Episode 75
E75: 2024 Is Your Year to Create Scalable Revenue in Your Expertise-Based Businesses
🎙️ Happy New Year! Let’s hit the ground running with a framework for turning your expertise into scalable revenue streams. Whether you're a seasoned professional or just starting out, this is a must-listen for anyone looking to maximize their intellectual property.
Erin takes us through a three-step process to transform your intellectual property into valuable assets that generate repeatable scalable revenue: Audit, Protect, and Leverage.
1. Audit Your Business Assets: Identify the valuable resources in your business, from assessment tools to deliverables, and understand who owns or controls them. This forms the foundation of creating scalable IP-based revenue.
2. Protect Your Assets: Learn the importance of copyright registration and solid contracts to safeguard your most valuable assets. Copyrighted materials and effective contracts are essential for preserving your expertise.
3. Leverage for Profitability: Discover how to increase revenue and efficiency without inflating time and costs. By decoupling income from your time and leveraging copyrighted materials, you can create offers–both services and products–that are scalable and profitable.
Tune in to the full episode for more insights on creating a scalable, expertise-based business! Link to the episode in the comments. #HourlyToExit #IntellectualProperty #RevenueStreams #BusinessGrowth 🚀
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
Hello, welcome to this week's
Speaker:edition of the hourly to
Speaker:exit podcast and to h2e 2024.
Speaker:Hope you had a wonderful
Speaker:holiday and ready to get
Speaker:going in the new year.
Speaker:So in April, I will
Speaker:be celebrating.
Speaker:The third year of the hourly
Speaker:to exit podcast, I'm in a bit
Speaker:of a shock, but I have been
Speaker:doing this since April, 2022.
Speaker:And when I started, I thought
Speaker:I had a pretty clear plan.
Speaker:I was working with someone
Speaker:to help me plan out an entire
Speaker:season of topics and guests.
Speaker:And well, you know what they
Speaker:say about the best laid plans.
Speaker:Turns out that there is
Speaker:a lot of ground to cover
Speaker:between hourly and exit.
Speaker:And so it seemed like a
Speaker:really good idea at the time.
Speaker:I mean, how else am I
Speaker:going to have a ton of
Speaker:stuff to talk about?
Speaker:want to have a very broad.
Speaker:Universe of topics.
Speaker:And of course that
Speaker:encourages lots of
Speaker:different guests as well.
Speaker:And I absolutely have loved
Speaker:the amazing women and one
Speaker:man that I've had as guests
Speaker:over the past two years, but
Speaker:I found that I was having
Speaker:a hard time kind of getting
Speaker:a thread like a unified
Speaker:thread running through
Speaker:the in 2023, about midway
Speaker:through the year, I started
Speaker:recording solo episodes.
Speaker:I think that's when I went
Speaker:weekly to try to remember.
Speaker:and so more solos, I
Speaker:was a little afraid.
Speaker:I don't think I did any
Speaker:solos the first year.
Speaker:I was a little afraid of the
Speaker:solos and, talking about.
Speaker:Contracts and copyrights,
Speaker:my two favorite subjects,
Speaker:and I will tell you,
Speaker:I really love it.
Speaker:Like my solo episodes
Speaker:are my favorite episodes.
Speaker:but even though I was
Speaker:talking about contracts and
Speaker:copyrights, that's still
Speaker:a pretty broad topics.
Speaker:And so I still felt
Speaker:like I needed a little
Speaker:more, structure to what
Speaker:I'll be talking about.
Speaker:And so, you know, I
Speaker:don't need to talk about.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Everything 1, because, I don't
Speaker:know everything I'm trying,
Speaker:but I don't know everything.
Speaker:And 2, you don't need
Speaker:to know everything.
Speaker:there is specifically what you
Speaker:come to me for is because you
Speaker:want to turn your expertise
Speaker:into intellectual property
Speaker:that so you can create
Speaker:scalable revenue streams.
Speaker:That's why you're here.
Speaker:And so with that in mind,
Speaker:I have, found a framework.
Speaker:We love our frameworks in
Speaker:order to kind of be really
Speaker:clear about how I can best
Speaker:help you, and that is what
Speaker:I will focus on during
Speaker:the podcast this year.
