Episode 117
E117: Legal Missteps and Scalable Growth: Patrice Davis on the Importance of Owning What You Create
"I was so excited to get the contract—I didn’t read the fine print." Sound familiar? In this episode, Patrice Davis, founder of Grants Works, shares the painful but powerful lesson she learned about intellectual property when a contract misstep led to a cease-and-desist letter and thousands of dollars in losses.
Patrice opens up about how she built a scalable training offer from scratch, only to find out she didn’t legally own the product she created. Erin walks through exactly what went wrong—and how you can avoid making the same mistake with your high-value content.
This candid conversation is packed with practical insights on contractor agreements, NDAs, and how to protect your IP before you scale. Plus, Patrice shares how she turned things around—and the licensing play she’s launching now that could be her most impactful move yet.
Key Takeaways:
- The Mistake That Sparked a Cease & Desist - Patrice shares how one contract oversight with a client led to losing access to the training materials she created.
- The Cost of Vague Deliverables - Erin explains how unclear contract terms around “deliverables” can lead to clients assuming full IP ownership even when they shouldn't.
- Free to Paid: Building the Grants Works Academy - From webinars to a scalable online academy, Patrice reveals how she productized her consulting services with intention.
- Protecting Your IP from Client Hires - Patrice details how she shields her business from contractors or employees assigned by clients to “help” and potentially steal her systems.
- Rebuilding with Licensing in Mind - After losing her original materials, Patrice rebuilt her training with future licensing opportunities and legal clarity at the core.
- Ownership Differences: Employee vs. Contractor Work - Erin clarifies how IP rights shift depending on whether someone is a W2 employee or a 1099 contractor and why that distinction matters.
- AI, Otter & ChatGPT Cautions - Both Erin and Patrice share risks of using AI or transcription tools with confidential or proprietary content and how to safeguard it.
- A Resource for Consultants Ready to Scale - Patrice discusses her free eBook for professionals looking to turn their expertise into a multi-six-figure consulting firm.
Resources Mentioned in This Episode
🔗 Visit Patrice Davis’ website
More About Our Guest:
Patrice Davis is the founder and CEO of Grants Works, a consulting firm based in Atlanta, GA, and lead trainer at Grants Works Academy. After transitioning from a senior nonprofit executive role, she launched her successful consulting business in 2020, leveraging her marketing expertise to serve universities, government agencies, corporations, and nonprofits worldwide. Patrice is a sought-after speaker and podcast guest, advocating for professionals to monetize their expertise through niche consulting. In 2022, she founded Ready Set Go Consult, a business accelerator guiding consultants to build thriving independent practices. She also hosts the Age Has No Limit podcast.
Connect with Patrice Davis:
Connect with Erin to learn how to Turn Your Expertise into Scalable Recurring Revenue.
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/erinaustin/
Think Beyond IP YouTube Page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVztXnDYnZ83oIb-EGX9IGA/videos
Music credit: Paphos by Mountaineer
A Team Dklutr production
Transcript
Hello everyone.
Speaker:Welcome to this week's episode of
Speaker:Scaling Expertise, where we talk to
Speaker:experts who have scaled their expertise
Speaker:and we give you some tips about how
Speaker:you can scale your expertise as well.
Speaker:So this week is a very special episode.
Speaker:First, let me introduce you
Speaker:to my guest, Patrice Davis.
Speaker:Patrice welcome.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:Pleasure to be here.
Speaker:I'm gonna have you introduce yourself
Speaker:to the audience in a second, but first
Speaker:I wanna let them know why this is
Speaker:different than my other episodes in
Speaker:that, we're gonna be talking about a
Speaker:real life story of, scaling, through.
Speaker:Patrice and I working together, so
Speaker:we'll really see behind the scenes
Speaker:of what can happen when we don't pay
Speaker:attention to those little, the crossing
Speaker:those t's and dotting those i's.
Speaker:So with that, Patrice, would you
Speaker:introduce yourself to the audience?
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:So I'm Patrice Davis.
