Here at Once Wed, we love getting to champion both the brides and grooms getting married AND the vendors that serve them. Over the next week we will be talking with our vendors about how they can up their business game so they can build more sustainable businesses.
I remember the excitement I (Emily) had when I first launched Once Wed 9 years ago. There was no business plan, bookkeeping, or contracts—I was just passionate about this idea and dove in head first.
But 3 months in I started to realize there was this huge component to running a business I knew nothing about. I didn’t have a business background, I knew nothing about legal stuff—I had no idea where I should even start.
I found myself in this endless cycle of avoiding the “paperwork part”, eventually attempting it on my own, and then wasting valuable headspace obsessing over all the terrible things that could happen to my business because of my lack in confidence that I was “doing it right”.
Needless to say, I could totally relate when the most recent survey of our vendor audience revealed similar sentiments.
Contracts, Taxes, Insurance, Copyright….. Help! We all struggle with them.
I thought to myself, wow, I should really make the time to share with them all of my lessons learned. I’m no business expert but I’ve certainly learned a lot over the years—and I do know some experts who could help, like Christina Scalera, an attorney who specializes in legal work specifically for creative entrepreneurs.
Together we could cover topics like…
- The dangers of being a sole proprietor (and why you should register your business)
- How working with friends isn’t an excuse to drop your guard and forego using contracts!
- That there’s more than one type of insurance you need to protect your business.
- Why it’s worth understanding your taxes from the beginning (It can save you money!!!)
…..and show you that understanding all this “legal stuff” really isn’t as complicated as you think.
Today, with If I Made, I’m launching Get Your Sh*t Together: The Legal Edition + Contract Template. It’s a new digital course sharing with you everything you need to know to get your business legally legit, in the most painless, creative-brain-friendly way possible. Plus, we’ve made industry-specific contracts to help you further protect your business.
Oh, and you’ll be able to knock this all out in five days!
If you follow along on Instagram with the hashtag #ifimadeMyBusinessLegit we’ll also be sharing lots of business and legal tips on @oncewed and @ifimade_ over the next week.
