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Hey there, and welcome back to another episode of Sam's Sidebar, where I tackle your
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essential legal questions about starting and growing a legally protected online business
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in ten minutes or less every single Thursday here on the podcast.
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this week, I'll be answering your questions all about when and how you need to update
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your contracts.
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So, here's the question that I got from a listener, "How often do you need to update your
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contract and when do you need a client to sign a new contract?" This is actually a
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question that I get so often, so I'm really excited to dive in today.
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need to update your client and program contracts during a couple of different instances.
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The first one is my favorite one.
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That's when, number one, you learn a lesson.
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Which, I hope you learn often because it means you're paying attention and you're
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updating.
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client doesn't pay you or they quit on you one month into a three month contract, that
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sucks, and it's a learning opportunity.
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So, the reason that you typically have a question about what to do or what you can do
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legally is because the language that you need to guide you is missing from your contract.
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And I see that often when people don't have a lawyer-drafted professional legal contract
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for their clients.
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So, if a client cancels your contract because they said that they learned everything that
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they needed from you in one month, it's time to shore up your term and your termination
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sections, for example, and make sure that you actually have the language that you need to
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be able to navigate those situations successfully.
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second time that you'll need to update your contracts is when law changes, when laws
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change. So, from time to time new laws or regulations are introduced and it requires us
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to update or change our contracts and our policies.
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for my Ultimate Bundle members, for example, they love the fact that the Bundle gives
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them those lifetime updates and a monthly email newsletter from me with any changes that
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need to be made or alerting them to anything that's changed in the industry that they
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have to be aware of.
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So, that's one of the benefits to being in my Ultimate Bundle.
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You can get the link down below to join now, and save, and get a bunch of different
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bonuses.
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quarterly checkups.
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So, whether or not you learned a hard business lesson or whatever, a good practice, in
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general, is just a set of quarterly reminder for yourself using your favorite
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productivity tool - I use Asana - once per quarter to check in and see if there is
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anything that you need to update in your contracts or your website policies or anything
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else because you might have just forgotten.
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So, maybe set one for January 15th, April 15th, July 15th, and October 15th.
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And just check in and see is there anything that needs to be updated.
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You might not have anything that needs to be updated.
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You might. So, that's a good idea.
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I were you, I would take myself to a coffee shop, set a timer for, like, 30 minutes and
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take a quick look through my contracts and policies and my disclaimers.
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You might see something that you didn't even realize needs to be updated.
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So, it's a good reminder.
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Now, as for the second part of this listener's question about when do you need a client to
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sign a new contract, I typically say that any time your contract changes and the client
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is re-upping with you.
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So, if you've changed some term of your contract, like you used to allow refunds and now
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there is no refund, or you changed the termination clause, or whatever, and obviously if
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you changed the price, you would have them sign a new contract the next time.
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if at the end of the three month term, they say, "I want to re-up with you." You just
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say, "Great. I have a new contract.
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I'll send it over to you. Review and sign it and get it back to me." So, that's that.
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would also tell your client to review the entire contract and sign.
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As tempting as it is - this is just a little extra tip - instead of saying like, "I only
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changed this or I only changed that, so just go ahead and sign it." You just want to say,
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"Can you review the entire contract or just review the contract." Leave it really plain
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and general.
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You just don't want to make it seem so simple in case you did change something else and
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like you don't remember, that's the best way to go about it.
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if you feel like you're always in the dark about how and when to handle legal issues in
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your online business, you can download my free Five Steps to a Legally Legit Online
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Business Checklist.
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It'll give you my step by step approach to the essential legal things you can tackle at
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any stage in business.
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Plus, you'll automatically be added to my email list so you get my twice weekly legal
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tips straight to your inbox, including Q&As.
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People really love those.
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emails, but you want to get my weekly stuff, make sure you just click the easy emails
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link below and you'll get added to my email list without going through any sort of
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marketing funnel.
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So, thank you so much for listening.
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I'll drop all the resources that I mentioned below.
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If this episode was helpful, go ahead and send it to a friend.
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And thank you so much for listening.
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I'll see you next week.
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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. You can also check out all of our podcast episodes, show notes, links, and more
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at 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
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hi.
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remember that although I am a attorney, I am not your attorney and I am not offering you
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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.
