Creative Counsel with Brittany Ratelle Brittany Ratelle

Join me and seasoned entrepreneur Sara Urquhart as we share stories (good and bad) about business partnerships and give you the tips you need to make smart business partnership decisions. Sarah spells out the critical questions that you should ask yourself when you are deciding whether to go solo, bring on a partner, and how to navigate changing roles, expectations, and life events that can threaten successful business partnerships. If you are in a business partnership (or planning on being in one!) ESPECIALLY if you are going into business with friends, or family, don't miss this deep dive episode! 
In this episode: 
Why a lot of female founders think they "need" a business partner and how to overcome it
What you should look for in a good business partner
How to evaluate business partnership compatibility
How to use dynamic equity to make business partnerships more fair
How to structure more peaceful partnership check-ins
What intellectual property issues need to be addressed between business partners early in the "business marriage"
What's a "business prenup" and why do you need one
+++ more!
Links: 
SaraU Productions
Sara's Instagram
Slicing Pie
E-Myth Revisited
Alt Summit
Shift Gathering
 
HELPFUL RESOURCES Creative Counsel Episode 45 - Business Partnerships 101
 
Operating Agreement Template - the business "prenup"
 
Make sure you’re legally legit with my free legal workbook!
 
Do you have the contracts you need in place? Take a free quiz and find out exactly what you need for your business at creativecontracts.co.
 
Listen and subscribe to Creative Counsel on iTunes, Overcast, Stitcher, Spotify, and iHeartRadio.
 
Or browse through my quick tips and tricks by connecting on Instagram.
  LET’S CONNECT Interested in working together for one-on-one legal services? Book some time on my calendar!
  *Not legal advice. No attorney-client relationship. For informational purposes only.*

Courtney Brown is the CEO and founder of Cents of Style and Be Fulfilled, two multimillion-dollar Utah-based eCommerce companies. Cents of Style aims to bring the latest in clothing and accessories in an accessible and affordable way while Be Fulfilled aims to help influencers develop, source, ship, and service their own product lines. 
In this episode of Creative Counsel, Courtney shares her 15-year journey in building her companies from the ground up, including some giant pivots and bringing her husband into the businesses full-time. She also geeks out with me about how we’ve had a front-row seat to the changing shape of eCommerce, especially with brands grown through influencer and affiliate marketing. Courtney also shares how to create business boundaries, especially when working with friends, how to handle the inevitable curveballs that come with physical product, her best tips on hiring and managing team members, and how to approach the constant problem-solving that is part of the entrepreneurial journey.
In this episode: 
what to do when what you're working hard but not making any money why affiliate marketing is a win-win how to work with your spouse in your business hiring on skillset vs. mindset what to do if you have problems with your physical product should you source overseas if you're worried about copycats what the "netflix" hours are and how you can be using them to your advantage why not everyone will start or success in business Courtney's favorite business books what you should be doing to check in your vision every year Courtney Brown's Quotes: 
"If you're passionate about something, don't let that deter you.There will always be something standing in the way. There will always be a challenge. That's where the opportunity lies. If you can figure out how to solve the problem that others say is impossible. That's the largest opportunity if you can figure it out."
"If it were easy, everyone would do it. But your willingness to find solutions to the problems and move beyond them to shift, to change. And to keep going -- that is the number one predictor of success."
"Let's not forget the market is enormous. You don't need the whole pie. I don't want the whole pie. I just want a little piece of it. I want to create enough value that people see the value and want to participate in it. You can take up a little bit of the pie and live a very beautiful life and help and bless a lot of people."
Links:
Krazy Coupon Lady
Hip2Save
Essentialism by Greg McKeown
Good to Great by Jim Collins
The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz
 
Other podcast interviews with Courtney: 
Fight Like a Mother: Raising Kids with Mental Illness
Dr. Julie Hanks: Healing Aspirational Shame
Nitty Gritty: Courtney and John Brown
 
Connect with Courtney
Courtney's Instagram
Cents of Style
Be Fulfilled
Contract Templates for eCommerce Companies: Website BUNDLE 2.     Client Service Agreement Operating Agreement Independent Contractor Agreement Affiliate Agreement Pop-up Shop Retail Agreement Wholesale Retail Agreement Giveaway/promotions bundle Model Release  
Brand Protection: Interested in securing and protecting your own brand name? Chat with Brittany about whether you are ready for a federal trademark registration to protect your brand assets.
 
Ready to get your business legally legit? Download my free legally legit workbook HERE and get access to my newsletter with tips and tricks for YOUR growing creative business.
Like to listen and learn?  Listen and subscribe to Creative Counsel on iTunes, Overcast, Stitcher, Spotify &  iHeartRadio
 
Let's Connect Interested in working with Brittany for one-on-one legal services? Sign up for a 15-min phone consult at brittanyratelle.com/services.
 
Want an attorney-drafted, industry-tested legal template for your business? Take a free quiz and find out exactly what you need for your creative business at creativecontracts.co.
 
