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Episode 69

E69: From Hourly to Scalable to Saleable

I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed by Scott Ritzheimer, host of The Secrets of the High Demand Coach Podcast. It was a rollicking fast-paced interview that I think you will really like and Scott kindly allowed me to share it here with you.

A little about Scott: He has helped start nearly 20,000 new businesses and nonprofits and, with his business partner, started and led their multimillion-dollar business through an exceptional and extended growth phase (over 10 years of double-digit growth), all before he turned 35.

Here are a few key takeaways from our conversation together:

  • The importance of owning and controlling intellectual property as a prerequisite for scaling expertise-based businesses. Whether it's a book, a course, or workshop, these assets are copyrightable and can be sold as part of the business. 
  • The consequences of failing to build a business that can run without the founder. 
  • Adapting to changing market forces and building multiple revenue streams is crucial in decoupling income from time. 
  • While AI may be a trendy topic, I argue that it cannot replace the unique value that human expertise and personal touch bring to businesses. Thought leadership and unparalleled services are the keys to staying ahead in the market.

Overall, this episode delved into the fascinating world of building and protecting saleable assets in female-founded expertise-based businesses.

Tune in to the full episode to dive deeper into this enlightening conversation. You can find the episode on your favorite podcast platform.

#HourlyToExit #PodcastEpisode #BusinessGrowth #IPProtection #ScaleYourBusiness #ThoughtLeadership

Connect with Erin to learn how to use intellectual property to increase your income and impact. 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
Speaker:

Hello, ladies, welcome to

Speaker:

this week's episode of the

Speaker:

hourly to exit podcast.

Speaker:

I recently had the pleasure

Speaker:

of being interviewed

Speaker:

by Scott Ritzheimer.

Speaker:

He's the host of the secrets

Speaker:

of the high demand coach

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podcast, and it was such.

Speaker:

A fun, fast paced interview.

Speaker:

It was almost like

Speaker:

whiplash, but so much

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good stuff in there.

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As soon as we finished

Speaker:

recording, I immediately told

Speaker:

Stacey, I want to release this

Speaker:

as an episode of the hourly,

Speaker:

the exit podcast as well.

Speaker:

So enjoy.

Speaker:

Thanks.

Scott Ritzheimer:

Hello.

Scott Ritzheimer:

Hello and welcome.

Scott Ritzheimer:

Welcome once again to

Scott Ritzheimer:

the secrets of the high

Scott Ritzheimer:

demand coach podcast.

Scott Ritzheimer:

And I'm here with high

Scott Ritzheimer:

demand coach, which she's

Scott Ritzheimer:

actually an attorney and

Scott Ritzheimer:

a strategic consultant.

Scott Ritzheimer:

This is the one and

Scott Ritzheimer:

the only Erin Austin.

Scott Ritzheimer:

She's a graduate of Harvard

Scott Ritzheimer:

law school, and she uses her

Scott Ritzheimer:

25 plus years of practicing

Scott Ritzheimer:

law to help female founders

Scott Ritzheimer:

of expertise based firms to

Scott Ritzheimer:

build and protect saleable.

Scott Ritzheimer:

Assets so that the business

Scott Ritzheimer:

is ready to sell when the

Scott Ritzheimer:

founder is ready to exit.

Scott Ritzheimer:

And Aaron's experience as a

Scott Ritzheimer:

lawyer and as an executive

Scott Ritzheimer:

at the intersection of

Scott Ritzheimer:

business and law informs the

Scott Ritzheimer:

elevated legal and strategic

Scott Ritzheimer:

business advice that she

Scott Ritzheimer:

provides to her clients.

Scott Ritzheimer:

Her expertise includes roles

Scott Ritzheimer:

as COO and general counsel

Scott Ritzheimer:

for, MGM Teaching Strategies

Scott Ritzheimer:

and M3 USA Corporation.

Scott Ritzheimer:

Well, Aaron.

Scott Ritzheimer:

this feels like it's been

Scott Ritzheimer:

forever and coming, but I'm

Scott Ritzheimer:

so excited that you're here

Scott Ritzheimer:

with us now on the show.

Scott Ritzheimer:

before we get into how

Scott Ritzheimer:

you're helping particularly

Scott Ritzheimer:

female entrepreneurs,

Scott Ritzheimer:

I'd love to just hear a

Scott Ritzheimer:

little bit of your story.

Scott Ritzheimer:

What were you doing

Scott Ritzheimer:

before helping, founders

Scott Ritzheimer:

build saleable and

Scott Ritzheimer:

scalable businesses?

Scott Ritzheimer:

And why did you

Scott Ritzheimer:

ultimately make the leap?

