I was SO thrilled that hundreds of entrepreneurs took advantage of the opportunity to grab 10 FREE red-hot Legal Tips to Protect the Heart of Your Biz and register for the Legal Love Giveaway this month. If you missed it and you didn’t get the tips, don’t worry! I still want to fill you up with Legal Love. Just click here to download the 10 Legal Tips so you can be a part of the Lovefest too!
Legal work is such an important investment in your business. I am absolutely thrilled to give away $1,500 in free legal services to help one lucky entrepreneur protect his or her business by putting the right legal protections in place.
Today, I am beyond proud and excited to announce the winner of the Legal Love Giveaway!
Congratulations, Susan!!!!!
As you can see, Susan was very excited to hear the news because here is Susan’s reaction:
Susan shared with me that she would like to use her prize to create Terms of Use for her Online Programs + Products.
Susan said this gift was so well-timed because she is just getting ready to launch her new online program based on the Law of Attraction. (Hmm… it must not be by chance that she attracted this big win since she IS an expert on manifesting after all! After you read this post, you can check out her free LOA videos at easypeasyloa.com.)
In fact, EVERY entrepreneur needs to have Terms of Use in place before launching your next online program.
Legal Tip #7 from your 10 Legal Tips to Protect the Heart of Your Biz explains why:
Terms of Use are the policies for the programs and products you sell directly through your website.
They cover things like e-courses, home study courses, group programs, products like jewelry or DVDs – basically, anything that someone purchases on your website that is not a one-on-one service.
Terms of Use are critical because they:
- protect your program content and intellectual property,
- spell out your online commerce and refund policies, and
- disclaim your liability for your program so no one can sue you or come after you.
It is SO important to be CLEAR about what someone can and can’t do with your program content – and where you draw your lines. For example:
- You probably don’t want your purchasers to copy and use your program materials and then resell them as their own.(Um, NO – that would be considered STEALING.)
- You probably don’t want your purchaser to share your materials with someone else who didn’t sign up for your course who is trying to sneak in the back door and get them for free.(Um, NO – that would be giving away your intellectual property/creative work WITHOUT YOUR PERMISSION!)
- You probably don’t want a purchaser buying your online program, then right away downloading all of the modules, videos, audios, and content and then asking you for a full refund.(Um, NO – that would be crazy because they already DOWNLOADED the product!)
I am sure that Susan doesn’t want these things to happen to her. Neither should you.
You definitely want to have Terms of Use in place on your sales page before you launch your online program or your new product.
Right on your sales page, you want to have a little check box that the purchaser can “check” to say that they agree to your Terms of Use before they make their purchase.
You want people to agree to your Terms of Use BEFORE they hit the “buy now” button so you can have peace of mind and security knowing that your policies are in writing and agreed to in advance of the sale.
Terms of Use just give you so much comfort knowing you are keeping your content safe.
And, oh, by the way! A lot of people ask me: “Do the Terms of Use still hold up if the person checked the box but they didn’t actually read them?”
It is well known that not everyone reads the legal fine print. (Don’t worry – we lawyers don’t take it personally.) Most people don’t. Shocker!
What is important is that YOU are putting your policies in writing and they are nice and clear, so if there is ever a conflict, you will have legal ground to stand on.
If someone doesn’t read your Terms of Use, that’s completely their choice. They assume that risk. But YOU still want to protect yourself and your property and your income by having them in place for your online programs and products. Hands down.
Are you planning to launch your own program in the next few months?
Do you need to get some Terms of Use in place?
Then check out my Terms of Use package and let’s see if we can put the terms together for you so you can have those puppies up on your site WELL before you launch.
Here’s to our Legal Love Giveaway winner, getting your Terms of Use up, and having clients “check the box” before they purchase!