Or,

Worried about recession rumors? Want to get your online or creative business as resilient as it can be? Business attorney Brittany Ratelle guides you through the most important things you can change in your business to help set up business boundaries and protect your profits and peace. 
In this episode: 
what do you actually need in your website footer
what are the new privacy laws in 2023 and do they matter if you're a smaller website
what is negative option marketing and how can you avoid it 
why did Vonage and ABC Mouse get into trouble with the FTC
what is the best practice for cancellation for a subscription business
what are the most important contracts for a service business
what should be in a good client service agreement
how old blog post photos could cost you money and how to fix them
are those copyright infringement scary letters real for real
what's a business prenup and do you need one
how you can create a real business boundary
Quotes: 
"I don't believe in fearmongering. I do believe in preparation and I also believe in opportunity."
"The ability to self-confront and to be able to challenge yourself and to be able to work through these issues is a really important critical skill for a business partner."
Other Episodes
 
Episode 45: BUSINESS PARTNERSHIPS: 5 TIPS FOR A GOOD FOUNDER’S AGREEMENT
 
Contract Templates mentioned in this episode:  
Website BUNDLE
Client Service Agreement Operating Agreement
Independent Contractor Agreement
Giveaway/promotions bundle
Model Release
 
Brand Protection: Interested in securing and protecting your own brand name? Chat with Brittany about whether you are ready for a federal trademark registration to protect your brand assets.
 
Ready to get your business legally legit? Download my free legally legit workbook HERE and get access to my newsletter with tips and tricks for YOUR growing creative business.
Like to listen and learn?  Listen and subscribe to Creative Counsel on iTunes, Overcast, Stitcher, Spotify &  iHeartRadio
 
Let's Connect Interested in working with Brittany for one-on-one legal services? Sign up for a 15-min phone consult at brittanyratelle.com/services.
 
Want an attorney-drafted, industry-tested legal template for your business? Take a free quiz and find out exactly what you need for your creative business at creativecontracts.co.
 
Or, browse through my quick tips and tricks by connecting on Instagram.

Hala Taha joins attorney Brittany Ratelle on the Creative Counsel podcast to share macro podcasting trends and reveal how Hala used battle-tested skills (and perseverance) to grow a 7-figure business podcast and podcasting agency from the ground up.
Hala Taha, dubbed the “The Podcast Princess,” is the host of Young and Profiting (YAP)  Podcast, frequently ranked as a #1 Education podcast across all apps. Hala is also the founder and CEO of YAP Media, a social media and podcast marketing agency for top podcasters, celebrities and CEOs. She is well-known for her engaged following and influence on Linkedin, and she landed the January 2021 cover of Podcast Magazine. Hala has interviewed star-studded guests from Matthew McConaughey to Seth Godin and her show was recently awarded as a 2022 Webby Honoree and is currently on track to bring in over $1M in revenue in advertising sponsorship deals in 2022.
In this episode, you'll hear:
What to do when your friends and family don't "get" what you're trying to do
Hala's exact LinkedIn re-targeting recipe
What is happening with podcasting, YouTube and long-form video
What a personal brand should be doing to elevate their offerings
How to overcome a scarcity mindset, especially in crowded fields
What you should (and shouldn't) be doing in your podcast journey
How to monetize your podcast (with ads and beyond!)
++++ MORE!
Connect with Hala:
Hala's Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/htaha/
Hala's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yapwithhala
Clubhouse: @halataha
Ready to get your business legally legit? Download my free legally legit workbook HERE that will guide you step-by-step on how to legalize your modern small business and get access to my newsletter with tips and tricks for growing your creative business.
Are you a podcaster?
If you interview guests, make sure you are using a GUEST RELEASE so you can repurpose all that awesome content (including on short-form video)
If you are ready to get monetized through sponsorships, make sure you have a legit agreement when the brand says "Yes!" to your pitch with a PODCAST SPONSORSHIP AGREEMENT, especially for 360-deals where you are leveraging other channels.
Brand Protection Interested in securing and protecting your own brand name? Chat with me, Attorney Brittany Ratelle about whether you are ready for a federal trademark registration to protect your brand assets.
Let's Connect Browse through my quick tips and tricks by connecting with me on Instagram @brittanyratelle!

