Donna 0:00
Are you a female founder who has felt the weight of uncertainty in the past when it comes to legal compliance? Or maybe you're feeling it right now? Well, you're not alone. And in this episode, we're joined by Ingrid Fernandez, a powerhouse, commercial lawyer and business advisor. And she reveals the three game changing steps that we must do to protect our business and unleash its true potential. Get ready to conquer the legal maze and transform your entrepreneurial journey starting right now by listening to this episode. This is the season business podcast, where every week I'll explore topics and have real conversations around what it's like to run a regional business, the advantages and the unique challenges. I'm Donna Han, a seasoned regional business owner, and certified high performance business coach. I'm here to make training and professional development easily accessible for regional business women everywhere. So join me and guest experts as we share tools and insights to elevate your business, boost your mindset, and ensure that you never feel alone on this journey. No matter where you live. I'm fired up. And I'm here to educate you on what it truly takes to grow your business and your mindset beyond what you thought possible. Does the thought of business legalities make your head hurt? Does it stir up a bit of anxiety or maybe even panic because you know that you need to understand it to get all the things in place and protect your business. Yet you haven't done that yet, because you don't know where to start. Or maybe you're in that place where you don't know what you don't know. And therefore taking the action of what you should be doing when you don't know what you should be doing and your head starts spinning around in circles. Well, it's a very common thing. And I want you to know that at some point, we've all been there, which is why I have a guest on the shaysing podcast as she's in business podcast here for you today. That is going to help you to understand your responsibilities when it comes to legal compliance for your business. And also how to wrap your head around all the legal jargon that will help your business to go to the next level. So Ingrid Fernandez is a commercial lawyer, and a business advisor who specializes in supporting female entrepreneurs to navigate the complexities of contracts, terms and conditions, internal policies and data protection. And what I love about Ingrid is not just what she does, but also the way she does it. In opening up conversations about legal compliance without all of the legal jargon, she really demystifies the confusion and cuts through the stuff that you you know, give you the stuff that you need to know and explains it in a way that's really easy to digest, and then take action on the next step that you need to do. So if you've been listening to this podcast for a while, you may have started to notice a little bit of a pattern. Since I launched this season, season four of the season in business podcast. Most of my guests are here on the show, because they've delivered a guest expert masterclass inside the soaring to success membership. And that's true for Ingrid to Ingrid facilitated a wonderful masterclass inside soaring to success, which is now available in the ever growing library of recorded master classes that are available to our members. And it was a oh my goodness, such a great masterclass it was full of really important information that's applicable to all business owners the things that you should know about legal compliance, and also simple, easy to action steps to make sure your business is protected. And so I had to get her here on the podcast, too, because there's so much that I want to share and really introduce you to what Ingrid offers. So welcome to the podcast. Ingrid,
Ingrid 3:43
thank you so much. And what a lovely introduction. That was that was really lovely to hear. Oh, no, thank you. Like, I
Donna 3:50
really do think the world of you, I love what you do. I love how you do it. And I'd love for our listeners to get to know you a little bit better. That's why you're here. So can you give us a quick overview into your professional journey? I know that in getting to know you, you've gone from corporate law, to supporting small business owners, and specifically female entrepreneurs. And I met at those two areas of law corporate and then small bears have some pretty big differences in there. And you know, also choosing to work with women as well. I'm sure that that would be a bit of a shift from what you were doing. So was that an intentional shift? Like tell us more about that journey for you?