Speaker:I'm the founder and CEO of
Speaker:Grants Works Consulting.
Speaker:Grants Works is a consulting firm that
Speaker:helps, organizations, nonprofits, colleges
Speaker:and universities, obtain and manage
Speaker:multimillion dollar federal grants.
Speaker:Those are the grants that fund your
Speaker:domestic violence shelters, lifesaving
Speaker:research, and a host of other programs.
Speaker:And so we make sure that they can
Speaker:get those grants and that they can
Speaker:keep their grants through compliance.
Speaker:Awesome.
Speaker:And so what was your
Speaker:journey to where you are?
Speaker:Great question.
Speaker:So I started out actually in marketing.
Speaker:Uh, I didn't know
Speaker:that.
Speaker:Yeah, I did.
Speaker:I started out in marketing
Speaker:actually initially in advertising.
Speaker:I was a media planner, when I
Speaker:first graduated from college.
Speaker:my clients actually included, you know,
Speaker:Johns Hopkins and some other, large.
Speaker:Institutions.
Speaker:and then, in actual marketing, I
Speaker:used to manage global, marketing
Speaker:campaigns, direct marketing
Speaker:campaigns, India all over the world.
Speaker:And then, I did that for several
Speaker:years and then when my son, I'm a
Speaker:mom of three, when my son was going
Speaker:into middle school, I decided I
Speaker:didn't wanna have a latchkey kid.
Speaker:That was a term we use quite
Speaker:a bit in my generation.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:and so I decided I'd rather slow down this
Speaker:career a little bit and work part-time.
Speaker:There were so few part-time jobs back
Speaker:then, 'cause we didn't have the kind
Speaker:of flexibility we have now the only
Speaker:thing that was part-time that was
Speaker:still kind of professional was as a
Speaker:government grant manager for a nonprofit.
Speaker:and so that's how I learned about grants.
Speaker:I was already really good at numbers
Speaker:'cause I was used to managing,
Speaker:marketing campaigns and then doing
Speaker:the analysis on the backend so wasn't
Speaker:just involved in the creative side,
Speaker:I was the number cruncher as well.
Speaker:looking at ROI and things like that.
Speaker:And so I was able to use that analysis
Speaker:skills to then, manage government grants
Speaker:and that's how I ended up in this space.
Speaker:Fantastic.
Speaker:how old is Grant Works now?
Speaker:Long you've been doing this?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So Grants Works is five years old.
Speaker:We just had our fifth anniversary.
Speaker:Oh, congrats.
Speaker:In January.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:We're still a newbie, but
Speaker:still, learn quite a bit.
Speaker:but yeah.
Speaker:But overall, I've been managing
Speaker:grants since about 2000.
Speaker:Six.
Speaker:So what is that?
Speaker:Almost 20 years.
Speaker:I'll back out one or two years 'cause
Speaker:I did go back into the marketing
Speaker:space, for a year and a half or so.
Speaker:and worked as a marketing
Speaker:manager for a nonprofit.
Speaker:So, but yeah, almost 20
Speaker:years, in this space.
Speaker:And so your clients are organizations
Speaker:whose funding comes from federal grants?
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Federal or state or local government
Speaker:grants, but also foundation grants.
Speaker:and that of course has become more
Speaker:prominent in our work now as a result
Speaker:of everything that's happening.
Speaker:but yeah, so we help them find them.
Speaker:Help them get 'em.
Speaker:And then most importantly, and this is the
Speaker:part that we really emphasize is we make
Speaker:sure that they have the systems in place.
Speaker:So we do provide a really strong
Speaker:consulting and handholding and
Speaker:implementation support so that they
Speaker:can actually keep the grant because
Speaker:there are a lot of, things that we need
Speaker:to do to make sure that they comply.
Speaker:Fantastic.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:So we became acquainted because you were
Speaker:ready to scale and you were developing
Speaker:a, product that you could leverage.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:And there are some issues.
Speaker:So first, before we get
Speaker:to the issues mm-hmm.
Speaker:What.