Kristen Ley, founder of Thimblepress® shares her wholesale secrets from being in the stationery businesses for more than a decade. Thimblepress is an international lifestyle company that encourages kindness and inspires fun, through her artisan cards, Push-Pop Confetti, and viral hits like the "Your butt looks great in those jeans!" card. In their interview with attorney for creators Brittany Ratelle, Kristen dives into her creative process, how she launched Thimblepress and grew it to an internationally successful company as a passionate creative, businesswoman, coach, and woman of faith. Kristen has grown Thimblepress as a reflection of her life, love of her family, and reflecting back on one of her favorite places in the world; one of them being her home in Jackson, Mississippi.
In this episode: 
How Kristen got started with an antique letterpress The journey from side hustle to “burning the ships behind her” when she left a safe corporate job Pros and cons of trade shows (and how Kristen did her first few all on her own!) How she decides what she wants to offer for wholesale - and how she coaches other people through these decisions Pricing for wholesale profitability What sparks her creativity for new art products Why Kristen shares about her faith alongside her business How Kristen teaches her coaching clients who want to get into licensing or wholesale Kristen’s advice for overcoming “noise” on social media How to hire the right way The three things your customers want – guaranteed! Online wholesale outlets Kristen mentions (where you can find Thimblepress): 
ABOUND 
Bulletin 
Kristen’s questions for creatives who want to expand: 
Where are you actually making your money? Where are you spending your time? (What you're doing over there – is that actually making you money?) Are you excited about it? Don’t invest in something that doesn’t excite you, just because others are. What about YOU? Have you done the “time, heart, money” analysis like Katie Hunt from Proof to Product recommends? Have you developed a brand book?  Can you make a pitch about your work?  
Quotes: 
“I have been running this business since 2012 and it looks very different than it did, but the integrity and the core values of our brand have always remained the same.”
 
“When you hire, if people don't align with your core values, it's going to make communicating with them and them going out and communicating for your brand super difficult.”
 
“You need saved three months of being able to pay your employees in a savings account because those times will get hard – things can happen out of your control.”
 
“One of the worst things I’ve done in my business is having to let people go – and that usually comes from hiring too fast.”
 
“I feel like I'm making a difference in people's day-to-day – even if they're little small differences. I visualize all those little small products, like every greeting card that goes out, those hundreds of thousands of push-pops of confetti, out into the world. And I think of every time we send something out, it's like a little red heart. So I picture all these little red hearts everywhere.”
“A legal lesson I learned the hard way - if you file for a provisional patent application, make sure you follow up within a year later and file the actual patent, or you lose that right forever.”
“Don't look around at what everyone else is doing and make the right decisions for you, your family, your company, your faith, all those things like are so important.”
“Don't make work your idol – make it part of your life, but not the hero. Because you're the hero - not what you do.”
“I always say people don't ask for what they want enough. Pitch yourself as much as you can. The more you ask - just mathematically - the more yes’s you're going to get.”
“You have to big be your biggest cheerleader. If you're not going to be excited about t

Want to avoid the 7 biggest legal mistakes that physical product and eCommerce companies make? Attorney Brittany Ratelle walks through the most common mistakes that land modern product companies in legal hot water and how you can avoid these headaches as a small business owner.
 
Here are the top 7 mistakes: 
1. No operating agreement or business “prenup”
Operating agreements, also known as founder or partnership agreements, define the roles and responsibilities of a business and are a private binding contract that outlines equity, exit planning, intellectual property ownership, non-compete obligations, manager roles and how decision-making will be handled in a business partnership. These agreements are sometimes dubbed as business “prenups” or prenuptial agreements because, without them, many businesses can end with ugly business divorces with multiple parties claiming they had a different understanding of the rights and responsibilities of the business, whether they are fighting over assets or liabilities. *Highly recommend when you start a business with friends or family!*
 
2. Failure to protect intellectual property
 
There are 4 main types of intellectual property with different tools to protect them: patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets. Intellectual property protection and boundaries can increase the value of a company and its brand, its products, and the way in which it solves problems for consumers. If you don’t protect your own intellectual property, you can get ripped off by other companies and if you don’t pay attention to your own practices, you can be at risk of infringing on someone else’s property by using intellectual property that doesn’t belong to you. If you have protected your own IP (intellectual property), you may be able to license it out and make additional revenue streams and grow your company into an empire. For physical product companies, the IP protection you want is: 
 
Trademark: overall brand name, logo, slogan, and product name
Copyright: any surface pattern design, important product photos/audio/video
Patent: design or utility patents or both on the actual new and novel product
Trade secret: formulas, recipes, processes, methods, market research, vendor information, pricing/markup, customer data/email list
 
Sign up a for a consult with Brittany if you are ready to get your intellectual property protected
 
3. The website isn’t legally compliant
 
All websites need these documents to be legally compliant: privacy policy, website terms, copyright statement, and necessary disclosures/disclaimers. Get all of these in the website legal bundle. Also, make sure that your website is ADA-friendly with the current WCAG standards. 
 
4. The product has safety/labeling/testing issues and liability
Physical products come into contact with real human beings and their environments, so by their very nature, they have bigger legal exposure. Make you are complying with any relevant CPSC, testing, and labeling standards, especially if you sell baby & children’s goods, toys, health and wellness products/supplements, and dangerous products. 
 
5. No written contracts with vendors and/or manufacturers 
 
Get your agreements in writing! A fairly drafted contract is nothing for either side to fear and can help outline expectations, resolve ambiguities, and set up a clear working relationship for both parties in a deal. Make sure to use written (and solid) contracts for your affiliate program, for wholesale, and for pop-up shops (whether you are the or the guest). You also might want a model release or event waiver if you do your own product photography with models or host events. 
 
6. False advertising issues
 
Don’t lie. The Federal Trade Commission is in charge of protecting consumers and a big part of that is in policing the actions and the marketing of companies, especially around claims they make about their products. Be ca