Episode 43

E43: How to Clone Yourself

It’s a busy day. You’ve ticked items off your to-do list but you still have plenty of things to do. And so you’re thinking, why do I only have 24 hours a day? Can I just clone myself so I can do two things at a time?

Now you can! Not literally though. There are several systems you can develop that integrate artificial intelligence and other modern technology to replicate yourself. Having a replicable process is a sign of a healthy and efficient business, but it comes with repercussions—of course, it’s not a perfect world.

In this episode, I will teach you how you can protect your business and products while optimizing technological transformations. Some of the important points I covered are:

  • The telltale reasons you need to clone yourself for your business
  • Expanding your business by outsourcing services like freelance facilitators
  • The two types of license agreements you need to protect your intellectual property
  • Diversifying clients by packaging your products at different price points

If you found these helpful and you want to know more about other options to set some limitations on AI integrations or cloning yourself through outsourcing, send me a message. Let’s explore the best way for your business.

Connect with Erin and find the resources mentioned in this episode at hourlytoexit.com/podcast.

Erin's LinkedIn Page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erinaustin/

Think Beyond IP YouTube Page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVztXnDYnZ83oIb-EGX9IGA/videos

Music credit: Yes She Can by Tiny Music

A Team Dklutr production

Transcript
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Hello everyone.

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Welcome to my last Wednesday of the

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month LinkedIn Live.

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I come here every last Wednesday of

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the month at noon eastern to talk

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about issues that are important to

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you in building a scalable and

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hopefully someday saleable expertise

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based business.

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So this week we're gonna talk about

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cloning yourself.

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How to increase your income and

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your impact.

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So this is a very timely one.

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I had some interesting

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conversation yesterday about

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this very topic, and so when I talk

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about clones, this comes on the heels.

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I think it was this week that I

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released, a podcast episode about ai

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where you can use ai like literally to

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clone yourself and do complete videos

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and your voice and.

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Everything.

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and, to create things that c

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clone yourself.

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So I'm not talking about that kind

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of cloning today.

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Today I'm talking about human clones,

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who can deliver the same or similar

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results that your clients come to you

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for, but without you having to do

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that work personally to create some

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independence in your business.

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And so, We do that of course, by having

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something that we can teach other

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people, we need to have some sort of

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system, whether it is a methodology

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or a framework or training

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materials or a workshop, something

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that allows a third party or.

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A third thing we wanna call a

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product that, to be able to replicate,

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the results that you provide to

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your clients on a one-on-one basis.

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And so I wanna just, tell you a

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story about a woman who was in a group

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coaching program I had a couple years

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ago now, and she.

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Did.

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I wish I could remember exactly

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what she called it, but basically

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she was like an empath of some

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sort and she was a business consultant

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and she had a way of connecting

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with her clients and using her.

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Intuition.

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I know that's not the word that

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she would use, but she kind of,

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the energy of her clients and she

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would work with them to help them make

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business decisions.

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And so it would be very difficult for

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someone, for her to clone herself.

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someone would have to have her

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same talents that.

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Most of us don't have, and that

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you probably can't teach and that are,

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something that you are born with and

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that, so it would be pretty hard for her

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to clone herself.

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But if you're like most of us, where

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we have used our experience and,

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Our training and our education and

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our, grown our expertise over time.

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Emotional intelligence,

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I like that.

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to help us, provide the services, the

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excellent services that we provide

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to our clients.

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Those are things that can

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be packaged.

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In a way that other people can help

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us deliver them.

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this is not going to be about mindset,

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but I do wanna just say this

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about the idea of, what you do.

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Is magical.

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The transformations that you provide

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your clients are magical and that

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is why they're highly valued.

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But those can be delivered in more

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than one way and by more than one person

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for the most of us.

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And so, being able to, to.

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Let go of some of that control

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by allowing other people to deliver

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your services is a step in, creating

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that independence that you really want

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in your business and be able to do,

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work with other clients, work on

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other projects, create new programs,

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do other, higher level strategy work.

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These are all things that require us to.

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Let other people clones, if you will

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help us deliver some of these services.

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So I'm going to use an example so we

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can talk through the stages of

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cloning ourselves using, this example.

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So, You are a D E I A consultant.

