16: Is Your Small Business Legally Prepared? with Gena Shingle Jaffe

“When you leave corporate you have to be careful that you don’t bring the lifestyle you used to lead into the lifestyle you are about to lead. There is hustle, grit and reinvestment. If you keep spending money like you did before you will run out of it.”

• Gena was working in a law firm in New York City and making good money, but she was unhappy. She started meeting a lot of people in the coaching industry who needed help but couldn’t afford or want to work with a law firm.
• While she was still at her law firm she started coming up with different ideas. She started brain storming different packages she could offer. She hired a web designer and had a website created. The website was ready the day she left her corporate job.
• Gena almost had to file bankruptcy the first year because of her spending. She was making money; she just wasn’t making smart choices and investments. She was able to turn that around.
• Gena created a legal program four months into her business that made over $20,000 in its launch.
• The monetary issues came from investing in too many things. She was hiring coaches, traveling the world, going to workshops, conferences and events and buying different courses. She had a lot of great content but no time to implement it because she was always doing something else.
• The biggest lesson Gena learned in her first year of business was invest in one thing, commit to it, complete it, implement everything you learn and then move on to the next thing.

When people start a business the first thing they think about is making money. They don’t think about protecting that money and that’s where the legal comes in. The legal is there to protect your business and your brand, your income and your assets both personally and professionally. Gena tries to make law less scary, more approachable and easier for people to understand.

Three website documents it’s important to have at any stage of business.

1. A website disclaimer: people come on your website and read different articles and it’s important that they understand the role you are taking, who you are and who you are not. I’m not a medical professional, I’m not an accountant, I’m not a therapist etc. If you aren’t a professional you want to tell them that because if you don’t and something happens to that person you could get in trouble.
2. Privacy policy: This is legally required in several states. But when you have an online business you are technically marketing to every single person in the world. The privacy policy says I won’t sell any of your information or spam you.
3. Terms and conditions: this protects the content on your website. When people come on your website you are saying your material is yours and they can’t use it.

How to contact Gena

Gena and her wife have a Facebook group for women entrepreneurs called Gena and Jordanna Your Magical Business.

Gena has a lot of freebies on her website www.genashingle.com/sign-up. Her website also lists all the things she does.