Houchin Consulting PLLC
—
Here’s a little video on the Alchemy of Ideas. Hopefully this will shed some light on why Intellectual Property law does not care about your idea – only what you’ve DONE with your idea to bring it into the word and share it with the rest of us.
Granted, I still have a lot of improvement to make on the video technical – lighting, sound, visuals, etc. Stick with me. I hope to polish up the technical as quickly as I can.
Comments Welcome.
Last week I announced that I had resigned my working relationship with Alexis Martin Neely and the Creative Business Lawyer (CBL) program. Immediately, business attorneys from all over the country asked me if I was going to start my own program, because if I did, they wanted to know about it. I was very proud of the work I was doing as part of CBL, but it became apparent that progressing down that path was not a good fit for me. I sincerely wish Alexis and the members of the CBL program the best as they move forward.
While the CBL program was small, I knew the attorneys in the program were on to something powerful. They were on the way to changing how lawyers work with entrepreneurs from the old lose-lose hourly rate model to a model that empowers both the attorney and the client and forms a true “Trusted Advisor” (go read the book) relationship. I couldn’t give that up.
But, I couldn’t just take what I was doing with the CBL program and slap a different name on it. While I could do that legally, it didn’t feel “right.” If I was going to do my own program for small business attorneys, it needed to be the type of program I would build without the influence of someone else’s vision, style, and habits.
—
I’ve kept a journal since the day my dad passed on way back on Memorial Day, 1991. My journal entry dated 7/7/09 includes a description of an organization that helps foster the spirit of creative business. I called it “The Space Between Center for Creative Spirit in Business” and I kept coming back to the concept over and over. It would keep me awake at night.
Last week, I had a choice to make: was it time to bring The Space Between Center to life?
So, I thought about it for a little while. Then it hit me… I could build my program for small business attorneys as the first initiative of The Space Between Center. It had been waiting for months for the right time for action.
Every day at least a few emails came in from attorneys around the country continuing to encourage me to start my own program. If you’re and entrepreneur, you shouldn’t ignore customer demand.
I formed The Space Between Center LLC last Friday. It felt REALLY GOOD!
Since then, I’ve been defining what my program would look like, how it would operate and what partners I will bring in to make it all come together. The idea is too big for me to implement alone. I found the right partners. They’re on board and almost as excited as I am.
And, inquiries from business lawyers keep coming in…
As of NOW I don’t have to say “wait just a few days.” Now I can say “go to www.spacebetweencenter.com and sign up for a free informational/introductory call on Friday, March 19th at Noon Eastern.”
There will be other initiatives of The Space Between Center, but for now we’re focused on helping small business attorneys develop win-win relationships with clients. The program based in part on the success I’ve had implementing my flat monthly fee model over the last year. This model changed my life almost overnight.
My clients love it.
The members of the Creative Business Lawyer were having success with it in less than two months.
So, I want to share it.
I’m keeping a few new benefits of the new program secret until the call. These new elements will go beyond just learning the business model and provide some tremendous value to the members.
In case you’re wondering – no, it’s not some kind of “private coaching” scheme.
If you are an attorney and want to know what’s going on, join the call. It’s free, so it won’t hurt you to listen in. Oh, and my friend, attorney, and marketing consultant Ben Glass will be co-hosting the call. Ben is NOT associated with the program financially, so you know he’ll keep it real.
If you are an entrepreneur, tell your lawyer about this and ask them to listen in on the call. If you don’t have an attorney using a flat fee monthly model, then we’ll just have to do something about that soon…
Now back to work.
If there was ever any question that we need reform in the legal industry and within the legal education industry – this is it: http://tinyurl.com/4gnzy2
A law school professor is suing saying that student notes violate his copyright. Maybe he need to talk to one of the copyright professors about the fair use statute…
There’s also the question of what kind of example this sets for law students. Scheeeesh!!!! It’s this kind of stuff that is ruining the reputation of the legal profession.
If he’s using another lawyer (probably not… although many professors aren’t licensed to practice anywhere, and some have never even taken the bar exam), I’m disappointed the professor’s lawyer took the case.
Most of you know that your work is covered under the US Federal Copyright laws the instant your ideas become tangible. That’s wonderful news, but it sometimes leads to a false sense of security for creative people.
The problem is that if someone uses your material without permission, you might have a righteous beef legally, but not have an economic justification for pursuing your legal rights. This is because infringement of unregistered copyrights requires you to prove “actual damages” and pay your own legal fees. Actual damages are hard to prove, and in many cases will not cover the legal fees.
If you pay the $35-45 to register your copyright, then you can ask for statutory damages without proving actual damages, and your attorney fees are on the table. This makes the Cease & Desist letter much more effective and shows you take your creativity seriously.
You should make it a point to do your own copyright registrations on all your creative work – at least the work that is core to your creative business. Do this yourself because the forms are easy and if you mess up, the Copyright office will tell you what you did, and while you’ll have to refile in many cases, the lesson only costs you the $35-45 bucks.
You can find all the registration forms and great instructions at www.copyright.gov. If you need more help or need to enforce your copyrights, just let me know.