Speaker 2 4:32
Yeah, absolutely. So going back a fair ways I started working in the criminal law system and in the court system, which was a bit of a trial by fire in terms of it's a really crucial area of law, but it is not the easiest space to work. And I found it as much as I was learning so much and I could feel my brain expanding the emotional weight of it was just not something that I I felt I could breathe day to day. Yeah, it
Donna 5:02
would be really draining, I would imagine, like just taking on so much of that, I don't know, it would be really hard to separate. It was Yeah, it
Speaker 2 5:09
really was. And I was lucky I got to work with, you know, who I think is one of the best judges that we have. And he was exceptional. And he really taught me about, you know, bringing your legal mind to these problems. But for me, I think I've I found it difficult to separate who I am as a person, from the circumstances and people who are experiencing certain things, it was just, it's such an important part, we need excellent lawyers in the criminal law system. But I think it takes a certain kind of strength to do that every single day and to speak to victims and to work with them and to speak to accused people who are accused of committing these acts, and just to be able to navigate that with their humanity intact, takes incredible strength and resilience. And I think because I was so early in my career, I didn't really have that yet. I hadn't built that up. So I it just felt too heavy for me. And I've got nothing but admiration for the lawyers who do that every day, it's so important. But my judge at the time, he gave me some advice, I think he could probably see that this stuff was a little bit heavy for me. So he told me to go into commercial law and you know, just get a feel for what that side of law is like. And at that, you know, early 20s age, I just didn't want to judge you don't want to judge chose you to do. And I think that was the best thing I could have done because commercial law for me. While I know, for most people, they'll roll their eyes and it doesn't sound joyful. It is so joyful for me because I, I what I've always specialized in is contract law. So again, I can feel people's eyes roll back into their head, because contracts are not fun. Generally, they're not a place where you can find joy, or that bit that was for me, I love playing with words, I love making things like documents and contracts work for people. So it's not. And because I worked in a small firm first and then went bigger. I've always worked with businesses, and it was for me about rather than how can these documents be restrictive? How can they work for these people or work for these businesses? You know, how can we make them useful? And not just this archaic, Latin field piece of paper that you never look at? Again, you know, how can we really make them relevant. So I was lucky enough to work with a lot of businesses began small in when I was in a small law firm. And then when I moved to a bigger law firm, and then I went in house I worked at I was in the UK and I worked in the NHS, which is like the health care system. And I was negotiating contracts for medical trials. So for me, it was it was really that point where I felt like I was doing something that had an impact. Because these medical trials, these doctors would were trying to save lives, they were trying to find medical solutions to problems. And again, for me it was how can I make this contract work so that they can go into brilliant things? I don't I hate the idea of a contract getting in the way of medical health or progression or revolutions, you know. So that was such an impactful time to just be part of that world. And that again, I got to play with contracts every day. And it wasn't about fighting. It wasn't about making things harder. It was the opposite. It was how can we make this easier? How can we let people do what they want to do, but be legally protected? Yeah. And so then after that, I took a bit of a break to have babies. So I had two babies quite close together. And after I was on Matt Lee for such a long time that I just felt my brain almost leaking out of my ears in the morass of babies and nappies and skin meeting schedules. And I just wanted to use my brain for something other than that, you know, I, I didn't have a big I was never one of those people with a vision of running a business or building an empire. I just never associated myself with those things. I literally wanted to use my brain for work again, I just was losing myself in motherhood and wanting to feel like a lawyer. And I was in these amazing parenting groups and, you know, mums groups of incredible women who wanted to do something similar so that some of them were gang mothers, some of them were older mothers, some of them were taking breaks out of their careers to be carers, whatever it may be. And they had a vision or they had a passion of what they wanted to build, but they didn't understand how to do the legal stuff. And they were held back by that. And so for me to be able to help them navigate that legal stuff so they could go and do this amazing thing that to me felt like a gift that I could do that. Yeah. So it didn't start as a business. It started as me just helping my friends, because they were telling me about this thing they wanted to do, telling me where they were stuck, I would say, oh, I can, I can unstick you from that. And we sorted and then I watched them go and do cool things. And so it happened quite accidentally. And so that was five and a half years ago now that I launched. And since then, I think because I started in that space of being a mum, and working with mums. And for me, motherhood opened my eyes. And I won't go off on a rant, but it opened my eyes to how wondrous women are and what we do and what we're capable of when we're given the tools. And so for me, that's the root of it, we are just powerful, and we can create whatever we want to be whatever we want our businesses to look like, if we are given the right tools and resources, and sterically Yeah, we haven't been. And I'm to work with women who are doing that who are giving other women that chance who were lifting other women up. Honestly, it's my dream demographic of people to work with. So even though I've had opportunities to work with businesses outside, that, I just don't want it I just, and it's not to say i i refuse to work with people who aren't moms or women, I don't at all medicine, I'm just so drawn to working with women founders, and business owners, and women, just women with a vision who wants to do it just that. And that's all I want to do, I just want to keep working with we want me to
