Welcome to Dietitian Boss. My name is Libby Rothschild. I'm the CEO and founder of the Dietitian Boss Method. Our company is here to help you get started in private practice as a dietitian entrepreneur, even before you think you're ready. I've created a proprietary process to help you increase visibility, create organic content, enroll clients into an offer, and learn sales skills that don't even feel salesy. Listen every week to your colleagues’ interviews as we chat about their progress and success from when they got started and all the way to creating million-dollar businesses and beyond.
Hello, Dietitian Bosses. Welcome and thank you for joining the Dietitian Boss Podcast. Today, we are joined by Danielle Liss who is a lawyer, and she is going to help us understand a little bit about intellectual property and how to formulate our business. Do we need an LLC? Do we not need an LLC?
She will also answer some of our general questions that we have been receiving here at Dietitian Boss, especially from some of our content creators and dietitian entrepreneur course creators in our Rebellion group. So welcome, Danielle! Thank you so much for joining us.
Thank you so much. It's a pleasure to be here.
We always enjoy having you here on the Dietitian Boss Podcast and we’re so grateful that you're willing to share your time and expertise with us, because we know how important legal questions and copyright and trademark questions are, and it can really get in the way of people taking action and creating a business. Thank you so much for sharing your expertise.
Can you give us a broad overview for our Rebellion members or dietitians out there thinking about creating courses or online group programs about when it is appropriate to start thinking about an LLC? And if you want, please back up and describe an LLC in case I'm introducing some new terms and concepts to our listeners.
Absolutely. To go back to one thing that you said, I know that people do get overwhelmed with legal. Don't let it be a hangup! It is one of those things where it’s an unknown. It can be very scary, but there is a lot of information out there that can help— and hopefully this podcast will be part of that— and make it seem a little less overwhelming.
Okay, so let's dive in. An LLC stands for “limited liability company.” It is a company that you can form. It's less complicated than forming a corporation, but it gives you protection from personal liability, and that's usually what most people are looking for so that their business is treated separately from themselves.
That way the business is its own entity, it has its own liabilities, and it can help to protect your personal assets if something were to go wrong.
So, when should we start considering meeting with somebody to create an LLC?
I think you should create an LLC as soon as you're starting your business.That's my personal opinion, but I'm also maybe a little more risk averse than some. I think it can also depend on where you are in your career. If you have built up a lot of assets and you want to make sure that everything is protected, an LLC is absolutely something that you are going to want to start. I think that for a lot of folks in your audience, the Dietitian Bosses, you are in many cases a licensed professional. So you want to make sure that you are protecting yourself.
And so that's why I think an LLC can be really important. And typically they are fairly simple to set up. Usually it's going to be in whatever state you live in: go to your Secretary of State website. Most of the time you can file everything right online, so it can be relatively easy.
And is it expensive to start an LLC? Are there any downsides to this for a dietitian entrepreneur?
My best answer for that is it might be expensive depending on where you live. Each state charges different fees for it. For example, I'm in Nevada. I think we're somewhere between $400-$500 to initially set something up. In California, it's not super expensive to set up. It might be like $120, but they have an annual fee of about $800 per year. So for a lot of folks, it's when you are starting to make money or when you are getting ready to put products out there that are going to start generating profit that you really want to consider whether or not that makes sense for you.
And just check your local Secretary of State and you can typically find whatever the fees are going to be for.
Great. That's such great advice. And do we need a lawyer to establish an LLC? You mentioned that we could go online and file—is this something we can do ourselves? What kind of professionals do we need to be involved in this process?
Honestly, I think it's something that you can file yourself as long as you're comfortable doing it. If it's going to make you procrastinate—the idea of doing it yourself—then I want you to go to somebody else who can do it. Sometimes accountants offer it as a service, but otherwise you can usually go to a lawyer.
I think there's other companies that do just LLC formation, so they may be an option for you as well if you're going into something with a partner. Then, yes, I want you to use a lawyer, but if you are going to be the only person who is the owner of the LLC, it is usually something that's fairly simple to do right through the Secretary of State website.
But like I said, if you go in there and you're like, “Eh, I don't know what any of this means” and you start to feel fear and hesitation, talk to somebody. Talk to a lawyer, talk to whomever, and get that off your plate. You don't need to become overwhelmed by that process.
