How to Start a Creator Business | The ULTIMATE Legal Checklist For Influencers and Creators

Are you a content creator or influencer and have wondered what exactly are the legal protections that you need for your modern online business? In this video, we're going to walk you through my complete legal checklist for creators, influencers, vloggers, podcasters, or other content creators to make sure that you have everything you need to get your online business legally legit. I'm online business attorney Brittany Ratelle, and I'm here to help you get legit and set to scale. So let's dig into our list of what things that you need so that you're prepared to have a sure legal foundation to build your business, create that content, and make make sure that you are making and keeping that money in your pocket. As always, while I'm an attorney, I'm not your attorney, so anything we talk about in this channel is just for informational purposes only and it's not official legal advice. Number 1, make sure that you have the proper rights to whatever content you are selling. If you are a content creator, you know that content is key, so you want to make sure that whatever you're creating, in whatever format it is, whether that's audio, video, text, or a combination of photography, that you own the rights to it so that you can then turn around and sell it and license it to whoever you need to. When you have a piece of content and you need to do something with it, you need to ask yourself some questions. One, did you create it, meaning that you press the shutter button, you press record? If you didn't, that's okay, but it does mean that we need to have something in writing transferring those rights from that person to you. So whether that was a spouse, a friend, a neighbor, an assistant, make sure that there is an independent contractor agreement so that copyrighted material is transferred to you. Now, if you have someone else that appeared in content, maybe this was someone like a podcast guest or a guest expert in your online course, then we also wanna have a release. This is also known as a model release or a media release. This means that this is a document that they will sign that will give you the rights to use whatever they recorded and made for you. As part of your checklist of preparing content, make sure if anyone's face or voice is identifiable in the content that they have signed a model release, especially if they're under the age of 18. Number 2, you're gonna make sure to get your website footer covered. Covered with your website legal documents. If you go to your website home base, whatever platform it's on, and you don't have anything in the footer of your website, we need to change that. We want to make sure that your home base is legal and compliant with state and federal privacy law. You need a privacy policy, terms and conditions, a copyright statement, and any necessary disclaimers or disclosures based on what you offer and talk about and sell. If you want a one-stop solution to this, make sure you grab my website legal bundle. Gonna be linked in the comments below. Number 3, you're going to want to use a professional and drafted contract that's industry tested to safeguard any brand collaborations. If you're a content creator, hopefully you have gone beyond just getting product or even exposure and that you're actually getting money. If you're an influencer, you live and die by your brand collaborations, and hopefully you are actually making money and getting paid by companies to promote goods and services. We wanna make sure that these deals are set up in a professional contract. A lot of times a brand or an agency will send this to you and it'll be something that you can negotiate and redline and review. But sometimes, especially if you are pitching yourself or you're approaching a business that hasn't done a lot of influencer marketing before, they might not have a contract yet. This is your opportunity to set the stage and make sure that there's a contract that's gonna be fairly drafted, that it's a win-win. Make sure that this contract addresses things like exclusivity, media usage and licensing and IP, payment terms and a late term, and what happens if they cancel or terminate the deal. This is just an introduction, but my professionally branded sponsored content collaboration contract has all of the terms you need to make sure that your sponsor deal is legit and is looking out for you. Also note that if someone sends you a contract, make sure you're looking out for these terms, and if they're throwing in terms like net 90 payment, make sure that you redline that. You can either do it directly on the document or you can email back the other agency or brand and say, hey, I wanna make these changes. Remember that you are your own best advocate and that when you put that CEO hat on your business, it's okay for you to ask someone to pause and make sure that any deal is a fair deal for both of you. Number 4, make sure that you incorporate or register your LLC with your state. Creator and influencer businesses are real businesses and they should be protected and treated like real businesses. Make sure that you're doing that with a limited liability company. When you set up your LLC in your state, you are putting that fence in between your money and you're making sure that whatever happens, that wave came along and knocked over your stuff, all they would be able to get to is your business money. Your personal money is all off the table. Number 5, make sure you're complying with FTC disclaimers. The Federal Trade Commissioner is a government body that's in charge of making sure that companies are being truthful with consumers and not participating in false or misleading advertising. They have updated and helpful guidelines that let you know exactly what you need to do if you are participating in influencer marketing to make sure that it's really clear to your audience the content that you're creating is an ad or sponsored or maybe affiliate information because there's some sort of financial relationship between you and the third party. The FTC guidelines say that any disclosure must be clear and conspicuous. If you're using words other than ad, sponsored, or affiliate, with or without the hashtags, then you may not be clear and it may not be conspicuous. I like to call this the grandma test. If it's not clear to your grandmother, that the reason you're talking about this tea is because this tea company is paying you, then you haven't made it clear enough. Don't rely on in-app features like paid promotion and Instagram. The FTC says that these might not be clear enough for your audience. If there's a problem, you could actually be sued or get in trouble, both the brand and you and the agency, for misleading consumers about the experience that you're having with the product. Number 6, secure the rights to your name, especially if you are operating under a handle or a personal brand name and not under your legal name. You wanna make sure you're not squatting on someone else's digital real estate. Do a thorough Google search and a trademark search to make sure that you can use that name and it's something that you can be confident with as you grow your creator empire. Number 7, make sure you get people legit, meaning that as you grow your business and maybe have more business relationships, you should be having the fine print that you need for legal promotions. If you run an event of any type, make sure you have an event waiver and release of liability for anyone who might be physically present in your space. If you're using testimonials and selling your own products or services, make sure you get a release to set up clear boundaries with the people that you're working with. Boundaries are so sexy right now, and this is no different than your business. We want to make sure that we can clearly work with people and we have clear expectations of how we're both going to solve problems and move forward together. Thanks for being here and joining me. I'm attorney Brittany Ratelle. If you haven't liked and subscribed to this channel, make sure you do. I'm dropping videos every week.