Speaker:So it is a three step process,
Speaker:use IP to turn your expertise
Speaker:into scalable revenue streams.
Speaker:So the three parts are
Speaker:audit, protect, and scale.
Speaker:So first audit.
Speaker:First step is that you need
Speaker:to audit the assets that you
Speaker:already have in your business.
Speaker:And yes, you do already have
Speaker:assets in your business.
Speaker:So in layman's term,
Speaker:what is an asset?
Speaker:An asset is a useful
Speaker:or valuable thing,
Speaker:person, or quality.
Speaker:And more specifically in
Speaker:business terms, an asset is
Speaker:any resource that a business.
Speaker:Owns or controls that can be
Speaker:sold or licensed for money.
Speaker:So what are the assets
Speaker:in your business?
Speaker:What do you sell
Speaker:to your clients?
Speaker:maybe you're selling your
Speaker:time, which is valuable.
Speaker:Maybe you even charge a lot
Speaker:for it, but it is limited.
Speaker:How else do you provide
Speaker:value to your clients?
Speaker:So it is with your expertise.
Speaker:And without being flippant,
Speaker:I mean, we're here because,
Speaker:we have an expertise based
Speaker:business, a professional
Speaker:services business, and
Speaker:we sell our expertise,
Speaker:but a lot of or services
Speaker:providers do not treat
Speaker:their expertise as assets.
Speaker:They're still just selling it
Speaker:as time, but it is an asset if
Speaker:we properly take care of it.
Speaker:So first, if we go back
Speaker:to making sure we are
Speaker:auditing our businesses.
Speaker:To identify the assets
Speaker:that we currently
Speaker:have in our business.
Speaker:here are a few examples of
Speaker:assets, the assessment tool
Speaker:that you use, even in the
Speaker:proposal stage, this is before
Speaker:you even deliver something.
Speaker:You may have something that
Speaker:you're using internally that
Speaker:helps you, determine your
Speaker:proposals, how you're going
Speaker:to charge for what you're
Speaker:going to charge what the
Speaker:deliverables will be that
Speaker:assessment tool is an asset.
Speaker:When you have a deliverable,
Speaker:let's say you deliver
Speaker:strategic plans, that
Speaker:strategic plan, even if you
Speaker:are assigning all rights to
Speaker:your client, the elements
Speaker:that go into it are an asset.
Speaker:Any secondary research that
Speaker:you're using, maybe you have
Speaker:a whole catalog of secondary
Speaker:research that you lean on when
Speaker:you're doing your analysis.
Speaker:Not all of it's
Speaker:going to be primary.
Speaker:So it'll be secondary.
Speaker:Those are assets.
Speaker:If you have created an
Speaker:original training program,
Speaker:of course, that is an asset.
Speaker:Those worksheets that
Speaker:you, Acquired during your
Speaker:certification program,
Speaker:those are assets,
Speaker:you may not own them.
Speaker:You're probably
Speaker:given permission, i.
Speaker:e.
Speaker:a license to use them,
Speaker:but things that are in our
Speaker:business that we access to
Speaker:legally are still assets.
Speaker:So the web design
Speaker:of your website.
Speaker:That's an asset.
Speaker:And so these are all
Speaker:assets in your business.
Speaker:And the only difference among
Speaker:those bullets is who owns it.
Speaker:Some of those you clearly
Speaker:own the original training
Speaker:materials that you created,
Speaker:web design that you had
Speaker:someone make for you subject
Speaker:to something we're going
Speaker:to talk about a minute.
Speaker:and some of those you
Speaker:don't own, but you control
Speaker:such as things that you
Speaker:have a license to use.
Speaker:what's important is.
Speaker:Figuring out this is what
Speaker:your audit process is 1 what
Speaker:the assets in your business
Speaker:are and 2 who owns it and
Speaker:or controls it because
Speaker:this is the foundation
Speaker:of creating scalable.
Speaker:IP based revenue ownership
Speaker:or control of assets.
Speaker:So we're going to make sure
Speaker:that you understand the assets
Speaker:that are flowing through
Speaker:your business that make sure
Speaker:that you can create revenue
Speaker:generating assets that you
Speaker:understand the depth and
Speaker:the breadth of your assets.