Speaker:Was the impetus, like was there some
Speaker:turning point, something that happened,
Speaker:like, I need to not just stop just
Speaker:doing one-on-one consulting, let
Speaker:me have this other leveraged offer.
Speaker:so actually the second year of business,
Speaker:I was approached by an organization,
Speaker:and I won't go into the story now,
Speaker:but this is sort of the reason why
Speaker:I decided to figure out, hey, let's
Speaker:leverage this work that I'm doing.
Speaker:this organization reached out.
Speaker:Prior to that, I started
Speaker:the business in 2020.
Speaker:I'd been doing a lot of webinars,
Speaker:free webinars to, get the word
Speaker:out about my organization.
Speaker:I didn't know how much I was actually
Speaker:gonna be able to convert folks into
Speaker:actual clients because again, it was 2020.
Speaker:and so I think as a result of doing
Speaker:those free webinars, and they were
Speaker:so good, and they were so detailed
Speaker:because I did not know any better.
Speaker:So word from the wise, do not do
Speaker:webinars with too much detail.
Speaker:You don't give away your stuff for free.
Speaker:But the point of the matter is because
Speaker:of the work that I do, expertise
Speaker:and being able to demonstrate the
Speaker:expertise is really important.
Speaker:So, org dropped an RFP in my inbox,
Speaker:I responded to the RFP and that.
Speaker:That's when I realized, oh, I can take
Speaker:what I'm doing and turn it into a product.
Speaker:and so I developed this training, product
Speaker:for them and then I realized all these
Speaker:other webinars that I'd been doing, I
Speaker:can record those and actually sell them.
Speaker:and so that's how I started doing it.
Speaker:And now I have a whole academy,
Speaker:a whole separate website, of
Speaker:all of our training programs.
Speaker:Wonderful.
Speaker:I will say that I'm going through
Speaker:a very similar process right now.
Speaker:I always have given away
Speaker:my expertise, frankly.
Speaker:And it is the idea of
Speaker:selling services, right?
Speaker:and it occurred to me recently that
Speaker:I've been talking a lot for free
Speaker:about a certain topic, AI and like.
Speaker:Why am I only doing that for free?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So I am in the process of creating a
Speaker:scalable offer in that area as well.
Speaker:All right.
Speaker:Enough about me.
Speaker:bundle those things and sell 'em.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:so.
Speaker:You had created this new academy?
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Based on those free webinars
Speaker:that you had created
Speaker:mm-hmm.
Speaker:Before org approached you.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:What
Speaker:happened?
Speaker:So yes.
Speaker:Awesome, awesome experience.
Speaker:For six months I worked with this
Speaker:large organization, developed a really.
Speaker:Strong training program that's now
Speaker:rated four and a half by five stars.
Speaker:It's consistently rated four and a
Speaker:half by five stars out of five stars
Speaker:now by 954 people around the country.
Speaker:So it's, done really,
Speaker:really well for them.
Speaker:Anyway, I developed a three
Speaker:module training program.
Speaker:and then, later on, number one,
Speaker:I didn't, read the fine print.
Speaker:I decided, you know what?
Speaker:I've created this great product for them.
Speaker:Certainly I can take the product, change
Speaker:the branding, change a few things, know,
Speaker:make sure the branding and the colors
Speaker:and everything, and I strip out all of
Speaker:their things that are specific to them.
Speaker:Certainly I can do that and then sell
Speaker:it as my own product to the open market.
Speaker:Understanding that, unfortunately
Speaker:it's already offered.
Speaker:at no cost by this
Speaker:particular, organization.
Speaker:and that was what I did.
Speaker:And then about a year into doing
Speaker:that, I got an email from them
Speaker:saying, Hey, we understand that,
Speaker:This product is out there and you're
Speaker:utilizing it, and you need to stop.
Speaker:and so I had a meeting with them
Speaker:and it basically, I ended up getting
Speaker:a, what is that letter called?
Speaker:It
Speaker:Cease and desist.
