All right, onto module four, the legal stuff.
So the things we hope we never have to deal with, but like insurance,
it's always better to have this and not need it than the reverse.
So first we're gonna just start with terms, conditions, and disclaimers.
All those fun, fine print things. The, uh,
the apple thing that nobody ever reads, well,
we're gonna need to have one of those too. So what these are actually doing,
of course, is covering your assets. And in theme with this unit,
I'm going to disclaim right at the top here.
I am not a legal advisor and recommend consulting with a licensed professional,
familiar with your local laws, because these of course will change, um,
in certain areas, um,
which we'll talk about as we get into the next unit with licenses and
certifications, um, but also from country to country.
There will be little different requirements. Um,
when we look into the specifics we'll get into on the next slide.
So the big golden rule for these is if there is, when in doubt,
write it out.
So if there is any possible way someone could misinterpret or have
questions about what you do or don't provide, what is included,
what they can or can't do, write it down as specifically, uh,
and clearly as possible.
And often it is always good to have someone in the legal profession look over
this to make sure it is worded correctly. Because in, at least in,
uh, the American law system, uh, in contracts and stuff,
where there is ambiguity,
typically it's going to favor the person who did not write the contract.
So if there's something written in there that maybe could be interpreted one of
two ways, if something happens,
typically it's going to get interpreted in favor of the person who did not
write the contract. So, not in your favor, if that is possible.
These are not optional things.
These are legal requirements that we need to have when selling, uh,
products and services. Now, there's a lot of resources out there. I've,
uh, kind of picked out a few that I think are useful, helpful, easy to use.
Those resources are going to be below this unit for you. So check those out.
There's a lot of like templates and things, um, that you can kind of do, uh,
like the fill in the blank type of stuff. And it'll give you a very, uh,
simple generic type of terms and conditions that'll cover all the main bases.
And then you can go back through or hire someone to go back through and tailor
it a little more specifically depending on what you're offering. Um,
usually that's gonna vary based on products or services.
So what are they? We're basically just telling what, what they're getting,
how they're gonna get it, what they can and can't do with it. That's the,
the plain and simple part of it, right? So you also want to provide, um,
you know,
obviously be clear with what can happen if they violate those terms and
conditions. Uh, so that could be like, you know,
stealing your courses and trying to make their own and resell it or stealing
your PDFs and workouts
And trying to sell them to other people or distribute them on Reddit or
whatever,
because at least that way if something does happen and you do want to pursue it,
it's been clearly stated and there's really, uh, a, a lot, a more clear,
uh, path that you can follow for that financial obligations on both
yours and their part. So this is especially going to come into play with, uh,
like recurring billing services. So memberships, um, uh, coaching,
that type of thing. Um, because, uh,
there's certain areas where they have very specific, uh, and sometimes unique,
uh, recurring billing requirements as to how you lay out how they can cancel,
um, and all those types of things.
So you're gonna want to have those written out, uh, through things like rosca,
um, which I believe is California specific.
So if you're selling anything to someone in California that has recurring
billing, you're gonna need to have that clause in there.
So make sure you reference those, um,
resources down below this unit that will, uh, help you cover that for you.
You're also gonna wanna have a very clear refund policy. Do you offer,
do you not offer, uh, when does that term expire?
Obviously you're gonna want to set some kind of term limit in there.
You don't want someone coming back a year later and be like, I want a refund.
And then you don't have it in your, uh,
your essentially your contract here that, you know,
there's a 30 day limit or something.
So make sure you go through all of those as clearly as possible.
It'll save you a ton of headache potentially down the road. Other requirements,
um, especially if you're providing access to content or, uh, coaching,
things like that, you're gonna wanna make sure you have clearly listed any like,
age restrictions, um, communication stuff,
which means basically you're gonna wanna list out, you know, you know,
if you send me photos in your check-ins, what can I not or can do with those?
Uh, privacy policy. How do we protect your data?
What can I do with the information you send me in an email versus what I send
you in an email? All of those things are gonna be important
and disclaimers. So this is, you know,
the little part on the shampoo bottle that says, do not drink this.
It's not good for you. You're gonna need to have that, cuz some way,
somehow someone may try to, uh,
do silly things and win silly prizes. Um, what are they obligated to do?
So this could be things like, you know,
protecting your password login if someone logs into your account because you,
you know, let your password slip, are you liable for that? Hopefully not.
So make sure you list out that they need to protect certain things they're
responsible for, you know, not distributing your content, that kind of stuff.
And then of course, this is also going to cover things like,
are you licensed in certain areas? You know, the,
like I put at the beginning of this unit, I am not a licensed, um,
legal advisor, so don't take any of this as legal advice.
You wanna have those type of things in there. Um, this will be the basics.
You typically see like, you know,
I am not a physician or consult with your physician before
Beginning any fitness regimens, things like that. Uh,
nutrition especially because that's typically more highly regulated.
You're gonna want to have disclosures in there of, you know, this is not, uh,
you know, a registered diet,
dietary advice if you're not a registered dietician. So make sure,
I know it's a lot to remember,
but these are things that we need to have from a legal perspective and,
you know, to protect ourselves. Again, reference those resources down below.
That'll help out with a lot of this. You can, of course,
always take a look at some of ours.
Like ours on the training site has a lot of the disclosures and disclaimers
related to online coaching, cuz that's one of the services we provide. Um,
if you're doing, you know, membership stuff, again,
the training site's a good one to look at that. Um, and these are, you know,
should be easily available and accessible to everyone. So I would say for,
for your purposes, probably taking a look at ours as a good starting point, um,
to kind of give you an idea of all the things that you want to include.
This, like I said, is required. Um,
and you do need to have people at least somehow acknowledge that they were
presented with this information before they pay or purchase
from you. Uh, so a lot of online,
like e-commerce solutions like WooCommerce, Shopify, Magento,
all of those type of things, we'll have the ability to put, you know,
that little, that fun little checkbox that says,
I have read the terms and conditions before they're allowed to submit payment.
Um, and then of course it will give you the link and they can view the terms and
conditions. Always need to have that. Um,
but it's typically kind of built into a lot of checkout processes.
Always.
I'd recommend making sure there are multiple exposures to this so someone can't
just say, oh, I never saw it. Whatever. Welcome emails are a good one.
If you're doing, uh, email correspondence with clients,
having something in your email signature, you'll probably see a lot like,
you know, I am not a registered dietician, blah, blah, blah. This is not,
you know, medical advice, et cetera, et cetera.
Just having that on every single email. So if something does come up, it's like,
well, it's been right there the whole time. There's no question about it.
Watermarks are another good one. If you're selling eBooks, PDFs, uh,
online workouts, stuff like that, just putting a little disclaimer, uh,
at the bottom, you know it, you know, one or two sentences,
make sure to check with your physician, et cetera, et cetera.
First page at the bottom, wherever.
So there's lots of options to make sure that we have our bases covered in this
area. So hopefully that gives you a really good, uh,
overview of what we're going to want to have. Uh, as far as these, again,
resources are down below this unit for you.
And then now we'll start moving into the next topic,
which will be our licenses and certification requirements.