Donna 11:44
snap. Exactly right. It is, you know, helping women to grow their business in the way that they want to grow it in alignment with, you know, the lifestyle, that we're creating the freedom to be able to do what we want to do when we want to do it, how we want to do it. And a lot of women will maybe sometimes shy away from following their dreams and taking action on that big vision because they feel a little bit lost. And I that is partly why I do what I do. And I know it's why you do what you do. And I think it's beautiful that we can come together on this podcast today to share some of the ways that like you said, you can remove some of the things that are holding people back and having them feel stuck. And you know, one of the things that I have seen unfold by watching, you know, other women running their business or just business owners in general, is that often we overlook the legal aspects of business. And you know, that it could be due to lack of confidence in not knowing where to start or limited access to legal knowledge. And particularly for regional business owners, that can be something that can be problematic. And so that's also why I do what I do in making sure that there is resources, training mindset, you know, access to guest experts like yourself from anywhere, like it's important that as a regional business owner, no matter where you live, you have access to this kind of stuff. So tell me, can you share with us why it's absolutely crucial for businesses, regardless of size, regardless of what it is that you specifically do to be legally compliant? From the get go like, and how can how can that impact your success if you do or don't have that legal compliance?
Speaker 2 13:47
Yeah, absolutely. So the first thing I'd say is one of you said, so much important stuff in there. But one of the key things is that is access, you know, access to resources and information. And so, you know, you making information and resources and skills available to people who haven't had it is so important. And so I think as women broadly, we have not had access to the right legal information and resources to run businesses the way we want. We've gate kept from all areas of law, but almost almost more so anything commercial so that we don't have we just don't have we haven't historically had what we need to be able to excel and to build golf and to grow what we want. So and that and that's a risk in our business when they're when we're operating in a system. So we're running businesses within a legal system, you know, we all function within a legal system. And we don't know anything about the system. So we're a little bit blind. That's honestly obviously lawyers are extremely risk averse. But that is just such a danger to our business when we're blind to what To around us and what we're operating within, and it puts us at risk our clients at risks, our businesses have risks. So from my perspective, being a lawyer having that expertise and seeing women who have running incredibly successful businesses, and they've got the great ideas, they know their marketing, they know their niche, they've created products and services that are really making an impact. But because they haven't turned their mind to the legalities of it, whether that's because they haven't had the access, or they, like you say, they don't know what they don't know, there's an element of fear. Because, you know, women are often made to feel stupid for asking questions, or were made to feel not to worry our little heads about the legalities of things, or go ask your husband, you know, all this ridiculous, limiting language that's used on women, that has really held us back. And so as a result, our businesses can hit a ceiling. And that's not to say, I'm not at all fear mongering, saying if you don't, if you don't do X and then Y, but when we're operating in a system that has a legal framework, if you don't have those documents, and you're not complying, you can only reach so far when I work with women, and I help them understand what their legal obligations are in terms of data protection, so privacy policies and cookie policies, and making sure we're being transparent, having contracts that say what we're going to do, what the clients going to do, what our outcomes are, how we're going to get paid. And then having, you know, contracts with our employees or our contractors, having everything be transparent and open really allows us to take our businesses to the next level. Because when you're dealing that way with people, you're able to ascend and you're able to get the higher paying clients, they're going to pay you more when you've got a solid contract that protects both of you, because then they know you're operating at a certain level. And you're able to hire or engage better employees and better contractors, because they see you as someone who's going to pay them on time, who's open about what their responsibilities are, who know how to end the relationship, if it's not working, you're going to get better candidates because they know they're protected. So these, having these tools and having an understanding of these just areas of our business and facets of our business, knowing how they work, lets us really level up when our business is ready for that.