Erin Austin:

Yeah,

Erin Austin:

well, I thank you

Erin Austin:

for having me, Scott.

Erin Austin:

So I've spent a career

Erin Austin:

helping big businesses

Erin Austin:

get bigger, frankly.

Erin Austin:

And, that's probably way

Erin Austin:

a lot of lawyers start.

Erin Austin:

We come out, we go to

Erin Austin:

big firms, we end up in

Erin Austin:

house at big companies.

Erin Austin:

And, obviously, you it's.

Erin Austin:

It's a great way to make a

Erin Austin:

living, of course, but there

Erin Austin:

came a time when one, as

Erin Austin:

my career matured and I was

Erin Austin:

looking for something just

Erin Austin:

a that was more, a little

Erin Austin:

bit more aligned with my

Erin Austin:

personal goals, as I have a

Erin Austin:

son who's getting older, I'm

Erin Austin:

about to be an empty nester.

Erin Austin:

and have a little

Erin Austin:

more time on my hand.

Erin Austin:

And I'm like, well, what can

Erin Austin:

I do that has more impact?

Erin Austin:

I think all of us kind of get

Erin Austin:

there eventually about how

Erin Austin:

we can, use our expertise to

Erin Austin:

have greater impact and trying

Erin Austin:

to figure out like how to.

Erin Austin:

Translate my big company

Erin Austin:

experience into working

Erin Austin:

with a different population.

Erin Austin:

And it took me a bit to

Erin Austin:

figure it out, frankly.

Erin Austin:

And then I realized, you

Erin Austin:

know, a lot of my big clients,

Erin Austin:

they are in the IP space

Erin Austin:

and I work on, protecting

Erin Austin:

their intellectual property.

Erin Austin:

And a lot of it

Erin Austin:

is with services.

Erin Austin:

And so I'm like,

Erin Austin:

well, wait, there's.

Erin Austin:

Other populations who

Erin Austin:

have service based

Erin Austin:

businesses that they have

Erin Austin:

intellectual property

Erin Austin:

that they need to protect

Erin Austin:

and that I can translate.

Erin Austin:

It's not, the same scale,

Erin Austin:

but also use my IP based

Erin Austin:

experience working with

Erin Austin:

service based businesses

Erin Austin:

to help them protect their

Erin Austin:

IP and in particular,

Erin Austin:

with respect to women.

Erin Austin:

I mean, it's no secret.

Erin Austin:

I don't think that wealth,

Erin Austin:

Has a voice in this country

Erin Austin:

and in order to kind of,

Erin Austin:

spread some of the wealth,

Erin Austin:

spread some of the influence

Erin Austin:

that comes with it, to more

Erin Austin:

people to work with, women

Erin Austin:

in particular, I believe

Erin Austin:

that wealth in the hands of

Erin Austin:

women can change the world.

Erin Austin:

And so helping them turn

Erin Austin:

their businesses, not just

Erin Austin:

into income, providers,

Erin Austin:

but also wealth builders.

Erin Austin:

So that's how I got

Scott Ritzheimer:

here.

Scott Ritzheimer:

I love that.

Scott Ritzheimer:

I love that.

Scott Ritzheimer:

And, I was telling you

Scott Ritzheimer:

before we hit record here

Scott Ritzheimer:

that I have no idea how to

Scott Ritzheimer:

get all the questions that

Scott Ritzheimer:

I have for you down into

Scott Ritzheimer:

about a 20 minute block.

Scott Ritzheimer:

So we're going to try and

Scott Ritzheimer:

do this as best we can.

Scott Ritzheimer:

but, I just want to

Scott Ritzheimer:

start off and say.

Scott Ritzheimer:

Head over to Aaron's site.

Scott Ritzheimer:

We'll put the link in the

Scott Ritzheimer:

show notes, and we'll talk a

Scott Ritzheimer:

little bit about it at the end

Scott Ritzheimer:

here, but there's so much good

Scott Ritzheimer:

stuff on there, so go check

Scott Ritzheimer:

that out, you're not going to

Scott Ritzheimer:

regret it, but I'd love for

Scott Ritzheimer:

you to just unpack a couple

Scott Ritzheimer:

things for me, you make some

Scott Ritzheimer:

pretty profound statements

Scott Ritzheimer:

on your site, I'm going to

Scott Ritzheimer:

read them back to you, and

Scott Ritzheimer:

then I want to hear your

Scott Ritzheimer:

thoughts on them, so One of

Scott Ritzheimer:

them is owning and controlling

Scott Ritzheimer:

intellectual property is the

Scott Ritzheimer:

prerequisite to scaling your

Scott Ritzheimer:

B2B expertise based business.