Speaker:A cease and desist letter,
Speaker:and, um, the dreaded
Speaker:cease and desist letter.
Speaker:I got one of those.
Speaker:And so what does that mean?
Speaker:That means that I spent that Friday
Speaker:afternoon removing all mention of
Speaker:that product from my two websites.
Speaker:deactivating, landing
Speaker:pages, just the whole thing.
Speaker:But I was also kind of mad.
Speaker:I was mad because I was like, wow, this is
Speaker:something that, is a really good product.
Speaker:I did not know any better.
Speaker:I also remember that I received like
Speaker:two days to review the, legal agreement.
Speaker:Even though they asked for it in two
Speaker:days, I now know that just because
Speaker:they asked for it doesn't mean
Speaker:that you have to do it in two days.
Speaker:I was new in business, I was so psyched
Speaker:for the contract that I was willing to,
Speaker:Allow them to just kind of push me into
Speaker:a two day contract review that is wrong.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:So for those of you guys listening,
Speaker:no matter how excited you are about an
Speaker:opportunity, make sure you reach out to
Speaker:an attorney, reach out to folks like Erin
Speaker:and make sure that you have a really good,
Speaker:legal review, because you don't wanna
Speaker:end up in the situation that I was in.
Speaker:So, a year or so goes by, I reach out to
Speaker:Erin and of course, I, engaged her and
Speaker:she provided some really great advice.
Speaker:I had to redo the training altogether.
Speaker:I had to redo all the voiceover,
Speaker:all the video, everything.
Speaker:and then even after making those
Speaker:changes, the changes weren't,
Speaker:complete enough and then I had to
Speaker:spend, so it was a lot of money.
Speaker:you're not saving time,
Speaker:you're not saving money.
Speaker:Do all the legal review at the front end.
Speaker:Pay an attorney because you're
Speaker:gonna end up paying on the
Speaker:backend, which is what I've done.
Speaker:I've now paid a lot of money,
Speaker:to revamp that training twice.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:so,
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I mean, some things are not meant for DIY.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Now, you,
Speaker:brought up.
Speaker:Pretty much everything I wanted
Speaker:to ask you about, but I'm gonna go
Speaker:back over them kind of one by one.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:To, make the point to the audience.
Speaker:One, regarding contracts,
Speaker:though you do not have to sign
Speaker:whatever is put in front of you.
Speaker:So many people are afraid to
Speaker:ask for changes, and I will
Speaker:tell you, having reviewed.
Speaker:Large corporate contracts
Speaker:my entire career.
Speaker:There's only one, which we're
Speaker:probably already boycotting
Speaker:anyway, that, said no, no changes.
Speaker:I mean, so.
Speaker:That's literally one, of the
Speaker:thousands that I've, and they
Speaker:just have to be reasonable.
Speaker:They don't want someone nitpicking,
Speaker:commas, but things that are
Speaker:reasonable that protect your work.
Speaker:They expect to get that, that, Agreement
Speaker:that comes across that is a first draft.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:They understand it's a first draft and
Speaker:don't ever let yourself be boxed in
Speaker:In order to get that sale because it
Speaker:can cost you a lot in the long run.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And then the other thing was regarding
Speaker:all the things that you had to redo over.
Speaker:we already talked about the fact that you
Speaker:had already, created your free webinars.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:That were based on publicly
Speaker:available information.
Speaker:I mean, your federal law.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:And so there's not, but
Speaker:what does copyright protect?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So copyright protects the things that
Speaker:then get put into concrete format.
Speaker:So that video, the recording, even,
Speaker:even though it's you, the recording,
Speaker:the slides, the examples, all the
Speaker:things that were inside of those client
Speaker:deliverables, work that you created and
Speaker:delivered to the client, that format was.
Speaker:copyrightable work.
Speaker:And going back to the contracts,
Speaker:the problem was that the client
Speaker:contract provided that they
Speaker:owned 100% of that deliverable.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And it did not acknowledge the fact
Speaker:that it was based on your work.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And that's the other thing is that,
Speaker:The reason a client comes to you is not
Speaker:because you're an extra pair of hands.