Why use a lawyer if we're going into partnership with somebody else? How is that different from starting a business by ourselves as a dietitian entrepreneur?
I think what’s important if you have a partner is that you are going to need articles or bylaws depending upon what you're setting up. So, assuming that you're setting up an LLC, you're going need an operating agreement. That is the document that governs your business and how the business is managed, the percentage that everybody gets, and the part that nobody really wants to think about: what happens if the business breaks up or somebody wants to leave or somebody wants to sell their interest. That operating agreement is going to help you. Figure all of that out ahead of time, and that's where I think it's really important to talk to an attorney who can help you to draft that document to make sure that everybody has the coverage that they need.
Amazing. Thank you so much. I think that clears up so many questions for our Dietitian Bosses, and I hope that helps relieve some fear that you might have listening to this if you're thinking about taking that next step in creating an LLC for your business, or you're confused about that. I hope this helps you take that next step forward with confidence and with peace of mind.
So we're going to switch topics here a little bit. Can you share with us about what intellectual property is? Because I think people jump forward into, “Oh, I need to copyright, I need to trademark this” without understanding the broader umbrella. Can you share with us what follows under that intellectual property umbrella?
Sure. Intellectual property is a really broad umbrella term for, if you will, products of the mind. It's going to be copyrights, trademarks, and patents, which are inventions and trade secrets usually related to the type of businesses that we are looking at. It’s things that you mentioned when we're talking about content and courses and handouts and downloadables—that type of thing.
We're talking about two pieces, and that's copyright and trademarks. I think that sometimes they get a little bit confused, so it's really important to be able to differentiate between those. It is a set of rights that's granted to the creator of an original work that is fixed in a tangible medium. Talk about some legalese, right?!?
Here’s the simple explanation: an original work means that you are the original creator, and you are not taking somebody else's work. You are not creating a variation of somebody else's original work. It is something that you have created and it has to be fixed in a tangible medium, and that is really important to know because you can't copyright an idea. What you can copyright is the expression of that idea. So, you can do photos, videos, written texts, books—things along those lines. Things that aren't eligible for copyright are things like ideas, systems, processes, titles, names, short phrases, slogans, or things like recipes.
It's really important to kind of keep that in mind when you're thinking about things. I've had people come to me and say, “I have created a four-step method for the following nutrition area” for whatever niche somebody is in, can I copyright that?
We're not going to copyright that. We're going to talk about trademarks potentially, but it may be that they have created a video or a downloadable e-book. And it may be that the e-book and the expression of that idea is what is copyrightable. When you're a copyright owner, you get certain exclusive rights.
For instance, I'm a pen person. I don't know if anybody else out there is a pen person, but I love them. I'm an office supply person. So let's imagine you've got your pen case with all of your favorite pens in it. Your copyright is the entire case with all the pens. And then each individual pen would be an exclusive right.
It's the right to reproduce or copy the work to prepare derivative works, which could be adaptations, things like that—the right to distribute the work to sell and market it, the right to perform the work if it's something like a song, or to display the work. So each one of those is part of your overall copyright, and those are really important to know because you can give away all your rights.
You can also give away one or two of your rights. You can give somebody the right to do something temporarily, which is typically called a “license to use.” For example, a dietitian entrepreneur may have a copyright, and I'm going to use the e-book example just because that's really easy. You may give somebody the right to resell that on their own platform.
If you do that, you are giving them a license to resell, but you still have all of those copyright rights. That's what's really going to be important. One thing that I think is going to be particularly important to remember when it comes to copyrights, especially about courses, is if you have someone else who is working with you.
On creating content, copyright automatically falls to the creator of that content. So let's say you've got a designer who made beautiful slides or did your design for your e-book. You want to make sure that you take that copyright and that they have assigned those rights to you. I think that's one of the pieces that's really important.
And then the last thing I want to mention about copyright rights, particularly when it comes to courses and things that you are selling, is make sure you are clear about your ownership and how people can use your content. Put a copyright notice on it. It’s that copyright symbol, and it usually has the year and your name.
Make sure you're saying how they can use it. So, If you're selling something, it might be that they can use it for their personal individual use, but they don't get to resell it. This does not mean that they can distribute it or share it with other people. Just make sure that part is clear. Any questions on copyright before I move to trademarks?