Scott Ritzheimer:

There's not a lot of people

Scott Ritzheimer:

saying that right now.

Scott Ritzheimer:

So tell us what

Scott Ritzheimer:

you mean by that.

Erin Austin:

Yeah,

Erin Austin:

that makes me insane.

Erin Austin:

That a lot of the day, if

Erin Austin:

we want to stop selling

Erin Austin:

our time, as an expert,

Erin Austin:

so to speak, and, instead

Erin Austin:

sell our expertise, then

Erin Austin:

we have to have an asset

Erin Austin:

there, either we're selling

Erin Austin:

our time or we're selling.

Erin Austin:

An asset.

Erin Austin:

And so if we want to build

Erin Austin:

assets, when we're experts,

Erin Austin:

it's not something that's

Erin Austin:

patentable, like a, you know,

Erin Austin:

a car or pharmaceutical, it's

Erin Austin:

not something that's like a

Erin Austin:

trade secret, like Coca Cola.

Erin Austin:

Our expertise is saleable

Erin Austin:

in the form of copyrightable

Erin Austin:

intellectual property.

Erin Austin:

And so if it's a book or a

Erin Austin:

course or the, workshops that

Erin Austin:

you provide, the trainings

Erin Austin:

you provide your clients.

Erin Austin:

All those things are

Erin Austin:

copyrightable assets and we

Erin Austin:

can't copyright something

Erin Austin:

if we don't own it.

Erin Austin:

And so I keep kind of

Erin Austin:

like, people like, well,

Erin Austin:

I get lots of questions

Erin Austin:

about, registering stuff,

Erin Austin:

like, well, do you own it?

Erin Austin:

just because you worked

Erin Austin:

on something doesn't mean

Erin Austin:

you own it just because

Erin Austin:

you created something

Erin Austin:

doesn't mean you own it.

Erin Austin:

so we have to be aware

Erin Austin:

of the whole life cycle

Erin Austin:

of, from creation.

Erin Austin:

Ownership, utilization,

Erin Austin:

registration of our IP assets.

Erin Austin:

And so you don't want to

Erin Austin:

create, a course using, stuff

Erin Austin:

that you got off the internet

Erin Austin:

or materials that you got

Erin Austin:

from a certification program

Erin Austin:

or something that you took

Erin Austin:

from your corporate job.

Erin Austin:

you can't create

Erin Austin:

courses out of that.

Erin Austin:

So you need to make sure

Erin Austin:

you own your own assets

Erin Austin:

in order to do that.

Scott Ritzheimer:

Yeah.

Scott Ritzheimer:

Oh, that's so good.

Scott Ritzheimer:

you made another

Scott Ritzheimer:

statement here.

Scott Ritzheimer:

It's a little bit

Scott Ritzheimer:

longer, but again, I

Scott Ritzheimer:

want to read it because

Scott Ritzheimer:

I think it's fascinating.

Scott Ritzheimer:

And that is that the biggest

Scott Ritzheimer:

threat to your expertise

Scott Ritzheimer:

based business isn't AI.

Scott Ritzheimer:

AI might be able to

Scott Ritzheimer:

write a cookbook, but

Scott Ritzheimer:

it can never be a chef.

Scott Ritzheimer:

The bigger threat, is failing

Scott Ritzheimer:

to build a business that can

Scott Ritzheimer:

run without you failing to

Scott Ritzheimer:

build your business so that

Scott Ritzheimer:

your income is decoupled

Scott Ritzheimer:

from your time and failing

Scott Ritzheimer:

to adapt to the changing

Scott Ritzheimer:

market forces, such as low

Scott Ritzheimer:

cost competitors or micro

Scott Ritzheimer:

learning, learning on demand.

Scott Ritzheimer:

In other words, you

Scott Ritzheimer:

need to build a business

Scott Ritzheimer:

with multiple revenue

Scott Ritzheimer:

streams that can scale.

Scott Ritzheimer:

so, some people, especially

Scott Ritzheimer:

with how trendy AI is

Scott Ritzheimer:

know, that's probably

Scott Ritzheimer:

pretty drawing for them.

Scott Ritzheimer:

So.

Scott Ritzheimer:

Again, what do you

Scott Ritzheimer:

kind of mean by that?

Scott Ritzheimer:

And what can we

Scott Ritzheimer:

actually do about it?

Erin Austin:

Yeah.

Erin Austin:

I mean, obviously AI is at

Erin Austin:

the top of everyone's, mind

Erin Austin:

and I do get a fair amount of

Erin Austin:

inquiries about it, but the

Erin Austin:

end of the day, AI is just

Erin Austin:

another way of accumulating.

