What You REALLY Need to Launch Your Biz (Hint: It’s Not Kajabi)
When you’ve got a great business idea, you REALLY want to hit the ground running—we get it, and we’ve been there! Starting a business can feel so complicated, and when there’s just so much to do, it can be hard to prioritize tasks, especially when some tasks are fun and some are not. But here’s your sign: Don’t approach business backwards!
Here’s what we mean.
Many entrepreneurs jump right into biz ownership with the flashy stuff, prioritizing building a trendy website, designing a logo, doing a brand photo shoot, and maybe even hiring a marketing team. While we’re not saying these things shouldn’t be a priority, we are saying that too many entrepreneurs skip out on something that’s not flashy at all but is vital in the early stages of business: building a strong legal foundation.
Here’s a quick roundup of things you may think you need in the early stages of business ownership versus what you actually need.
What you THINK you need early in biz:
👉 LLC
👉 Logo/branding
👉 Photo shoot
👉 Website
👉 Business coach
👉 Lots of followers
👉 Kajabi
What you ACTUALLY need early in biz:
👉 Clarity on what you want to do, how you want to accomplish it, and who you want to serve
👉 Legal roadmap
👉 Lawyer-drafted contracts
👉 CPA
Protecting your business and your IP is non-negotiable, and creating a legal roadmap should be one of the very first steps in building your business. Things like lawyer-drafted contracts and filing trademark applications should come before all the flashy, fun photo shoots and branding. (Sorry! But also not sorry.)
In fact, if you have an online, service-based business, lawyer-drafted contracts should really be your FIRST priority, because without them, you’re living in a world without boundaries and clear expectations. That’s not the world you want your business to operate in, right?
Contracts benefit both parties. They manage expectations. They make things clear—timelines, deliverables, what a service encompasses and does not encompass, etc. Contracts facilitate boundaries. When drafting contracts, you’ll need to include your policies, preferred methods of communication, when/how soon clients can expect a response from you, and so on. You should also include information about your intellectual property license. Can they resell your stuff, share their logins with their friends? Tell them yay or nay in the contract. Oh, and what happens in the event of nonpayment? Your contract will lay this out in clear terms that can be referred to in the event of an issue.
Don’t fall for Shiny Object Syndrome
Sometimes the best steps you can take for your biz are not necessarily the most exciting things. And sometimes the things that feel overwhelming are vital. Stop getting distracted by shiny things and focus on what your biz actually NEEDS, because if you don’t and it all goes down in flames, all those brand photos will feel really embarrassing. 🙈
But lest you think we’re just here to shame you for approaching business backwards, let’s end on this note of encouragement: The legal stuff doesn’t have to be boring OR hard. If you start thinking about legal investments as integral and not “extra”, you’ll be doing yourself a huge favor down the road.
Need lawyer-drafted contracts for your biz? We’ve got all the templates you could possibly need.