Donna 17:39
I'm jumping in here to thank you for listening to the she's in business podcast. Each week, I watched the number of downloads rise, and I am so grateful that you choose to have me in your ears supporting you and your business. And to thank you, I've got a special gift for you an actual gift that I'll personally put in the mail for you. I truly value each and every one of you. And your feedback really does mean the world to me. So here's the deal. If you love this podcast, and you're willing to take a moment to leave a review for the podcast, I want to give to you something that I truly believe can change your day to day life. It's a beautifully designed productivity notepad. Now I'm not talking about a digital download. I'm old school, I'm actually going to put this in the mail in the post to you, it will physically arrive in your mailbox. And this isn't just any no pad it's specifically created to optimize your focus and maximize your productivity. And I personally use it every day. I've gifted it to lots of my clients. And I can tell you it's been a game changer for them too. So here's how it works. Take a moment to drop a review for the podcast, or whatever platform you choose to listen to it on. Then, snap a screenshot of your review. And this is the important step. If you want me to send you a productivity notepad sliding into my DMs on Instagram, and type the word review. Type the word review, follow the prompts. And voila, that's it. I'll personally make sure that you get a productivity notepad that goes into the mail for you. So here's the steps again, do a review on whatever podcast platform you listen on. Snap a screenshot of that review, and then slide into my DMs on Instagram with the word review. And I'll make sure you get a copy. Remember your feedback not only helps us to grow and deliver content tailored to you, but it's also a way for us to connect and give back to the wonderful business community that we have. So go ahead, leave a review and and get ready to level up your productivity game. Can you walk us through some of the most common legal mistakes or oversights that founders make? Or not necessarily found as as in like at the beginning, but also like as we grow our business, and how that can potentially hold us back from achieving the dream or the vision that we've set out for, like, what are the main things that you see the most common legal mistakes or oversights?
Speaker 2 20:30
Definitely. So at the moment, something that I'm seeing a lot of is people saying things like, oh, just copy and paste terms and conditions from another business or, you know, find someone who's doing something similar and use their contract. And while I understand that, for a lot of people, it's a, it's a financial investment to get the right legal support. But again, this is an investment in your business, it's not an I know, it's a mindset shift from seeing it as a cost, which is what a lot of people do, to seeing it as an investment in protecting your business. So the risks that you run, when you get a document off the internet, that you don't know who's drafted it, and you don't know who's created it, or what it means, or copying someone else's contract, who's basically in the same areas, you you don't know what you're then putting out into the world, you don't know what the relationship is. So it's almost like dating someone who you don't know and you're not meeting and you have no context for, and you're just going out for dinner, and you're sitting next to a shadow. And you don't know what you don't know, it's similar when we use documents that we haven't had drafted for us or that we don't understand. And so that is the biggest risk that I see business owners doing their trust that outsourcing that trust to to someone on the internet, or to some a different coach or a different consultant or a different expert, but you don't know what contract they have in place, you don't know whether they're really protecting themselves and protecting their IP, you don't know what their payment terms are. So they might be getting paid every 60 days, and you need to get paid every 14 days. And your contract doesn't allow for that. Because you copied and pasted something you don't understand. And so for me at the moment, I think what I'm seeing a lot of that, because a lot of people and again, this is a fault of the legal industry and not a business owners, but that information is so tightly kept that women can't get to it. So they think, Okay, here's a quick solution. Let's share what we found somewhere that seems to be good enough, you are then outsourcing that to something that you don't that you don't understand and having documents that you don't know what they mean. And you don't know what they're binding you to is one of the biggest dangers that you can have in your business. And I've seen this really, sadly, play out in, you know, legal disputes and small claims court matters and things escalating because people didn't realize that their contract said that, or they didn't realize that they're assigning all of their intellectual property to the client, because they read their document that they copied from Google, or that they asked Chad GPT about you know, so we're sourcing a really crucial part of our business blindly. And that's, that's a real risk that I Yeah,
