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to be from people who aren't making Apple money but are putting the cart before the

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horse and just not getting the business started.

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So that's my two cents.

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All right. The next myth was that if somebody signs my contract, they can't sue me.

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So, this is not true in America, because even when people sign contracts saying they

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can't sue you, they can sue you.

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Like one of the things I always talk about is that there's no preventative measure that

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like tops somebody from filing a lawsuit against you.

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So, having clauses in your contract saying people can't sue you will help you to dismiss

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it or will help you to win but it won't prevent people.

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We can't prevent people.

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People can just file lawsuits against us, which means that you have to answer it, you

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have to deal with it, Which is where that business insurance comes in.

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So, that's one.

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The other thing is that when I was a practicing attorney, I was a part of a number

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of different cases where people had signed contracts saying this, that and the other

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thing, and they still were able to do it.

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I was immensely disappointed in many different cases by the legal system and how

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things, even though people agreed to things and signed things, it just didn't hold up for

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whatever reason.

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And it was very frustrating.

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And so, it's why your contract has to have other important parts to it to cover you

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because somebody still might be able to sue you.

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It's why you need business insurance.

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It's why you need to know how to act like an LLC, as I talk about a lot in the bundle and

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with my members.

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And so, it's very important just to know that that is not true.

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Somebody else said, I don't need a business insurance if I have a contract in place.

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So, now we know, I think, I hope I'm going over the LLC and business insurance thing why

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that's not true. These are totally different.

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Even if you have a contract in place, if somebody sues you, you don't want to pay for

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it. So, that's where business insurance would provide you with a lawyer, pay the

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lawyers hourly fees, and then pay any sort of judgment or settlement found against your

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business for anything that's covered by your business insurance policy.

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So, that is not true.

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We know now.

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Last but not least, someone said the myth that they believed about starting an online

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business was that you need a degree or certification before you speak about

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something. That one is so interesting.

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So, I've talked about this a lot in my scope of practice episodes here on the podcast,

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which are episodes 2 and episode 69, which we'll link to below.

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But you don't need a degree or certification to speak about something in the sense that

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there's no online police that are going to shut you down.

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If however you speak about something in a certain way or offer advice or talk about

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certain things that you don't have a degree or certification in or you're not licensed

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in, then you could be violating outside of your scope of practice and your state could

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have an issue with that.

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Someone could file a complaint against you.

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It's not just like your client suing you for it.

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It's also, I think something that people don't know is that there are like licensing

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bodies, governing bodies in every single state for different, like for the nursing

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boards or whatever. And people have been reported to those boards because people see

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them on social media talking about certain things.

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And then they'll report them and say, like, this person's giving medical advice and

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they're not a doctor. Right?

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So that kind of stuff can happen too.

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That's why we have to learn our scope of practice.

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That's why we have to know what we can legally do and say and talk about.

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But yeah, I think kind of the scary thing is that people don't need to have any sort of

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degree or certification.

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And it's also really cool because that means you can get started and be like a health

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coach or a career coach or a life coach, for example.

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But you just have to make sure that when you're doing those things, you're just within

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your scope. And there's definitely a way to do that.

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That's a lot of what I focus on in the Ultimate Bundle is teaching people not only

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what their scope of practice is, but also teaching people how to still make a very

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successful business, even though you're within these confines of the scope of what

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you can talk about.

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So, I hope that these legal myths were helpful to bus through.

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It was fun to talk about.

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I hope that they were somewhat helpful to you.

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Make sure you send me a DM on Instagram at Sam Vander Wielen and let me know if these

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were helpful. Also, because of when you're listening to this episode, I have to make

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sure that you know that on January 29th and January 30th, I have a few times available

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for you to attend a live free legal workshop with me called How to Legally Protect Your

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Online Business.

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trainings I'm going to do this entire year.

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And the next one I do will not be for a very long time.

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So, if you want to get started on a lot of the things that we talked about today, dive

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in a little bit deeper and make sure that you can ask me questions live.

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You're going to want to make sure that you sign up for that live training that I'm

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hosting on January 29th, or if you want to make the one on the 30th, that would be

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awesome too. If you can attend any of the live times that we have, just sign up anyway

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because you'll get the replay.

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I always recommend people to sign up for the first one so that then you can get the replay

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as fast as possible.

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So, that's really exciting.

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We're also going to have a podcast replay available for people who sign up, so that's

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going to be really cool.

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And I also want to make sure that you get on my email list using the easy email list link

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below because you don't have to go through any marketing emails because you're going to

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be one of the first people to know about the best financial deal of the year on the

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Ultimate Bundle because my Ultimate Bundle sale starts January 29.

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It's only going to be open until February, oh gosh, I feel like 6th, I think.

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Yeah, February 6th, that's right.

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It's going to be the best financial deal of the year with a brand-new pay in full price

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and the best payment plan we've ever offered.

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So, you're going to want to make sure you keep your eyes peeled for that.

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It's going to be really fast sale.

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And we're kicking things off with that all new live legal training on January 29th and

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30th. So, make sure if you get my emails, you keep your eyes on your inbox or you can

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use the link below in the show notes to sign up for that free workshop.

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I can't wait to see you then.

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I'm also going to drop a link to a video walkthrough of the Ultimate Bundle below so

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you can see a little behind the scenes of what the Ultimate Bundle looks like.

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I do share at the end of my free legal training about the ultimate bundle, but you

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get a load of content before that, so it's valuable to you whether you need or want the

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bundle at all.

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So, I'm going to share that all below.

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So, with that, thank you so much for listening to this week's episode.

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I hope that you found it helpful.

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I can't wait to chat with you next week and I hope to see you at my live training on the

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29th or 30th.

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Thanks so much for listening to the On Your Terms podcast.

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Make sure to follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you like to listen to

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podcast.

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SamVanderWielen.com/podcast.

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You can learn more about legally protecting your business and take my free legal

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workshop, Five Steps to Legally Protect and Grow Your Online Business at

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SamVanderWielen.com. And to stay connected and follow along, follow me on Instagram,

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@SamVanderWielen and send me a DM to say hi.

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Just remember that although I am a attorney, I am not your attorney, and I am not offering

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you legal advice in today's episode.

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This episode and all of my episodes are informational and educational only.

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It is not a substitute for seeking out your own advice from your own lawyer.

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And please keep in mind that I can't offer you legal advice.

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

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