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You developed a workshop, include

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written exercises, maybe you have some

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video, vignettes and a discussion

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guide and a training manual.

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And your workshop is in very high

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demand and it is demand that you

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can't meet yourself.

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And so maybe even I, hear this from,

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people in this space who have

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clients who have.

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offices all over the country, and

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they want you to deliver your

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workshop to all of their employees all

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over the country, and that could keep

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you fully occupied for an entire year,

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keeping you from doing other things

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in your business, keeping you from

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servicing other clients, keeping you

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from creating other programs, keeping

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you from working on your thought

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leadership, keeping you from taking

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a vacation, or seeing your family.

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And so in order to satisfy this

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increased demand, there are a

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number of options.

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And so those clones that could help you

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satisfy that demand include employees,

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facilitators, licensees,

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and products.

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And we will take these one at a time.

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So employees, that is a way

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to help satisfy that demand with

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internal resources.

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I mean, we all probably started

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as employees, you know, unless you're

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Mark Zuckerberg or Bill Gates or

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Elizabeth Holmes, go forbid, we started

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as employees, and so we understand

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that from that side.

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But as an employer, Sometimes we forget

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that we are the most expensive resource

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in our business because there are

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some higher level strategy, thought

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leadership, personal appearances,

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speaking, things like that, that.

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Require us.

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And so when there are, established

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workshops or trainings or

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frameworks that you can train

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other people to deliver, then that

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is an efficient way to service

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those, that access demand using those

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internal resources.

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Now, I'm not going to pretend that

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the only expense with having an

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employee is just their salary.

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I mean, we know there's a lot

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more of that to it than that.

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Not to mention, taxes and, benefits,

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but there is that emotional cost

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and psychological cost to having

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an employees, to ask someone

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to, leave their current employer.

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And come to you.

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And now you are now not only responsible

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for the care and feeding of your

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family, you're now also responsible

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for the care and feeding of their

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families as well.

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And so if you're not ready for the

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responsibility of employees, there

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are a number of external resources

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that can help you fill that demand to

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serve your clients.

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So outsourcing.

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Facilitators, again, using that,

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HR consultant scenario, you may

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have a different type of business,

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maybe a management consultant or

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graphic design or something else, but

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facilitators are a great way when

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you're providing workshops with

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to your clients that you use an

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outsourced freelance facilitator.

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who are skilled in facilitating

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workshops to help you meet some

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of that demand.

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And so in the facilitator example

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versus the licensee example, which we'll

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talk about next facilitator example,

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they are using your materials, your

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workshops to service your clients.

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And so even though they're servicing

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your clients, this is a contractual

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relationship.

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we want to make sure that it is

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properly documented.

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I imagine you have relationships with

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facilitators and hopefully you do

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as part of your network, but you

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still want to have a formal facilitator

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agreement with them.

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And there are a number of

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reasons why.

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One, to make sure you're on the

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same page about.

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delivery and about, payment, but also

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that relationship with the client,

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that relationship is yours.

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But you wanna have a way to determine

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like, in what ways will the facilitator

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be part of that conversation?

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If something goes wrong, if something

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needs to be rescheduled, if God

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forbid the client doesn't pay, like,

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then what happens?

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so you need to have all these

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things addressed in your facilitator.

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Agreement as well as they're going

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to be using your materials, do you

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want them to follow it, by the tea

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or can they use some of their own?

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Experience to bring some of

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their own genius to the workshop,

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if you will.

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And what if they have some

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ideas about how to improve it?

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Who owns that?

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What if they have something like,

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oh, I remember this exercise that

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I used last year with a similar

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client and they.

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Decide to bring that exercise and

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make that part of the program,

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what happens then?

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So you just wanna make sure all these

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things are set out in your agreement.

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contracts are just about the, whatever

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the parties decide it will cover.

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And so you just need to make sure

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that you're covering these things ahead

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of time so that everyone is on

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the same page.

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So that's your facilitators

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now as opposed to licensees.

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Now with your licensees, we have

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these two types.

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One that's competitor license,

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another client, but your competitor

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license is another service provider.

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Unlike the facilitator,

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they're going to be licensing

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your workshop and using it to serve

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their own clients, and so a license

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is an agreement to use somebody

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else's intellectual property.