Speaker:They come to you because you've put
Speaker:out some great work that they're
Speaker:like, I wanna work with Patrice.
Speaker:Not, they don't wanna
Speaker:work with somebody else.
Speaker:They wanna work with Patrice because
Speaker:of what you bring to the table.
Speaker:whatever it is you're bringing to the
Speaker:table, make sure you're not giving
Speaker:that those rights to the client so
Speaker:that you can continue to use them.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:So, yeah,
Speaker:learn from my mistake guys.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:and so what lessons, I mean,
Speaker:generally, what lessons have you
Speaker:learned as you go forward, as you're
Speaker:continuing to create products,
Speaker:continuing to engage with clients?
Speaker:Man, I've learned a lot,
Speaker:I'm gonna list three.
Speaker:So, number one, I always review my
Speaker:contracts and I always have, and.
Speaker:In those instances, I ever need
Speaker:anything I can reach out to Erin.
Speaker:I have a small business attorney
Speaker:for just general things.
Speaker:Hey, please help me develop a
Speaker:partnership agreement, a joint
Speaker:venture, partnership agreement.
Speaker:I have, a trademark attorney.
Speaker:'cause I'm learning.
Speaker:That's, there's some differences there.
Speaker:and so she helps me
Speaker:trademark certain things.
Speaker:So, Pay the fees, it's so worth it.
Speaker:And then number two, sometimes when you
Speaker:are engaging with your client, you're
Speaker:sometimes engaging with your client's,
Speaker:other contractors or consultants.
Speaker:So you must have things in
Speaker:place to make sure that there's
Speaker:some protection of, your ip.
Speaker:so that it doesn't go to some
Speaker:other contractor or consultant
Speaker:'cause they can easily use your
Speaker:resources remake it as their own.
Speaker:I haven't been aware of that happening.
Speaker:But I've had a number of instances
Speaker:where I'm like, wow, in some of
Speaker:our tools with our clients and how
Speaker:do I know they're not taking our
Speaker:process, all of our different things.
Speaker:And then using that.
Speaker:And so I've actually asked Aaron
Speaker:to look at our consulting agreement
Speaker:and our NDA, to make sure that
Speaker:there's some protections there.
Speaker:You can't protect everything, but you
Speaker:can at least have documents that they
Speaker:sign, taking responsibility for any kind
Speaker:of, I don't know what's the proper term.
Speaker:Aaron, it turns out that someone's
Speaker:utilizing your IP and you can Yeah.
Speaker:Infringement, copyright infringement.
Speaker:Infringement, infringement, yeah.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:and so definitely think not just
Speaker:about, infringement and, as it
Speaker:relates to your clients, but
Speaker:also your clients' contractors.
Speaker:and then I would say the third,
Speaker:but like my employment agreement, I
Speaker:make sure that there, Terms in there
Speaker:around, protection of copyright, trade
Speaker:secrets and a lot of those things.
Speaker:And even with our contractors.
Speaker:I just think that's really important.
Speaker:I do wanna add a fourth, and this
Speaker:is just my thing, and Erin, I'd love
Speaker:to get your thoughts about this.
Speaker:I intentionally do not search for things
Speaker:that are related to my industry and ai.
Speaker:I'm like, I'm not giving chatty
Speaker:chat, GPT you know, I'm not saying,
Speaker:Hey, my client has this problem.
Speaker:How do you recommend that I resolve it?
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:I would've used two C ffr, so, and so
Speaker:what regulation do you think is better?
Speaker:No, I'm not giving chatty that stuff
Speaker:because I don't want chatty Uh,
Speaker:chatty is the term that my coach uses.
Speaker:I like it.
Speaker:I'm not giving chat g pt, like my info.
Speaker:so I would love to get your thoughts about
Speaker:that because I think we need to be very
Speaker:careful about what we're putting into ai.
Speaker:because, that's just important.
Speaker:so I'll leave it down.
Speaker:It's
Speaker:important.
