Is Your Business Ready to Scale in 2025?
As we approach a new year, it’s the perfect time to reflect, reassess, and prepare for growth.
Starting 2025 on the right foot means laying a strong foundation for scaling your expertise.
That starts with the first step in my Audit Protect Leverage (APL) framework: Audit.
Why Audit Matters
When you’re ready to scale, your intellectual property (IP) is the essential element for your success. Whether it’s the training materials you’ve spent years refining or the unique frameworks your clients rave about, knowing what you own—and what you don’t—is critical before taking the next step.
Think about it like putting a second floor on your home. A foundation that is good enough for a single story may not be strong enough to support two stories. You need to check your foundation. Only then can you build with confidence.
📌Example
One of my clients, a leadership consultant, approached me ready to license her workshop materials. During the audit, we discovered that a core part of her methodology was based on a system she learned while working for a previous employer. Because she didn’t own the rights to that framework, we couldn’t move forward until she reworked her materials to create something original.
This extra step saved her from potential legal disputes down the road—and ensured her materials were 100% hers to scale.
What an Audit Looks Like
Here’s what we uncover during the Audit phase:
Your Assets: A complete inventory of the IP that comprises your offer, such as workbooks, guides, videos, and templates.
Ownership Issues: Identifying any content you do not own, such as materials from a former job, collaborations, or AI-generated work.
Gaps in Documentation: If you aren’t using written agreements with contractors, you probably don’t own the materials they created for you.
Ask yourself these questions:
Do you know which parts of your business are truly unique to you?
Are you confident that all the content you use belongs to you and is free from third-party claims?
Do you have signed agreements with all of your contractors?
If the answer to any of these is "no" or "I’m not sure," it’s time to audit your IP before moving forward.
Next week, we’ll dive into the second step: Protect, where we’ll secure your assets and ensure they’re legally protected.
Here’s to starting 2025 with clarity and confidence!
IP is Fuel 🚀
Erin