Speaker:So you don't miss
Speaker:leverage opportunities.
Speaker:And that you can take
Speaker:advantage of any third
Speaker:party assets that you
Speaker:have without fear of
Speaker:copyright infringement.
Speaker:Think back to those
Speaker:worksheets that you got in
Speaker:your certification program.
Speaker:You have the legal right to
Speaker:use those in your business.
Speaker:Do you have a right to
Speaker:create other revenue
Speaker:generating assets with it?
Speaker:That's what we want to
Speaker:find out as well during
Speaker:our audit process.
Speaker:let's imagine a clothing store
Speaker:and that it has just a jumble
Speaker:of garments in the back room.
Speaker:They've never done
Speaker:an inventory of it.
Speaker:Like, how would they
Speaker:know what they have?
Speaker:How would they know if
Speaker:the sales associates are
Speaker:walking out the door with it?
Speaker:How would they know what is
Speaker:required to make a profit?
Speaker:How long have they been
Speaker:holding it in their
Speaker:inventory without selling it?
Speaker:Same thing with the assets
Speaker:in your business, unless
Speaker:you are inventorying it
Speaker:and auditing it, then you
Speaker:won't know what you have,
Speaker:what's valuable, what's
Speaker:not valuable, what's being
Speaker:wasted, what's Walking out
Speaker:the door with subcontractors.
Speaker:This is all part of
Speaker:the audit process.
Speaker:when you are an expertise
Speaker:based business, the other
Speaker:thing is, if you don't know
Speaker:what you have, and you're
Speaker:using it in a way that
Speaker:is in breach of perhaps
Speaker:a client agreement, maybe
Speaker:you have a deliverable
Speaker:that you thought you could
Speaker:reuse with another client.
Speaker:But you gave all those rights
Speaker:to client A, you can't use
Speaker:it again with client B.
Speaker:Let's make sure that you
Speaker:own what you think you own.
Speaker:And if you don't, then
Speaker:let's clean it up.
Speaker:The second step is protect.
Speaker:So there are two forms
Speaker:of protection of our
Speaker:assets, copyright
Speaker:registration and contracts.
Speaker:Why copyright
Speaker:registration instead of
Speaker:trademark registration?
Speaker:Well, remember that
Speaker:list of assets I said, I
Speaker:mentioned above it was.
Speaker:Assessment, strategic
Speaker:plans, research, training
Speaker:programs, worksheets,
Speaker:websites, all those things.
Speaker:Are copyrightable materials.
Speaker:unlike physical assets like
Speaker:the clothes, anyone can access
Speaker:your intangible assets like
Speaker:anyone who has access to them
Speaker:can copy them take them over.
Speaker:So the way that we protect
Speaker:people from just taking our
Speaker:materials is we register them
Speaker:with the copyright office.
Speaker:So the way we really protect
Speaker:our, most valuable assets,
Speaker:the things that our clients
Speaker:remember assets are the things
Speaker:that people you sell and to
Speaker:people and say, we don't sell
Speaker:our trademarks to people.
Speaker:We sell the copyrighted
Speaker:materials or the fruits
Speaker:of our expertise in
Speaker:the form of copyrighted
Speaker:materials to our clients.
Speaker:That is what our clients
Speaker:are paying us for.
Speaker:Here is a brief example
Speaker:to illustrate that point.
Speaker:So you have a consultancy, an
Speaker:HR consultancy, the name of it
Speaker:is Diversity Talent Solutions,
Speaker:and you have a registered
Speaker:trademark on that name, and
Speaker:it provides DEI training
Speaker:to its corporate clients.
Speaker:So you have two types
Speaker:of intellectual property
Speaker:in this business.
Speaker:You have your
Speaker:trademark on diversity.
Speaker:Talent solutions, and you have
Speaker:your copyright protections
Speaker:on your training materials,
Speaker:which could be videos, slides,
Speaker:workbooks, other types of
Speaker:guides, and any product that
Speaker:you provide to your clients.
Speaker:what does your client pay for?
Speaker:of those two buckets provides
Speaker:value to your client?
Speaker:It is the copyrighted
Speaker:material, right?
Speaker:That's why it is so
Speaker:important to make sure we
Speaker:are registering our money
Speaker:making copyrighted revenue
Speaker:generating materials.