Speaker:It's important.
Speaker:You raised a couple of things.
Speaker:I'm gonna answer the.
Speaker:Previous one first, and I'm
Speaker:gonna come back to chatty.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:So
Speaker:you mentioned, the agreements
Speaker:with contractors and employees,
Speaker:and I wanna make sure people are
Speaker:clear about the difference when
Speaker:it comes to ownership of ip.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:You know, so if you have someone who
Speaker:is working for you as a W2 employer,
Speaker:like you're paying employment taxes,
Speaker:you're, you know, W2, you issue.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:W four.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:That person, anything they do in the
Speaker:course of working with you, you own it.
Speaker:It is as if you made it right.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:But that is not the case with contractors.
Speaker:If you're 10 99 contractor, I
Speaker:don't care how much direction
Speaker:you give them, you paid them.
Speaker:If you don't have a written agreement with
Speaker:them, you do not own that deliverable.
Speaker:So you wanna make sure that you
Speaker:understand the difference and that if
Speaker:they're creating something for you,
Speaker:frankly you should have it anyway.
Speaker:I mean, it doesn't have to be a
Speaker:treatise, it can be two pages, you know,
Speaker:to make sure that you own, anything
Speaker:that, they are delivering to you.
Speaker:So I wanted to clarify that, but,
Speaker:and also the competitor issue.
Speaker:when you're letting.
Speaker:A competitor in on your secrets,
Speaker:that's a different challenge, right?
Speaker:Than the client.
Speaker:The client probably isn't your
Speaker:competitor and they might know
Speaker:your process, but they're not gonna
Speaker:run out and become, a consultant.
Speaker:But if you're working with
Speaker:other consultants, they might.
Speaker:So you do wanna be mindful when
Speaker:you are working with competitors.
Speaker:So, thank you for
Speaker:bringing that up as well.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:If I can quickly add, so I've,
Speaker:actually had to sit with my team and,
Speaker:because they're the One's actually
Speaker:doing the client services now.
Speaker:and so we have conversations every
Speaker:now and then, about what we can do
Speaker:to make sure that we're engaging
Speaker:our clients contractors, and we're.
Speaker:being collaborative, but if we need
Speaker:to send some kind of checklist to our
Speaker:client, make sure we send it to the
Speaker:client and make sure they understand
Speaker:that this is not a resource to be shared.
Speaker:We also, like I said, make sure
Speaker:that their contractors sign an NDA.
Speaker:and so just,
Speaker:Things that I've learned over the years.
Speaker:Yes,
Speaker:yes.
Speaker:some lessons we learned,
Speaker:the hard way, but yeah.
Speaker:But you have all that button up now.
Speaker:Now let's go to Chatty, which I'm,
Speaker:now, I'm never gonna not, thank you
Speaker:for adding that to my, brain here.
Speaker:So well, for one, I don't
Speaker:want to think that Only Jadis
Speaker:taking your information, AI is.
Speaker:Probably a part of every single software
Speaker:tool you're using right now, whether it
Speaker:is Adobe or Otter or Zoom or anything.
Speaker:And so we need to be mindful of what
Speaker:that tool can do with our input.
Speaker:So, chat explicitly says yes, anything
Speaker:you put in the chat becomes part of our
Speaker:training data and it can be used, others.
Speaker:and Otter, I might add so if you
Speaker:have them transcribe something, that
Speaker:transcript goes into their training data.
Speaker:'cause that helps it
Speaker:learn and makes it better.
Speaker:Right now, Otter, I'll say this about
Speaker:Otter, they say, well, we de-identify it.
Speaker:Well that's nice, but if I just told you
Speaker:the secrets of the universe doesn't matter
Speaker:that it's de-identified, it's still the.
Speaker:That's, that's good to know.
Speaker:Like all of my Zoom transcripts,
Speaker:even my Asana projects, I, we
Speaker:manage our stuff in Asana, but yeah.
Speaker:So, and Asana's using AI quite a
Speaker:bit, that's interesting to Yeah.