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Again, this is something you

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absolutely want to have in writing.

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the thing about your competitor is,

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maybe you're, that D E I A expert,

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maybe they're just a D E I expert

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and they haven't figured out the

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accessibility part yet, but you have.

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And so they come to you and like,

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Hey, I really need an accessibility

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module to add to my program.

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Can I license yours?

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Maybe it makes sense to just license that

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accessibility piece.

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Maybe you only want for them to use

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your program in its totality because

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it all builds on each other and it's

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all integrated.

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so there are different ways

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to structure a license, again,

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as a contract.

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the term, you mean the length

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of the license?

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The, any restrictions

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regarding use?

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what happens if someone, creates

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improvements?

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if they are mixing, one of your modules

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with one of their modules, making

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sure those rights.

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Stay separate.

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what happens with, your existing

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clients, like you are creating

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competitors that are using your

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program, and so, Some restrictions in

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there about who they can use it with.

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Maybe you specialize in working with

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law firms and so you don't really

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want them to use it with law firms,

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so you can put that restriction in

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there, that they can use it with these

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other industries, but not with, the

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legal industry.

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And of course, the license fee.

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So the terms of how you'll get paid

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for their use of your workshop, and

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that might be on an annual basis.

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They pay you one flat fee and they

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can use it as many times as they want

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during the year, or maybe it's.

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Every time they deliver it, that you

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get a piece of that.

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and so again, these are all

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things that you wanna have in your

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license agreement.

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The other type of licensee is your

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client licensee, so you're turning

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your client into a licensee.

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If we go back to that, Big client who

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has multiple offices and could keep

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you busy all year.

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Maybe instead of you going all around

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the country for a year to train

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everyone in person.

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You license the workshop to your

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client and they.

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Be use an internal facilitator.

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They use someone on their team to

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be the facilitator or facilitators

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and provide your workshops

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to the rest of their employees.

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That's also known as the train the

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trainer model.

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And in this case, you are still

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servicing them, but you're not

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doing it on a one on one basis.

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these are two, even though they seem

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similar, they're pretty different.

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One, I mean, obviously one

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you're creating competitors.

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The other, your clients probably

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are not going to be your competitors.

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So there are some differences there

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and some different protections that

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you'd wanna have in your license

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agreement.

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But the other thing is that they're

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completely different market, right?

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So, Currently you understand your

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client, you know their pain points,

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you know where you fish for them,

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where to find them.

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And so your sales process for that

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may be very similar.

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You have this one-on-one option

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or in-person option, I should say,

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and you have this license option.

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And so depending on the client,

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they may have.

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Preferences, what, which way

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to go versus your competitor

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is completely different market.

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They have different issues.

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Their roi, the investment will look

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very different to them than it does

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for your client.

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And so you need to think pretty

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carefully about whether or not

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you want to, have basically

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two different businesses, when you

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go that competitor, licensee route.

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So those are two ways to have to

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fill that with external sources.

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So products, those DIY ways of getting

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the results, or at least most of

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the results that they would get by

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hiring you directly, maybe books,

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maybe prerecorded courses, maybe

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software, depending on the nature of.

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The results that you provide, and

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this is a great way to, one, get

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client diversity.

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with your in-person workshops, I imagine

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there's lots of similarity about the

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type of client that you work with and if

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they're big enough, maybe you only have

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one client, which is kind of the worst

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kind of client.

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Diversity, of course, but having

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other options at different

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price points.

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I mean, you can have different types of

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clients and you can serve, maybe, parts

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of the community that you were not

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able to serve with your in-person

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services and adding.

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Products is additive.

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I mean, it doesn't replace, or I mean

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if you don't want it to, it doesn't

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replace your in-person services,

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but it adds a new revenue stream using

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your intellectual property, which

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is, of course one of the things I

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talk about all the time, to create

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that new IP based revenue stream.

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So, to no one's surprise, it is

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all about that intellectual

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property.

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So developing it, owning it, and

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protecting it.

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And so to talk about the ownership piece

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for a minute, a lot of consultants

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and coaches get certifications and

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they will receive.

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Materials, maybe they'll get an

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assessment tool.