Speaker:There'll be lots of materials
Speaker:in our business, like,
Speaker:LinkedIn posts and social
Speaker:media, things like that.
Speaker:Maybe our newsletters that
Speaker:aren't directly revenue
Speaker:generating, but the things
Speaker:that people are actually
Speaker:paying us money for.
Speaker:We want to make sure those
Speaker:things are registered
Speaker:with the copyright office.
Speaker:The 2nd, part of
Speaker:protection is contracts.
Speaker:know, people generally
Speaker:don't have people ripping.
Speaker:with ill intent, ripping
Speaker:off your copyrights.
Speaker:It happens.
Speaker:We all have heard the
Speaker:stories of people just
Speaker:taking over someone's website
Speaker:and all their content and
Speaker:selling it as their own.
Speaker:But that really is the
Speaker:exception and not the rule.
Speaker:The number 1 way we lose
Speaker:control of our most valuable
Speaker:assets are our contracts.
Speaker:Or I should say our failure
Speaker:to use contracts or our
Speaker:failure to understand what we
Speaker:are signing when the client
Speaker:presents their contract to us.
Speaker:when we think
Speaker:about intellectual
Speaker:property, generally.
Speaker:And if we kind of take a
Speaker:common sense approach to who
Speaker:owns something, unfortunately,
Speaker:the intellectual property
Speaker:laws generally don't,
Speaker:match up with what your
Speaker:common sense, understanding
Speaker:of what property, means.
Speaker:So, when we want to make
Speaker:sure that we're owning and
Speaker:controlling the copyrights
Speaker:that flow through our
Speaker:business, we have to
Speaker:start with our contracts.
Speaker:So we need contracts with
Speaker:our clients so that we are
Speaker:1 reserving the rights in
Speaker:our pre existing materials.
Speaker:So we're not giving
Speaker:rights to them to own it.
Speaker:And when we.
Speaker:give them permission to use
Speaker:our preexisting materials.
Speaker:We want to make sure we limit
Speaker:that license so they can't
Speaker:do all the things that we
Speaker:can do as copyright owner.
Speaker:I frequently see license
Speaker:provisions like, yep, we
Speaker:reserve the rights in the
Speaker:preexisting material, but
Speaker:then we go on to grant
Speaker:a license to the client.
Speaker:That is so broad that
Speaker:they can literally
Speaker:literally will state.
Speaker:All the copyrights in there
Speaker:that I licensed you the
Speaker:right to make copies and
Speaker:make derivatives and sub
Speaker:license it and transfer
Speaker:to do all these things.
Speaker:The same rights that we
Speaker:have as a copyright owner.
Speaker:And so we don't
Speaker:want to do that.
Speaker:So that is a major, threat
Speaker:if we aren't understanding
Speaker:our contracts and essentially
Speaker:it'll permits our client
Speaker:to continue legally.
Speaker:Without breaching our
Speaker:rights, infringing our
Speaker:rights to legally continue
Speaker:to use our materials
Speaker:without paying us forward
Speaker:or without our permission.
Speaker:And the other thing, you
Speaker:know, I love to harp about
Speaker:non competes on a non
Speaker:compete hater because non
Speaker:competitors, a group of
Speaker:competitors is a niche.
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:And so we want to make
Speaker:sure we were able to work
Speaker:with competing companies.
Speaker:And that Provides even
Speaker:more value to them,
Speaker:frankly, as your expertise
Speaker:grows in that niche.
Speaker:And then we also need to
Speaker:have contracts with our
Speaker:contractors back to that kind
Speaker:of common sense understanding
Speaker:of how property should work
Speaker:in intellectual property.
Speaker:The default is that the
Speaker:human being who created it.
Speaker:Owns it unless there's
Speaker:something in writing signed
Speaker:by the creator that would
Speaker:give it to you as the client.
Speaker:So when you're the client,
Speaker:you also want to make
Speaker:sure that you're using
Speaker:agreements that are signed.
Speaker:If the intent is for you
Speaker:to own the deliverable,
Speaker:if you don't have it,
Speaker:something signed, you
Speaker:don't own the deliverable.
Speaker:You have a right to use
Speaker:it, but you do not own it.