Erin Austin:

Already known information

Erin Austin:

and so, it's just a better

Erin Austin:

version of Google, frankly,

Erin Austin:

if you have your intellectual

Erin Austin:

property, your expertise,

Erin Austin:

your, publishing it.

Erin Austin:

you should be publishing it.

Erin Austin:

So you're developing

Erin Austin:

your thought leadership.

Erin Austin:

Every single human with

Erin Austin:

an Internet has access,

Erin Austin:

whether they use chat, GBT

Erin Austin:

or whatever other AI, they

Erin Austin:

have access to it right now.

Erin Austin:

They can go on Google and get

Erin Austin:

it right now and copy it right

Erin Austin:

now and steal it right now.

Erin Austin:

Right.

Erin Austin:

So that's not going to change.

Erin Austin:

and someone can, you know,

Erin Austin:

does it make it easier for

Erin Austin:

them to take your materials

Erin Austin:

and stick it in the AI

Erin Austin:

and change it enough.

Erin Austin:

But at the end of the day, you

Erin Austin:

can't stop copycats because

Erin Austin:

we can't protect ideas.

Erin Austin:

So the way we protect our

Erin Austin:

position in the marketplace

Erin Austin:

is through our expertise by

Erin Austin:

providing the Michelin, level

Erin Austin:

service to your clients,

Erin Austin:

becoming the go to person

Erin Austin:

in your space, becoming the

Erin Austin:

leader, the thought leader.

Erin Austin:

And so.

Erin Austin:

That's how you combat,

Erin Austin:

whether it's Google or

Erin Austin:

AI or other bad actors.

Erin Austin:

It's not, by somehow keeping

Erin Austin:

everything secret because

Erin Austin:

it's not going to help you.

Erin Austin:

You can't keep it.

Erin Austin:

If you keep your stuff secret,

Erin Austin:

you're going to stay secret.

Erin Austin:

Right.

Erin Austin:

but if you want to scale,

Erin Austin:

on the other hand, if all

Erin Austin:

you're doing is kind of,

Erin Austin:

selling your time, doing

Erin Austin:

custom work that you don't

Erin Austin:

own, you're not developing

Erin Austin:

processes, you're not

Erin Austin:

developing your own solutions.

Erin Austin:

You're not, Creating assets

Erin Austin:

that you can use to put

Erin Austin:

leverage into your business.

Erin Austin:

you will obviously top out.

Erin Austin:

That's why you're here.

Erin Austin:

You that's going to be the

Erin Austin:

end of, you know, that's it.

Erin Austin:

That's all you want then.

Erin Austin:

But if you want to grow your

Erin Austin:

business, then you have to

Erin Austin:

be creating assets and you

Erin Austin:

can't be obsessing about AI.

Erin Austin:

That

Scott Ritzheimer:

some of

Scott Ritzheimer:

the advice that I'll give,

Scott Ritzheimer:

especially to those in

Scott Ritzheimer:

the coaching profession.

Scott Ritzheimer:

and so I want to

Scott Ritzheimer:

have a fun little

Scott Ritzheimer:

conversation around this.

Scott Ritzheimer:

I think that, for a lot of

Scott Ritzheimer:

coaches, maybe not as much

Scott Ritzheimer:

writing a book, but creating

Scott Ritzheimer:

courses or other kind of

Scott Ritzheimer:

lower market engagements is

Scott Ritzheimer:

oftentimes a distraction.

Scott Ritzheimer:

here's, why I think one of the

Scott Ritzheimer:

things that happens if we're

Scott Ritzheimer:

not careful, we do it for

Scott Ritzheimer:

the value of leverage, right?

Scott Ritzheimer:

Because it doesn't take

Scott Ritzheimer:

my time, but it takes

Scott Ritzheimer:

a long time to do it.

Scott Ritzheimer:

And we do it so clumsily

Scott Ritzheimer:

that it actually takes

Scott Ritzheimer:

more time for the value

Scott Ritzheimer:

that we get back out of it.

Scott Ritzheimer:

Right.

Scott Ritzheimer:

And so for me, I've always

Scott Ritzheimer:

encouraged folks to go after

Scott Ritzheimer:

the thing that provides

Scott Ritzheimer:

the highest value for time.

Scott Ritzheimer:

Don't sell your time,

Scott Ritzheimer:

agree with you there,

Scott Ritzheimer:

but provide the highest

Scott Ritzheimer:

value for your time.

Scott Ritzheimer:

And so how do you

Scott Ritzheimer:

help folks navigate?

Scott Ritzheimer:

are you creating courses

Scott Ritzheimer:

just because someone told

Scott Ritzheimer:

you to create courses or

Scott Ritzheimer:

are they really a strategic

Scott Ritzheimer:

step in the right direction?