Donna 23:38
absolutely. And I think that, like what you're saying is, is important by that, you know, even if I see a lot of templates available to purchase, that are drafted by a lawyer, all that kind of stuff, and I have purchased those myself before. And then I think the next step is to take that because it is affordable, like it's an affordable option to get some of the documents that you need. But then to take that and make sure that you understand it, that it's tailored to your business, and that you have gone through it with a fine tooth comb to make sure that you're protected on every avenue. And I felt like in the past I've done that, then found myself being a little bit tripped up because I haven't done it to the level that I needed to because I didn't know what I didn't know. And I think that's where it's important to have someone such as yourself that you can reach out to and go, Hey, do you have template for one? And can Is there a next step in the process where we can take that template and adjust it to suit my business specifically? So I know that I'm protected? Is that something that you would advise to do? Like, how do you feel about the templates that are available that are like marketed, that they're written by a lawyer and that you know, download them here for x amount like that? Tell me how you feel about those.
Speaker 2 24:57
Yeah, so in full transparency I have templates like those available, I'll be open. I think there's absolutely a place for them, because I think everyone is starting at a different point. And I think there needs to be legal support available to everyone at every point in the journey. And so I absolutely support templates that you can just plug and play, you buy them, you use them in your business. But there is still a real strong responsibility on the business owner to make sure that it's a lawyer that's drafted it. You, you know that that? Does that lawyer work in the country you work in? Or they drafted for the country that you're going to be running your business in? Are they for the kinds of work you do? Because a service based business in inverted commas is a really wide range? So do you have the confidence that as a graphic designer, that contract is going to work in the same way it's going to work for a business coach? Do you have that understanding and confidence? So I would say interrogate where you're getting it from, make sure that it's you can see the lawyer that you're buying it from and you know, what they do, how they work, who they work with, and you know that it's right for you? And then absolutely read them? And if it doesn't make sense, contact that lawyer and get feedback and understand it. I think that's the other thing. We're so worried about asking silly questions or, or looking like, we don't understand things. And there are no stupid questions, especially in business. There are no stupid questions, this space was not built for us. Every question is valid, we have every right to ask until we feel confident, until we're sure we understand until every word of that document makes sense. Because we're risking our businesses where we're risking our finances, we're risking our intellectual property. So it's the responsibility of the lawyer, whoever that is online, or wherever you're finding this lawyer, it's their responsibility to give you that confidence. So you make them work for the money that they're paying you and you make sure that you have that understanding that you need to have. And it might be that there's like you say, a bit more of an investment where you take the templates to start. But then you revisit them with the lawyer and you create something together that suits your business that gets you paid when you want, that gets you you know, terminating it the way you want to that gives you notice periods, all of the things. So really free visiting, and I think I try to align it a little bit with the way we make financial goals, goals in our business. And when we reach a certain stage, we revisit those goals and say, okay, great, I now earn this much money. Looking at my expenses, I'm going to add that to the next milestone that I'm aiming for. Similarly, in our business with our labels, we start with what we can afford, and then think, right, when I hit this revenue goal, I'm going to revisit my documents and make them work better for me and make them protect me more. And so I think we can just as we uplevel, our business and our expectations, our documents come with us and all I think it all kind of ascends together. That's the ideal.