Speaker:this is the kind of thing also
Speaker:that we would find out during
Speaker:the audit stage as well.
Speaker:Like, do you have deliverables
Speaker:that you thought you own,
Speaker:but you don't because
Speaker:you didn't have your
Speaker:contractor sign agreements.
Speaker:The final, leg of our, IP
Speaker:to scalable and, revenue
Speaker:generating assets is leverage.
Speaker:so leverage means
Speaker:increasing profitability.
Speaker:It's not just about
Speaker:increasing revenue, but
Speaker:increasing the profitability.
Speaker:So we have leverage in
Speaker:our business when we can
Speaker:increase revenue and do that
Speaker:without increasing costs,
Speaker:or we can decrease costs
Speaker:without also decreasing our
Speaker:revenue, preferably both.
Speaker:We can increase revenue
Speaker:while decreasing costs.
Speaker:is the ultimate
Speaker:leverage, right?
Speaker:So we can have
Speaker:leveraged services.
Speaker:People think it
Speaker:has to be products.
Speaker:We'll talk about that
Speaker:in a minute, but we can
Speaker:have leveraged services.
Speaker:So even one on one services,
Speaker:even high tech services, if
Speaker:we have systematized them
Speaker:and or productized them.
Speaker:We can increase the efficiency
Speaker:in delivery, and when we
Speaker:become more efficient in
Speaker:delivery, we decrease the
Speaker:cost, even though we are
Speaker:charging the same, maybe
Speaker:even more because the more
Speaker:dependable are are, the more.
Speaker:The happier clients we
Speaker:have and the more we
Speaker:could charge for them.
Speaker:Remember that you are
Speaker:the most expensive
Speaker:resource in your business.
Speaker:So anything that you can
Speaker:do to decrease your time
Speaker:spent in delivery, whether
Speaker:it's through systems or
Speaker:technology or, less expensive
Speaker:humans, then you are.
Speaker:Increasing profitability,
Speaker:and you've added leverage
Speaker:to your business and then
Speaker:also increasing revenue
Speaker:per sale would be another
Speaker:example without, increasing
Speaker:the cost of the sale.
Speaker:So, let's say you bundle
Speaker:2 offers together, then,
Speaker:you get the benefit of the.
Speaker:Increased revenue from
Speaker:that 2nd offer, but the
Speaker:still the same resources
Speaker:expended to get to the sale.
Speaker:So that has become more
Speaker:profitable, more revenue
Speaker:without increasing the,
Speaker:cost of the sale and then.
Speaker:There is just the
Speaker:complete decoupling of
Speaker:income from your time.
Speaker:We do this through one
Speaker:to several offers or
Speaker:one to many offers.
Speaker:And you know, what is the
Speaker:basis of every single, and
Speaker:I'm not being extreme here,
Speaker:literally the basis of
Speaker:every single one to several
Speaker:or one too many offer.
Speaker:copyrighted materials
Speaker:that's why I am banging
Speaker:the drums on copyrights.
Speaker:examples.
Speaker:Your products, courses,
Speaker:books, anything that you
Speaker:are providing a subscription
Speaker:to such as software or a
Speaker:database, all copyrighted
Speaker:materials and then services
Speaker:that are, one to several
Speaker:or one to many like
Speaker:trainings or, memberships,
Speaker:the foundation of those is
Speaker:all copyrighted materials.
Speaker:So before you can legally.
Speaker:Offer a one to several or
Speaker:a one too many service or
Speaker:product, you must own and
Speaker:control the underlying
Speaker:intellectual property.
Speaker:That is vitally important.
Speaker:back to that audit
Speaker:stage and our contracts.
Speaker:So, that's what you can
Speaker:look forward to in 2024.
Speaker:And beyond, I would love
Speaker:to have you come back every
Speaker:week to find out more easy
Speaker:to digest content will be
Speaker:content will be trainings and
Speaker:some products that are created
Speaker:specifically for experts
Speaker:with corporate clients that
Speaker:fit into these three areas.
Speaker:pillars of creating a scalable
Speaker:expertise based business.
Speaker:Remember they are audit,
Speaker:protect and leverage.
Speaker:And I look forward
Speaker:to the next year.
Speaker:Thanks friends.