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Maybe they'll get some workbooks

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and things that they use in their

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in-person services.

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But those things are licensed to them.

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Licensed to you as the case may be,

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and you may but probably do not

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have the right to further license.

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That would be a sub license, those

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materials that you've received.

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So when you're looking at.

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Creating a licensing program either

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with your client or with a competitor,

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or creating a product, you need

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to make sure that you actually own

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the things that will be elements

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in that, because if they're licensed

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from someone else, you need to be very

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careful that you are not in breach

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of that license.

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So implementing the clothing process

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back to the systems and procedures.

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if right now you're just using

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your brilliance, you wanna start

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documenting that brilliance, so

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have some systems and you have some

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procedures that you will be able.

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To train your clones on whether

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they're employees.

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You still need systems and

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processes.

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If you, use facilitators,

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they need it.

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If you use licensees, of

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course they need it as well.

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So you start with making sure you

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are systematizing and proceduralizing

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your, process.

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Contracts.

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obviously as an employer you have

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certain, rights under employment

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laws, but for your licensees

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and for your facilitators, that

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is a contractual relationship.

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And in order to make sure you're

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maintaining control of how

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your intellectual property is being

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used, you want to have written

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agreements that are signed by

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the parties.

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And then registration.

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What we've been talking about are

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things that would be registered

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under, the US copyright office,

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protected under copyright law, and.

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As you know, if you've followed

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me for a while, upon creation of

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original materials, the copyright vests

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in the creator.

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And so you don't have to register it

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for that copyright to vest in you,

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but you do need to register it if

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you want a court of law to help you

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enforce your rights.

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So anything that is going to be

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used to directly create revenue.

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I recommend registration.

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So certainly any product you're going

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to sell, you wanna have it registered.

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Your workshops that you deliver

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to that are the sort main source

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of revenue should be registered.

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And when you're doing a license

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agreement, you want the subject of that

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license agreement to be registered

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in the copyright office as well.

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So, the key.

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Registration agreements and, of

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course tracking.

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you don't know what you don't know if

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you're not tracking the rights that are

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coming into your business and the

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rights are going out of your business,

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and that is how you make sure that you

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retain control of your, expertise.

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And so another thing that came up

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yesterday during conversation is,

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wanting to spread your message as

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widely as you can and what you do.

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You believe in what you do, you

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believe in the transformation that

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you provide, and you want other people

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to have access to, the results.

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And I would argue that that is even.

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More important that you have these

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things in place to make sure that

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you're controlling the integrity of

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the materials that you put together to

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the workshops and the delivery and

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the results that people are getting.

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it's not selfish to want to make

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sure that your materials are being

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used responsibly.

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And that they're being used

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competently and that people are

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getting the promised results and that

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requires you to take some control

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of that process.

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So that is, the what I wanted to share

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with you today.

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And so thank you so much for that

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and I'd be happy to take any questions

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that you have.

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All right, so you know where

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to find me.

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You can always find me@thinkbeyondip.com.

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You know, if you.

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Couple of any questions later on,

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or if you're just shy, connect with me

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on LinkedIn or send me an email at Erin

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think beyond ip.com.

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And of course, this is being recorded

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as a podcast episode as well, so you

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can also rehear it if you haven't

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gotten enough of it.

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at Hourly to Exit podcast, you could

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find that at all of your podcast

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distributing.

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Places.

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so thanks again for joining me and

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I'm always happy to cover topics of

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interest to you.

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So also, please feel free to send

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me any questions that you have or any

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topics that you'd like me to cover.

About the Podcast

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Hourly to Exit

About your host

Profile picture for Erin Austin

Erin Austin

Meet Erin Austin, a Harvard Law alum with over 25 years of copyright and contracts experience. As the go-to advisor for professionals with corporate clients, Erin empowers entrepreneurs to be their own advocates, standing out for her commitment to transforming expertise into empires through the creation, protection and leveraging of intellectual property assets. Explore her blend of legal expertise and entrepreneurial insight on ThinkBeyondIP.com and the "Hourly to Exit" podcast. Off the clock, you'll find Erin in the great outdoors or connecting with business coaches to elevate 6-figure consultants into 7-figure powerhouses.