Donna 28:19
Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned that. Because I think as our business does, ascend, and almost like rebirth, as we go through the different stages of growth in our business, we should go back and revisit our contracts and all of our legal documents to make sure it's still aligned to where we've progressed to, like I know from speaking from a personal experience, I had a contract with a particular business that I was supporting. And through that process, there was a few things that happened that I was like, Oh, I really need to update my service contract, because there was a couple of things that maybe weren't covered in the way that I would like them to be. And through the lessons that I learned in working with that particular client, I now need to go back and just update that and revise it so that in the future if something similar happens, or something worse happens, because it wasn't necessarily such a bad thing, but it just sort of flagged in my mind like Oh, but it could be it could be if I don't get on top of this. So I love that you highlight that as well. Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 29:23
And what you're saying is it I think we can all relate to, you know, you starts we all start somewhere and I'm sitting here saying from day dot, you need to understand every legality of your business. You need to have bespoke contracts that have every eventuality built in, you need to have everything in place before you start. I am absolutely not advocating for that. I don't think that's necessary. But what I am saying is that as your business grows as you get more experience as your expertise and confidence grows, you need documents that come with you and do that I want I, I feel part of my job is to help women feel that confident that they do about every other area of their business, about their legals as well. Because when you know you're protected when you know how you want to work with people, and it's written down clear as day. And you could send that to any of your clients with full confidence that you're both on the same page that lets you play a little bit bigger. You don't have that niggle in the back of your mind thinking, Ah, I'm not quite sure this protects me, but it's close enough. It'll get me through, I'll just send it and hope they sign it. And it should be fine.
Donna 30:42
Yeah, all the opposite is that I can't engage with that person, I can't say yes to that opportunity, because I don't have the things in place.
Speaker 2 30:49
Exactly. And that is one of the biggest barriers, we just don't feel protected. We don't feel like we're perhaps professional enough, because we don't have those documents. So like you say, coming back to the documents and helping them grow. As you grow, your document should be working for you. And let them you know, let the expertise come you know, your business best. reflect that in your documents. So people know how you work and you become more able, yeah, to play the way you want to play in your business.
Donna 31:28
Yeah, I love that. So wrapping that up in a bit of a, I guess three essential things, what I picked up on what you said, and if there's something you feel like is more important to switch these out with but definitely essential to avoid the mistakes and protect your business in the way that you have come to experience and seeing how this plays out for business owners is one to really become aware of what you need, like educate yourself. Ask lots of questions, no question is too silly to ask, make sure you're, you know, really growing your knowledge around this by asking questions. I picked that up as maybe number one, also to revise your documents on a regular basis, particularly if you're going through a growth phase, to really come back to those and just make sure that they are relevant for where your business now is at, what would you say is another one.
Speaker 2 32:23
So the third thing I would say is to be when you when you use your documents, and when you're growing with your documents come at it. And I'm not an a mindset person in any way, but come at it abundantly rather than from a place of lack. So look at your documents as allowing you to be expansive, you can work with people in an open and transparent way. Here's how I am, here's how my business works. Here's how I serve you, rather than thinking here is a restrictive and here's the hard part of our relationship contract doesn't have to be like that they don't need to be the difficult part of the relationship. All things going well, it's a great aspect because I read your contract, I then know how this relationship is going to look. And I can come to it, open minded, positive, ready to engage wanting the most fruitful relationship we can have, rather than having this 15 Page incomprehensible document that's been sent to me by someone who doesn't really understand it. And then I don't know if I can trust you. Because if you know what this means and its impact on my business, and how we're going to work together. So I think just come at it openly embrace that this can help your business, this helps your relationships. This helps you operate with people in a really positive way. I think way that we've framed legal documents that has a really negative connotation, and this is and it doesn't have to be like that.