Erin Austin:

Yeah, I'm using

Erin Austin:

courses as a kind of just a

Erin Austin:

cheap example, it also apply

Erin Austin:

to productized services.

Erin Austin:

even if it's not packaged as a

Erin Austin:

productized service, if you've

Erin Austin:

systematized your services,

Erin Austin:

so you created, so you can

Erin Austin:

expand, as an agency, you need

Erin Austin:

to have processes in place.

Erin Austin:

It just can't be your genius

Erin Austin:

sitting down every day,

Erin Austin:

genius saying, and order to

Erin Austin:

improve your business, there

Erin Austin:

has to be processes in place.

Erin Austin:

So you can either,

Erin Austin:

delegate those.

Erin Austin:

Less expensive pieces so

Erin Austin:

that you can just operate

Erin Austin:

at the genius level.

Erin Austin:

And then you have less

Erin Austin:

expensive resources doing

Erin Austin:

some of the groundwork.

Erin Austin:

So can be either things that

Erin Austin:

you sell literally or assets

Erin Austin:

that use within the business

Erin Austin:

to make your business more

Erin Austin:

efficient and profitable.

Erin Austin:

Yeah.

Scott Ritzheimer:

And that

Scott Ritzheimer:

I could not agree more with.

Scott Ritzheimer:

One of the biggest things that

Scott Ritzheimer:

I've found in, in doing this

Scott Ritzheimer:

podcast and in an interviewing

Scott Ritzheimer:

near about a thousand coaches

Scott Ritzheimer:

now is the number one thing

Scott Ritzheimer:

that what I would call like

Scott Ritzheimer:

a high demand coach from

Scott Ritzheimer:

kind of your average coach

Scott Ritzheimer:

that neither of them is

Scott Ritzheimer:

a bad person, but some of

Scott Ritzheimer:

them have figured it out.

Scott Ritzheimer:

They've unlocked something

Scott Ritzheimer:

and some haven't yet.

Scott Ritzheimer:

the thing to unlock that

Scott Ritzheimer:

something is what I call

Scott Ritzheimer:

a structured offering.

Scott Ritzheimer:

And I think this is where

Scott Ritzheimer:

you and I are on exactly

Scott Ritzheimer:

the same page that if

Scott Ritzheimer:

you're just making it up as

Scott Ritzheimer:

you go, I would go so far

Scott Ritzheimer:

as to say, it's not just

Scott Ritzheimer:

that you haven't built a

Scott Ritzheimer:

scalable saleable business.

Scott Ritzheimer:

I would actually say you're,

Scott Ritzheimer:

doing a disservice to

Scott Ritzheimer:

your clients, Because it's

Scott Ritzheimer:

completely dependent on

Scott Ritzheimer:

how you show up that day.

Scott Ritzheimer:

Yes.

Scott Ritzheimer:

And you're going

Scott Ritzheimer:

to have good days.

Scott Ritzheimer:

You're going to have

Scott Ritzheimer:

bad days, right?

Scott Ritzheimer:

And so what I did love about

Scott Ritzheimer:

the way that you laid this

Scott Ritzheimer:

out and the idea of creating

Scott Ritzheimer:

these processes one, so

Scott Ritzheimer:

people can help, but I think

Scott Ritzheimer:

a bigger part of it and

Scott Ritzheimer:

what's really helpful for

Scott Ritzheimer:

a lot of coaches, because.

Scott Ritzheimer:

They want to know that

Scott Ritzheimer:

what they do matters and is

Scott Ritzheimer:

helpful is the biggest thing

Scott Ritzheimer:

that I've seen to generate

Scott Ritzheimer:

higher ROI for your clients

Scott Ritzheimer:

is to actually do what

Scott Ritzheimer:

you're talking about here.

Scott Ritzheimer:

The really cool thing that

Scott Ritzheimer:

you bring to the table

Scott Ritzheimer:

is that it's not just for

Scott Ritzheimer:

the ROI for your clients,

Scott Ritzheimer:

but that it actually can

Scott Ritzheimer:

end up being an asset

Scott Ritzheimer:

for you for the long run.

Erin Austin:

Absolutely.

Erin Austin:

And what you mentioned, it

Erin Austin:

reminds me, frankly, of the

Erin Austin:

legal industry, where we

Erin Austin:

typically build by the hour.

Erin Austin:

And so we are disincentivized

Erin Austin:

from finding really efficient

Erin Austin:

ways to deliver services.

Erin Austin:

But as a consequence,

Erin Austin:

a lot of times we are

Erin Austin:

kind of just starting

Erin Austin:

from the beginning with.