Speaker:That's good to know.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But there are definitely tools, which
Speaker:is why you need to know the difference.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That there are tools and Zoom
Speaker:is one of them that does not
Speaker:commingle your data with.
Speaker:Their training data.
Speaker:So they're not using, if you use Zoom AI
Speaker:companion, I guess it's called to mm-hmm.
Speaker:create a transcript or summary, I
Speaker:guess it makes, it will not be using
Speaker:that to train, their, platform.
Speaker:So you need to understand, 'cause some
Speaker:are just more, Adobe, the same thing.
Speaker:Obviously Adobe is processing
Speaker:lots of very sensitive.
Speaker:Information.
Speaker:but you need to know, um, the terms
Speaker:of whatever platform you are using.
Speaker:Super important.
Speaker:So,
Speaker:yeah, that's good to know.
Speaker:I didn't know that.
Speaker:Thank you so much.
Speaker:I'll definitely start opening
Speaker:up your emails more often.
Speaker:I already read them.
Speaker:I already read them, but I'll
Speaker:definitely read that more often.
Speaker:That's good insight.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It's been on my to-do list to
Speaker:start creating Like a library of
Speaker:terms of use and like what, the
Speaker:problem is if it changes and I'm
Speaker:trying to figure that one out.
Speaker:Like how do I create this repository
Speaker:that people can use without
Speaker:worrying about it becoming stale
Speaker:or, inaccurate, once they change it.
Speaker:So when I crack that nut,
Speaker:that will be, be available.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Auto update and then they
Speaker:get the update automatically.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:that's still because, and you're
Speaker:thinking for your clients, or
Speaker:even as a tool that you would sell
Speaker:a product that you would sell?
Speaker:Is that what you mean?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:Like a subscription based
Speaker:library to terms of use.
Speaker:And maybe it would be an add-on, like
Speaker:maybe it wouldn't be separately available.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But like if you've worked with me,
Speaker:then part of the deliverable when
Speaker:you're working with me would be access
Speaker:to this library, something like that.
Speaker:Awesome.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So tell us what is new?
Speaker:What's happening?
Speaker:I mean, how's the academy going?
Speaker:what's happening?
Speaker:So, the Academy, the way that we
Speaker:currently use the academy is, value add.
Speaker:For our clients.
Speaker:So we provide consulting services and all
Speaker:the things, but then we also train our
Speaker:clients, because we want them to do well.
Speaker:we want them to be able to work
Speaker:independently if they need to.
Speaker:Some would say, well, why
Speaker:would you wanna do that?
Speaker:Well, I'd rather.
Speaker:Provide huge value at
Speaker:a premium fee, right?
Speaker:over six to 12 months rather than
Speaker:kind of just hold our clients the
Speaker:whole time, pay them, they have them
Speaker:charge a tiny amount of money, then
Speaker:they're always dependable, you know?
Speaker:So I just feel it's better
Speaker:to just provide the value.
Speaker:and so that's how we use the Academy.
Speaker:Another way that we use the Academy,
Speaker:or that we're gonna be using it
Speaker:now, is that we're actually going to
Speaker:license one of our training, products.
Speaker:And actually that same training
Speaker:that we talked about earlier.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:I'm now gonna finally be
Speaker:able to license this thing.
Speaker:and I wonder how much of the market
Speaker:is gonna be out there that's gonna
Speaker:want it, again, considering the
Speaker:amount of people that we're able
Speaker:to access it for free through.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:But I do still think
Speaker:there's a huge market.
Speaker:I'm not one of those people that
Speaker:believes that, hey, because this
Speaker:thing was taken away, that means there
Speaker:isn't still a gold mine out there.
Speaker:So I am.
Speaker:Expecting, for that training program
Speaker:to do really well, especially since
Speaker:this current administration is using
Speaker:three words that I think is become.
Speaker:Becoming more and more prominent
Speaker:in people's minds, and that
Speaker:is Fraud, waste and abuse.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Um, that's something that one should
Speaker:have always been concerned about when
Speaker:it comes to using federal funding.