Donna 34:04
Yeah. And I like that you speak about the mindset piece around it, because I agree with you, it can be something that out of fear people avoid. And like you said, you get to that point in the relationship of you know, engaging with a new client. And if having like a service agreement, a contract is something that needs to be in place and or you're employing someone and you need to have that contract in place, then you get to that point you go or but I don't you know, if I send it What if they say no, because now it feels like we're getting to the serious stuff. But it's actually something that's helping you to grow your business. It helps to build that credibility, because people go wow, like they obviously know what they're talking about. They value the business, they value my business in, you know, building this relationship together. So I think that's really important as well is to not feel intimidated by the legal aspect. And instead, like you said, Embrace it with that abundance mindset. Because if you don't, it can often go the other way. Either that your business doesn't grow, or it grows. And then you find yourself in a really legal sticky situation, which is only going to cost you more so start from, you know, that start on the front foot rather than feeling like you're on the backfoot. I think. Yeah, just, if you're listening to this, and you're like, oh, but do it because I found myself in the past in being in a situation where I felt really uncertain. Or if I not done the wrong thing on purpose, but suddenly you realize, oh, my goodness, it's all a journey. It's all a learning journey. And you go, wow, have I done the wrong thing there? And where does that leave me and, and it happened to me over like, just going into a Christmas period. So everything was closing down, and I needed advice, and I couldn't get it. And it was so stressful over that period of time, then I didn't feel like I could rest and recuperate over the, over the summer break. Because my brain was like racing with Oh, my God, have I done the wrong thing here. I didn't mean to what's you know? So yeah, and I think that's where it's important, as you mentioned before, is having these open conversations and having the space to access these sorts of resources to have the likes of yourself at people's fingertips to not only grow their business, in a way that is upskilling. And strategically planning for success. But also, you know, that's why I started soaring to success, I wanted to be able to surround people with peers who are on the same journey together, but also to surround my members with guest experts, people who are really well versed and skilled in a particular area. So that you can get the support and advice that you need to grow your business rather than freaking out that you don't have the information and that you're just kind of making it up as you go along. That's a recipe for disaster, really. And so I love it that inside the membership, when you delivered your masterclass, it's now sitting there as a recording in the library. So that, you know, current members can go back and revisit it new members who come in in six months time, I've got that resource there. And they also have, you know, your contact details they can reach out to you. You answered questions in the masterclass that my members were asking you directly. And they're getting that advice from you on the spot, which is just so valuable. So, so valuable. And then the I guess the other thing that I love about what you do is is you give the the action steps to take that next level up when you're growing your business. So have you got any? I don't know, I guess, specific examples or success stories that you've seen from female entrepreneurs who have really harnessed their legal compliance and used it as a growth strategy, like had that real mindset shift, to move away from the fear and move away from Oh, that's just too complicated for me, or I'm not smart enough to understand that stuff. So I'm not going to do it. Tell us a story about you know, if you've got one around someone who's really taken that on board is like, No, I'm going to learn I'm going to empower myself. I'm going to give myself the tools and the knowledge and the skills and the support to actually have all the right things in place. And did they see growth in their business? Did that work for them? If you've got anything like that to share, do inspire people to go now. I need to I need to change the way that I do this?
Speaker 2 38:43
Yeah, I've got there. I've got to we'll see how we go for time. So the first is an amazing money coach that I worked with in the UK. Her name's Ray Dodd, and she's just she's someone I've worked with. And then she became my client as well. And what we did for him, we talked about this on her podcast. I know she's fine with me talking about it. Yeah. So what we worked on for her was her taking on contractors and, and Associates in her business in her coaching business. And the thing that was so important to Ray was that we brought people on in a really ethical way that made space for how different people work, how different people show up in the world, how different people engage with their work day, the days and times. And what we created and I'm really proud to have been part of this because she had the vision of being able to bring different coaches together who would work with her clients, but in ways that worked for those coaches. So if they don't like meetings, they don't have to have face to face meetings. If they don't like communicating by email, they can communicate by a slack if they don't like working in the mornings, they don't work in the mornings, we were able to craft, obviously, we had boundaries in place to make sure the work needed to happen in the client era. But we were able to create this framework that supported these incredible coaches who needed to move through the world in a different way. They didn't work, a standard eight, or