Erin Austin:

Each engagement, every time I

Erin Austin:

pick up a services agreement

Erin Austin:

to review it, I, have, and

Erin Austin:

I will confess, just kind of

Erin Austin:

read through it by my lines.

Erin Austin:

I do have to read

Erin Austin:

the whole thing.

Erin Austin:

I can't skip through it,

Erin Austin:

but I have put in place,

Erin Austin:

checklists and sample

Erin Austin:

language and things like that.

Erin Austin:

So that every time I go

Erin Austin:

through it, another, a hundred

Erin Austin:

page services agreement that

Erin Austin:

I don't miss anything because

Erin Austin:

these things can happen.

Erin Austin:

And so you take some

Erin Austin:

of the risk out for you

Erin Austin:

and your client when you

Erin Austin:

Scott Ritzheimer:

Erin Austin:

have these things.

Erin Austin:

And I think there's

Erin Austin:

something again, this

Erin Austin:

really cool that happens.

Erin Austin:

And, amazing thing about

Erin Austin:

doing this, really approaching

Erin Austin:

it this way is one.

Erin Austin:

If you just want to do your

Erin Austin:

own thing and you just want

Erin Austin:

to increase the, what you

Erin Austin:

can build per hour, right?

Erin Austin:

By increasing your value

Erin Austin:

and, optimizing your time,

Erin Austin:

this is the best thing to do.

Erin Austin:

the biggest thing that

Erin Austin:

I've seen accomplish is the

Erin Austin:

amount of time you spend

Erin Austin:

between sessions, right?

Erin Austin:

So for coaches, you don't

Erin Austin:

typically build by the

Erin Austin:

hour you build by the

Erin Austin:

session and where a lot of

Erin Austin:

coaches get really stuck.

Erin Austin:

And a lot of service

Erin Austin:

providers, just in general,

Erin Austin:

I just happen to work with

Erin Austin:

a lot of coaches, but, is.

Erin Austin:

They're not billing

Erin Austin:

for the two thirds of

Erin Austin:

their time that's not

Erin Austin:

in the session room.

Erin Austin:

And you can dramatically

Erin Austin:

reduce that with, things

Erin Austin:

like checklists and processes

Erin Austin:

and following the same

Erin Austin:

thing the whole way through.

Erin Austin:

The other really, really cool

Erin Austin:

thing about it is that it's

Erin Austin:

a very incremental step to

Erin Austin:

moving towards certification.

Erin Austin:

and allowing other

Erin Austin:

people to step into that.

Erin Austin:

So tell us a little bit

Erin Austin:

about, how does this idea

Erin Austin:

of certification plan one?

Erin Austin:

What are the IP considerations

Erin Austin:

just quickly that we

Erin Austin:

might want to consider?

Erin Austin:

And then two, how does that

Erin Austin:

play into this idea of, moving

Erin Austin:

from your hourly to exit?

Erin Austin:

Yeah, so just

Erin Austin:

quickly on the IP side,

Erin Austin:

it goes back to owning the

Erin Austin:

elements that you're using.

Erin Austin:

when we are providing one

Erin Austin:

on one services to our

Erin Austin:

clients, we may have 3rd

Erin Austin:

party materials that we're

Erin Austin:

using there and it's fine.

Erin Austin:

We have right to use it.

Erin Austin:

Say we got it from a.

Erin Austin:

Another certification

Erin Austin:

program or continuing

Erin Austin:

education or something.

Erin Austin:

We can use it with our

Erin Austin:

one on one clients.

Erin Austin:

Well, we can't license

Erin Austin:

that on to a 3rd party

Erin Austin:

certification is a license.

Erin Austin:

So that would be

Erin Austin:

a sub license.

Erin Austin:

So we had to make sure that

Erin Austin:

anything that we're proposing

Erin Austin:

to certify, we own it 100%.

Erin Austin:

and then it helps us move to

Erin Austin:

the exit because it helps us.

Erin Austin:

We take our expertise instead

Erin Austin:

of, you know, you can grow

Erin Austin:

either internally by What

Erin Austin:

Adding experts internally,

Erin Austin:

or you can grow externally

Erin Austin:

by licensing other experts

Erin Austin:

to use your expertise.

Erin Austin:

And so that's what

Erin Austin:

certification would be.

Erin Austin:

without kind of the

Erin Austin:

certification part, it could

Erin Austin:

just be a license, but the

Erin Austin:

certification part usually

Erin Austin:

comes with some kind of

Erin Austin:

training element and some

Erin Austin:

kind of proof of competency.

Erin Austin:

So depending on the nature

Erin Austin:

of what your expertise

Erin Austin:

is, you may want to go

Erin Austin:

the certification route.