Speaker:But, this administration, is kind of just
Speaker:bringing that to the forefront, that, hey,
Speaker:if you have our funding, you need to make
Speaker:sure you avoid fraud, waste, and abuse.
Speaker:and I have my thoughts about that, but
Speaker:the bottom line is that is important.
Speaker:And so that's one of the ways that we're
Speaker:gonna use to, make sure that that's
Speaker:the front of, everyone's minds to be
Speaker:able to, sell our licensed product.
Speaker:I mean, at the end of
Speaker:the day, staying current.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:You know, and as a,
Speaker:for-profit offer, frankly.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Keeping it current and reacting is a
Speaker:different model than, the government
Speaker:model that, for some things that
Speaker:offered for free, so it's different.
Speaker:So there'll be a lot of value there still.
Speaker:Oh wait, so as we wrap up, is there a
Speaker:new offer or something happening that
Speaker:would be interesting to our audience?
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:So, in addition to being a consultant,
Speaker:the owner of a consulting firm,
Speaker:I also train other consultants.
Speaker:So if any of you out there have been
Speaker:ever, interested in launching your
Speaker:own consulting firm, you can reach
Speaker:out to us at Ready Set go consult.com.
Speaker:I have a free.
Speaker:Ebook and I think, Erin is also gonna
Speaker:share, it's called How to Build A
Speaker:multi six figure consulting firm.
Speaker:so you can certainly grab that ebook.
Speaker:I do talk quite a bit about using
Speaker:your seek your skills, experience,
Speaker:expertise, and your knowledge that
Speaker:you typically give to your employer.
Speaker:we want you to use your.
Speaker:Seek to actually build a
Speaker:business, a business that
Speaker:gives you the freedom you want.
Speaker:Whether it's the freedom to travel,
Speaker:while you work, whether it's the
Speaker:freedom to take care of an agent,
Speaker:parent, or the freedom to take care
Speaker:of a child that has special needs.
Speaker:Having your own business and using your
Speaker:knowledge and expertise, and selling
Speaker:that knowledge and expertise, and
Speaker:making sure you have the right pricing
Speaker:And knowing how to propose your services
Speaker:and how to use thought leadership,
Speaker:those are the things that we teach you.
Speaker:and so if that's something
Speaker:that's of interest, again, go
Speaker:to Ready, set, go consult.com.
Speaker:That is awesome, and we will have
Speaker:that in the show notes as well.
Speaker:And I will say that whenever I, talk
Speaker:to Patrice, she's she's in some other
Speaker:fantastic location, so she definitely
Speaker:is taking advantage of the freedom
Speaker:and flexibility she's drinking
Speaker:her own Kool-Aid, put it that way.
Speaker:So in addition to ready.
Speaker:set, go.
Speaker:Where else can people find
Speaker:you if they wanna connect
Speaker:with you?
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:You can please find me@grantsworks.com.
Speaker:So there's an S after
Speaker:grant and s after work.
Speaker:Grants works.com.
Speaker:and of course I'm on Instagram,
Speaker:at Grants Works if you're
Speaker:interested in a consulting firm.
Speaker:and also at Patrice a Davis on Instagram.
Speaker:and I'm on LinkedIn, of course,
Speaker:at Patrice a Davis I believe.
Speaker:so I'm everywhere.
Speaker:One would expect, the, you know,
Speaker:owner of a business to be Awesome.
Speaker:Awesome.
Speaker:Thank you so much, Patrice.
Speaker:It's been fantastic to have you here.
Speaker:Thank you for sharing your story.
Speaker:'cause I think it is so important.
Speaker:it's not just theory, this is real life.
Speaker:It happens and we need to
Speaker:be mindful of these things.
Speaker:and thank you also for, generous,
Speaker:free ebook that I'm sure people
Speaker:will wanna access as well.
Speaker:Thanks again.
Speaker:Thank you so much.
Speaker:It was great.
Speaker:Nice getting to talk to your audience.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:All righty.
Speaker:Bye.
