This week on the podcast, I am joined by Rachel Schumont from The Yoga Counsel. Rachel came to yoga from a legal background and after making a drastic career change and becoming a yoga teacher, Rachel realized that a lot of yoga teachers needed help with the legal side of being a yoga entrepreneur and running a yoga business.

On this episode, we talk about what legal entity your business should be classified as, the legal side of naming and trademarking your business, as well as what needs to be on our websites. We also talk about liability insurance, waivers, what to look for in your contracts with studios, and much more.

If you’ve felt overwhelmed with the legal side of your yoga business, don’t miss this episode!

Enjoy!

Discussed in this episode:

• Setting up your business and the legal side of your business doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive!
• When it comes to the legal aspects of business, it’s going to be different based on your home country and your state
• As a yoga teacher, you are an entrepreneur and if you are making money, you are a legal business!
• You can decided between becoming a sole proprietorship or an LLC (in the US). If you have a lot of personal assets, then an LLC might be a better option, but as you are starting out, a sole proprietorship will most likely work best for you. Do your research to decide what is best for you!
• Talk to someone local in your state / country because LLC’s will be different everywhere
• Once you’ve decided what legal entity you want your business to be, you need to check with your state and local government to see if you need a business license to operate in the area
• EIN – employee identification number. You can get it through the IRS website and use it in place of a SSN
• If you move, do you have to transfer your LLC to another state?
• Some states require that you file a “FBN” or a “DBA” depending on the name of your business
• Once you choose a business name, it’s important to consider if you want to trademark it
• There are benefits to trademarking your business name, but there are also expenses associated with it
• Your trademark is filed country to country and if you want it in more than one country, you need to file it in more than one country
• US Patent and Trademark Office
• Your website must have a Privacy Policy that tells people what you are doing with their personal information
• You also must have Terms & Conditions on your website – it’s a legally binding contract that defines the conduct that is allowed for your website and gives your visitors a compliance agreement. This will also protect your content!
• Have someone review your Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions to make sure they are correct
• Before you sign anything with a studio, know if you are being classified as an employee or an independent contractor
• You want to nail down payment terms – how you are getting paid, what you are getting paid for and how much you are getting paid, if you will be getting any benefits or vacation time, etc.
• You need to confirm if the studio requires you to carry liability insurance
• You should also be clear on how to terminate a contract on both sides (what you need to do to end a contract and what the studio needs to do to terminate the contract)
• It’s important that your waiver complies with your state law, so it’s important to get it reviewed by someone in your state
• Always make sure that your insurance protects you if something happens in your class
• And much more… Here’s the episode!

Connect with Rachel:

Want to join me on a tropical adventure in Costa Rica this fall? Meghan Pherrill and I are co-leading a retreat for yoga teachers at the beautiful Bodhi Tree Yoga Resort November 2-9, 2019 and we’d love for you to join us.

Learn more here!

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It’s STILL just your yoga; teachers add classes, students add teachers, and teachers and students stay connected.

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