six, or whatever it can look like, not all of them worked only on weekdays, not all of them were able to engage with technology in the same way. And we were able to build that flexibility, flexibility into her business. And this is something that she had hesitated on doing, she hadn't grown to that next level of bringing on associate coaches, because she didn't feel that she could do it in an ethical way that aligned with how she wanted to make space for everyone. And when we created this framework, she was then able to launch a membership, where there were multiple coaches working to service these clients, she brought in a flexible framework that worked for everyone. So the clients were looked after. And they felt so seen and heard, because there was always someone around, there was always someone to support them because it was so flexible. And Ray was able to work with people in a way that was flexible, and that was open. And it was just such a joy to be part of because she made the documents work for her and her business. It wasn't us taking this stock standard way of working, and just plugging that in and making everyone fit. It was building something from nothing. That yeah, that she had just never that had never been available before. So if you have a vision for working differently, or showing up differently, or hiring people differently, that is available to you, you can use your legal mechanisms to do that. So there's nothing that's not doable. You know, if you think that, oh, I can't, I can't hire in this way. Because you know, you need an employment contract. Your employment contract can work for you. And it can make space for people. And it can be collaborative, you know, these have to be rigid and exclusive. They can be Yeah,
Donna 42:25
yeah, I love that. Because we all do have different visions of the way that we want to run our business or employ people or, yeah, and I think that's, that is inspiring to think, well, we don't have to stick to a rigid way of doing things. And I think kind of COVID taught us a lot about that with working from home options and things like that, too. But that's a really great thing to share around how you can Yeah, make take your business to the next level in the vision that you want to create. But still, at the same time, make sure that those documents are there to protect you to protect your business to make sure your clients are getting what they you know, I promised I guess as well is really important. No matter what kind of business that you run. Thank you for sharing that. We've covered so much today we've covered the importance of understanding your legal compliance, common mistakes that often happen, and how to avoid them. essential things that you need to put into practice to protect your business. And that piece on mindset in building your confidence and removing the fear around legal compliance so that you can grow your business versus feeling limited by the amount that you can grow because you're afraid of putting those things into place. This has been like incredible. And I know it's just the tip of the iceberg of all of the knowledge that you have you shared so much inside the soaring to success membership, that masterclass that you presented. So, you have your own podcast, which you were telling me about before we went to air. So how can people find that podcast if they want to go and take a listen?
Speaker 2 43:56
Yeah, sure. So it's called all the business bits. It's available wherever you get your podcasts. And I speak to business experts about the less sexy side of running business, which obviously, the legal stuff is, but it's not just lawyers, we've got all different areas of law, and we've had coaches and mindset of people, we've had PR experts. We've had accountants, finance experts, we've had just a real change. And we're starting up the next season soon. So for anyone who's running a business, and it's not area or location specific question, really, about understanding these different facets of business that we're just, you know, we have to wear all the hats, and this is a great way to understand what different people in different areas of business do.
Donna 44:47
Yeah, I love that. How fun yay, cool, and we'll make sure that we'll link your podcast into the show notes and also where people can find you on Instagram. And of course if you're listening and you've been in by our conversation and you're interested in joining soaring to success, then you can head over to Donna hand.com forward slash success. We'd love to have you inside the membership you can access everything in one place to grow your business and your mindset no matter where you live. I really want to thank you Ingrid for taking the time to be here with me today, to of course sharing inside the soaring to success membership with a masterclass that you presented and giving so much value to our listeners today. Thank you so much. It's been a pleasure chatting to you again.
Speaker 2 45:33
You too, and thank you so much. It's, it's really, you know, it feels really special to have people trust me with this with their audience and with their communities. Because I know that's a big responsibility. So it means a lot.
Donna 45:46
Thank you. You're so welcome. So welcome. Well, I will link everything in the show notes. Thanks again, everyone for listening. And we'll see you back here next week for another episode. Thank you so much for tuning in to this episode of the shoes in business podcast. Make sure you hit follow so that you are the first to know as soon as a new episode drops. And if you really want to deliver me smiles send me a DM find me on Instagram at Donna Han underscore coach and tell me what you loved most about this episode. Also, feel free to let me know what topics you need to learn more about if you are a regional businesswoman, ready to rise and soar towards success. I'll see you back here next week for another episode.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
