Episode 76
E76: The Crucial First Step to Scaling Your Business: Taking Inventory of the Assets You Already Own
In the latest episode of Hourly to Exit, I’m delving into the crucial first step to scaling your expertise-based business - the audit of your intellectual property. Here are three key takeaways from the episode:
1. Ownership of Intellectual Property is Key: Owning intellectual property is essential for scaling your expertise-based business. Understanding what you currently own and control is the initial step towards leveraging your assets for growth.
2. A successful audit involves both a quantity (i.e., an inventory) and quality assessment of your assets, helping you recognize the relative value of each.
3. Auditing your intellectual property assets sets the foundation for creating scalable, recurring revenue sources. Ensuring you own the rights to your assets and have strong legal foundations is crucial as you transition from one-on-one services to one-to-many offers.
Tune in to the full episode to learn more about the vital role of audit in scaling your business by leveraging your intellectual property assets. Remember, #IPisFuel.
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/
This week’s episode of Hourly to Exit is sponsored by the NDA Navigator. Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) are the bedrock of protecting your business's confidential information. However, facing a constant stream of NDAs can be overwhelming, especially when time and budget constraints prevent you from seeking full legal review. That's where the NDA Navigator comes to your rescue. Designed specifically for entrepreneurs, consultants, and business owners with corporate clients, the NDA Navigator is your guide to understanding, negotiating, and implementing NDAs. Empower yourself with legal insights and practical tools when you don’t have the time or funds to invest in a full legal review. Get 20% off by using the coupon code “H2E”. You can find it at www.protectyourexpertise.com.
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
Here is a fundamental
Speaker:truth that you will hear
Speaker:me repeating ad nauseum
Speaker:owning intellectual
Speaker:property is required to
Speaker:scale your expertise based
Speaker:business, period, drop Mike.
Speaker:Now I could stop right there
Speaker:for emphasis, but I persist.
Speaker:There are three steps to
Speaker:getting to the promised land.
Speaker:They are audit,
Speaker:protect, and leverage.
Speaker:So this week we're
Speaker:going to talk about
Speaker:that first step audit.
Speaker:You start with audit
Speaker:because we want to make
Speaker:sure that you understand
Speaker:what you own right now.
Speaker:And I guarantee, you unless
Speaker:you are an IP lawyer that
Speaker:you will be very surprised
Speaker:by what you find out.
Speaker:In other words, you might not
Speaker:own what you think you own,
Speaker:and you probably own a lot
Speaker:more than you think you do.
Speaker:So the audit step consists
Speaker:of two measurements.
Speaker:First, quantity.
Speaker:This is just a straightforward
Speaker:inventory of the assets
Speaker:in your business.
Speaker:In other words, it's
Speaker:just a list of all the
Speaker:assets in your business.
Speaker:The second step is quality.
Speaker:So this is an analysis of
Speaker:the value, the relative
Speaker:value of the assets.
Speaker:Those you own and control
Speaker:exclusively are more valuable
Speaker:than those that you have
Speaker:non exclusive rights to use.
Speaker:for instance, the training
Speaker:materials that you created
Speaker:that you own completely
Speaker:and that no one can use
Speaker:without your permission
Speaker:and paying you are more
Speaker:valuable to you than some.
Speaker:Tool that you license
Speaker:from a third party.
Speaker:It may still provide value.
Speaker:It's not that it's not
Speaker:valuable, but it's not as
Speaker:valuable as those things
Speaker:that you own exclusively.
Speaker:why do we want to
Speaker:do our audit again?
Speaker:Because ownership of
Speaker:intellectual property
Speaker:Is required to
Speaker:scale your business.
Speaker:So if you're wondering,
Speaker:well, what assets do I have?
Speaker:I provide services.
Speaker:Here's the measure.
Speaker:The assets in your business
Speaker:are whatever use to create
Speaker:value for your clients.
Speaker:So it's not just, computers
Speaker:and software, anything that
Speaker:you are using to create
Speaker:value for your clients.
Speaker:Is an asset.
Speaker:So whether you provide high
Speaker:touch custom services, or
Speaker:if you have a proprietary
Speaker:methodology, or if you have a
Speaker:standard training program, or
Speaker:even if you're selling your
Speaker:time, those are all assets.
Speaker:Now, here's a list of assets.
Speaker:The assessment tool that
Speaker:you use to orient your
Speaker:proposals and asset the 50
Speaker:page strategic plan that
Speaker:you deliver to your clients.
Speaker:That's an asset
Speaker:secondary research that
Speaker:you use as a basic for
Speaker:strategic plan and asset.
Speaker:An original DEI training
Speaker:program that you developed,
Speaker:worksheets that you required
Speaker:during a IFC certification
Speaker:or IMC certification,
Speaker:templates that you may
Speaker:have gotten from a business
Speaker:coach, web design that your
Speaker:contractor created for you.
Speaker:Or for an end client,
Speaker:those are all assets.
Speaker:And even the work product
Speaker:that you complete at a
Speaker:client request based on
Speaker:their specifications,
Speaker:that is an asset.
Speaker:They're all assets
Speaker:because they provide
Speaker:value to your clients.
Speaker:Some of them are
Speaker:assets that you own.
Speaker:Some of them Are assets
Speaker:that you do not own.
Speaker:What we want to focus on,
Speaker:of course, are the assets
Speaker:that you own, because the
Speaker:assets that you own, the
Speaker:intellectual property you own
Speaker:will be the foundation for
Speaker:creating a scalable business
Speaker:and creating assets that.
Speaker:can provide recurring revenue.
Speaker:So after we create our
Speaker:inventory of assets, so
Speaker:that's just our inventory.
Speaker:Then we go to the
Speaker:qualitative part where we
Speaker:evaluate them to see the
Speaker:relative value of them.