Erin Austin:

But that also helps kind

Erin Austin:

of extend your own, brand

Erin Austin:

because people like, Hey,

Erin Austin:

I was trained by, Scott and

Erin Austin:

that's why I do what I do.

Erin Austin:

So yeah.

Erin Austin:

Scott Ritzheimer:

Erin Austin:

That's awesome.

Erin Austin:

I had a guest on a few

Erin Austin:

episodes back, his name

Erin Austin:

was Mitch Russo, and he

Erin Austin:

talked about this idea

Erin Austin:

of certification as well.

Erin Austin:

But I would imagine when

Erin Austin:

you're working with, it

Erin Austin:

probably blows them away what

Erin Austin:

they're sitting on and they

Erin Austin:

don't even know they have it.

Erin Austin:

Would you agree with that?

Erin Austin:

let me say this way, would

Erin Austin:

you say that most, especially

Erin Austin:

female entrepreneurs are

Erin Austin:

sitting on more value than

Erin Austin:

they even know they have?

Erin Austin:

Yeah.

Erin Austin:

I mean,

Erin Austin:

what is it that your

Erin Austin:

clients come to you for?

Erin Austin:

you're doing something

Erin Austin:

that's providing

Erin Austin:

value to your clients.

Erin Austin:

They're choosing you instead

Erin Austin:

of choosing somebody else.

Erin Austin:

And so if they're willing to

Erin Austin:

pay you for that, outcome,

Erin Austin:

then, there's only so many

Erin Austin:

people that you can service

Erin Austin:

that there are other clients

Erin Austin:

that you couldn't service

Erin Austin:

that could have benefit from.

Erin Austin:

Whatever the transformation is

Erin Austin:

that you provide and you can,

Erin Austin:

extend that reach either, you

Erin Austin:

know, through other experts

Erin Austin:

or through some, products.

Erin Austin:

and so there's more than one

Erin Austin:

way to get, to leverage your

Scott Ritzheimer:

expertise.

Scott Ritzheimer:

Yeah.

Scott Ritzheimer:

Oh, that's so good.

Scott Ritzheimer:

so good.

Scott Ritzheimer:

So, there's a question I

Scott Ritzheimer:

like to ask all my guests.

Scott Ritzheimer:

It's this, what is the

Scott Ritzheimer:

biggest secret that you just

Scott Ritzheimer:

wish wasn't a secret at all?

Scott Ritzheimer:

What's that one thing you're

Scott Ritzheimer:

sitting there and you just

Scott Ritzheimer:

wish everyone listening,

Scott Ritzheimer:

you're watching today, new

Erin Austin:

Yeah, well,

Erin Austin:

it's going to be about IP.

Erin Austin:

So I like to say

Erin Austin:

IP is everywhere.

Erin Austin:

It's literally all day, every

Erin Austin:

day when every time we sit

Erin Austin:

down as experts sit down at

Erin Austin:

our desks, we're creating

Erin Austin:

intellectual property.

Erin Austin:

We're using our intellect.

Erin Austin:

We're creating

Erin Austin:

intellectual property.

Erin Austin:

We're talking here.

Erin Austin:

We're posting on LinkedIn.

Erin Austin:

We're, creating deliverables

Erin Austin:

for our clients.

Erin Austin:

We're training people online.

Erin Austin:

All that that's intellectual

Erin Austin:

property, people think

Erin Austin:

IP is just software and

Erin Austin:

books, you know, external

Erin Austin:

things, but it's all the

Erin Austin:

things that we create that

Erin Austin:

are the way we express our

Erin Austin:

intellectual property, way

Erin Austin:

we use our expertise, all

Erin Austin:

that stuff is intellectual

Erin Austin:

property and issue isn't.

Erin Austin:

Do you have any.

Erin Austin:

The issue is, are you

Erin Austin:

owning and controlling it.

Scott Ritzheimer:

Yeah.

Scott Ritzheimer:

Wow.

Scott Ritzheimer:

Well, yeah, that's

Scott Ritzheimer:

a great point.

Scott Ritzheimer:

So, another question here.

Scott Ritzheimer:

we've talked a lot about, you

Scott Ritzheimer:

know, kind of how you help

Scott Ritzheimer:

your clients, but want to

Scott Ritzheimer:

turn things around a little

Scott Ritzheimer:

bit, take off your kind of

Scott Ritzheimer:

attorney consultant hat for

Scott Ritzheimer:

a moment, put on your, CEO

Scott Ritzheimer:

hat, kind of jumped down into

Scott Ritzheimer:

the ring with the rest of us.

Scott Ritzheimer:

What's the next stage of

Scott Ritzheimer:

growth look like for you

Scott Ritzheimer:

and your business and what

Scott Ritzheimer:

challenge will you have

Scott Ritzheimer:

to overcome to get there?

