You consistently use your Expertise to create deliverables, workshops, graphics, newsletters, and more. What, if any of it, is protectible from the sticky fingers of competitors?

If there is only one thing you’ve learned from me, I hope it is knowing that signed agreements with your clients and your contractors are essential to protecting your IP and expertise.

When you are an expert, your most valuable asset is your expertise.

However, unlike physical assets, you can’t lock your expertise in a vault or store it in a display case. Anyone who has access to your expertise can copy it.

So how do you make sure that competitors and former clients aren't stealing your stuff?

I have lots of ideas. Some I even refer to as Big Ideas. 🧠

As an expert, you have lots of ideas too, both big and small.

Is it possible to protect your ideas?

You know intellectual property (IP) and contracts are essential elements to smart growth, but you aren't sure where to start. In other words, you don’t know what you don’t know.

This is how experts lose control of their expertise.

I was reading an article on Forbes.com about the growth of freelance management consulting marketplaces. Catalant is one of the larger platforms that corporations use for buying professional services (think Upwork for corporate consultants).

Maybe you’ve hit a revenue ceiling. After all, there is only so much you can charge for a workshop.

Maybe you’ve hit an impact ceiling. Your workshop is transformative, but you are reaching only one client at a time.

Most likely, you’ve hit both.

It isn’t impossible to fix mistakes. Very few are fatal in the work that we do. But it is almost always more expensive to fix a mistake than to take the extra time to do it right in the first place.

The terms “business model” and “revenue model” are often used interchangeably. I’m going to nerd about the differences for just 200 words. 🤓