Well, a couple of questions. I think when we're using platforms like Teachable and some of the other platforms that distribute courses on our behalf, they have their users sign agreements to not distribute, but that's part of your access rights to it. So do we need a separate copyright? And when someone purchases a course, should it notify them how to use the course because they're a member of that platform and that platform should be somehow protecting their content creators?
I think that's a really, really good question. And I personally think that if you are selling a product that you own, you should have terms that go along with that. Typical purchase policies are things like “here's how you buy it.” You're going to create an account: do you offer returns? That type of thing. But within that you can also say, “Here's how you can use the content. Here's your license.” So I think that's a really important thing for the person who owns that content to include so that it's clear and it's set out in those terms.
Thank you for that. It’s really, really important. Tell us a difference about trademark and copyright, and how a dietitian entrepreneur can pursue trademarking their business.
Absolutely. Unlike the copyright which protects the expression of the idea, a trademark is something that represents your brand in commerce. It's something that consumers associate with your products. It can be a service mark to represent your service. It can be a name. It can be anything that represents you. You can think of it as a symbol.
I like to pick on Nike because everybody knows Nike at this point, so the word Nike would be their company name. That's something that they've got trademarked, along with phrases like “Just Do It”, which has become a well-known tagline that is a trademark for them. The swoosh symbol is also a trademark for them.
You can even find some other companies have non-traditional trademarks, like Play-Doh has their smell trademarked. The NBC Chimes are a trademark. Tiffany Blue from the Tiffany boxes. Those are all trademarks. So the key for trademarks is there can't be a likelihood of confusion between you and another mark, and it has to be different than what other people are using. And your mark has to be distinctive. So you couldn't call something like a weight loss program and expect to get a trademark on it. That's just not distinctive.
It can be suggestive, but it just can't be overly descriptive. Then, you can file for the trademark with the trademark office. From there, you get to use the registration mark, and that mark really does become your exclusive mark to show to consumers. It represents your brand in the stream of commerce.
What's really important to know is, when you are getting ready to launch something, please make sure you're looking at the trademark office website. Do a quick search and make sure that somebody else isn't already using it, because I promise it's a lot easier to have something unique for yourself that might be trademarkable and to not get a Cease and Desist notice after the fact.
And I'll give you the link. It's TMsearch.uspto.gov. I'll send that to you so that way you can put it in the show notes. It’s fairly easy to just go in and take a quick look just to make sure no one else is using it.
Thank you so much for adding that because as creators and dietitian entrepreneurs, we want our content to be respected and we also want to be respectful and not step on other creator's toes out there, or get a letter saying that we owe somebody a bunch of money because we infringed on their trademark.
Thank you so much for that. Are there any last thoughts that you have on these two topics for our dietitian entrepreneurs?
No, my only thing is, again, don't get overwhelmed if you have questions. That is the best time to reach out to a lawyer and say, “I want to make sure I completely understand where I am going with this.”
And we can answer your questions and it's important, but again, don't let it become completely overwhelming so that it makes it so that you won't take action in your business.
Well, thank you so much for adding your expertise and sharing with us how we can create our businesses in a way that our assets are protected, our intellectual property is protected, and we're not crossing boundaries into other people's protected intellectual property.
That makes us really great business owners and entrepreneurs, and we always appreciate you. If you have questions on this content on trademarking, copyrights, intellectual property, or LLCs, this is what we cover for our Rebellion members. And you're also welcome to post in our social media or below this podcast page any questions that you have.
We're here to support you moving forward as a Dietitian Boss, a dietitian entrepreneur, and moving your business to reach more people and support more people. Thank you so much for tuning in, and we'll see you in the next episode. We are so excited to offer you support in our various programs. If you identify as a beginner and you're looking to lay down the foundations, our Society program might be a great fit for you.
I encourage you to go to dietitianboss.com under “Group Coaching” and apply for our transformative experience based on my proprietary system called the Dietitian Boss Method. Additionally, we offer a higher level program called Executive to help you hire and manage a staff as you expand and scale your program, whether you're offering a membership course, group programming, private coaching, or a combination of various different offerings.
We're here to help you on your journey as a dietitian entrepreneur with developing processes and implementing the operational foundation that you need to reach your goals. A lot of our clients want to work 20 hours or less a week, and we're so proud to say that we've helped them achieve that goal. And you'll hear their stories on this podcast.
Make sure to stay tuned and apply if you're looking for support to get there faster and meet some colleagues along the way who share your same growth mindset.