Scott Ritzheimer:

Oh, boy, well,

Erin Austin:

this has been

Erin Austin:

a tough one for me, because

Erin Austin:

as a lawyer, I do have like

Erin Austin:

confidentiality issues.

Erin Austin:

So group programs are tough.

Erin Austin:

And, if I do products,

Erin Austin:

well, can I disclaim,

Erin Austin:

liability for our products?

Erin Austin:

but nonetheless, I am

Erin Austin:

working on some group

Erin Austin:

programs regarding

Erin Austin:

copyright registration,

Erin Austin:

because people have a lot

Erin Austin:

of questions about it.

Erin Austin:

And so to be able to do that

Erin Austin:

in a group context, not just

Erin Austin:

templates, but, developing

Erin Austin:

some negotiation guides,

Erin Austin:

it's one thing if you're,

Erin Austin:

an online business, so to

Erin Austin:

speak, but when you have

Erin Austin:

corporate clients, templates

Erin Austin:

don't really help you because

Erin Austin:

your corporate clients

Erin Austin:

send you their agreements.

Erin Austin:

And so you need to know

Erin Austin:

what to do when your clients

Erin Austin:

send you their agreements.

Erin Austin:

So that's what I'm

Erin Austin:

going to help people do.

Erin Austin:

So, well,

Scott Ritzheimer:

Wow.

Scott Ritzheimer:

Fantastic.

Scott Ritzheimer:

again, love, love, love the

Scott Ritzheimer:

way that you approach this.

Scott Ritzheimer:

and it's very rare

Scott Ritzheimer:

for those listening.

Scott Ritzheimer:

It's very rare to

Scott Ritzheimer:

have an attorney who's

Scott Ritzheimer:

able to enter into the

Scott Ritzheimer:

business world like this.

Scott Ritzheimer:

It's one of the things that's

Scott Ritzheimer:

so profound about you, Aaron.

Scott Ritzheimer:

And so.

Scott Ritzheimer:

For folks who need that

Scott Ritzheimer:

legal advice, who, maybe

Scott Ritzheimer:

sitting there thinking,

Scott Ritzheimer:

Hey, I probably have

Scott Ritzheimer:

more IP than I thought.

Scott Ritzheimer:

and they want to know

Scott Ritzheimer:

what the next steps are.

Scott Ritzheimer:

They want to know

Scott Ritzheimer:

how you can help.

Scott Ritzheimer:

can they find more

Scott Ritzheimer:

out about what you do

Scott Ritzheimer:

and connect with you?

Erin Austin:

Yeah.

Erin Austin:

Well, you can find me at

Erin Austin:

my website, thinkbeyondip.

Erin Austin:

com.

Erin Austin:

And there I do have

Erin Austin:

a free assessment.

Erin Austin:

That's.

Erin Austin:

Called is your expertise,

Erin Austin:

copyrightable, and you can

Erin Austin:

take that and it can give you

Erin Austin:

an initial analysis of, kind

Erin Austin:

of what requirements are to

Erin Austin:

have copyrightable, material.

Erin Austin:

And from there, look at

Erin Austin:

the other ways that you

Erin Austin:

can work with me online and

Erin Austin:

then you can always find

Erin Austin:

me at LinkedIn as well.

Erin Austin:

I've been on there.

Erin Austin:

Forever.

Erin Austin:

So I am the only Aaron, well,

Erin Austin:

the original Aaron Austin.

Erin Austin:

I imagine there are others

Erin Austin:

that came after me, but,

Erin Austin:

just my name, Aaron Austin.

Erin Austin:

Scott Ritzheimer:

Erin Austin:

The OG Aaron Austin.

Erin Austin:

That's right.

Erin Austin:

Oh, that's so good.

Erin Austin:

So again, Aaron's,

Erin Austin:

, website is fantastic.

Erin Austin:

Think beyond ip.

Erin Austin:

com.

Erin Austin:

It's in the notes.

Erin Austin:

We'll put her LinkedIn

Erin Austin:

profile there as well.

Erin Austin:

So you can click right to

Erin Austin:

it and Aaron, thank you

Erin Austin:

so much for being here.

Erin Austin:

and it was just an

Erin Austin:

honor having you.

Erin Austin:

And for those who are watching

Erin Austin:

or listening today, you know,

Erin Austin:

your time and attention.

Erin Austin:

I hope you got as much out

Erin Austin:

of this conversation as I

Erin Austin:

know I did, and I cannot

Erin Austin:

wait to see you next time.

Erin Austin:

Take care.

Erin Austin:

Thank you.

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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.