It is easy to get caught up in the excitement of launching your business: crafting your brand, developing your product offering, connecting with your audience to name but a few. Yet amidst the passion and creativity, there is one key aspect that is often overlooked. When it comes to you as a creative entrepreneur, start up or even more established business, make sure that you are not leaving you and your business vulnerable by overlooking the legal aspects of running your own venture. Addressing these essentials early on can save you from potential pitfalls further down the road. In this blog, we'll explore some of the legal considerations every creative entrepreneur should be keeping in mind to build a solid foundation for their business and ensuring longer-term success.
First thing to say as a caveat is that I am not a lawyer nor do I have any legal background, so while the purpose of this blog is to give you a steer in areas to consider or questions to ask, please make sure that you seek professional legal advice for any specific topics you may have.
Now that my own legal caveat is out of the way, let's get started. When the topic of 'legal' requirements comes up for your business, do you find yourself wanting to run for the hills? Your eyes might glaze over, or maybe you haven't even considered that these are details worth thinking about. While not everyone wants to spend their days in a legal office, my seven years peeking behind the scenes of data protection and contracts certainly gave me a fresh perspective on the essential legal requirements for running a business. So let's take the mystery out of it. Together, we will break it down into three legal tips that can help you protect your creative ventures and keep the fun in your entrepreneurial journey.
Tip 1: Safeguarding your intellectual property
As someone who spends time honing your skills to create your own masterpieces, safeguarding your intellectual property (IP) involves taking proactive steps to protect your creative works, whether it be art, music, writing or design. There are various forms of IP protection available, such as copyrights and trademarks, which can help prevent others from using your creation without your permission or consent. The last thing you want is someone taking credit for your work!
Copyrights provide protection for your original works, including writing, artistic, musical or photographic material, and are automatically applied to your work as soon as it has been created and is in a fixed medium. This grants you exclusive rights to reproduce, distribute or display your work. You don't need to register this, however doing so will enhance your ability to enforce your rights if you do need to contest infringement. I recommend adding a copyright symbol ©, along with the year and your name on the footer of your website, as well as your content. Musicians should use the musician copyright or phonogram rights notice symbol, ℗, which is more linked to the audio and sound recording rights.
Trademarks protect symbols, names or slogans which are more identifiable with the brand itself and used to identify goods or services. These trademarks can be helpful in protecting your brand identity and ensuring that your name or logo is distinguishable and cannot be used by a copycat or others in the marketplace. Registering a trademark will grant you exclusive rights to use that mark in connection with your services. In the UK you would register this with the Intellectual Property Office, and the trademark would last for ten years before needing to be renewed.
Tip 2: Crafting your website policies
Protecting customer data has become increasingly important in the digital landscape, where privacy concerns and how businesses use our personal data remains at the forefront of people's minds. Each business has a legal obligation surrounding data protection particularly when based in the UK and EU, including compliance with regulations such as General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Website policies can help to establish trust with your audience as well as protecting you and your business. Think of these policies as your commitment to how you interact with your visitors, and how you expect your visitors to interact with you. Depending on the type of online presence you have, particularly if you are running an e-commerce site, you may require a longer set of website policies which would also include delivery and return policies, for example.
The Privacy Policy is a document that informs people visiting your website how their personal information is collected, used, and protected on your website. Within this section, you should look to outline the type of data that you collect, how you intend to use it, and how you are ensuring it's security. You also need to explain what the rights of your users are, keeping your
Cookie Policies also form part of data policies needed on the website, as these are small data files that are stored on your visitor's devices when they navigate on your website. Similar to the privacy policy you want to be explaining which cookies you use on your website, the purpose of them, and how people can manage these cookies. It isn't just a best practice to have a transparent cookie policy on your website, it is a legal requirement in compliance with the EU's ePrivacy Regulation.
Think of your website Terms and Conditions as the rules and guidelines of how you want visitors to use your site and your commitment to them. It should cover what users can and can't do on your website, responsibilities of both parties, and what to do if something goes wrong. Some areas to consider would be limitations of liability and changes to the terms.
My suggestion would be to find a way to keep your policies as clear and straightforward as possible, making it easier for both you and your visitors to know your respective rights and responsibilities.
Tip 3: Setting clear expectations with contracts
Setting clear expectations with contracts is a fundamental practice for establishing successful working relationships with your clients and making sure that you avoid misunderstandings to ensure all parties are aligned on deliverables and responsibilities. Think of this regardless of whether you are working with your customer, or with a supplier.
Including your payment terms within your invoice or contract really is essential for your financial clarity. Clear payment terms not only protect your interests and try and remove ambiguity, they set the expectation on the customer's financial obligation. Include the deadline for payments, how customers can pay you. Terms such as Net 90 days, may not be in your best interests as a small business who is going to be dependent on liquid cash flow!
Cancellation and refund policies will outline the conditions under which either your customers, or you, can cancel a project, or whether deposits made are refundable. Think of it this way, if you are a photographer that has booked a shoot and your customer cancels on you last minute, you have not only lost that one job and income, but potentially the entire slot that could have been used and paid for by someone else. Having clarity at the outset can help manage expectations and prevent conflict if unfortunately circumstances change.
Navigating a legal framework for your creative business might seem daunting to start with, but it doesn't have to be! By focusing on these three key areas you can lay a solid foundation that protects your artistry and interests, while building trust with your customers. Much like a good recipe and clear structure keeps things from getting too messy in the kitchen, clearly laid out legal essentials will help avoid misunderstandings while empowering you to focus on what you love most: creating.
Ready to take your creative business to the next level? Dive into those contracts, clarify your policies and watch your artistry flourish while keeping the legal headaches at bay. Want to chat through how to take your business up a notch? Schedule a no obligation discovery call today.
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