Speaker:Do we own them?
Speaker:Did we create them ourselves?
Speaker:do we have control over them?
Speaker:Have we permitted
Speaker:other people to create
Speaker:derivatives from them?
Speaker:that will tell us the relative
Speaker:value of those assets.
Speaker:Do I own it?
Speaker:If I don't own it.
Speaker:What rights do I
Speaker:have to use it?
Speaker:do this because when we're
Speaker:building recurring revenue
Speaker:assets, it's a whole
Speaker:different ball game than
Speaker:providing one on one services.
Speaker:I like to say, you with
Speaker:increased visibility
Speaker:comes increased scrutiny.
Speaker:So when you're growing
Speaker:your business by leveraging
Speaker:assets, including intellectual
Speaker:property assets, it's like
Speaker:adding Another floor to your
Speaker:house, so the foundation
Speaker:that's good enough for
Speaker:a 1 story building might
Speaker:not be good enough for
Speaker:a two-story building.
Speaker:So we want to make sure
Speaker:that the legal foundation
Speaker:for creating recurring
Speaker:revenue assets is.
Speaker:Strong whether you've been
Speaker:using that intellectual
Speaker:property internally, or if
Speaker:you've been using them with
Speaker:your one-on-one clients.
Speaker:I will call that, your
Speaker:first floor use of the
Speaker:assets internally or
Speaker:with one-on-one services.
Speaker:And that now using those,
Speaker:assets in a one to several
Speaker:or a one to many environment.
Speaker:would be that second floor.
Speaker:And we want to make sure
Speaker:that we have a strong
Speaker:enough foundation for it to
Speaker:support the second floor.
Speaker:So we add a second floor.
Speaker:Here's a sample of some of
Speaker:the foundational cracks.
Speaker:You might, that might
Speaker:appear that didn't appear
Speaker:in your one on one work
Speaker:first with your contractors.
Speaker:Do you have a written
Speaker:agreement with the contractor
Speaker:for every deliverable
Speaker:that they provided to you?
Speaker:Certainly, if it's included
Speaker:in anything that you're going
Speaker:to be using in your one to
Speaker:several or one to many offers.
Speaker:even if you paid the
Speaker:contractor, even if you
Speaker:told them and gave them
Speaker:directions about what to do,
Speaker:if you don't have a written
Speaker:agreement in place, you
Speaker:don't own that deliverable
Speaker:the contractor does.
Speaker:So we want to make sure that
Speaker:we are checking all of the
Speaker:assets, that we're going
Speaker:to use for our recurring
Speaker:revenue assets to make sure
Speaker:you own all those rights.
Speaker:With your past employers.
Speaker:Most of us are corporate
Speaker:refugees or survivors, right?
Speaker:So if we took something
Speaker:from a former employer.
Speaker:Is that theirs?
Speaker:Even if you wrote it
Speaker:as the employee, your
Speaker:employer owns everything
Speaker:that you created for them.
Speaker:So if you've incorporated
Speaker:that in some of your one
Speaker:on one services, probably
Speaker:no one's going to notice.
Speaker:But if you incorporate
Speaker:some of that in a one to
Speaker:several or one to many
Speaker:that increased scrutiny.
Speaker:Could get you in
Speaker:trouble and same thing
Speaker:with your employees.
Speaker:If you have employees, they
Speaker:came from a former employer
Speaker:and they brought this
Speaker:great resource with them.
Speaker:Where'd it come from?
Speaker:Did it come from
Speaker:their former employer?
Speaker:If it did that former
Speaker:employer owns that neither
Speaker:you, nor that employee owns
Speaker:that and cannot use it.
Speaker:With your clients, if you're
Speaker:signing services agreements
Speaker:provided by your clients, nine
Speaker:times out of 10, they'll have
Speaker:language in there that says
Speaker:they own 100 percent of the
Speaker:rights in any deliverable.
Speaker:Well, what if you have
Speaker:some of your preexisting
Speaker:work in that deliverable?
Speaker:Have you granted rights
Speaker:in your preexisting
Speaker:work to your clients?
Speaker:So
Speaker:we want to make sure we are.
Speaker:Aware of that and then 3rd
Speaker:party materials, like we
Speaker:mentioned things you may
Speaker:have gotten from as part of
Speaker:a certification program or as
Speaker:part of a coaching program.
Speaker:know, with your business
Speaker:coach, sometimes people
Speaker:provide resources that you
Speaker:can use, which are intended
Speaker:to be used either internally
Speaker:or with your one-on-one
Speaker:clients, but not to be,
Speaker:used in a one-to-several
Speaker:or one-to-many environment.
Speaker:So we want to make sure
Speaker:that we are aware of the
Speaker:rights you have in those
Speaker:third-party materials.
Speaker:So in sum, we audit because
Speaker:you don't want to be on the
Speaker:receiving end of a cease
Speaker:and desist letter from the
Speaker:owner of materials that you
Speaker:don't have the right to use.
Speaker:at best you're wasting
Speaker:money and momentum.
Speaker:At worst, you'll incur
Speaker:legal fees and permanently
Speaker:damage your reputation.
Speaker:We audit because it lays
Speaker:the foundation for the next
Speaker:step, which is protection.
Speaker:You don't want to find out
Speaker:too late that you failed
Speaker:to put the protections in
Speaker:place to prevent clients,
Speaker:subcontractors, and
Speaker:facilitators from using
Speaker:your materials without you.
Speaker:So in the next episode,
Speaker:we'll talk about that
Speaker:second stage, protect how
Speaker:to protect your expertise.
Speaker:Thank you ladies.
Speaker:And remember.
Speaker:I.
Speaker:P.
Speaker:is fuel.
